Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Class C Motorhomes: B+ motorhomes

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Topic: B+ motorhomes

Posted By: burlmart on 08/31/09 04:54pm

Artum Snowbird wrote:

In any case, please do consider if the metal wiring inside the cover has been overheated, it must be replaced completely. Overheated copper does not have similiar properties of conduction and resistance as good copper.

Mike

Mike, I see what you are saying, as I guess the electrons will not flow the same in copper of a new form (heat tempered). I cannot say for sure that my plug ever OVERheated, and I may have just felt it one hot day and jumped to a simplistic thought that, "Aha, that must be what caused the cord to come out of the plug head."

But the plug prongs show nothing, and it occurred to me (after fooling with long waterhoses) that my long cord may be doing a one-way 'racheting' in response to the flexural strains of coiling./uncoiling it, as I said here...

burlmart wrote:

Plugged the cord into adapter and house outlet and ran the AC - there seems to be no noticeable heat issue.

I will monitor the plug heat at a cg.

If I do determine a 'cool' plug at cg power stations, I will be inclined to guess that the cord pulls away from the plug due to all the uneven 'bunching' that might occur when winding and unwinding all or partial lengths of the 25 ft. powewr cord. Maybe not related to heat at all. Will let you know.

What do you think?

2005 Trail Lite 213 B-Plus w/ 6.0 Chevy

Posted By: cheeze1 on 08/31/09 05:25pm

I think the determining factor is just how hot did it get? If it smoked and smelled like my 'mishap" [emoticon]

I would worry. If the plug was hot to the touch and the prongs are not discolored, I would relax.

Chas Morristown, NJ
Trail Lite
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Posted By: Gene in NE on 09/16/09 08:02pm

Just retrieved the unit from the storage building and preparing for our last scheduled use this calendar year. We'll be pulling the trailer with motorcycle inside again. The motorcycle makes the best "toad" possible. Our last trip, the trailer served as extra space for all those "just got to have" items we found at an estate auction. It seems like the summer just flew by this year, we did go on 5 mini-vacations and one 2,000 mile one. Just rambling about our RV'ing season.

Any trips anyone wants to share? Our trips were to join friends in different regions, not much sight seeing.

2002 Trail-Lite Model 211-S w/5.7 Chevy (click View Profile)
Gene

Posted By: cheeze1 on 09/16/09 09:57pm

My friend the Electrical Engineer checked out my fixes of my electrical panel today and proclaimed all is well. Some screws needed tightening beyond the amount of torque I applied. He also thought the Progressive Industries Surge Protection unit was a good idea, so I just ordered teh 30 amp one with remote monitor from rvupgrade.com.

Posted By: birdbybird on 09/17/09 07:16am

I'm in PA on my way to meet up with a group from RV Women's Forum....The dogs are trying to remember this, "I have to potty on lead," part and I'm discovering all the things that need to be restored in different places....You never know for sure until you actually use stuff day to day....... I am hoping to be gone for over a weeek and get back to Ohio just in time to make the drive up to Nick Russell's Gypsy Rally in Celina! I've been waiting for my fall drive away....all spring and summer... Where ever you plan on going, safe travels.

Christine

22ft BT Gulfstream MH
Chev 350 engine
and the four furry companions">erschel, Stuart, Blondie and Remi

Posted By: Gene in NE on 09/17/09 05:51pm

cheeze1 wrote:

Great information from a person who makes a living doing electrical work. Makes me wonder if there is a specification on the amount of torque? I merely twist to the amount I think is enough not to loosen and not so much that I would ruin the screw head.

birdbybird wrote:

It seems like many of our trips are to meet up with a group. Makes it more interesting to flock with birds of the same feather. ..or something like that. Sounds like you have some traveling left this summer. The best of luck in your travels.

Posted By: cheeze1 on 09/17/09 06:11pm

Gene, I think he tightened them a lot more than I thought was enough. I mean, he didn't 'bear down' but he did snug them much more than I had. I recommend going thru all of yours. There are aluminum parts in there, and we all know what happened with 'revolutionary' aluminum wiring back in the early 70's. Of course we have movement, torquing and vibration to deal with.

Posted By: Gene in NE on 09/27/09 04:21pm

For those that have not installed what they call "RV Pump Converter Winterizing Kit", now may be the time. I was about to winterize as we do not have any more planned outings before winter when I decided to check on pricing the kits to make the job easier. Called RV place number one $21.89, RV place number two $17.99, Camping World on sale $11.10. Went to my favorite home improvement store to buy components and build my own. Picked up all the parts except the suction hose and the cap and already had picked up $10.80 worth of parts.

Drove over to Camping World and bought this. Seems to work great except had to work to get the coupling and valve between the suction side of the pump and the dinette wall. Makes life a little easier.

Posted By: cheeze1 on 09/27/09 04:32pm

Gene, I have the same one. Works great. A great example of the KISS method! I guess you had a clearance problem, but as an august member of our group, you did it!!

Posted By: burlmart on 09/28/09 02:54pm

If I winterized, I would definitely get one of those kits, too.

My shore power cord molded plug did fine on our recent outing - no hot plug, so I will let my "butter container plastic strip rolled into a barrel as a gap bridge" fix stand as a permanent solution to the cord-plug gap.

The dogs enjoyed many walks, even saw bison in a state park in Minnesota. Plus Red and Peanut were bad and escaped out the open RV door to tree a cat at a friend's country home.

31k miles on the rig now, and all is in top shape. Seemed to get consistent 11.5+ mpg in the midwest, but back South, a measly 10 mpg. Altitude, humidity, or maybe just the rough grades of I-55 through north Mississippi (long slight grades where it has to work going up AND down).

I am wondering a bit about the life of the chassis battery as it is approaching 5 years age. Any opinions?

I have also wondered how the whole electrical system works, and asked questions on a current separate thread.

My interest in the electrical system probably stems from the fact that, if I disconnect the house battery and put my boat battery charger to it, it charges up nicely overnite and holds it nicely at a good high voltage. But if I leave the house cables attached to the battery while charging, it seems to strain - takes much longer to full charge, doesn't hold full charge or good high voltage. It's like it needs to give up 10-20% to the system as a 'tax' It bugs me not to know why, I guess...and I feel it may shorten the life of the house battery.

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