Zulu

11 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

I don't know if you just missed it in your diagram, but you want 4 AWG wire on both sides of the Baby Box for the battery side of the circuit. You also want 4 AWG lugs instead of the 6 AWG lugs in the parts list (#14) to go with the upgraded wire size.

I would also change to the proper rated circuit breaker for the MPPT 150/70 (at least a 70 amp, but more likely an 80 amp instead of the 60 amp in your parts list).  You are sizing the breaker for the wire (4 AWG) and the output of the solar controller.

Yep, missed those.

11 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

I install 365 watt REC panels often.  (I have a large number of them on hand).  They are large panels (approximately 40" x 80").  I always install six panel mounts (z-brackets) per panel (three on each of the long sides).  The panels will flex too much with just four mounts on an RV.

Great tip, will do.

11 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

Your diagram doesn't really cover how you plan to make the roof entry (get the 10 AWG wires through the roof).  I would use something like this.  This would replace #5 and #7 in the parts list on your diagram.  Those items are just strain relief like you see sticking out of the item I linked.  You will still need something to mount those strain relief in.  The item I linked is all you need to make the penetration (penetration cover and strain relief in one).

Thanks for link.

11 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

Northern AZ's diagrams are fine. 

They wouldn't send me one until I buy a system. So I had to create my own.

11 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

Finally (if you don't already have one) I would add a battery monitor as well.  Something like the Victron SmartShunt.

Yep, my 500A one is arriving today. However, have heard that its Bluetooth range is about 10'.

11 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

The MNEPV breakers are directional in a DC circuit.  They come labeled with a + on one side of the breaker and a - on the other side of the breaker.  The + side of the breaker always connects to the highest potential of energy.  On the battery circuit, that would be the battery side.  On the PV circuit, that would be the panel side.

Was aware of this one from reading MidNite Solar ETL Test Article a few years back.

Again, much thanks, Chad.

On 1/10/2022 at 12:12 AM, Chad Heiser said:

Not at all.  I’m happy to help.

Alrighty . . .

I'm planning on adding solar panels, additional house batteries, and an inverter/charger to my RV, but not all at once. To much $$$.

So, I figure adding solar panels will come first since it provides some off-grid freedom.

Also, since solar systems can be no cheap date, I'd like a system that's as "upgradeable" as possible. In the past I started with a minimal solar system then found myself upgrading PV panels, charge controller, wiring, . . . There was a lot of wasted time and money.

I plan to start with a 2-panel 730W system that would be "easily" upgraded to a 1095W system.

When I saw your 2-panel Cougar 26RBSWE installation, it looked like a great base system. Also, since I think it's based on Northern Arizona Wind & Sun's 730W Solar Kit, it made for a convenient install since all the system parts are in one kit.

However, I'd like to modify the 730W kit so I can "easily" add that 3rd PV panel at a later date.

If you could check out my wiring diagram, it would be a great help . . .

Northern Arizona's 730W Solar Kit Wiring Diagram

Northern Arizona's 1095W Solar Kit Wiring Diagram

My Upgradeable 730W Solar Wiring Diagram

8 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

Yes, the Multiplus II was designed specifically for 50 amp RV’s in the American market.

Sweet! and it's actually less expensive than the Magnum I was looking at.

Chad, I hope you don't mind me asking you some more questions in the days to come.

4 hours ago, Zulu said:

If so, doesn't this mean that the Victron could be wire right into my RV's 50A main panel with no need for a separate sub panel?

Yep. Here's the poop.

I'm looking into installing an inverter/charger in my RV. I've done this twice before in my other RVs using a Xantrex RS2000 and a Magnum MS2000. Both of these inverters have 30A internal transfer switches, so you needed to install a sub panel for multiple AC outlets. PITA.

However, on first blush I think the Victron MultiPlus II has a 50A internal transfer switch with both L1 & L2 outputs.

If so, doesn't this mean that the Victron could be wire right into my RV's 50A main panel with no need for a separate sub panel?

I think there's a bunch of sediment in my 20-year-old Sea View's gas tank.

I believe this because since we bought the Sea View, I've been on the Replace-The-RV-Generator-Fuel-Pump about every month.

However, to make sure, I'm going to just replace the fuel filter on my gen's fuel pump in a few days (as soon as the filter gets here).

If I replace the fuel filter and the fuel pump springs back to life, I think I'll have it nailed.

If that's the case . . . How do I get the sediment out of my gas tank (short of replacing the gas tank itself)?

12 hours ago, Bill Joyce said:

Zulu: We had a 2002 Dolphin on the W22 Workhorse chassis and spent about $4K on suspension upgrades and it then drove quite well.  Not as well as our 2004 Newmar Dutch Star on a Spartan chassis, but the Newmar cost a lot more.  In other words, the Workhorse ride can be fixed with upgrades.

Yikes, Bill, I can think of better ways to spend $4k.

We started with a 35' 340HP 2004 National RV Sea Breeze gasserthat we bought new in 2003. It was the Workhorse/Vortec version. The engine and Allison transmission were great, but driving it was a real chore as it liked to wander. We had the Sea Breeze 7 years.

Next, we bought a 41' 350HP 2001 Newmar Mountain Aire DP in 2010 specifically for full timing. The air bag suspension & IFS made it a pleasure to drive, especially compared to the Sea Breeze. However, we often wished for more power and pickup. Towards the last years that we owned it, the Newmar became a money pit. We sold it this year and due to the "COVID effect" we made more money on the sale that we ever thought we would.

Finally, this year we bought our current Class A -- a 31' 310HP 2001 National RV Sea Breeze gasser. This is the Ford V10 version. The ride quality surprised the bejeezus out of us and the front engine is very quiet. Most of all it's been a pleasure to drive. No wandering like our old Sea View and plenty of power even when towing our Jeep Wrangler. The V10 is a high-revving engine unlike the Vortec and it always seems have power to spare even when driving on the 7% grades around us in the Sierras. It's too early to see if the Sea View turns into a money pit, but so far the repairs/upgrades have been DIY. Though National RV has long been out of business, their all-steel frame RVs are great.

My only advice is don't get a Class A gasser greater than 36' and stay away from Workhorse.

On 12/15/2021 at 4:01 PM, brooksrimes said:

Has anyone else noticed this?

Yep. That’s why I dropped Visible. It appears to use junk Verizon network.

Since Verizon unlimited plans like Glenn’s are no longer offered, the better option (at least for me) was one of Verizon’s newer data plans:

I opted for the 100GB “Pro” plan. It's $60 because I’m a Verizon customer already. For a non-customer it costs $90, but it’s a dependably fast network, much more so than Visible.

8 hours ago, agesilaus said:

The parks themselves have caused a lot of the overcrowding by closing their internal cg temporarily because of the 'plague panic' . . . Yosemite is closing many of their campgrounds next season.

No, several Yosemite campgrounds are being closed for rehabilitation, nothing Covid-related.

Talk about beating a dead horse.

8 hours ago, agesilaus said:

These parks need to be enlarging and improving their camps not reducing their numbers.

Sure, also maybe some water slides, ATV trails, lots of concessions, carny rides, etc.

As it stands, too many visitors. I'm for limiting access.

4 hours ago, Gilmore67 said:

I’m from Virginia been hearing South Dakota is best state to claim as resident for full timers only one day to be in state.

What are you doing for health insurance?

If you're under 65 and have to buy your own, then SD is not the best place.

My panels were only 65" long, but I attached my Z mounts to an aluminum rail that was glued & screwed to the roof. So if the panels flew off, the roof would come with them.

On re-reading this, I'm thinking 'Boy, was I luck' . . . Anatomy of an RV Water Leak

Starlink Rectangular

4 hours ago, lappir said:

Is this not allowed to be installed on the rig, or not allowed to be used "Mobile"

You can try. A few people have with limited success. There’s two big gotchas:

- The current RV site you moved to may not be served by Starlink yet

- Since you can only set up your Starlink dish for one area at a time, you may lose access to your original home area. However, if this doesn’t matter to you, then have at it!

7 hours ago, docj said:

Here's my Dishy happily mounted at its new home. 

Neat. Was hoping that mobile Starlink would be available this year, but think it's more like 2022 at best. The only info on it is that it's "in the pipe". Keeping my mobile HughesNet Gen 5 equipment until then.

1 hour ago, docj said:

Tomorrow I'm going to put the Dishy on a more permanent mount which will involve moving it a bit.   Do I need to get it to start over and look for obstructions, etc?  If so, how to I do that?

Stow the dish first. Then plug it in again. That’s all I did. 

7 minutes ago, docj said:

Initial speed tests have been in the 150-250 Mbps ranger (using FAST.com).  Streaming video has very clearly been at 1080p with no rebuffering.  So far I haven't experienced any dropouts.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Check out STATS in the Starlink app. Very addictive.

14 minutes ago, Blues said:

This is old news.  Here's a thread from 2014 about South Dakota health insurers disenrolling people who use a mail service:

https://www.rvnetwork.com/topic/111570-avera-health-insurance/

Or, it's happening again.

50 minutes ago, Blues said:

. . . if people were having problems using their Florida Blue insurance as fulltimers traveling around, I'm positive that we'd all be hearing about it, and there's been nothing that I've noticed.

It's not Florida Blue, but I think this counts . . . from Nov 11 RV Health Insurance . . .

RVers that domicile in South Dakota and enroll in health insurance are receiving letters from the insurance company, often months after enrollment, asking them to provide a utility bill to verify their residence. If the insured does not provide the documentation requested, they are dis-enrolled from the health plan. 

3 hours ago, Kirk W said:

. . . do you know of any cases of someone having a problem arise from using insurance purchased via the ACA while fulltime and not changing the address each time that they stop anywhere?

Um, that's not how SEP works. Suggest you read the link I gave above.

3 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Can you give us a specific example with general information about what actually happened? I'm not looking for the typical antidotal story of someone who knew someone, or heard about someone, but something that is documented and verifiable. I have read a lot of the information about it and understand your conclusion, but can find no actual facts. 

I think you're asking 'Do I know anyone who was caught with a fraudulent address?'

Nope.

You (and others) have used this line of reasoning before which goes something like . . .
'Since you (or anyone) hasn't heard of anyone getting caught, then the risk is low or non-existent. Why worry about it?'

It totally ignores the issue of right or wrong, just 'Will I get caught?' I find this stance fascinating for an older group of typically conservative people.

But to answer your bait . . .

I do know someone who committed tax fraud, but I have no idea what happened to him.
Nevertheless, I'm not going to commit tax fraud.

On the other hand, I do not know anyone who committed murder.
Nevertheless, I'm going to avoid killing anyone.

On 11/5/2021 at 8:45 AM, LiveWorkDream said:

We are under 65 and used our SKPs Livingston address to buy health insurance through the Healthcare.gov exchange . . . basically wherever you are officially domiciled, that is where your health insurance should be based.

"Basically" is correct.

If you are using the ACA, then the ACA is concerned with where you actually reside. If that's your domicile, fine. But if it's a domicile in name only, and you don't really live there, then you should rethink that.

However, the ACA allows you to change health insurance if you move to a different location. It's called the Special Enrollment Period. For example, imagine TX was your domicile, but you never actually stayed there. On the other hand, you spend a length of time (beats me what that is) in FL, AK, AL, AR, CA, ND, and/or WY, then you could sign up for a nationwide PPO/EPO health plan in one of those states.

On 11/5/2021 at 8:45 AM, LiveWorkDream said:

If you are under 65, this Escapees webinar about health insurance is very helpful:
 

While Mr Goldstein (a part-time Escapee Staff Member) has done some health care research, he himself admits that he is not an expert. He proves this by delivering this quote at the start of his talk:

"You must get coverage in the zip code of your domicile"

For an ACA health insurance plan, this is just not true.

7 hours ago, Livdreem said:

How do people handle a home address for health Ins purposes when they are full timing and Escapees members?

Are you on Medicare? Or under 65 buying your own health insurance?

7 hours ago, RV_ said:

I checked the Starlink router manual and there is an open Ethernet port so they would work fine with it. They can be configured to be a separate network or pass through and just mesh the network they are attached to for max speeds in network.

Check that on Starlink Reddit. I've seen mixed opinions on using this port.

3 hours ago, RV_ said:

I would like to know how effective the router side is at covering the whole house and the yard maybe?

These our crude signal strengths in our Starlink house . . .