Our new 2017 DRV MS 40KSSB4

[billr]

Same wiring ifor fridge I did but ours had more on that circuit than the fridge so ended up running s new circuit to fridge too. Maybe they have changed things by now ours is an old 05! Lol

 

I know a guy that found that felt like carpet at a Home Depot like place. Not sure exactly. Hopefullly you will find it.

 

DRV used to be great in selling stuff like that but not sure today.

 

Outstanding job on everything!

[Tahoe Shark]

What a great install Chad! How did the reinforcements go on the hitch and the generator install?

[RickS]

Chad....looks great! Your shop is going to be busy when you get home.

[Big5er]

Chad, I don't know what color you need but check your local RV repair store. They have tons of that stuff in a dark grey where I shop/live. Big rolls of the stuff.

[CrazyCooter]

I have gotten the truck and van carpet at Homedepot in the past. Also if you don't find it before you get here in April, Sentinal Sales has a good upholsterer supply shop on East Cypress Ave.

[Chad Heiser]

What a great install Chad! How did the reinforcements go on the hitch and the generator install?

 

The hitch came out great. They tell me it is rated for 7k pounds now. The generator came out great as well. I haven't played with it much other than to turn it on. I need to go through my Magnum remote and set up the AGS settings, along with a few others. So far, the only things I have set up are the battery bank size and the battery charge rates. I've been pretty busy with installs and things so far.

 

Chad....looks great! Your shop is going to be busy when you get home.

 

Yeah it will, although my install is pretty much done except the panels.

 

Chad, I don't know what color you need but check your local RV repair store. They have tons of that stuff in a dark grey where I shop/live. Big rolls of the stuff.

 

 

I have gotten the truck and van carpet at Homedepot in the past. Also if you don't find it before you get here in April, Sentinal Sales has a good upholsterer supply shop on East Cypress Ave.

 

I will hunt around some and see what I can find. I'm not in a hurry as it is down the list of projects I have.

 

Same wiring ifor fridge I did but ours had more on that circuit than the fridge so ended up running s new circuit to fridge too. Maybe they have changed things by now ours is an old 05! Lol

I know a guy that found that felt like carpet at a Home Depot like place. Not sure exactly. Hopefullly you will find it.

DRV used to be great in selling stuff like that but not sure today.

Outstanding job on everything!

Thanks for the compliment. DRV did some wiring things I wasn't expecting. The fridge is on its own circuit and so is the fireplace. The fridge runs through the sub panel and the fireplace is on the main panel so you don't accidentally run it on the inverter. It appears the dishwasher is also on the main panel. I will probably move this to the sub panel, but I need to see if anything else is on that circuit first. I had heard from some other DRV owners that the whole kitchen slide was on one circuit and they were having issues over loading the breaker. I'm glad to see DRV dealt with this issue.

[RickS]

Why the second small inverter?

[CrazyCooter]

I think the second inverter is a great idea considering 120v is the only source of power for the refer. Can you tie the entertainment center into the smaller inverter too? The msh3012 is very thirsty with small loads. I had always planned to install a 2-300 watt inverter for the living area entertainment center.

[Chad Heiser]

Why the second small inverter?

 

I'm adding the second inverter to run the fridge as we travel. The 3012 is a good inverter and I'm not worried about it, but I am worried about my electronics being powered and bouncing around as we head down the road. It's probably not a huge issue, but I would rather just run the refer while traveling rather than power the whole trailer.

 

I think the second inverter is a great idea considering 120v is the only source of power for the refer. Can you tie the entertainment center into the smaller inverter too? The msh3012 is very thirsty with small loads. I had always planned to install a 2-300 watt inverter for the living area entertainment center.

With a little work I could, but I won't. Once I am stationary, I have no issue turning the 3012 on and letting it run. I should have enough solar to compensate for its draw in most conditions. Plus I have the 6500 commercial Onan as a back up, just in case.

[RickS]

Does that inverter connect to the ME-ARC? If so that would be some great integration.

[Chad Heiser]

Does that inverter connect to the ME-ARC? If so that would be some great integration.

 

No it has a simple on/off remote switch which I mounted in my control cabinet above the ME-ARC. It will be simple to turn the big inverter off and the little one on when we hitt the road.

[Chad Heiser]

We are going to be delayed leaving Rolling Retreats. I had DRV install a hard wired Voyager camera system with three cameras (rear view and two side views). The camera cables connect to a receptacle at the front of the trailer. A commercial 7 pin coiled cable then connects between this receptacle and a matching one on the truck to pass the camera signals to the monitor in the truck. I asked DRV to mount the trailer side of the receptacle in the pin box (to something solid) because the receptacle is made of metal and is heavy and the coiled 7 pin cable also has metal ends and is heavy wire. In other words the whole thing is heavy and bulky. In pictures RR sent me ahead of time, I saw DRV mounted the receptacle flush to the underside of the the 5th wheel overhang. It looked very clean, but I had some concerns about the receptacle facing downward and the only thing holding the plug in place against gravity being the spring loaded door. After I installed the monitor in my truck, I found I needed to change some of the camera connections so the appropriate camera showed up in the appropriate location on the monitor. I removed the receptacle from the underside of the 5th wheel and found it was only secured with two self taping screws into the unsupported, thin fiberglass covering. This was obviously not acceptable to me. With the condition of our interstates and the weight of the receptacle and umbilical, I didn't even think it would last the trip home. I had a discussion with Slade from RR about it this morning and we discussed options. We ultimately decided to move the receptacle to the rear opening of the pin box where I originally wanted it and have the hole glassed and repainted to match the trailer. He contacted the body shop he uses and they were able to get the trailer in right away. We called DRV and they agreed to cover the cost of the fix so off the trailer went to the body shop. It will be patched by the end of today and tomorrow the paint and clear will go on. It should be ready for me to leave Wednesday.

 

By the way, DRV added the receptacle and umbilical on their own. I was fully expecting to have to provide these parts and install and wire the system up. As a result, I purchased the receptacles (truck and trailer sides and umbilica) ahead of time. It allowed me to have the truck side completely wired up ahead of time (minus the monitor I knew DRV was providing), but now I have a full set of connectors and nothing to use them on if anyone might be interested in them (they can pass 5 separate camera signals between tow vehicle and towed vehicle).

[RickS]

There may have to be a swap meet @ the WCR. Glad to hear they are taking care of it. I have used the Voyager cord and bulkhead connector setup for years attached to the side of the pin box with two bolts. I had one bolts break from vibration and pounding back there. I can see how much movement there is from my licence plate cam. I think you absolutely did the right thing for that heavy cord. IMO

[Chad Heiser]

There may have to be a swap meet @ the WCR. Glad to hear they are taking care of it. I have used the Voyager cord and bulkhead connector setup for years attached to the side of the pin box with two bolts. I had one bolts break from vibration and pounding back there. I can see how much movement there is from my licence plate cam. I think you absolutely did the right thing for that heavy cord. IMO

I had the same setup on my last trailer. I added it on to a Voyager wireless camera set up that came with that trailer to make it a wired camera. I liked it so much, I wanted it on the new trailer as well. I have a mounting bracket I made up for my last trailer that I was originally going to bring with me when I thought I was going to be installing my own parts. When I saw they had mounted the parts already, I didn't bring my bracket. Live and learn. I wish I had brought the bracket along now.

 

As a side benefit to the delay, I bought a lightly used Mor/Ride pin box from another DRV owner in Oklahoma City who I found through a DRV forum. I intended to bring it home and convert it to a straight down pin box. This way I could keep the Mor/Ryde flex option and shorten my overall length by 2 feet. With the delay, I took the pin box to the fabricator RR used to upgrade the receiver hitch on my 5er. They are going to build the straight down box for me so I should be able to pull the trailer home with it.

[Chad Heiser]

Well, the straight down pin box is going to have to wait until I get home after all. The local welding shop ended up being too busy with a couple of welders out sick, so they couldn't get it done in time.

 

The body shop painted and cleared the repair today. It will dry overnight and will be ready in the morning. RR has to replace a faulty Sea Level tank sensor and adjust one compartment door and then we should be able to hit the road to head home.

[RickS]

Glad to hear you are getting those small things fixed up. In your opinion was there more or less issues to take care of than you were expecting?

[Chad Heiser]

The only real warranty issue I am having addressed is the faulty Sea Level tank sensor. The mounting of the camera receptacle was another issue, but it wasn't a broken item it was just a poorly thought out implementation of a custom order item (not something they normally do). Thankfully DRV stepped up to the plate and covered this because it was a $1500 fix. The compartment door I am having realigned is more of a cosmetic item than anything. It is functional, but it isn't perfectly centered in the opening. Overall I am very happy with the trailer quality so far. I would say there are fewer issues than I was expecting based on my experience with purchasing 5ers in the past.

 

On edit, I forgot to add that when I hooked up the camera monitor in my truck and plugged the trailer in, I found the rear view camera on the back of the trailer was installed upside down. Again this was a custom change item and there was no way for DRV to plug the trailer in to check the cameras because all the truck side components were sitting in a box. The installer had a 50/50 chance and picked wrong. It was a simple correction for me to undo four screws and flip the camera over.

[Chad Heiser]

Made it home last night. Now to start installing solar panels and a few other odds and ends.

[Big5er]

YEA!!! Glad you made it Chad. Have fun, and good luck

[Chad Heiser]

Here is a link to some pictures.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BypMhjRfrAf1T1hsR2xNbUlYX0U

I got started on the solar today. I built all my solar panel wires and installed the combiner box. I set five of the six panels on the roof. The sixth panel will sit over the combiner box so I haven't put it in place yet because I needed the room to work. I'm happy with the placement of five of the six panels. One of the panels is pretty close to the satellite antenna, but it was the only place I could get it to fit. It will most likely have some shading issues when the antenna is up. The rest will be pretty good depending on the angle of the sun.

 

Tomorrow I will secure all the panels to the roof and clean up the wire runs. Everything down below is already wired and set up, so tomorrow should finish up the install. Once I'm done with that, then I get to start loading all the stuff from the old trailer into the new trailer.

 

I added another folder to the link above with some pictures.

[RickS]

Looks good Chad.......What type and size of screws are you using on the brackets that hold the panels down? What size of wire did you use from the combiner box to charge controller?

[lappir]

Looks great. What are you using to secure the panels. I see adhesive on the boxes. What are you going to do with the extra power you will be generating? I will be following your use of solar and the good, bad and the unexpected.

 

Rod

[Big5er]

Chad, you must be as pale as a ghost. It really must suck having to work inside such a large insulated building. How can you see in there? If you would work outside like the rest of us you would be able to use the natural sunlight which could help you see and add to your tan.

 

But, considering you are forced to work inside, it is a very nice install. I'm enjoying the updates.

[Refuzn-To-Grow-Up]

Chad: The solar panels look huge (and heavy). How did you get them up on the roof?

[Jack Mayer]

Chad, I see three wires entering the combiner...so you have three strings of two each, parallel (2x3 array)? If you do then you will lose most of one string when you shadow it. It will be interesting to see how much you lose on that.

 

Refuzn, those panels are around 50 lbs, so you can slide them up a ladder pretty easy. The biggest thing to watch for with the larger panels is to properly support them midway down their length. They can flex there and over time it "may" cause an issue.

 

For mounting, if you have a well adhered fiberglass roof - especially if it is laminated - then you can simply use adhesive. But in most cases a combo of adhesive and one or two screws per leg is enough. Each situation is different, though.

 

Nice job, by the way.....