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planodp
Thanks Scotty for the site update. I was wondering what happen yesterday when I try to get on. Thanks!
birdshill123
I guess that the 20 degree drop may be what I was seeing.
folivier
My main concern is is there any wiring in that area above the door? Don't want to cause any problem with screws.
Dr4Film
On 10/13/2024 at 10:25 PM, Venturer said:Needless to say before I start out in the morning, my very observant wife asks me " Did you unplugged the cord", among other things. 😗
My wife did the same thing directly after our incident in 2012. After a few years later she finally trusted me enough to not have to worry any longer.
Chargerman
Are you planning on attaching it to the cabinet over the door? I wouldn’t want to try attaching it to the ceiling for the reason you mention
folivier
There's no cabinet over the door just the wallpaper covered wall. Not planning to attach it to the ceiling. So if I do this it'll be attached to the bare wall.
RVerBob
I see you have a Indiana number, Vans Electric can rebuild.
Some times same day,but more likely next day
Chargerman
I would think that the only wiring in that area would be the outside light. May not be any structure to attach to though. Maybe try a search with a stud finder first
Jwalt5000
I changed out my defunct Duo Therm with the 13.5 Rec Pro in the bedroom Leaving the Duo Therm 13.5 in the front. I changed out the horrible 5 button t-stat for a new Micro Air Stat. It only controls the front ac and furnace now as the rec pro is on its own remote. No wiring modifications needed
It's great that I can now see the settings without a hand lens!
I wired the back furnace to a mercury switch stat and it works great! One day the front unit will fail and ill replace it with the rec pro 15K Btu
DavidL
I don't think the fiberglass gash will buff out....looks way too deep. Needs paint.
Tom Cherry
On 10/13/2024 at 2:47 PM, birdshill123 said:We normally do not travel much in super hot temps. We leave Canada just before snowfall and return when snow is gone. A few times we have been in Phoenix in 85 to 90 degree heat. Dash air does lose freon but one can a year brings it back to life. This year I left Canada Sept.4. By South Dakota I was using the dash air. In New Mexico I was using both the dah air and the front roof ac. No problem keeping up to 85 to 90 degree heat. But arixona called for the front 2 roof air and dash air while travelling. Left Tucson for Mexico on the 10th of September. By 1 pm it was 103 degreees and a super hot Mexican sun. I had all3 roof airs and the dash air running. By 4 pm it was getting hot in the MH. I checked the vents and the front one was not super cold. The rear roof airs were blowing hot/. Is there some sort of thermal protector for the roof unit?. No shade in the desert and no clouds. Whe I started heading west it was later in the day and the sun was unreal. Windshield was hot. I tried the roof units the next day and although I was stationary all was good. Is all of this normal?? Thanks
The CORRECT way to determine what is going on..
Pull the Sponge Filters and CLEAN THEM (hand soap and water....rinse... Then roll up in a towel and squeeze out the excess....let them air dry for a while or GENTLY dry with a hair dryer). NOW....reinstall them.
System needs to be running and the MH is stable...as in the temp outside have stabilized....not increasing nor decreasing. Use a thermometer....One with a probe. If you have a OUTSIDE temp unit, use a bent paper clip and hang it. Some will put the units in DUMP. That way you get the REAL output of each unit. Some will only RUN one unit....thus no INTERACTION with the others as one side is on a common duct....maybe 2, depending on your MH.
Measure the output of the unit....either the closest ceiling vent or the DUMP slider. Record the OUTLET TEMP. Then, if you used DUMP. Close the DUMP and record the temperature at the INLET grill. OR if you used a nearby outlet, record the temperature at the return or inlet. The Delta T is supposed to be around 18 - 22 Deg. The reason you have to have CLEAN FILTERS. The dirty filters impeded or reduce the air flow. THUS, you will get a higher Delta T. Many members have done the test and said... MY HVAC is beating the range. I must have a SUPER UNIT. Wrong. A HIGH Delta T means the Filter is clogged. I was at Lazy Days and attended their HVAC seminar and that was discussed. I went back. Did the test. YEA>>> 24 deg. Then washed the filters. Delta T was 20. GREAT...
That's it. Test your unit. That is the ONLY way to determine if it is working OK.
BEEnHoney
We have 2011 Diplomat with pushbutton windshield shades. The night time shade got pulled down manually and now the shade does not function. We tried the push button several times and the reset button on the shade but to no avail. We checked fuses and they seem to be fine. What else can we check? I called MCD technical support but it was a long hold time so checked their website but nothing seems to address manually pulling them down and resetting them. Maybe the motor stripped out? We will be back in the RV on Friday and try to dig a little deeper. Thanks for any suggestions!
Dr4Film
You have most likely damaged the motor. I have attached a MCD manual that has troubleshooting steps near the end of the manual. There is also a warning at the end that most likely explains your situation.
The manual covers both MCD American Duo & American Solo Electric Shades.
redstickbill
Any good auto body shop can do the repairs to the coach at not much cost, including the proper paint matching.
I just picked up my coach yesterday from the shop, I had several places repaired and repainted.
Bill B 07 Dynasty
BEEnHoney
Thank you so much! I think you are correct about the motor. I will post the results as soon as I can return to the RV and repair.
Scotty Hutto
Robert,
Are you asking for info on the Gathering? If so, here is a link to the info:
If you are asking about something else, let me know and I’ll do my best to help.
Venturer
3 hours ago, Dr4Film said:My wife did the same thing directly after our incident in 2012. After a few years later she finally trusted me enough to not have to worry any longer.
I must be a slow learner. After 8 years, I still get reminded.
Pudgy Camper
Just wanted to give an update on my new transmission cooler set up. I just returned from a 2000 mile round trip to Texas and the dual cooler setup worked perfect. Ambient temps ranged from 80-105 degrees on travel days, and the warmest I saw the transmission temp was 190. Most of the trip it was between 165-180. The Setrab thermal switch kicked the fans on at 185 and turned them off at 165 just as designed and I never once had to use my manual override switch. So for now, this project is a success!
Grey Goose
16 hours ago, Frank McElroy said:Take a look at my post of 2/12/2023 on page 2 of this thread. You likely have a dirty internal reed valve on the compressor head. I explained how to disassemble and clean it. Adding an external check valve will work but a leaking internal check valve lowers the compressor efficiency due to the extra volume between the external check valve and the compressor head.
Frank, Thanks for the additional feedback. I will take a look at that for a better long term solution.
96 EVO
4 minutes ago, Grey Goose said:Frank, Thanks for the additional feedback. I will take a look at that for a better long term solution.
Don't know where your compressor is mounted, but mine is easily accessible, and I was able to pull the little head off it to clean the reed valve with the compressor still in place.
jraynor
3 hours ago, Jwalt5000 said:I changed out my defunct Duo Therm with the 13.5 Rec Pro in the bedroom Leaving the Duo Therm 13.5 in the front. I changed out the horrible 5 button t-stat for a new Micro Air Stat. It only controls the front ac and furnace now as the rec pro is on its own remote. No wiring modifications needed
It's great that I can now see the settings without a hand lens!
I wired the back furnace to a mercury switch stat and it works great! One day the front unit will fail and ill replace it with the rec pro 15K Btu
I need to wire up a "dumb" thermostat also.
dl_racing427
14 hours ago, DavidL said:If that gash is in fiberglass and there is no puncturing, you don't need to do anything.
Will require sanding, body filler, sanding, cleaning, masking, priming, painting, clear coat.
the Gutter can be banged out with body tools. I did same this summer backing up and clocked my gutter. Not quite as mangled as yours, but fixed in about an hour. No one knows now 🙂
Ha, we ALL know now. 🤣🤣🤣😉
15 hours ago, SteveHebe said:Well, I knew it would happen, I was hoping not so soon. I have owned my 2005 Diplomat 40PDQ since Sept 24. Yesterday while moving it around I caught the edge of my house and damaged a 6”-8” section of the side right below the Awning.
What would you suggest I do to repair/minimize any further damage? TIA
Sorry to hear that, but it could've been worse.
Fortunately, it's all in one color, so it should be pretty simple for a good body shop to repair.
Be careful when maneuvering around obstacles, a lookout with a radio or phone can be very helpful.
Grey Goose
Here is a photo of a pressure test setup that I put together with parts I had laying around. I am going to start by pressure testing my door seal.
Windshield shade not working
Frank McElroy
3 hours ago, Dr4Film said:You have most likely damaged the motor. I have attached a MCD manual that has troubleshooting steps near the end of the manual. There is also a warning at the end that most likely explains your situation.
The manual covers both MCD American Duo & American Solo Electric Shades.
Thanks Richard. I added it to our Downloads (files) along with 3 existing files we have on MCD shades.
Grey Goose
On 10/13/2024 at 8:56 PM, Ivylog said:Thanks for your detailed test and the results are very similar to mine although I never added a high amp load…85 amps is the most I ever saw which isn’t enough to hurt the alternator. I switched my additional 100A charger to a fixed 14.6V and like your observation, the BMSs cuts the amps to a trickle when they get to 100% SOC.
I would replace the block heater GFI with a standard outlet as I’ve had to reset the GFI several times…even before switching to Lithiums. I added one of these 100A chargers 10-12 years ago to decrease my generator run time and the price was $130. The $139 today is a great deal and cheapen than upgrading to a RC-50L display plus the extra charging amps…the AGM2 setting does a good job of charging Lithiums, especially if your on shore power for many days at a time.
Hello, Not trying to be negative and I am certainly not in the camp of you must have a lithium charger for lithium batteries. But DC noise/ripple etc can be a factor with cheaper chargers as the filter on the DC output may not be as good as a better charger. If you have ever experienced a 60 cycle hum or alternator noise on a audio system this is what I am talking about. Theoretically the batteries should buffer most/all the electrical noise/ripple but some coaches, depending on the 12v house electronics may be more sensitive to damage. Additional risk if you leave the charger on while you disconnect the house batteries. I would also be cognizant of heat output from the unit and airflow if it needs it.
DBRV.0
Jeff,
That's a great idea. I should copy it. An implementation I made to my gauges, exactly like yours, is to put a female 1/4" air hose quick fitting on the end of the gauge's flex hose. I then have the male quick connect counterpart to each piece I may want to use with it. With the coach, I find that for some wheels, a straight chuck is better, other times an angle chuck is better, yet other times a clamp-on is better if the fill time is long.
- Jeff
p.s. The ring-collar type clamp-on on the right is my favorite of the clamp-ons. Always works; some of the others do not. That's why there are so many examples; I experiment.
Paul J A
Houghton RecPro AC Conversion From Dometic
Tom Cherry
2 hours ago, jraynor said:I need to wire up a "dumb" thermostat also.
Just make sure you pick the right one. You do NOT want a conventional 12 VDC thermostat. You need a thermostat that does NOT send out a “voltage signal”. So the Coleman and such 12 VDC RV Thermostats will not work.
You also need a Thermostat with an OFF mode.
The two “blue” wires from the Dometic are designed to work with a GAS furnace or an AquaHot control panel. Many dumb thermostats do NOT have an OFF….they just go down very low. If you install one of them. Then in storage the furnace can or will come one.
Honeywell makes a LINE thermostat. It is actually deigned for 240 VAC Electric Baseboard heaters. But. It has an OFF. You install it. You can attach BOTH “BLUE wires to it. On the LINE terminals, you put a JUMPER. On the LOAD side….the two BLUE wires. When the thermostat is calling for HEAT….then the Jumper will make a circuit between the TWO BLUE WIRES. That turns on the Furnace or AquaHot. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you want to send 12 VDC to the furnace or AquaHot. Many are not aware that the Dometic Controller just makes a circuit…like turning on a light switch…
Choose wisely and understand the circuit….otherwise bad things can or may happen to the heating system control boards.
This has been posted before….but many are NOT aware of how the Dometic works and the purpose of the BLUE wires
Bobkat11208
When our 2023 Norcold 1200 died via ammonia leak, we looked at this unit but couldn’t justify the cost. DW liked the fridge so we ‘created’ a hybrid. We installed the Amish fridge dual compressor 12v onto the existing box. Cost was about $1800 all in including their having to run 10ga wire to the battery bank. Took them about 2-3 hrs and didn’t have to install/remove the unit from the rig. They laid it down on the floor, did the install, and put it back in the existing hole. We boondock almost exclusively, and it consistently draws no more than 5amps/60 watts. The longest it ran before our FLA bank was 50% SOC was over a day. 10/10 would recommend.
Just another option to consider.
Bobkat11208
@Scotty Hutto I saw earlier someone asked about coach weighing at the Gathering . We had our’s weighed at the Ramblin’ Pushers Maintenance Sessions this year (4 corner readout). They charged each coach $20 IIRC. At a seminar later in the week, they then went over the results. Could kill 2 birds with 1 stone-weight and another seminar.
Maybe(?) someone is a member or you could reach out and see if they would be interested. I think the organizer was from down in Florida so it might not be too much trouble. Just a thought.
bill4029
I wanted to provide a problem with the solution to share the information. Initially we had returned from a long trip and parked the coach in the barn. Went out a few days later to finish unloading and when I tried to fire up and level the Valid display panel would not power on or any response at all. I read may posts that talk of fuses and sensors before starting in and found no real good hint of my likely problem. My rig is an later build 08 Beaver Marquis Amethyst doe reference and the control is on the driver side left console. I decided to start there after looking at all of the fuses I could find in the books I had with the coach, but found no problems. I decided to take the left side console apart and look at all of the connections and make sure I had not missed a fuse inside the console. as it turns out previous service people had been in there and really broke the panel in 2 places and several screw holes broken out.
The symptom I had was regardless if the coach was running, or not and in drive, neutral or reverse. The panel would not respond to any button press on any of the panel buttons and no apparent life. I later found if I released the Air park brake and then after a few seconds again set the air brake to on, the POWER button lite and the PARK red indicator would flash once.. but no more and no function. Additionally the coach did not respond to any default ride height to travel or appear to do any air control action. I found I was STUCK in the barn with all bags fully down!
I used this for a good reason to replace the side console inlay as well and hoped the leveling panel issue would present itself along the way. I was able to find a new old stock panel and purchased it and decided to add an aluminum back sheet to reinforce the panel as it was the same wood covered plastic and wanted this one to last a time. Upon getting the old panel off I found the Valid control panel had 2 cable connections a 8 pin min connector and a 6 pin connector. This is the part where the first issue appeared ! I found a wire that appeared to belong on the 6 pin broken and a second wire that had a pin lulled out of the connector as well. I could guess where the broken wire went, but not the pulled pin and oh yes.. found yet another black wire laying near by that I suspected should be connected somewhere. I searched many places for manuals starting at Lippert who had purchased Power Gear and other companies for any insight on the pin out for this and the other connector for probably a day with little success. Finally I came here to the website and found some PDF documents on the Valid power gear system from Frank McElroy and inside there were the connector pinout for all connections and much more. Reviewing the . and came to this sites forums and finally found the page that covered this connector. It was for CAN-L and CAN-H signals and was able to verify the 8 pin connector and it's connection values.
I was able to find some new quite tiny tubular pins that fit this connector and built new extension wires that I joined to the old connections (and YES SOLDERED). Once the connector was reinstalled I noticed a small red light on the controller panel but still had no power. Last thing is to pull the 8 pin connector and verify power which was of course all good! But after i reinstalled the 8 pin connector the panel was again FULLY ALIVE !!! Problem fixed and all operations returned to normal !
Link to the book Frank posted :
He also posted a large list of other coach files for leveling : https://www.monacoers.org/files/category/1-air-systems-leveling-jacks/
Again I wanted to share my issue and the fix, so perhaps the next person might not spend as much time getting a happy evening !
Bill Dowell
Dbircky
Frank, exactly what I was looking for. New fuses ordered.
Tom, thank you, will be pulling the other grounds and checking them.
Currently away from unit, but will do all hopefully this weekend.
B8mnJr
I understand this is an old thread, but I’ve been searching for a similar situation as mine, and this is close…. My black valve is very smooth, but seems to have a slow drip inside the pipe… after dumping and closing the valves I cap the end.. when I remove the cap, I get about 6-8 ounces of liquid waste… I’m pretty confident is from the black tank…
I’m trying the get my little camera operational so I can open the valve and take a look at what’s going on, but I was hoping someone had this issue and a solution… not sure new seals on the sides of the valve will change this situation..
thanks!
Ben
Chargerman
Sounds like its time to replace the gate valve. Pretty simple and inexpensive job
B8mnJr
I just got the camera connected… looks like the seals / valve could be worn…only hint I’ve heard is use the plastic from a pound of bacon… cut down, one piece on each side to “slide in” the new, lubed valve.. it helps to hold the seals in place… mine is a Bristol valve, but Amazon’s look slightly different.. does brand matter? Or is one better?
thanks, Ben
Amp Draw from AC's
Venturer
Just got the coach back with the dash AC repaired and working fine. I removed the cover of the Magnum inverter/charger and tested for power with the generator running. With no load, I found good voltage at the input of both contractors. The odd thing was that there was no voltage at the output of the generator contactor however, there was good voltage at the output of the shore power contactor. It appears that the generator contactor has been replaced with a SD unit. Next I turned on the front roof AC which drew 14 amps. Then the middle AC came on drawing 30 amps, but I noticed that the inverter/charger had also come on. When I shut that off the amp draw dropped to 16-17 amps for middle. Then the rear AC added another 17 amps. All were running as they should till the charger kicked on bringing the amp draw close to 50 amps. I quickly shut it off and the amps dropped to 34 for the rear 2 AC's and 14 on the front one. When I shut all AC units off, the charger came on pulling 15 amps when the house batteries were @12.8 volts. It's looking like the high amp draw that is tripping the breaker is caused by the charger that is on the same leg as the rear 2 AC's staying in charge mode even when they are fully charged. (That does not happen when plugged into shore power.) I'll check the water tomorrow, as I topped off all eight batteries 2 weeks ago. All appears to run fine on shore power. The standing voltage from the generator with no load is near 116-117 volts, but increases to 120 when a load is detected. It's also puzzling why no power comes through the generator contactor, but does power the coach by parallel wiring to the shore contactor. Maybe someone can explain it to me.
Mocephus
8 hours ago, Grey Goose said:Hello, Not trying to be negative and I am certainly not in the camp of you must have a lithium charger for lithium batteries. But DC noise/ripple etc can be a factor with cheaper chargers as the filter on the DC output may not be as good as a better charger. If you have ever experienced a 60 cycle hum or alternator noise on a audio system this is what I am talking about. Theoretically the batteries should buffer most/all the electrical noise/ripple but some coaches, depending on the 12v house electronics may be more sensitive to damage. Additional risk if you leave the charger on while you disconnect the house batteries. I would also be cognizant of heat output from the unit and airflow if it needs it.
Thank you Jeff for the good advice!
jacwjames
So I've been busy, after Mt Rainer . The park was essentially closed with the campground shut down and even the visitor center clossed. Learned a hard lesson there. So I headed toward Mt Saint Helens
I did a search on both my Garmin and Iphone and both came up with the same destination. I did not confirm, I just drove. Signs I passed all said MT ST Helens so I kept driving. Initially road was what you'd expect, it then turned into a narrower two lane black top, still OK. It then turned into a dirt road with NO place to turn around so I kept driving up a steeper and steeper dirt road, dropped down into 1st gear and climbed, road was a little rough but passable. Finally made it to a large blacktop area, it was the Climbers Bivouac, this is where the climbers stage to ascend the mountain. CRAP
But since I was there I decided to hike to the 4800' elevation, anything above that needed a permit. Not gonna lie, it stressed my body. Many much younger hikers passed me going up and down. But I made it and took pictures as proof along with screen shots of the elevation and coordinates. Hiked back down and made a B-line back down the road. As I was leaving the parking area I had to make a loop around the circular drive, with all the "kids" looking and and one guy pointing his finger yelling "it was him" which I assume was the response to the obvious question about "what idiot would drive a 40' motorhome pulling a jeep up that road.
Made it back down and decided to just drive toward Crater Lake and just pulled into a rest stop for the night. Actually slept pretty good but sore the next morning.
Got to Crater Lake and again, all the campgrounds anywhere close were shut down. On a side note, pretty much all the state campgrounds were also closed.
In Crater Lake I did the tourist thing, snapped some pictures, looked at the roadside exhibits, the main visitor center wasn't open. Been there done that.
Head to the next park, Lasson Volcanic National park, I was making good time, filled up with fuel in OR, and headed south on I5 and jumped off on a secondary. I saw large signs about Burney Falls SP and set my sites on that. Kept seeing signs, started to get dark, was getting close and saw a sigh showing campground on the left, CRAP, as I pulled in there was a sign 30 limit. Pulled in and decided to just park off to the side and get some sleep. Next morning unhitched the Jeep and drove into the camp ground with maybe 10 small sites but there was a small circular drive at the end. I did stop and get an early morning picture of the sun coming up over the lake. Went back to the coach and drove it down to the circular drive and did a 6 point turn to get around it. As I drove by one guy sleeping on a cot out in the open propped up and looked at thinking WT#.
So headed onto Lassen Volcanic NP. Yup, one of the two visitor centers closed, but I was able to watch the movie and go through the exhibits in the north entery. I could not drive through the park due to length but that was OK. Unhooked the Jeep and did the drive stopping along the way with appropriate picture taking. Didn't do any hiking, sore from the Mt St Helen fiasco. But the park was still a worthwhile stop.
Headed toward Reno and then onto Ely NV.
New Downloads
Frank McElroy
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