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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/17/2018 in all areas

  1. We'll use anything from 80 to 120 Ah, depending on if we use the toaster oven for dinner. That includes hair dryer for my wife, two or three cups from the Nespresso, and maybe playing the HomePod for a few hours, which I've taken with us for the last few trips - sounds great in the trailer. And our 12v fridge, which may draw ~30Ah/day, give or take. So, after a heavy use night and morning, the batteries will be at ~70%, sometimes 65%. On a light night, it might be at 90% when we leave in the am. We can go on ultra savings mode and only lose ~5% of our battery life overnight - inverter off, no more than 2 lights on in the trailer and none outside, meaning the fridge is the biggest draw. Recharge depends on the conditions. If we're in deep shade like we were last week in the smokies, the solar will basically keep up with the fridge and parasitic draws during the day and so each night will progressively drain the batteries. On a really sunny day, no trees, it might recharge before noon, even from 70%. The lowest we've had it when camping is 40%, I think. We can go to down to ~10% before things start to fail. We made the mistake last week of doing two heavy use nights in a row while in a shady spot, assuming that when we moved to another campground that we'd have sun. The next campsite was even shadier, so we managed to keep the loss at a minimum for a few nights before deciding to go to a nearby KOA for a night to recharge. That's the first time in 15,000 miles that we had to do that, and had we not gotten complacent about the batteries, probably could have avoided it. And arguably we could have toughed it out without the inverter, but I wanted my coffee and had no backup for the Nespresso. Poor disaster planning on my part. I'm sure that the smaller panels get shaded by the AC in low sun, but they're connected in parallel so one panel going out doesn't affect the others. Obviously I like Victron equipment as a combined system; but if even you get a stand alone battery monitor, I think it's hard to beat the Victron BMV battery monitor with bluetooth. It's an easy add-on to the stock Oliver system and gives what seems to be a very accurate reading of the battery state.
    2 points
  2. George - Bummer! These regulators don't go bad very often (at least in my experience). In all the campers I've had over the past twenty years not one of them has failed. I don't use the "automatic" switch over feature in that I prefer to know when a tank is emptied. Certainly there have been times when cold weather was forecast for the night and I knew that the tank I was using was getting low on propane. In these circumstances I simply switched tanks before going to bed and then switched back the next morning. There was only one time when the red window failed to turn green and that was corrected by shutting off the full tank and quickly turning it back on. Obviously it is that change in pressure that is causing the window to show the green and it would seem that yours got stuck for some reason. I'm sure that they could be repaired but I would also think that for the price of a new one the repair cost is probably at least as much money - if not more. I hate adding to the landfill but that is the way it is particularly since even finding someone qualified to work on one of these is problematical. At least the removal and install of the new one is not difficult. Just be sure to use sealing tape or compound. Bill
    1 point
  3. For roof work I have found this ladder to be pretty good. Stable platform that is comfortable to stand on and secure enough to lean over and climb onto the roof. If memory serves not too expensive either. Got it at Lowes. Scotty
    1 point
  4. Fuel storage becomes a non-issue, or at least is greatly minimized, by using a good stabilizer and if possible, ethynol free gas. If you are not aggressive about treating your gas, yes it will go bad. You should also drain the carb on the generator at least semi-annually, if not after every period of use (ie: at the end of a trip, not every day). Otherwise the fuel there evaporates and leaves varnish in the bowl and jets. Nobody said these are low maintenance... ;( OTH it isn’t hard. On my Yamaha 2400 I remove two screws from the back cover zip zip, pop it off, drain the bowl, pop it on, reinstall the screws. Less than two minutes. If I drilled an access hole for a long screwdriver to access the drain screw, it would take maybe ten seconds. But I like to look around in there to make sure there are no problems, so I pull the cover. John Davies Spokane WA
    1 point
  5. It isn't an issue with just the one panel each side, since I can easily reach from either end to clean. But yes, if you ran three end to end down the full length of the awning then I think you'd want to incorporate some sort of hinge and latch so that you could lift them up to clean. The big panels in front are a bigger pain than the rear. I worried about roof access, but I had to install the soft start on my AC since Oliver forgot it, and it wasn't a problem. The awning seal does collect junk, but that's a side affect I can live with. Being able to leave the windows open in the pouring rain and not having to worry about gunk in the window tracks makes it worth the trouble. When we camp, I roll out the awnings on both sides about 18", which is enough to attach the poles to the trailer without them hitting the belly band. They can withstand most any wind in that position and allows us to leave the windows cracked when we leave without worrying about rain. Plus I think it keeps the trailer a bit cooler inside. A side benefit of those panels was that they gave me a nice spot for some reflective tape. I realized during our first trip that I had driven one night after going over a muddy gravel road with pretty much no lights on the rear of the trailer, since they had gotten covered in dirt from the back spray. The end of the panels were about the only place that stayed clean.
    1 point
  6. Oh... I like that :) Great idea.
    1 point
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