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Date Posted |
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RE: reefer
Why do I have to keep re lighting my fridge in my rig? I'm good on propane and after four or five tries it will usually stay lit. Any suggestions? Thanks
Are you are holding the button for 60 seconds after you get a flame going (in order to get the thermocouple up to temperature), as per the lighting instructions?
Maybe you could post exactly how you are lighting it and under what conditions it goes out.
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Chuck and Di
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06/23/11 02:53am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Umbilical Cord For Camper to Truck
There are a variety of different connectors in use by different manufacturers - both of campers and trucks. Without specific information on model and year of both truck and camper, your question might as well be "how long is a piece of string?". Worse yet, somebody may have done something "custom" on your install.
Measure and count pins of both ends, or go to an RV dealer that can do it for you.
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Chuck and Di
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06/21/11 06:37am |
Truck Campers
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RE: I don't get it (electric)
Given it was installed by a dealer, and more likely by a trained monkey employed by the dealer, the circuit could be almost anything AND almost anything with errors. You will have to trace all the wires to get a complete circuit. Your best bet is to ask the dealer for a circuit diagram of what they did, then if it makes sense, hunt the error - if indeed there is one.
Shipping it with everything connected and powered up certainly shows they are not the brightest bulbs in the box since the various alarms on a new camper (CO, propane, etc.) will pancake pretty much any battery combination in a couple weeks without a recharge, so you are right to be suspicious with the truck flat and the camper fine.
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Chuck and Di
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06/12/11 05:59am |
Truck Campers
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RE: gas detector
The detectors have a limited life. They start going off with things like cooking smells when they get old. The one in the stick house got us all worried last thanksgiving - it was about 5 years old.
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Chuck and Di
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06/10/11 07:52pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Disaster strikes truck camper
That's very sad. I hope you get it fixed soon and without a lot of financial pain.
You should not beat yourself up over the way you had it parked. These things can be used off the truck, so having it on the truck, not tied down, and partly supported by the truck should be a complete non-issue. It's more likely just the timing that makes it look like there's a relationship. Rot is more likely the issue. At least nobody got hurt.
Good luck with the repair!
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Chuck and Di
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06/08/11 05:15am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Rancho 9000's not adjusting...
It may be that my camper is fairly light, but when I first got the Ranchos and played with the settings, I ended up on 7 to have minimal sway but still keep from breaking dishes on washboard roads. This also produced a nice stiff ride for handling when empty without feeling every little bump. So they stayed at 7 for years without adjustment.
For me, the big advantage of adjustment was finding exactly the right stiffness for the truck (and for me) through experimentation in the first couple months. I'd hate to buy non-adjustables and find them too stiff or too soft, and be unhappy about it for years, since they're a little expensive to replace as a science experiment.
Would I do it again? Absolutely, on every truck I own going forward if I can!
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Chuck and Di
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06/07/11 06:11am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Canada trip
June is the month to avoid if you don't want to feed the flying insects. I think blackflies are worse than mosquitos. By mid July both have settled down somewhat.
There are lots of places to fish - it depends how far you want to drive. You will need a license in any case. In Ontario it's pricy for non-residents Fishing Ontario cost
Walleye are well distributed. Pick an area that looks interesting and we can probably suggest something within 20-30 miles of that target.
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Chuck and Di
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05/25/11 05:36am |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Ceiling Interior LED's
Small side note-Lighting in the 3200K-4100K(kelvin) colors are proven to cause less eye fatigue. A lot of offices and places that want a true light to match the natural daylight use these colors for their employees. The 2500K lights are generally the color of regular incandescent bulbs, it's called comfort color lighting. The yellower/red light is in the lower kelvin temperature, the "white" light is in the 3000K to 4000K range,the bluer the light the higher the Kelvin temperature. Hope this helps someone to choose the color they want.
I think you'll find lots of data suggesting the opposite is true as well. (less eye fatigue at about 5000K, than at the old yellowish 2700K)
We've all grown up with the yellowish incandescent bulbs (~2700K) , so that is what we tend to be comfortable with. Offices typically use 4000K to 5000K, which is the sweet spot for fluorescent bulbs. The stuff that looks bluish, is well over 6000K.
Natural sunlight is broad spectrum, containing all of these colors.
There are a couple more points to consider. LEDs tend to be more efficient at cooler color temperatures (bigger numbers), so you get more lumens per watt at say 5000K compared to say 3000K. And, as a double wammy, your eyes are actually more sensitive to these temperatures in dimmer light.
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Chuck and Di
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05/13/11 04:18am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Ceiling Interior LED's
How many Lumens does your LEDs put out?
How many Lumens did you fluorescents put out?
That's what you need to compare...
Jim.
Actually, what you need to compare is Lux measured on whatever you are trying to see. Lumens pumped where you don't need them are wasted. But even if you were to make that mistaken comparison, modern LEDs output about 30% more lumens per watt than CFL. Couple that with the ability to put the light where you need it, and there's a huge improvement. A well designed fixture provinging the same level of light on your table, for instance, will use 1.5W if LED, 13W if fluorescent, and 60 W if incandescent.
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Chuck and Di
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05/11/11 04:40am |
Truck Campers
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RE: To overdrive or not to overdrive...
A different opinion:
I made 2 successive trips to a location over 1000 miles away. I was curious about this question at the time, so I made the first trip with overdrive locked out, and the second trip with it enabled. Contrary to what someone stated earlier, on my vehicle the torque converter locks in third or fourth depending on the tow/haul button. The button also changes the shift pattern, and forces shifts at specific speeds, rather than the position of my foot.
Anyway, with my style of driving, I got 1.5 MPG better with OD locked out. I thought it might be that with OD, even though RPM's are lower, the engine works harder to turn the wheels, and with the wind resistance of the camper that translates into worse mileage. But whatever the reason, my measured results says to lock out OD with the camper on. Of course, if it's a long downhill I might let it switch temporarily to lower RPM's while I'm just coasting anyway.
YMMV (get it?)
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Chuck and Di
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05/03/11 05:06am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Wilson Electronics Cell Booster for TC
If you are having problems with weak signals causing slow data rates, an amplifier should solve the problem for you. If you travel to areas with no service, be aware you can't amplify something that is not there (1,000x0=0), and if the issue is noise, an amplifier magnifies that along with the signal too.
If you have some basic skills and patience, a satellite system does not need to be expensive. I have used a system with the dish on a tripod many times - you can get going for a couple hundred dollars in hardware and about $59 / month for the service. There are drawbacks, including the amount you can download, but you don't need a multi-thousand dollar roof mounted auto pointing antenna to play this game.
Overall, I think a 3G/4G solution is better if it's available. But if you can see the southern sky, satellite works well pretty much anywhere.
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Chuck and Di
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04/30/11 03:58am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Cord to plug Lance into standard Ford bumper plug?
Just make your own - that's what I did. When I started also pulling a trailer, I modified it to include a socket near the truck end so the trailer can plug in too.
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Chuck and Di
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04/29/11 04:05am |
Truck Campers
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RE: How long should my batteries last when it is 30 degrees?
I've spent a weekend at -5F (-20C) with a single battery with no issue. My camper is poorly insulated, and the furnace ran a lot - maybe every 15-20 minutes. I think you should start hunting for phantom loads.
Before disconnecting the propane and CO detectors, they would flatten my battery over a weekend on their own. Refrigerator is another possibility... you don't need it in those temperatures.
There is no way a pair of batteries, regardless of group, should get pancaked by running the furnace only for a night, even at -50. Especially new ones!
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Chuck and Di
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04/23/11 04:17am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Put camper on new truck - can't power down
A 30A relay might be light. I have fused the contacts on a 40A relay in the past. Right now, I'm using a 50A switch to my house battery, and I time closing and opening it to limit surges.
That depends on the wire size for the charging system. I originally charged with the factory wiring and it never blew the stock 30A fuse. The wires were both 12 gauge so it couldn't carry enough current.
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Sorry, Matthew_B, but you are completely wrong. The size of the wire does not limit the amount of current it can carry (it's resistance and the volt drop across it does), although the gauge does help determine it's resistance. In the case of your alternator at 13.8V, and a battery discharged to 11.8V, 10 feet of 12 gauge wire will let 126 Amps flow. It will get pretty toasty, but the current will flow all the same.
If you never blew your 30A fuse you were simply lucky - or never flattened your house battery all that much.
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Chuck and Di
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04/01/11 04:26am |
Truck Campers
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RE: OK Truck Camper have a good laugh at my question
Not all campers are built with the floor strong enough for use off the truck. If the floor is O.K., the jacks are fine for a few hundred extra pounds. Tipping in not a risk on big heavy campers, but might be on a small light weight unit, particularly if it's designed to fit inside a short box. It's low risk, but not impossible.
Bottom line - you'll get a wide range of answers here because there are a wide range of campers. You'll need to supply more info on the unit in question to get a better quality answer.
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Chuck and Di
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04/01/11 04:07am |
Truck Campers
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RE: antenna electronics
Antenna amplifiers that worked for old TV will work just fine for digital TV too. Hook it to the new TV the same way as to the old TV. If you are installing from scratch, and don't have the instructions, try Googling the manufacturer and model number to find the manual.
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Chuck and Di
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04/01/11 03:58am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Put camper on new truck - can't power down
It seems like GM chose to leave the truck "charge" line on all the time. I had to install a 30A relay in the charge line of mine that is activated only while the truck ignition switch is on. I suspect your truck is wired the same. You might be able to pull a fuse to disconnect the truck "charge" line from the camper but that would be a pain.
A 30A relay might be light. I have fused the contacts on a 40A relay in the past. Right now, I'm using a 50A switch to my house battery, and I time closing and opening it to limit surges.
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Chuck and Di
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03/31/11 05:26am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Studs on tires
Studs are not legal in Ontario, Canada
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Chuck and Di
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03/31/11 05:14am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Do you have trouble getting out of bed at night? Ideas?
Good luck trying to change the tradition. The source of the terms is simple. Maps have north at the top of the page. When you first enter most TCs you are facing the front. If you wanted to draw a layout relative to what you see of the inside, the front would be at the top of the page. You've made a "map of the inside" with the front just where north would be on a normal map. It's tongue-in-cheek, and nothing to do with actual direction.
I can only assume those that "don't get it" either have never drawn a map, or are part of the GPS generation that have screens set to have the top be whatever direction they are facing. (My wife loves that feature - no more trying to rotate a large paper map to decide if the next turn is left or right. It was especially hard after we started using the laptop - it's heavy to hold upside down)
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Chuck and Di
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03/29/11 03:25am |
Truck Campers
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RE: LED bulbs in camper
Moths are attracted by UV light, and high quality LEDs have a tight spectrum, and don't use phosphor, so they don't emit any UV. You need to look carefully though - based on the pictures, I think all of the bulbs being discussed in this thread use phosphor, so they will attract moths just like your old lights. Note also this only applies to moths - mosquitos are attracted to the CO2 you breathe out and will still come around until you stop exhaling. Unfortunately, stopping breathing takes most of the fun out of camping.
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Chuck and Di
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03/18/11 06:37am |
Truck Campers
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