Chad Heiser

I have an Insty Connect router in my rig. The one I have has a dual sim modem that allows you to use two different cellular provider SIM cards in the same modem. The unique thing about Insty Connect is that the modem is in the antenna on the roof and the router is inside the RV. This means data is being pushed down from the antenna/modem rather than signal like with typical routers that have the modem built into the router inside and an external antenna outside. The design helps reduce the signal lost between the antenna and the modem in the wire run. Insty Connect also allows load sharing or priority/back up and other configurations between the multiple internet sources. It will also share a wan wired signal from something like Starlink with an Ethernet port. I currently have an ATT sim in the modem (I am not using the second sim port at the moment) and also periodically connect my Starlink to the Insty Connect router. I have it set to seamlessly prefer Starlink when it is present but fail over to ATT when it isn’t. I could have it share the signals if I wanted. I am very happy with the product and have personally met the developer/owner of the company the last two years at the Quartzsite big tent show. He is an RVer and was in the tech industry. He developed the Insty Connect because he couldn’t find anything on the market to do what he wanted as far as keeping him and his family connected when camping in rural areas.

I called Good Sam today and spoke with a very nice customer service rep. I asked about the issue with covering a converted HDT for RV use. He had never heard of any issues with coverage for an HDT, but he didn't know for sure. He put me on hold and checked with his supervisors. He came back a short while later and told me my truck would not be covered because it was a converted commercial vehicle. He said this was news to him and he apologized to me. He did not know when this change happened, but said it came down from on high. I thanked him and had him cancel my auto renewal due at the end of the month. The whole conversation, including the hold time was about 5 minutes. I called Coach-net and spoke with them about coverage for my rig. Their only concern had to do with whether my rig was singled or tandem. They were fine with singled, but didn't want to cover it if it was tandem. I believe this had to do with the fact that my policy is a towable premium policy and not a motorized RV policy, but I didn't get into that because my rig is singled and it didn't matter to me. They had no concerns with it being a converted commercial truck. Coach-net was about $30 more per year, but I am fine with that. I am now a Coach-net customer. Incidentally both CSR's were American based and quite pleasant to deal with.

Thanks, I will.

Sure. I plan to make some calls next week.

My Good Sam renewal is up at the end of the month. I have had my HDT towed by Good Sam in the past, but it was several years ago. It sounds like I’ll be making a call to Coach Net to talk to them.

We are all packed up and ready to head out to the Quartzsite area in the morning. We should arrive Sunday evening some time and plan to stay for a month or so. We'll be hanging out with a bunch of other HDTers and some other friends. It has been a very hectic week getting ready to head out, but we are finally ready and are really looking forward to it.

I put an easy clutch in my rig four years ago or so. It is one of the best upgrades I did to my three pedal gen one auto shift. The old clutch would make my knee shake at long stop lights.

I was aware of the law changes coming, but I haven’t actually done any research to see how it is going to be applied. California has been banning older model pre emissions commercial vehicles for years, so that is not new. They have banned gas powered small engines for things like lawn mowers and generators as well. That ban just prevents the sale of those items, not the use (at least for now when the law goes into affect). I am concerned every year my registration comes due on my 2000 model year Kenworth T2000. I wonder is this the year they choose to not allow me to renew it? So far though, they always take my money and send me new stickers.

It sounds like your batteries are low or failing. That would explain all the issues you are describing. It could also be a bad ground at the batteries that is causing the issue. A meter reading of your battery voltage will tell you if the batteries are low.

Apparently I didn’t proof read that post. Sometimes fat fingers and phone keyboards aren’t a good combination.

There already is and will be a group ogre HDTers with their trucks and 5th wheels in La Pisa South LTVA. We will be arriving in mid January to join them.

Hopefully the generator you bought stated it actually produced 240 volt power. Just because it has an RV 50 amp plug on it doesn’t mean it necessarily produces 240 volt power. There are lots of generators that have two legs of power to feed both sides of a 50 amp plug, but those legs are in phase and therefore only give you 120 volt power instead of 240 volt.

I’m glad you posted the actual code to back up your original statement. The quote from the back of your drivers license in your first post, on its face, was contradicting your statement that an enhanced license was not required for a heavy RV. That is what I was trying to point out in my post when I said “it would appear”. It is always best to go to the actual code for the state where you are licensed to see what license class is required for your vehicle.

The quote you listed from the back of the Georgia license clearly states a Class C license is good for a vehicle with a GVWR less than or equal to 26000 pounds or for towing a trailer less than or equal to 10000 pounds. This symbol “≤” means less than or equal to. Based on that, it would appear if the RV has a GVWR greater than 26000 pounds or if your trailer weighs more than 10000 pounds, some higher class of license is needed.

I have never been turned away from a park in 10+ years of HDT RVing. My HDT has a skirted bed on it and is singled short, so it is obvious it isn’t used commercially when you look at it. I also don’t volunteer that I tow with an HDT unless I am specifically asked. Usually the only question I get asked when making a reservation over the phone is what my rig’s overall length is. I give this information freely and only mention the HDT if they question me further about the rig. I have had no issues to date west of the Mississippi doing this.

I’m sure someone can help out. There is also a local truck guy that builds beds and does other truck related work and service who comes by the rally. A couple of his beds will be on attendees rigs this year. If nothing else works out, he may be a good resource for you. I can give you his information if you want it.

Merry Christmas from norther California. It is t-shirt weather here (63 degrees) so I can’t complain. We will be spending the day relaxing and hanging with family. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.

I removed my original Trailer Saver TSLB2H air ride 5th wheel hitch because it was slightly bent during my “incident” back in May. I towed with it multiple times after the incident and had it inspected, but I just didn’t trust it anymore. It needed to go. I replaced it with a new (to me) TSLB2H hitch I was able to find via one of the Facebook HDT groups. It was in good shape and I got a decent deal on it compared to buying a new one. During the process, I also added a two inch box framed riser (on top of the four inch box framed riser I already had) to get my hitch head height up. This will allow my new DRV to ride level (or at least within a half inch or so of level). My truck has a 3/4” solid steel plate that is welded to the bottom flanges of the frame rails behind the axle. The plate used to have a gooseneck ball mounted in the center of it to pull large horse trailers before I bought the truck. When I bought it, the gooseneck ball came out and the air ride 5th wheel hitch went in. With my first two 5ers, the four inch boxed steel riser was enough, in combination with dropping the pin boxes to their lowest settings, to get the trailers to ride level. DRV changed their pin box design on the 2022 models and now on my new trailer I can’t drop the pin box far enough down to get it to ride level without adding the additional riser. I thought about having a new single, six inch, boxed frame riser built, but with the price of steel right now it was a lot cheaper to just add the two inch riser on top of the existing four inch riser. The 2 x 4 x 1/4” wall boxed tubing was $35 a foot, so you can imagine what 6 x 4 tubing was. Of course I did all the work and then realized I forgot to take pictures of the process, so that was a bummer. Oh well, at least it is done. I’m taking the truck into the dealer on Tuesday for its annual PM service. Just trying to get everything ready before we head down to Quartzsite in January. Oh yeah and a couple months ago, I finally got around to adding a Voyager camera I’ve had laying around for a while to the back of the cab of my truck. This way I can watch any loads I might have strapped to the bed. This has been on my to do list for several years and I finally got around to it. At the same time, I changed around the camera connection sockets at the back of my truck to mate up with the new camera connection layout on the new DRV. My last two trailers used a single Voyager camera umbilical cord going between 5 camera capable Voyager camera sockets. The new DRV uses two Voyager camera umbilical cords going between two camera capable Voyager sockets. The only real difference between the sockets (other than the number of cameras that can be hooked to them) is that the five camera sockets can’t pass sound through, whereas the two camera sockets can pass sound through in addition to the video. Of course this only matters if you are using cameras that also have microphones in them, but the DRV came with two of the two camera sockets and two umbilical cords, so I made the truck match the trailer. Before I made the change, could only see two of the three trailer cameras. Now I can see all the available trailer cameras on the monitor in the truck. I’ve got three cameras on the trailer going to a monitor in the dash of the truck and three cameras on the truck going to a separate monitor mounted under the overhead console, kind of like a rear view mirror.

Nice job. Glad everything is working well for you.

It’s not cheap, but we have stayed at Oasis RV Resort on the south end of the strip. It is a large RV park and I would have no problem bring children there. It is no different than any other large RV resort type park in other locations. Circus Circus used to have an RV park as well. It was geared toward families, but I don’t know if it is still there or not.

My Insty Connect has been up and running for almost a year now. It is on 24/7. I have had no issues with it and it has never gone down once since I started it up. I have done at least one firmware update in that time with no issue. A future firmware update is supposed to allow auto switching between sources (either of the SIM cards in the dual sim unit and the wan port). I am looking forward to that update. I have the omnidirectional antenna permanently installed on the roof of my RV. I also have the directional antenna. I have only used the directional antenna once. We were at a location that had no cell service. The Insty Connect couldn’t get service and our cell phones couldn’t get service. I decided to try the directional antenna. I put it up on a pole and pointed it generally in the direction of where I thought a tower was. I went from no service to being able to browse the internet (slowly) and text and make WiFi calls. That was a nice bonus. Knowing what I know now, I don’t know if I would buy the directional antenna again. In almost a year I have only used it once, but it did work that one time as I described. I would definitely buy the router and omnidirectional antenna again though.

If the generator runs, but there is no power it has to be one of three things - Breaker, ATS or loose connection between the gen and the ATS. I would start by checking the breaker(s) on the generator itself. Turn them off and back on again to reset them. If this doesn't solve the problem, check the AC wiring between the generator and the ATS. There is typically a junction box between the two components and the connections inside that junction box can come loos. Most manufacturers just use twist on wire connectors for the connections in the junction box and they can work loose over time. If the wiring is all good, then it is time to check the ATS. Open up the ATS and put a meter on the generator input. If power is there, but doesn't cross the contacts to the ATS output, then the ATS has failed and needs to be replaced.

Yes, everything worked out ok. It was a bummer to loose the trailer, but we got a great new one to replace it. Of course having a payment again isn’t so great, but if yo wanna play, you gotta pay. 😉

I use Soow cable for all my 6 awg runs of 120/240 volt when I do my installations. It is very flexible and has a very durable sheathing in case anything has to run outside a compartment or enclosed area.

Looks good.