| |
Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
|
 |
RE: Need Advice on Generator
I have a PD9180 with wizard feeding a pair of GC-2 size (Interstate U-2200) batteries, With the batteries in the OH !!!! discharge state (Way too low) I have used a GENRAC 1000, to power the converter.
The Genrac 1000 is a TRUE 1000 watt generator, not 1000 peak, but 1000 sustained, in fact the one that someone stole from me could do a bit better than 1000 watts continous.
I would like to recommend at least 1500 watts of portable power for that converter.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/21/12 04:14pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: New Battery Question..
There are several things that need to be looked at,, I see folks have talked about how much power you need.
A pair of six volt in series (Standard GC-2) give 220-230 amp hours at the 20 hour rate. A single Group 24 about 75, Group 31, about 130 as I recall.
Now, Some folks (Myself included) Like the GC2 because we believe it is a DEEP CYCLE and we feel that DEEP CYCLE is better for "house" use. . Others either show why DEEP CYCLE are bettery (I won't bother doing that) or argue that there is no difference (I believe there is and I've researched a lot).
But the bottom line is this.
Was in camping world and they ahd a rack of "Deep cycle" not one of them had a 2 digit price tag
Sams sells six volt GC-2's for around 70 bucks each.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/21/12 04:11pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Color Code and Solar Install
The problem is clear to those of us crosstrained in both electrical and electronics. WHITE is neutral, which is bonded to ground at the service entrance in your house. So in a house white is indistinguishable from ground.
and more importantly, the Black wire is the HOT one.
Thus the folks who wire RV's and are trained in house type wiring think BLACK HOT and White as "Chassis ground"
Yes, as a certified electronics technician I know that's bass ackwards. but hey, I did not wire the RV.
The moral is "Grab your meter and TEST TEST TEST"
|
wa8yxm
|
05/21/12 04:00pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Bone Head Move of the Day
Do not have that kind of tile but ... Well, My wife just opens doors with no
thought of what may have shifted during transit.
Then, of course it is my fault she has to clean up a mess.
I tend to do so with great caution. (But even I forget on occasion)
(in which case I clean up the mess, or more often than not catch the item on teh way down).
Had two bottles (One metal one plastic) fall when I opened a cupboard today, of course I opened slowly so they only fell from top to bottom shelf. Then into my waiting hand.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/20/12 05:23pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Tivo DVR Which
I believe TiVo has a number of offerings that may work
I have Replay TV units. they need access to the internet, either a lifetime subscription (Which mine have) or a monthly fee. and they only do NTSC, not High Def, but .. Well, TiVo did not catch up to 'em till just before Replay went out of the manufacturing business.
I'd shop E-bay/Craig's list,
(my replays have been modified (Read that hacked) so they control my digital TV converters.. Very nice, We can record 2 shows at once (just like the DishNetwork dual recorder) and play them back on either Replay (Via my in-house LAN) again much like the Dish Dual. Very nice.. The Dish Dual was based on the Replay unit or so the law suit alleged)
|
wa8yxm
|
05/20/12 05:19pm |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Sometimes financing makes sense
There are 3 numbers you need to be concerned with, And one problem with all 3.
First is the interest rate on your loan. (NOTE: This is after adjusting for the tax deduction you may be able to take if any)
Second is the rate of inflation
Third is the rate of return (interest) on investments. (likewise tax adjusted)
If the loan interest (adjusted) is less than either of the other two it pays to finance.
If inflation is greater than the investment return, it pays to SPEND .. The only time investment pays is when the rate of return (adjusted) is greater than inflation... Which with a good investment program is most of the time.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/20/12 05:15pm |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Gauge of wire for paralleling 12 Volt Batteries?
Two answers, choose the larger wire.
First: Assume one battery will fail "High resistance" and thus the other battery will provide ALL the current.. Now the odds of this happening are low, but this is called "playing safe".
The recommendation for this is "The same size as the wire(s) attached to the existing battery (Go with the negative cable size, there is usually only one of those).
The other answer is "Standard starter cable" (That is usually 4ga) as that is very easily obtained, low cost, and comes with lugs already attached.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/20/12 05:06pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Shelf Life and AGM Question
The fresher the better, No matter what the battery type.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/20/12 05:04pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Furnace not putting out heat; fan works
I saw a thread like this in another place it seems.. I recently went through this with my furnace.. So I will post a sequence of events, Since this is from memory if I miss a step, Sorry.
T-Sat calls for heat (No problem here)
Control board starts blower (likewise)
Blower comes up to speed (Bad motor, clogged ducts, low battery voltage)
"Breeze" from blower closes sail switch (Dirty switch, bad switch, obstruction to sail movement)
Signaling control board (Bad board) to
Open gas solenoid (Bad solenoid, no gas, gas valve closed, excess flow valve set, obstructed orifice)
and starting Direct Spark Ignition if so equipped (Bad control board/ignition coil, wire, points, point spacing wrong) ignighting gas/air mix.
Thermocouple in flame area senses heat and signals control board "All is well" so flame continues (Bad thermocouple bad wire bad control board)
IN addition there is an "high temp cut off" thermostat, bad sensor (T-Stat), wire or connection.
IN my case it was a bad control board, New OEM 250 bucks, New Dinosaur Fan-50, delivered 108, new board has a much better "Quality feel" than OEM (NOTE: that is just the opinion of a certified electronics technician... ME). plus there is a safety device to prevent what **I** think happened to the OEM.
However, that was MY problem.. I listed several possible issues above, About the only thing I'm sure of is the Thermostat, it's working.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/18/12 09:45am |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Progressive Dynamics Power converter question
Ok, I will do the basic thing.
The PDI converter convertes 120 volt to 12vdc (Well 13-15 volt depending on the mode and those are rounded off). this should charge a battery in need, run lights, run the 12 volt side of things (Fridge uses 12 volts for it's computer, so does water heater, on my coach so do the air conditioners (many use it for control) however these devices do not RUN off 12 volts,, just their computers).
Now, as I recall the model you have has the fuse block (And possibly the 120 volt breakers) attached to the same chassis. This means that when it is plugged in to 120 volts it runs lights and such, When unplugged that is the battery's job.
IF there is no current on teh leads to the battery, then either the battery is fully charged, (not likely in your case) DEAD in "Very high resistance" mode, Missing, or disconnected.
YOu need to do a full trouble shoot of your 12 volt systems.
You may also (From what you posted) wish to upgrade, You can replace just the "Guts" of that converter with an improved unit, perhaps a 9245 (Last two numbers should be 1/3 the 20 hour amp hour rating of your batteries, or less).
|
wa8yxm
|
05/18/12 09:38am |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Victron BMV-600 - Which side of Shunt to put Chasis Ground?
The ground bus-bar **IS** the chassis ground. So yes, it goes on that side.
I do not know how that shunt is designed so I will cover both posibilities.
if the wires to the meter are fixed (attched at the factory in such a way you can not unattach them) install the shunt, Turn on some lights (No shore power or generator power) if the meter shows + amps, remove it and install it the other way around.
if the wires are attached to the shunt by you.. Hook it up and turn on some lights, if the meter as above,,,, If the meter shows + AMPS you did it wrong,
If it shows - AMPS (in both cases... Good job!
|
wa8yxm
|
05/18/12 09:30am |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Water Heater Full?
No is it as simple as turning on the hot water faucet and having water run or not run?
Almost. Almost
Make sure the bypass valves are set to SUMMER mode (Water flowing through the heater) then open a valve.
Normally, if the unit was winterized, you will get a whole bunch of air then a bit of sputter then solid flow.
If you get flow almost immed then either the valves are in bypass or the tank was already full, Short of pulling the drain plug (not a bad idea for other reasons) and letting it drain and re-fill, I know of now way to be sure.. Feeling the inlet/outlet lines MIGHT work. (Feeling the bypass line WILL work. Feel it, before you open a valve, then feel it as water flows (Feel the valve itself if you can) it will get cooler if water is flowing.)
|
wa8yxm
|
05/18/12 09:27am |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: I am thinking about becoming a teacher--looking for opinions
FIrst look to see if there are jobs now,, Far too many schools are scaling back as population changes.
Second: My daughter is a teacher, Now when she started teaching (just out of college) she had a small problem.. I can tell you that you will NOT have that problem. Her next teaching job was IN Las Vegas, and again she had the same issue (Class room disipline, control of the students) I suggested to her she shop for a teacher's aid, Since she was entitled under the terms of her employment to have one. and I suggested where she should shop.
(Across the road from her apartment.. that is, Nellis Air Force Base)
As I said, YOU won't have that problem.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/18/12 09:22am |
Around the Campfire
|
|
RE: Amazon Order Cancelled
One thing you can do if you wish is to activate "Full Headers" There is a ton of stuff in the header, some of it may be faked though.
I get a message like that and first thing i check is where it came from and does the "Advertised" return address match the one in the hidden part of the header.
To date.. They have never matched.
If the message is genuine, they will match and they will both be AMAZON.COM.
Last one I got was a notice I'd won a million dollars on a sweeps I do enter. However the addresses did not match.
When I forewarded the E-mail, headers and all, to the genuine Customer Service dept at the sweeps sponsor, they confirmed it was fraudlent, Oh, the addresses on that (Confirmation message) matched.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/17/12 04:04am |
Around the Campfire
|
|
RE: Window 7. Can't run back up
Why not use a non-windows disc imaging program such as Acronis True Image?
Many external hard drives are shipped with something like "DiscSpinner's Back Up" (A generic name I just made up) which is really a re-branded and slightly modified version of Acronis True Image ((If the files it makes are called TIB, (True Image Backup) that is a clue) the modification is to make it work ONLY with "DiscSpinner's" drives as the destination for the image.
I have been using Acronis for years, Saved my data.. Many times. I have a very dead computer not far from me (hard drive physical crash) and guess what.. When I restore I will loose 3 files ,all well backed up elsewhere so even that loss will be short lived.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/16/12 07:10pm |
Technology Corner
|
|
RE: Global Warming is Here--Positive Proof
No, normally I have a completly different line I take on Global warming discussions.
But... What can I say except: You got that straight!!!!!!!
Good one.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/16/12 07:04pm |
Around the Campfire
|
|
RE: Help me find a chair base hold-down, please
Considerations: You said it is a 3/4 or 1" Pipe base.. Ok, there are several different styles of pipe clamp. On this page: http://www.erico.com/products/cdmoz_dom_pipe_clip.asp there is a grid of different pipe clamps
The 2nd clamp in the top row
Use a bolt you can hand tighten (The kind with the really big plastic heads)
Or you can use one of the other clamps and two bolts or studs with wing nuts or.. Well many possible solutions.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/16/12 12:25pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: A&E Door Awning Motor
Have not tried to do it, Have seen it done.
Basically you remove a couple of screws, drill out 4 pop rivets, unplug the thing and pull it out.. Replacement is the reverse process. Very easy.
NOTE: Check your controller.. Here is the short story.
2 sites over from me the poor man came "HELP, My awning won't roll up" (He has same A&E I have) so I went over, and between the manual and my bag of goodies we determined the motor was bad.. Rolled it up by hand (Breaking a wire in teh process, no way around that) and called Rachel the fix it girl (Well Woman).
She came out and re-did every test I'd done, came to the same conclusion I had, and showed me how to remove it. Which is how I know.
She got the new $400 motor in and installed it and almost immed got a call back from the owner.. The 2nd time she tested the controller.
It was not shutting off like it should so it was burning the motors out.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/16/12 12:19pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Michigan Body Repair
http://www.michigan-business.com/K-D-Michae-Ypsilanti-biz2186122.htm Is where General RV sent my rig for repair.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/16/12 12:14pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: leaking gas tank
There is a product you can get at the hardware or auto store.. "Seal All" (TM)
Looks like old fashion DUCO cement from back in the days before folks started sinffing glue to fry their brains. (This is your brain on drugs).
Follow the instructions and it works,, I know.. Also seals a tent, DURING A RAIN STORM.. (Somethign which many find amazing).
Again, I know.
Fantastic stuff.
Following that run your tank as empty as your dare and visit the local gas-tank repair place. They can fix it right.
|
wa8yxm
|
05/16/12 12:13pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
