DuneElliot

As a young solo full-timer, but with two dogs) I work part of the year on much less than $2K a month and that includes paying rent and putting aside some for savings. I went the 5W and truck route since I already had the truck, and a 5W/TT made the most sense for my plans (similar to yours in staying in one location for a while). I boondock (my investment in a solar set-up has been invaluable for that) mostly when traveling and find private spots (not RV parks) to rent for cheap when working.

The ironic thing is I don't actually care that much for coffee, but I still have a French Press since my parents had one, it takes up very little room and is light...and other people like coffee so I thought it was worth keeping. I wouldn't have kept a proper coffee pot.

Why not just use a French Press? Efficient and makes for better coffee too

Yeah, I think that's what we determined before when my heater kept doing the same thing on a different property. Tripped after hours and while I was doing other things using power on the same circuit etc. I'm pretty sure everything is safe at this point but it never hurts to check.

The GFCI receptacles (bathroom, kitchen, outside) are on a different circuit breaker and as such different circuit to the regular outlets. I dont have the converter breaker on as I'm using very little 12v power and my solar is more than enough to keep the batteries at 99-100% at all times. I'm going to do some more experimenting today. I did run the heater off my extension cord and GFCI yesterday and it was fine. Plugged it into a verified and tested outlet that hadn't tripped before, turned it on. No trip...for three minutes...then the GFCI tripped in the garage. Also on a separate occasion, had RV plugged into same GFCI receptacle as above...all good, nothing tripping. Plugged the vacuum cleaner into completely different GFCI outlet but ON SAME CIRCUIT using extension cord...tripped the GFCI the RV was plugged into (first in line on the circuit) and not the one the vacuum was plugged into. Checked vacuum on a different circuit, alone, no trip. The experiments continue

So here's the deal: I plugged the RV into one of the garage GFCI outlets. No trip. Turned Main breaker on. No trip Turned outlet breaker on. No trip. Tested all outlets to see if anything tripped. No trip. Turned GFCI outlet breaker on. No trip. Tested all outlets to see if anything trips. No trip. Turned Fridge breaker on. No trip. Tested fridge circuit. No trip. Tested fridge on separate cord and outlet. No trip. Works fine. Turned microwave breaker on. No trip. Tested microwave circuit. No trip. Tested microwave on separate cord and outlet. No trip. Works fine. Didn't touch water heater breaker as I already know that's a problem. Currently just have outlets and GFCI breakers flipped on with lamps, TV and Playstation 3 on while plugged in to garage GFCI outlet. Fridge is currently plugged in to another outlet in case we lose power. Has been like this for 20 minutes.

I have read that and all other articles I can find. I'll have it checked out with everything else....like I said, not tripping until a power surge. Many articles mentioned things like blow dryers, fridges, irons etc tripping GFCIs because they are so sensitive it just overloads them with such a high current draw so fast.

It only trips when too much power is pulled through the circuit. Had RV plugged in to one GFCI receptacle for several hours without any issue, via a short 14gauge extension cord...outlets and GFCI outlets in the RV were on as was the fridge and microwave circuit. All fine for several hours. GFCI in the garage tripped when I plugged the vaccuum cleaner into the other GFCI outlet on the same circuit in the garage and then turned it on. Same thing happened with the microwave. I have read about motors and power surges through GFCI recetacles tripping them. I know the water heater trips is so that stays off until i can get it fixed.

It is a GFCI outlet in the garage that I am plugging the RV into. 20A circuit with 20A breaker but 15A outlets. Two GFCI outlets on each circuit...six in total.

Thanks. Yes, I am aware of the converter issue. I actually had to re-wire a couple of breakers because my outlets had been wired into the same breaker as the converter. It was an easy fix thankfully. I'm currently having some nuisance tripping of the GFCI now...hours after I've plugged in when I use any high-power-draw equipment like the microwave or vaccuum cleaner or the fridge kicks on. I'm guessing the outlet I'm plugged into is 15A. The vaccuum tripped it when plugged into a diffterent outlet in the garage but on the same circuit.

I agree. It doesn't trip the GFCI until I turn what I now assume to be the heater element switch "On". If that switch is "Off" and I flip the WH breaker it doesn't trip the GFCI.

Okay, I can't get to the cover...can remove two screws but not the third. I found that if I turn the "On/Off" switch to off and then flip the breaker thr GFCI doesn't trip. I thought that switch was to supply power to the propane ignition but I tried turning the heater on with propane with that switch off and it still lights. So it looks like I DO have an electric element in there also. I learned something new about my RV today. I will have them fix this when it goes into the shop in September. Also, now I know the source of this issue I can wire my inverter the way I planned...from plug outlet on inverter straight to the shore power plug.

It has water in it...I discovered how that issue works when I first bought the 5W and didn't know about the bypass valve...had me stumped for a while. Propane heat won't stay on either without water in the tank. I'll go pull the cover off and see what is there

No, not lighting it. It lights just fine. Just did some experimenting. The whole camper used to trip a GFCI just by turning on the main breaker...that was the old issue which we determined was cbaused by too long of an old extension cord. Finding a closer plug I manged to plug the 5W directly into the outet....no tripping, until I flip the breaker for the water heater. I did get to looking at the water heater, and hidden at the bottom behind a whole bunch of wires and pipes is a little black rectangle that doesn't look like a heating element or anything important that mentions about not dry-firing an electric heating element...so, without knowing for sure, I may have an electric heating element in there I didnt know about which is causing the GFCI tripping problem. Everything else is running now when directly plugged in to a different outlet with a newer, shorter extension cord. I will have the shop that is fixing my jack next month check the water heater and fix what is necessary.

Well here's the interestinsg thing. I just plugged directly into the inverter, no extension cord, and turned on the main, outlet, GFCI outlet and microwave breakers. The GFCI outlet on the inverter didn't trip and I have power. I've been running a TV, PS3 and lamps off the outlets for a while and no issues. The fridge has been directly plugged into a GFCI outlet for over a week and hasn't tripped that. I have a propane water heater that runs the the electric spark off the 12V/ battery system but apparently it also has a breaker...and that DOES trip the GFCI when flipped. I am now curious about this as I don't have an electric element in the water heater...propane only and the heater doesn't blow a fuse on 12V when switched on or lighting.

Thanks for the info...that's a lot to decipher and I'm not sure I have the brain power for it right now, during the evening after a couple of beers! :-D I have previously posted a thread about the GFCI issues...I have never been able to isolate anything specific and have checked everything for issues. It happens on every GFCI outlet I try to use. I don't have any issues with other outlets...I just put it down to having too many circuits which is some of the information I got here on this forum before from several members. If I run into an RV electrician down the road I'll see if they can check it out in more depth.

GFCI outlets don't like my RV...I have tested every circuit and everything is fine, that's just the way it is. However this derails my plan to just plug the RV straight into the inverter which has GFCI outlets. So my new plan, and probably the better one is to hardwire the inverter directly to the breaker panel. The question is, how do I do this safely? I have a Zantrex 2000PSW inverter with two 3-prong plug-ins and no other way to connect wires except at for the batteries. I really only need the outlets to have power off the inverter, but am okay with however it needs to be hooked up. Can I use a standard extension cord to plug it in and then cut it down to the wires to hook it into the breaker panel? Also how do I make sure that I don't screw something up when I have shore power? Step by step idiot guidelines would be helpful here...or a direct link to some of those. I did try Google but didn't have much initial success.

Yes. That's what I was recommended by everyone so that's what I used.

Well I got the scrubbing and cleaning done last night...it looked so clean and pretty. It took less effort than I thought, partly because when I had used an "RV/Mobile Home" roof coat it peeled all the dirt off with it when I removed it in sheets!! I almost wish I'd done that to the whole roof, but I hadn't originally done the back 6 ft. Due to expected high temperatures today I started early and took a brush to all the edging and also cut around all the roof stuff (vents, AC unit, skylights etc). That used up a little under half a can. I then only used the rest of that can and most of another one to finish the roof with a quality roller. I was expecting to use 4 gallons (what I had ordered) for a 27ft trailer and I certainly didn't put a thin layer on. It wasn't super thick either, but I think it was suitable according to the directions and what others have said. It looks nice...right up until the point it has started becoming a fly graveyard reminiscent of the La Brea tar pits. I guess I'm going to have to live with the carcasses because there's no way to clean them off while the roof is wet. Has anyone else dealt with this? Or dealt with not needing as much as you thought? I haven't done the slide as I didn't think I'd have enough, nor that it needed doing, but with an extra 2 gallons I may just go ahead and do it. I hadn't cleaned it yet so didn't continue with it today.

I talked to you a while back and emailed Pepthedog but haven't heard back. I am still interested but can't commit to training until the fall. Hoping I'm still on the list.

I am very interested in this also. I think it would be a great set up for someone like me, a single gal with a couple of dogs and an RV.

Will do

Thanks for all the advice. I am going with 4 individual gallons to start with. If 4 isn't enough I can order another one, but if I order 5 and don't need the last one I have to pay return shipping and a re-stocking fee.

Thank you for all the feedback. I think I am going to order single gallon units but still wondering if I should order 4 or 5. I had initially painted the roof with the wrong thing which wasted a lot of money but the one thing it did do was to strip off all the crap that was on the roof with it when it started peeling. I will be very thorough with prep work and cleaning and drying as I can only afford to do this once and want to do it right. For those who have used this already can you tell me how you did your washes/cleanings to end up with a good roof to coat properly?

Very true, but I don't want to buy too much and I don't want to not buy enough and I don't want have the last gallon in a 5 gallon bucket unusable. I'm hoping someone who has used this stuff, or a similar product, chime in with their experiences. I've seen people talk about it here a few times before.