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

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Topic: B+ motorhomes

Posted By: quietjake on 02/11/14 08:39pm

Just survived 3 day ice storm, heavy snow, & 2 days off-grid.

"ARVY" helped us be more comfortable, and we used the cook stove for heating water.

Was going to power the house with the 4K Onan but something wouldn't let the door-level exterior plugs work for that.

I have an electrician installed home power switch box that my 2k Honda runs just fine, but need to learn why these set up didn't work as expected.

Rather was like using the house as a large picnic table while camping out in the RV, yet sleeping in the house....although the water in 'ARVY' was winterized.

Not at all uncomfortable, except for the cable was out too.

Posted By: Orion_42 on 02/11/14 09:29pm

Good to have a "lifeboat" eh, quietjake?
The Onan is only 120V output and most cutover switches for your house are designed for 240V input. Perhaps that's your issue in trying to use the Onan to power the house. I've pondered ways to use the Onan for that myself since we have a nice 26gal tank in the RV to feed it (well at least until it gets down to 1/4 of a tank). The Onan is also a lot quieter than my emergency Generac house generator.

----------------------
2001 Trail Lite B+ 211

Posted By: OldRadios on 02/11/14 09:32pm

quietjake wrote:

Just survived 3 day ice storm, heavy snow, & 2 days off-grid.
Was going to power the house with the 4K Onan but something wouldn't let the door-level exterior plugs work for that.

I never thought of that. I could power the house furnace with my RV generator in an emergency. Guess I'll be installing a cutover switch and outlet for the furnace. Bet I could do it for less than $200.

2006 Fleetwood 26Q
2010 Harley Softail Toad
2015 Ford Focus Toad
Upstate (the other) New York

Posted By: Teacher's Pet on 02/12/14 05:10am

We used to loose power every winter in our old home which was on a very lousy rural power system. I kept the motorhome fuel tank full for the generator and 4 - 5 gallon gas containers for a Kawasaki 2800 watt generator we had. The house's LP furnace and water pump were about 5 feet a part, both I had wired with a 12 gauge cords to 110V outlets. I made up a 4 gang utility box with a 1 foot cord, that hung on a hook by the furnace that both could plug into. That box in turn could be attached to 50' 12 gauge that could be switched between the motorhome and the small generator. Not pretty, but kept us from being cold for a few of hours to up to 4 days one time, over 18 years.

* This post was edited 02/16/14 05:45am by Teacher's Pet *

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Posted By: Gene in NE on 02/12/14 04:44pm

OldRadios wrote:

If you know electricity very very well, you can make a connection that will work for under $10. Do not attempt this if you do not know electricity. You create yourself a "dead man" pigtail. What that means is if you touch the prongs on the pigtail, it may make you a dead man. The pigtail has a mail plug on each end. When the house does not have electricity, you trip the main breakers in the house panel. Then plug the "dead man" into one of the house receptacles. Your house now is ready for power to be fed into the house wiring. Run an extension cord from your 110 volt generator and plug the house into the generator. DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE THE ELECTRICITY IS LOCATED.!!

We have heated the house with the natural gas fired furnace, have had lights in the house when others have not. Have run refrigerators and freezers to keep food from spoiling. You will be limited to about 20 amps.

Repeat - Do not do if you are not absolutely sure of what you are doing. This is especially true when you un-plug your house.

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

Posted By: quietjake on 02/15/14 07:47pm

good advice Gene...rather echoes some of what my electrician told me when he installed my little box....

re: "The Onan is only 120V output and most cutover switches for your house are designed for 240V input. Perhaps that's your issue in trying to use the Onan to power the hous"

the entire house except for the well & electric cook stove, runs off my 2K Honda generator, if I manage the demand properly. 2 freezers & a big refer that are all fine, unless a couple try to kick on at the same time.

Our power draw is typically so low that we can run a microwave with the 2k Honda. I'm impressed.

So I'm off to the electrician this coming week to see how else he can help the ARVY connection.

Posted By: quietjake on 02/28/14 08:48pm

My old buddy Electric Rick finally took a short break from his overtime rush in the county these days due to the storm a few weeks back.

He took a look at my RV set up & advised against doing what I had planned of tying RV into home connect box he installed for the Honda 2k a few years back.

His concerns seem to be for the unknown hardwire of the RV vs potential damage.

Since my 2k handles the house 'pretty good' on closely managed use, and my well pump is 220 along with cook stove, he advised, surprisingly, my 'best most reliable most economical' plan would be to upgrade to a 220 home unit and he would change the lead to the box.

While not the answer I wanted to hear, I've trusted him & his dad with my electrical needs for around 35 years. No troubles so far.

Posted By: ecovidual on 03/13/14 05:38pm

Greetings. New to forum. New owner (about to hand the check over tomorrow and hoping I'm making a good purchase) of the 2004 R-Vision Trail Lite 213. We drove it twice, looked it over, followed the checklist, and actually are pretty excited about it. Really good retail buy on low mileage with new tires, batteries, and very low usage on onan 4k generator. Now looking for support group because this on the road RV journey my daughter and I are about to start is a major adventure and...this is my first RV. Good to meet a few folks ...apparently approximately 100 that have also purchased the Trail Lite. [emoticon]

Posted By: Gene in NE on 03/13/14 10:31pm

ecovidual - Welcome to the RV.net forum and to a prospective owner of a RVision Trail-Lite motorhome. You're right that I have over 100 names of individuals that have confessed to owning a Trail-Lite. If you have read most of these pages, I believe you will conclude that most are very satisfied.

You may be considering purchasing your unit from one of those over 100 names I have in my spreadsheet.

The reason we bought ours was we thought it had a very respectful construction and the price was about $5,000 less than the next closest match.

Should you have any questions, some owner will usually jump in and provide some thoughts.

Posted By: Gene in NE on 03/13/14 10:57pm

ecovidual - Just thought of something for you to think about. If you like reading this topic (or thread) and would like to know when someone posts a comment, click on the underlined word Subscribe. Then when you log in, and go to "My Forums" you will see if something new has been added.

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