Jim Pratten

We use Victron’s Orion 30 amp unit and are satisfied with its performance. We dry camped almost all summer and with solar and the Orion, we pretty well top off the batteries on driving days.

We have similar headlight loss of power issue, though ours was intermittent. We never drive at night; we often have headlights turned on but really don’t know if they’re actually illuminating. Changed fog lights yesterday, and in process of testing, found headlights and my new fog lights not working. I’m in process of troubleshooting and repairing . At first you assume the fog lights somehow created the problem. That doesn’t appear to be the case and the problem was previously there but not recognized. So far found that the power to the headlight switch was running around 8 amps on low beam, when it worked. Inspecting the headlight switch, found the power input terminal #6 was loose and some of the plastic had melted and was “wet”. Also, connector M1 pin 7, under the dash, was hot when working and intermittent when I jiggled. I got a new headlight switch (AC Delco D1588) yesterday at local auto parts and need to “fix” the connector power circuit. Figured I better consult the forum and came across this recent unresolved post, so thought I’d add this experience. My plan today is to replace the headlight switch and repair M1 connector pin 7. However, the design appears to exceed the current limits of the headlights switch and connector M1. Expect I’ll also be installing a low beam headlight relay in the FRP to offload the current from this circuit. The high beams and fog lights already have relays, but my drawings don’t show them; interesting. That mod appears to be fairly easy to do, knock on wood.

What are your thoughts on preemptively drilling holes from the striker plate down? I don’t have access panels to inspect mine and take any preventative maintenance measures.

This certainly makes sense from a risk perspective and less painful to the pocketbook.

I suspect all of us have faced this question, balancing risk v cost with less than adequate data to analyze. Over the years I’ve discussed this subject with various knowledgeable folks. I know of no industry recognized inspection criteria that can rebaseline remaining useful life of a tire. Most suggest a 7 year limit from date of birth is a prudent time to replace a tire, regardless of when it was mounted, how many miles or how it was cared for. Can a failure occur prior to 7 years, sure but most would consider it “rare”. As the tire ages to say 10 years, probability of failure increases and may be considered “unlikely”. In my career, we commonly used Risk Matrixes as a decision support tool. If the impact of failure was potentially “severe” we’d try hard to reduce or eliminate the probability of failure. In this attached risk tool, if we assume an impact of “severe”, a probability of “rare” yields a MEDIUM risk. A probability of “unlikely”, yields a risk of HIGH. You may not agree with my example and can apply different probabilities based upon your understanding of the impact and probability. My risk tolerance is low, but obviously not zero as we choose to drive all around North America. We do choose to follow the 7 year tire replacement schedule as it’s one area we think we can influence risk.

I used to have the ISC 350 Power v RPM graph (from this brochure) taped to the console. When going up a pass, I try to keep the rpm around 2000.

All great recommendations Richard! So much to do, so little time. We have to mention another favorite place is Seward during the Fourth for their celebrations. We spent two weeks there this year on Resurrection Bay municipal campground. Some of our favorite activities: Mount Marathon race Small boat harbor daily catch “show & tell” Fishing charters Bear Creek fish ladder Fireworks at midnight on the 3rd Exit Glacier walk Kenia Fjords cruise Sea Life Center tour Fourth of July beach walk Kayaking on the Bay Tosina Creek trail Good Friday ‘64 movie at library and of course, Seward Alehouse

Previous owner had a rebuilt system installed several year back. Assume this is the plastic case you’re referring to and likely of different circuit design.

Good job and thx for sharing. What model controller(s) were they?

I’ve looked at the waste tanks on our 2000 Dynasty and I don’t see how side movement is restricted. Fresh tank has padded aluminum angles butted up against the left and right sides keeping the tank in position. Question - How are the black and gray tanks held from side to side movement?

Does the receptacle carry any independent testing agency markings? Write up suggests UL specification though I couldn’t find the company in UL’s database search.

This is the bracket we bought, they have advantage of being very easily aligned. Must admit though, if/when we have a repeat break, probably get the ones @RichardSmith linked to.

The root cause of the connector failure is the circuit components are undersized for the load. Poor design IMHO. Replacing the connector will likely extend the life but there remains risk that the board components may fail: a more costly repair. Recommend you also consider installing a relay as described here.

Too funny!

Ditto and thanks @vanwill52

Van, if I understand correctly, it’s two chains per axle attached near the corner shock positions. The whole axle suspension assembly is limited in downward travel due to the chains working in conjunction with the trailing arms to restrain further movement. Do I understand that correctly? Another question. I could diy 1/2” holes in the frame to attach chains. Is there a downside to attaching this way versus welding tabs?

Agree. We also have a Volvo tractor pulling a fifth wheel. This comes up every once in a while on HDT RV forums I belong. They all get turned away too and there are some choice opinions on what they can do with their business.

Agree with others that it appears the bolt backed out, releasing the bushing. Suspect it was assembled without Loctite. As part of the reassembly, I’d inspect the other bolts and use Loctite on any that don’t have locking nuts and/or washers.

More reading entertainment, ANSI/RVIA LV. See Chapter 6.

For your reading pleasure, the standard we used in my previous life. Splices start on page 67.

Soft starters limit motor inrush current on induction motor starting that commonly draw 6 to 8 times the running current. The high inrush current may exceed the electrical source capacity (think Honda EU2000 generator) and does introduce stresses in the motor and load and arguably spikes the motor winding temperature. Once the motor is at operating RPM, the soft starter should be out of the circuit. Whether the cost of the soft starter is recoverable with extended equipment service life is doubtful IMO. They are commonly a solution for those folks trying to run an air conditioner off a small 2kw generator. The much lower inrush allows the generator to successfully start the motor without the generator stalling at inrush currents in the 75 to 100 amp range. in my opinion, a better return on investment to extend our rotating equipment life is an autoformer (Hughes for one) designed to maintain adequate voltage at those parks with weak power distribution systems. We commonly see voltages hover around 100 to 110 volts during peak load conditions. If, say the voltage is reduced 20%, then the current must increase at least 20% to sustain the same load. 20% more current thru the windings results in much higher temperatures and consequently an increase in winding insulation breakdown with shorter motor life. An old rule of thumb was every 20F increase in winding temperature results in 50% loss of life.

We’d like that space for storage also. It’s on our project list but probably won’t get to this year. I’ll get all sorts of points from the front office when we get to take our screen room with us in the vacated space. With stove top burners the only load, and then only when dry camping, our 45 gal tank is also a bit of overkill. A couple 20 lb tanks with switch over valve would do nicely and is the route we’ll likely go. Good luck with your conversion.

We navigate with Copilot and use the Garmin Denzel to monitor roadway info it offers. When we near our arrival location, we close the Copilot and open Google Maps in satellite view.

Ditto on Starlink but for little different reason. Heading toward Alaska in couple months and once you get to the Yukon, geostationary DISH satellites are too low on the horizon to pick up. Currently pausing the RV Starlink plan while using our jet packs to stream. Moving to streaming service is not without growing pains and buffering delays. But heck, when we were kids, we had three channels that signed off at 10:30P. Somehow we survived.