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Forum
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RE: Residential fridges and remote camping???
I asked Lowes before I bought mine. They told me they will honor the warrenty no matter what.
We just returned from our winter trip. 5k miles on some of the worst roads I've seen. No issues.
If I were doing it again the only thing I would change is having them flip the doors. Bit of a pain in the rear.
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vcallaway
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04/04/12 08:58am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Residential fridges and remote camping???
I think I would like a residentual fridge, but just thinking of replacing eight 6 volt batteries at around $160.00 a piece every five years, and adding another inverter at $1800.00 more? I think I would prefer to stay with my Norcold.
I am NOT going shopping with you :B
My 4 GC batteries at Costco were about $90 ea. I did not have a core to trade in so they dinged me for that.
00 battery cables, disconnect, fuse, a continuous duty relay to charge off the alternator and a 30A plug to connect the entire coach came to about $200.
New bracket to mount the batteries was a 12 pack and a couple of burgers.
Inverter was a 2k Xantrex ProWattSW. Just under $400 with tax and extended warrenty. A smaller one would have been fine. Heaviest draw to date was 850w when the wife forgot to turn off the electric heater.
So roughly a grand plus $400 for the refrigerator. Less than buying a new propane one.
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vcallaway
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04/02/12 12:27pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Residential fridges and remote camping???
Weight of the residential refrigerators is a very real issue for manufacturers as well as individuals who install them. (snip)
My 10cu ft Whirlpool weighs significantly less than the Dometic it replaced. Was also about 25% of the cost. Switching to 4 6v batteries and a 2k sine-wave inverter pushed the cost back up but increased versatility.
I like pulling into a rest area, turning on the sat dish and HD tv. Even running the cpap all night, the wife forgetting to put the bedroom TV in sleep mode and furnace going I am still over 12v in the morning.
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vcallaway
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04/01/12 09:00pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Santa Fe and Alburquerque NM Campground Recommendations
I can highly recommend High Desert RV Park in Albuquerque. We stayed there for a month in Jan/Feb. Very nice folks running it. The full timers there were all nice folks. Clean and well run.
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vcallaway
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03/08/12 08:04pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Flat screen TV without HD Sat Dish,is it worth it?
We have found that over the air broadcast HD is better quality than the HD from Dishnetwork.
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vcallaway
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02/15/12 05:02pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Looking for a new Solar Charge Controller...
Ditto on the MPPT 15. It has a 200w max and is not very large.
I would recommend NOT buying the display. Just the controller and temp sensor. Go with the Trimetric TM-2025RV instead.
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vcallaway
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02/14/12 07:31am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Pure Sine Wave Inverter??
I can tell you one thing that absolutely wont work on MSW. That is X10 products.
I had some X10 remotes on lights in my home. I also have an automatic battery backup for my lights and some outlets that uses a MSW inverter. First time I tested it EVERY X10 remote went up in smoke. Set off the smoke detectors and I'm just glad I wired it properly and the breakers tripped.
I have a bunch of different MSW inverters. They mostly get put in semi-trucks to run laptops and such. My experience is that they are highly inefficient when it comes to power things with transformers and they are noisy. A laptop that draws 60 watts on grid will require a 300 watt MSW before it will charge the battery. And then it will run hot.
IMHO a small MSW inverter is wasted money. I have a box full of wasted money that is going to be in the next garage sale.
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vcallaway
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02/14/12 07:18am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Flat screen TV without HD Sat Dish,is it worth it?
Another thing to add. There is absolutely no difference between an $80 HDMI cable and an $8 HDMI cable.
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vcallaway
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02/14/12 07:03am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Flat screen TV without HD Sat Dish,is it worth it?
When I replaced the front TV is put a 2x4 vertical in the center of the cabinet and bought this locking mount from camping world. It was a few bucks more than the cheapie mounts but I think it was worth it.
I just pull the little pin and and pull the TV out. The cabinet is now usable space. It is where all the little plugin chargers go.
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vcallaway
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02/13/12 06:35am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Pure Sine Wave Inverter??
I've used both and they both work.
My Vizio TV's use a brick transformer to convert wall power to DC. Those bricks were getting pretty hot on MSW. My educated guess is that heat will shorten the life of them.
PSW inverters have come WAY down in price. Camping World quite often has the PROwatt SW 600 for less than $200. That will power anything short of a microwave.
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vcallaway
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02/13/12 06:30am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Motorized Tilt for Solar Panels
I've been thinking about this as well.
I'm thinking a couple of struts like what is one a hatchback and a linear actuator. The struts would keep the actuator from doing too much heavy lifting.
Another option would be a screw drive with limit switches. Hardware would be cheaper but would take more engineering.
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vcallaway
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02/12/12 08:33am |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: Additional charge for electricity
Were we are at in New Mexico they have two weekly rates. One is electric included and one is metered. The rates and conditions were clearly posted on the wall when we entered the office.
I imagine that in places that get really hot A/C usage could become a real power issue.
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vcallaway
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02/09/12 07:39am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Which is better: Higher or lower volt solar panels?
I agree with pianotuna.
The issue of shade is not really as important voltage differential. MPPT charge controllers are most efficient at 2 times battery voltage. If you are running 24v panels run them in parallel.
It is real easy to to think about going in series to increase voltage and reduce wire size. Fine for grid tied systems but a false economy for an RV.
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vcallaway
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02/08/12 07:45am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Rules Regarding Carrying Ammo
You are not a commercial carrier. You can transport any legal goods you own. Your moving company cannot even transport your propane tanks.
You are not going to have any issues with Oregon.
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vcallaway
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02/07/12 07:18am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Dish network
You don't get the local channels. You can however connect an antenna to the receiver.
Joraz: Which hard drive did you buy? I'm thinking about adding one to my 211.
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vcallaway
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02/05/12 07:56am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Law & Order in the Federal Park System
Sounds like the guy had a bad attitude. She simply applied an attitude adjustment :)
Giving a false name makes you automatically suspect. People who lie are usually wanted. She acted appropriately in my opinion.
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vcallaway
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01/31/12 07:57am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: square head screws vs phillips head
I prefer square.
Lowes has a pretty good stock of general wood screws. I also like using the hardy board screws. They have teeth on the taper edge of the head for self counter sinking.
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vcallaway
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01/31/12 07:50am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Residential refrigerators vs absorption
Our question is has anyone placed a fridge in an open space and how did you secure it to the floor for traveling.
Mine has casters in the back. I drilled a couple of holes and ran some lag bolts in.
I thought about making a brace to go across the top but never got to it. So far the refrigerator has not moved at all. We have been on some VERY rough roads. I used some expanding foam across the bottom to seal it. The sides and top were cut to fit.
We keep a roll of blue painters tape handy. When we head out the DW just tapes the doors. We only had a door come open once and that was because a bag of ice in the freezer shifted and pushed it open. After that we just use the tape.
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vcallaway
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01/27/12 02:08pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: increasing psi causing rough ride
Looks to me like the $2100 would have been better spent on good air ride seats.
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vcallaway
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01/27/12 08:27am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Emergency Kit- canned food ?
We carry some Mountain House freeze dried meals in our kits. Don't weigh much.
Also have a water bottle with built in filter system that makes anything other than salt water safe to drink.
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vcallaway
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01/24/12 02:31pm |
Around the Campfire
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