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RE: Acutrac II plus step by step instructions
This is how I use the AccutracIII+ for 1000.2 or 1000.4 eastern or western arc.
1. Make sure battery is fully charged. The triple lnb uses a lot of power....The batteries in my Acutrac III Plus would only run the LNB on our 1000.2 dish for a few seconds.
When I asked about this on the Satellite Guys forum, I was told that that LNB draws too much power for those batteries.
Connecting the cable from the receiver to the Acutrac provides power to the device, so the batteries aren't needed. I never bother charging them any more.
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Dave From AK
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03/03/12 09:41am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Sirius XM Radio Rates & Fees
Because they dropped one of the two NPR streams a couple weeks ago, I called and canceled the subscription on the radio that doesn't have a lifetime subscription.
Today I received an email offering me six months for $4.17/month. Maybe you can get it for that on a long term basis by canceling for a couple weeks a couple times a year.
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Dave From AK
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02/24/12 06:01pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Dry Camp / Fill Freshwater Tank?
Our coach does not have a gravity fill. I use a Waterboy
I picked it up in Quartzsite in 2007 and have pumped many hundreds of gallons with it. It collapses into a small package and fits easily in the back of the Explorer when filled. Made of very heavy material.
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Dave From AK
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02/21/12 07:04pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Ear buds for use with Android phone - music and call
I use this Bluetooth headset: Samsung WEP870
They work well with the Droid in my pants pocket.
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Dave From AK
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02/21/12 06:58pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Verizon 3G service
We have been using Verizon cellular data service for 10 years. In general, with an EVDO Rev. A device (all the current 3G stuff) we get download speeds of 800 Kbps to 2.1 Mbps. It's quite acceptable.
Of course, there are locations where service is poor and speeds are slower, but it is almost always fast enough for web surfing. Even during the RV show week in Quartzsite this year it was usually around 1.0 Mbps, a big improvement over previous years.
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Dave From AK
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02/21/12 06:53pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: "Free" moble Hotspot App for Android
One thing to keep in mind when using something like this is that "IF" the company wanted to find out if you are using your phone for tethering they can.
The WiFi hotspot is creating a separate IP network that your computer's connect too, the phone use NAT to take those devices and kick it out on the external IP assigned to your phone. In your ethernet frame you have a layer 2 MAC Address assigned to the end device. If someone wanted to sniff out traffic at a "NOC" level they very well could find a MAC address assigned to a device (wireless card for your PC) that isn't built into the phone and hold a pretty good argument that you have breached your contract.Thanks for correcting the myth that if you just "fly under the radar" the carriers can't detect tethering.
There are easier ways for the carriers to detect tethering, though. They could look at the user agent in your browser traffic. (The latest release of PdaNet attempts to mask tethering by spoofing the user agent.) They can modify the NAI on your phone, which Verizon routinely does, sending tethered traffic to a different Verizon server. I would be very surprised if there weren't many other ways obvious to folks who know a lot more about communications protocols than I do.
After ten years of tethering every Verizon phone I have ever had, I have concluded that they just don't care.
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Dave From AK
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02/18/12 09:30am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Can I receive Dish Network in Canada?
When we have driven back up to Alaska, our roof-top under-a-dome dish fails pretty quickly after leaving the Lesser 48.
Our Dish 500 antenna works up until around Prince George.
After that, we need to use our .87 meter dish. Very often, though, mountains and trees block the Dish Network satellites because they are so low in the sky up there.
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Dave From AK
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02/18/12 09:14am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Pro Pressure TPMS Sending Units
Gents,
I just checked out their site and found this:
http://www.pressureprosystem.com/
I'm not sure what's happening but, according to their site, they might be shutting down the business. Might be worth taking a look.
ScottThat's just one of their retailers.
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Dave From AK
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02/13/12 09:07pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Catastrophic Failure of Hydro-Hot
My guess is that you finally got the work done by someone who really understood the system -- when it is tuned correctly both systems will work very well.(JMHO)
In the years we have used and enjoy our HH we have found it works best when properly tuned up.
BOL,
There is no "tuning" an Aqua/Hydro-Hot system. The only adjustment is setting the electrode gap, which is done at each annual maintenance.
Actually there is some tuning that can be performed. It is the air mixture and fuel pressure. These must be correct to get a complete odor and smoke free burn.
Mike.Thanks. I didn't know that.
How are those adjusted?
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Dave From AK
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02/13/12 09:05pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Catastrophic Failure of Hydro-Hot
My guess is that you finally got the work done by someone who really understood the system -- when it is tuned correctly both systems will work very well.(JMHO)
In the years we have used and enjoy our HH we have found it works best when properly tuned up.
BOL,Ours were maintained religiously. I did the annual maintenance myself, except one year when I had hand surgery; I had Roger do it that year. He is the only person other than myself who ever worked on our Hydro-Hot, and he had to replace a leaking stir pump on one occasion and a failed coil on another. Not exactly trouble-free.
There is no "tuning" an Aqua/Hydro-Hot system. The only adjustment is setting the electrode gap, which is done at each annual maintenance.
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Dave From AK
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02/13/12 06:13pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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Catastrophic Failure of Hydro-Hot
Our Hydro-Hot started blowing a lot of white smoke and coolant was disappearing. I pressure tested the system, and there were no coolant leaks. Strange.
Roger Berke (Roger's web site) suggested that coolant might be leaking into the combustion chamber. I pulled the Webasto burner, and, sure enough, the combustion chamber was fouled and corroded. According to Aqua-Hot (and Roger) the entire unit needed to be replaced, again. Nobody knows why it happened.
Roger Berke replaced the Hydro-Hot with a new AHE-450-DE4 Aqua-Hot. We met up in Quartzsite for him to do the work. He ordered the new unit and picked it up himself in Blythe (saving me hundreds in shipping cost), and it was waiting for me when we got to Quartzsite. He started working on it the day we arrived. He did the entire job at our site in an RV park there.
The new AHE-450-DE4 Aqua-Hot is a better unit than the old Hydro-Hot. It is much quieter; we can no longer hear a jet engine noise inside the coach when the diesel burner fires up. This is a “low emission” unit, and it really does have much less diesel exhaust stink than the two Hydro-Hots we had. Internally, it uses the same relatively inexpensive pumps for circulating pumps, engine preheat pump, and stir pump. After replacing a $500 stir pump in the Hydro-Hot, I appreciate that. It is a “zero pressure” system, so there is no pressure in the coolant lines that run to all the heat exchangers.
The only downside I see compared to the Hydro-Hot is that the fuel lines inside the unit are metal rather than rubber. That means that when I do annual maintenance I will need to pinch off and disconnect the fuel lines, which was not necessary with the Hydro-Hot.
Roger relocated the fuel filter for me, so now I'll be able to change that much, much more easily during annual maintenance.
Replacing the entire unit with a new one was an expensive proposition. I sure hope this new improved Aqua-Hot last longer than the previous two did. I am grateful that Roger was available to do the work. The man knows everything there is to know about these systems, and he sells Aqua-Hot parts for less than Aqua-Hot does.
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Dave From AK
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02/13/12 10:45am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Pro Pressure TPMS Sending Units
You need to send PressurePro senders to the vendor and pay $35 each for replacements when the batteries die. The batteries are not user-replaceable.
Our PressurePro system is over five years old. One or more senders started giving a "low battery" warning, but they were all still reporting in properly. While we were in Quartzsite last month, I bought an entire new system from another vendor for $400. It displays tire temp as well as pressure, and the senders use batteries that you can get for $1-2 each at WalMart, online, etc.
I put the PressurePro system, with 10 sensors, on eBay.
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Dave From AK
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02/13/12 10:32am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Aladdin Monitoring System
Good Morning
Dick
Did not know there was a reset button. Where is it? I am good at pushing buttons.On our coach it's in the compartment above the driver's window. Lord knows where Monaco put it on yours.
If you can turn your Aladdin on and off, though, the reset switch probably won't help. It's just a physical on/off power switch for the Aladdin system, useful when the system freezes and won't shut off from the joystick.
I would check the physical connections on the various Aladdin boxes. They are scattered around our coach. In ours, one is behind the panel where the reset switch is located, one is under the bed, and one is next to the black and gray water tanks.
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Dave From AK
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02/01/12 05:45am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Which TPMS to buy?
I could be mistaken about the monitor/off/sensor/sleep function but the fact remains that the sensors work from a standstill every morning. Battery life is at five years and still going on all 6 sensors.That's excellent service life.
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Dave From AK
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01/30/12 06:44am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Which TPMS to buy?
The EEZRV system appears to be identical to the TST 507 series, except for a different monitor button configuration.You're right, the two systems have identical-appearing tire sensors, sensor lock wrenches, and window mounts. The EEZRV system does not have a provision for an additional antenna, though, and it looks like the TST does. Both sell repeaters.
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Dave From AK
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01/29/12 05:32pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Which TPMS to buy?
...
Is there a reason that you turn off the monitor when you arrive at your destination?
Yes, if left on, the sensors will continue to transmit and wear the batteries down prematurely. THAT is when the sensors go to sleep, when the monitor is off...I don't believe that's true. It would require two-way communication between the sensors and the monitor.
The sensors in the Pressure Pro and EEZRV TPMS systems both transmit as long as they are installed on the valve stems. The only way to shut them off is to unscrew them. It sounds like the TST works the same way, since you get valid readings in the morning before traveling.
The TireTraker, SmarTire, Hawkshead and others have sensors that go to sleep when the tire is at rest for some number of minutes.
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Dave From AK
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01/29/12 04:12pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Which TPMS to buy?
...This is the only system I could find that has replaceable batteries and sensors that don't go to sleep. I expect that the sensor batteries will have a shorter lifespan for that reason, but the vendor says they will last about two years. We'll see.
I have the original TST system with the non-replaceable batteries. I turn the dash unit off when I arrive at a destination. In the AM, I turn it back on and within a couple of minutes, I get an accurate pressure reading on all six tires without driving an inch.
Five years and the batteries are still going strong.Thanks for the correction. I looked for the TST dealer here at the Big Tent in Quartzsite and couldn't find them, even though they were listed as vendors here.
Is there a reason that you turn off the monitor when you arrive at your destination?
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Dave From AK
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01/29/12 03:53pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Which TPMS to buy?
"SmarTire products are no longer available in the recreational vehicle market and the company has ceased support for this product category."
http://www.smartire.com/rv
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Dave From AK
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01/29/12 03:50pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Which TPMS to buy?
Trap:
As I posted, my Pressure Pro system is six years old. I never turned off the dash monitor unless it was going to get very cold at night, which would sometimes cause the pressure in my toad tires to fall far enough to set off the alarm, usually around 3:00 AM.
Turning off the monitor has no effect on battery life in the sensors, so I left it on all the time, other than those cold nights.
The EEZRV TPMS works the same way as the Pressure Pro. The sensors are on any time they are screwed into the tires.
I was not unhappy with the Pressure Pro system. After six years, sensors are starting to fail, which is better than I expected. I can't see paying $350 for new sensors when for $50 more I could get a system with replaceable batteries. It happens to measure tire temperature as well, which is a plus.
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Dave From AK
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01/29/12 02:47pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Which TPMS to buy?
I bought the EEZRV TPMS at the rally here in Quartzsite a couple hours ago. $400 for a ten-sensor system. The batteries were failing on our six-year-old Pressure Pro system, and it was going to cost $350 plus shipping for replacement sensors, plus I would be without a TPMS in the meantime.
Obviously, I can't provide useful experience with the EEZRV TPMS, but I can tell you why I bought it. It has replaceable batteries in the sensors, and the sensors do not go to sleep when the coach is parked. That means that, like the Pressure Pro, I won't have to wait until I drive for a while in the morning for the sensors to tell me I have a tire that went flat overnight.
This is the only system I could find that has replaceable batteries and sensors that don't go to sleep. I expect that the sensor batteries will have a shorter lifespan for that reason, but the vendor says they will last about two years. We'll see.
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Dave From AK
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01/29/12 02:14pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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