CaptPat

I’m replacing the front and rear roof line marker lights on my coach. The originals were sealed with what appears to be silicone caulk—around the outside and over the screw heads. I don’t think the rubber gasket provided with the new lights will be sufficient to keep out the elements, so do I repeat caulking with silicone or is there a better option. What I use will need to be clear or dark colored, white really won’t blend in with the paint scheme. TIA

I just replaced all 8 tires with Toyo M144s, $5200 out the door (mounting and balancing). Tire store said the warehouse just got a shipment of 33 tires, mine all have a date code of 1522.

I was quoted $5200 for eight M144 (295/80R-22.5) tires, mounted and balanced, at a truck tire place here in Eastern NC.

At about 7 years of age our Goodyears (original to the coach) starting failing, we lost 3 of eight in about 4 months. A steer tire blowout on the highway is a life changing event, don't ask how I know. I wouldn't delay in replacing, I would note that our tires looked great right up until they failed. I'm due for a new set as the Michelin's I have now are starting to show sidewall cracking, these tires are 7 years old. I think I'll try TOYO M144 this time around.

Thanks, I found the henkel site after a bit more googling.

I didn't receive any instructions with my LPT50BRD, just a wiring schematic on the interior and a label with torque specifications, that's why I called ESCO to check on recommended mounting orientation. There are some Youtube videos that mention orientation sensitivities different model switches. It would have been a lot easier to put the new one where the old one was on the ceiling of a storage bay had ESCO told me that was okay. Though I must say the mounting of the previous unit (an ATS-501 that replaced the original IOTA) was a bit sketchy as the unit nearly fell off the ceiling with a little jostling. The new one is now bolted to some steel support members in the same bay -- it's not moving. Luckily I had enough cable remaining to accomodate moving the switch. WRT using Loctite, which formula are folks using, some formulas (on Amazon) are apparently not recommended for electrical use. Perusing the Loctite website they only show red and blue versions, searching for green doesn't provide any results. Various green formulas, predominantly 290, are showing up on Amazon, has ESCO specified with formula to use? The only tech documentation I could find the web was how to troubleshoot the switch if it stops working. I'd appreciate getting a copy of, or a pointer on the web to a complete set of installation and operating instructions TIA

That’s interesting as ESCO told me not to mount the switch upside down(top facing down aka ceiling mount) as that would have an adverse affect on the relays. Vertically or right side up were the preferred mounting orientations. Fortunately there was enough cable to make a vertical mount work, YMMV. Good idea to mark the cables when replacing the switch, so next time there’s no confusion

ATS501 Transfer Switch 01.HEICEarlier this week after a 7-day stay in Sandbridge VA for Labor Day I was unable to get the generator to power the coach for the trip home. The GEN SET light on the Load Meter was dimly lit, none of the Power Status lights were lit. The generator was working fine, at least it sounded fine, however no power at the coach. No codes at the switch on the generator, and the generator breaker was shut. After several attempts restarting the generator with the same results we decided to travel home without air conditioning, the weather was reasonable so the 3-hour drive was not too bad. The generator uneventfully supplied power to the AC units on on the trip to the CG and SP worked fine at the CG for the preceding 7 days. The thread on the IOTA transfer switch pre-disposed me to believe my transfer switch was the culprit. The current switch is a Parallax ATS-501 switch that was installed in June 2014 after the original IOTA switch caught fire. I opened the cover and checked that all the connectors were tight, I did not expect to find any loose connectors as I had checked them about a month earlier when troubleshooting some AC issues. I did notice that the middle relay (see picture) was discolored by what I believe to be excess heat. I also checked the connectors at the generator, they were all tight. I tested the switch one source at a time, shore power and generator, and sure enough it would not transfer to the generator after the 30s delay time, additionally with the generator running the fault light on the switch was lit. In short the switch seemed stuck in the shore power position. The scant troubleshooting information on the switch cover says to repair the switch at an authorized dealer if this happens three times. On about the 4th try the switch operated as expected -- I'm not putting up with a switch that might work properly 25% of the time. I’ve decided to replace the switch with a ESCO LPT50BRD. I thought about repairing the current switch however, there isn’t much technical documentation available on the ATS 501 (Parallax has not responded to my inquiries), and there might be more than just a bad relay to replace. Without disassembly I can’t tell if the contactors are damaged. Further, I’m sure I can replace the switch with a brand new one for much less than a dealer would charge to troubleshoot and repair the ATS 501. My normal mode of operation is never have both the generator and shore power supplying power to the switch simultaneously. When switching power sources I turn off major loads (e.g., AC units) and then remove the power source before switching to the alternate. This avoids potentially connecting two AC power sources that are not in phase with each other, this can lead to catastrophic damage, or excessive arcing across the contactors when the switch shifts. In the Navy we called this a “dead bus” shift. I don’t have a suspected cause of the relay overheating.

I went with the MarCELL system, and it seems to work as advertised.

In 2013 I shifted to Lifeline AGM batteries, they served well and now need replacement. I’m going with Trojan T105’s as Lifeline AGM’s are now nearly $500 per battery, the difference in cost will pay for a lot of distilled water.

I intended to get back before now, but life interfered with our plans to get to a local CG quickly to test repairs. We finally made it and experienced no issues with AC. Moral of the story fun thr AC fans on HI and periodically check electrical coNnections and breakers. thanks for all of the T/S assistance.

^^^^ This. Several years ago our transfer switch caught fire while we were camping. Luckily the fire was able to be confined to the switch itself, it went out when the SP breaker tripped. With a damaged/unusable transfer switch there are limited power options in the coach as SP and Generator can't be used. Of course it was summer time and there were no transfer switches available locally, it was a long and hot trip home.

Thanks, this is really helpful. Looks like Visible has more upfront costs than Cricket but offers unlimited access. Thanks exactly the information I was looking for.

Interesting, looks like you buy a phone and use it as a hotspot? How many wifi devices have you been able to connect at the same time? Pat This may be worth looking into. The Cricket website seems to imply an affordable solution, along with Visible that another posted mentioned.

I’ve never used the AGS features maybe I’ll look into after our upcoming checkout trip. I view the AGS as secondary to getting a high temp alarm notification

Purchasing a mobile hotspot is not in the cards right now, we aren’t full timers

No hot spot in the coach. The attraction to the two brands I listed is that they use cellular which should provide satisfactory coverage for where we camp. The Micro Air product is of interest, though without an onboard hot spot I'm not convinced it will be reliably connect and stay connected to campground WIFI. In another thread on this forum there's an extensive discussion about my AC issues, the Auto start feature is useful if you lose power, it doesn't help if there are gremlins in the AC system(s). For that reason I'm reluctant to rely solely on AGS.

I've narrowed it down to MarCell or Waggle. I'd be interested in user experiences with either system. I've decided against a WiFi-based system as I would need to rely on campground WiFi.

In retrospect that was probably a mistake on my part, I don't think I tried the Hi fan mode.

Despite some recent problems (which I think we've identified) my current thermostat is working fine, so I'm not in a rush to replace it. Most of what I've seen on line are generally positive reviews of the Micro-air thermostat. I'm hoping someone here has made the conversion and can share what their experience was. I'm aware that if an A/C unit requires replacement I'll need a different thermostat. In that case I'll probably replace all three units at the same time.

Thinking of replacing my 5 button thermostat with a Micro-air unit. I have 1 thermostat that controls 3 zones, with Ac, Heat Pump and Aqua Hot furnace—all original equipment. Primarily interested in the BT and WiFi connectivity offered by the Micro-air. I’m interested in hearing of other experiences with this conversion. thanks

Thinking of replacing my 5 button thermostat with a Micro-air unit. I have 1 thermostat that controls 3 zones, with Ac, Heat Pump and Aqua Hot furnace—all original equipment. Primarily interested in the BT and WiFi connectivity offered by the Micro-air. I’m interested in hearing of other experiences with this conversion. thanks

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this journey. Intermittent problems are difficult to troubleshoot even harder when there are a few potential problems. I’ll be setting up a short visit at a local CG to see if we have the issue resolved prior to departing on a longer trip in early September. I’ve hd this coach since new, this the first I heard that Dometic recommends setting the fan to HIGH when it’s humid—never too old to learn.

Got on the roof yesterday before the rain. All AC units looked pretty good, some dirt but no bugs, wasps etc. Blew out the cooing fins. Did a visual inspection on the electronics, there were no obvious issues, didn't have time to meter check the caps. @CapnDean I've seen what I think is unusual behavior from the EMS, I'm going to call them today and see what they say. I'll post back my findings. @Chuck B 2004 Windsor My normal practice is to shut down the AC when shifting to/from shore and generator. Most of the time I physically disconnect shore, or shutdown the generator as a first step in the switching process. @Tom Cherry I'll get started on the PM suggestions above, it may be a day or so as rain is in forecast and my wedding anniversary is also this week.

A few updates on this, unfortunately a 30 minute job to replace my front step motor ballooned to 6 hours yesterday so I still need to get on the roof and check the units up there. My EMS is wired as follows, (note central AC is not on the load shed list): (Leg, Load, EMS Shed Load) Load Shed Order (first to last) WTR Htr, Rear AC, Wash/Dry, Front AC Leg 1 Center AC No Central Vac No Water Htr Yes Front AC Yes Leg 2 Block Htr No Rear AC Yes Inverter No W/D Yes Refrigerator No Does it make sense that opening the 120V breaker to the Front AC would caused the mid and rear ACs to shutdown as well? @Tom Cherry The theory about the control board in the front AC seems reasonable, however I've never observed "EE", loss of comms on the thermostat. If I read your previous post correctly the step you are suggesting is to swap the control boards between the front and rear AC, is that right? I'm not too keen on swapping control boards, IME one usually ends up with 2 bad boards. The AC units are original equipment, so I'd expect that the control boards may be brittle/aged and may not tolerate a transfer. Regardless I should check the availability of replacement control boards before moving in this direction.