phoenix2013

Wonna be a trucker? Wonna flash your running lights to "encourage" passing, or flash those to a trucker you just passed?. Find one of those on your dashboard or the steering wheel. Then wire your Jackalopee RV side like so. Plug the green wire, which would normally plug into the RUNNING LIGHTS tab into the ICC MARKERS OUT tab. Splice a length of wire to extend it on existing installation, however on new installs ready to cut and strip wires according to this pattern, remove at least 5 inches of the jacket, because the green wire needs to be 5 inches long instead of 2. ICC MARKERS OUT is basically RUNNING LIGHTS which are interruptible by the Marker Lights switch.

Clean the glass cover and take peak inside. Look for sign of moisture inside. The PCB is epoxy coated, the relays are sealed, but the tabs are soldered on, so these can be affected and corrode with moisture or water. If you don't see anything like that leave it alone. Big5er's Jackalopee was mounted way low on the frame by the ET hitch. When we looked at it it was half full of water AND STILL WORKING. He got a new one, free and moved it. Free, was a combat pay for performing in extreme conditions.

I love this picture, Jackalopee working in "challenging environment". I'm assuming it has been working throughout this five years period. I don't want to misquote you or the truth? So that plan is to treat it like a homeless vagrant, get it off the street, clean it up and place it in the shelter. 😘

It was fun re-reading this almost six years old thread. What GeorgiaHybrid described was a subject of discussion with several Jackalopee installers standing in the parking lot with the keys in their hand and the truck running. The question was, "WHAT DO I DO?"! My answer was. "Unplug the trailer, the truck will stop". I got tired of these frantic calls, so with the installation manual you get a quick start page before you dive into the 16 pages of the manual. Guess what the third item is on that page? You could do it on old trucks, I mean two decades ago, before ECUs. Now UCUs look at everything including the 12V auxiliary circuit which goes live with the key. The ECU has to make a decision when to starve the fuel flow to stop the engine running, it looks at that circuit. When the circuit goes dead that's the message, "he turned the key off, starve the engine". If you use it to charge the batteries in the trailer, the ECU is looking at the trailer batteries, "I still see +12V, he didn't turn it off, keep that sucker running". You disconnect the trailer batteries and the ECU says, "I think he wants me to stop the engine".

Never unravel a rat's nest trying to "understand it"! It's a massive time sink and fool's errand. Instead, cut it out, throw it in the trash and start anew.

First updated kit going out, he should be pleased. Note the additional baggies attached to the labels, containing just the parts for those circuits. Should reduce the call traffic, three this morning.

No, its bolted solid to the house and the slab. There was another "observation" when they were inspecting the raw framing. The architect put in the note "bolted to the house" for the wall pressure treated sills. The house is cement block up ten feet, the roof (attic) section is wood, covered with stucco from top to bottom. I used wood bolts in the upper section (found the top plates and vertical studs through stucco). Used Tapcons concrete screws into the bottom cement block section. Inspector said "not per plan, doesn't say Tapcons", failed the inspection. I asked, "are the Tapcons not allowed"? He said, "Tapcons are fine, he didn't put it on a plan". There was another idiotic minor thing in the plan he didn't like. Back to the architect, he changed the note to "bolted or TC'd", I guess this is the officialdom short for "Tapcon'd". Which also meant resubmitting altered plans and $25 dollars fine for failed inspection, and re-inspection. Yes, it passed. For free standing shed they require minimum distance from the house, I think 2 or 4 feet. I looked at ready made sheds (Florida State stickered and approved). Close to that size $6-7 grands. Those are beginning to look like a bargain, but they are not so pretty😂.

Bozo inspector happened. This jackass was supposed to inspect for the presence of two layers of tar paper under the stucco. Starts sticking his nose into areas already inspected and approved (by senior inspectors). The plan I paid $800 bucks for calls it a shed, it is a friggin' shed. This ahole calls the department head and "reports" that you guys are all wrong, shed is a free standing building. Anything attached to the house is and ADDITION. So we have to build it as an addition. Reclassify it an addition, meet house building requirements, documentation, more inspections, surveys, etc., etc. In one word horseshxxxxx!

We are DEAD IN THE WATER, NOT ANOTHER NAIL. The project was stopped by the Building Department, even though we are at this stage. Lath hung on the building, ready for inspection and then stucco! My communication skills have degraded to a limited vocabulary containing short sentences including short words of the four letters variety.

I did not pose the question properly, it should have said "why did I need two layers on the VERTICAL WALLS"? The answer, "to prep it for stucco". Indeed the two layers were deemed satisfactory upon the inspection and now they sport a layer of expanded metal lath. It calls for another inspection to make sure the lath is attached properly. And then my wooden shed will sport 7/8 of an inch of cement on it's walls. If this sounds like an insanity, it's a Florida insanity and yes there is a story that goes with that.

This is everything (minus truck and trailer 😁) And inside Such "perfection" is possible by following the manual, although I have seen this from those who didn't follow the manual.

If you guys watched the video you've seen how structures, particularly sheds, can come apart even with hurricane straps. So what needed "improvement" upon inspection of my shed. First the door frame. He wanted the sill plate strapped to the frame, and then again the 2 x 4s strapped together across the header. He wants every wall stud tied to the sill plate across the bottom plate, about 20 of them. He was not happy with hurricane tie downs I used on the rafters, said roof can "depart" with those. He liked what I found in the Simpson catalog. These pickup the rafter, pick up the top double plate and pickup the top of the stud. I suggested replacing few of the other ones here and there. Nope, all 22 have to be replaced. There is another inspection being done tomorrow, external vapor barrier, to make sure it's done right with two layers of #15 felt. OK, who can tell why this was necessary.

Hurricane research, product testing and approval is a big business in Florida with facilities all over the state. This one is in Miami at the Florida International University. They can generate winds up to category four hurricane (up to 160 mph). They have places where they can simulate category five (200+ mph). The video below shows what and how they test things at FIU The inspector did not like some of my hurricane proofing on "the shed", which I am redoing today for re-inspection Monday. Will explain later.

Just to unveil a bit of the curtain of my existence In Ports St. Lucie. We were curious about this City years before we moved here. Being part of the governing "elites" up north we were curious how a big municipality like this runs. This city offers City University once or twice a year, 12 week course where you get acquainted with this City's "elites" and the details of it's operations. They tried to recruit us, afterward, but we resisted, to a point. Yes, I know the Mayor, the Town Manager, the councilors, the Chief of Polices and the BUILDING BEPARTMENT DIRECTOR, personally. There was absolutely no excuse for screwing around with the permit. My experience, up north, was that every, hamlet, town, city has it's own building codes and ordinances. Florida did too until hurricane Andrew 30 years ago. https://www.usglassmag.com/2022/08/30-years-later-hurricane-andrew-redesigned-modern-building-codes/ Now there is a single code (50 massive books) state wide covering everything from outhouses, to streets, interstates, sheds, houses to skyscrapers. It was updated in 2015. As the Building Department Director explained to me, his inspectors are good but he can't expect them to know the 50 tomes, but he expects them to know which book to access and find the information they lack. Having an architect produce drawings "beforehand" speed things up for the same reason. Having a State Code was forced upon Florida by insurance companies which spent billions after Andrew. There was a massive amount of shoddy construction prior to that and prior to 2015. So with every hurricane more of the "leftover stuff" gets demolished and rebuilt to code afterwards. Per code the roof that I put on the shed is 5/8 plywood. Rafters, I though 24" on center, ah, ah 16" on center, nailing into rafters, every 6 inches. The main roof on the house was being redone (almost 20 years old). The inspector wanted to see the original plywood and it was re-nailed to 6" on center. I had them do the shed roof also while they were here for the house roof.

The saga continues😬 The violation notice was issued at the end of April. The same week the Goat obtained the services of an architect, who would generate E size drawings carrying the necessary stamps of authority. The fee would be $800. My superb set of 40 drawings were not suitable but would be used as a "reference" to create the two E size drawings. The flies in the ointment that emerged were: (1) The office was so busy minimum of 30 to 60 day were going to go by before he could get to "those drawings". (2) I was going to New Hampshire for June, July, August so it didn't matter but it did matter. (3) When cited you have 30 days to fix it or you get summons to SEE THE JUDGE! I spoke with Mr. Figur, explained the situation, while the architect produced a document that they were hired for the project but needed at least 30-60 day. Mr. Figur produced a letter "for the file" extending the "fix it date" by 120 days, perfect. Off I went to New Hampshire. Upon return and a visit to the architect, I discovered nothing was done on my plans. This was followed for several weeks with more and more urgent visits, until the plans were produced. Armed with those, application and $125 fee, I went to the city hall. Everything is good, you'll have the permit tomorrow $250 please. "But the $125, it says here". "Correct, there a 100% upcharge for a violation of the rules". Next day I got the permit and a "list of 11 inspections" associated with this permit. 11 inspections, it's a friggn' shed. I figured I need to visit the building department and speak with the examiners and get the skinny on the requirements and the codes for each of those inspections. They have that service for the contractors and home owners. In the meantime I GOT THIS! It seems that with all the screwing around we went past the 120 day grace period and the judge noticed. I have a date with the judge. Off I went to the building department with the permit, plans, inspections list and a violation notice. The inspector I was talking to was the one who actually inspected the drawings and issued the permit. He said "I have never approved a shed like this, put an air conditioner in it and I'm moving in". While discussing various aspect if the inspections I mentioned, "I got the permit but I still have a date with a judge". Two ladies were at the next counter, one sitting one standing. The one standing said, "can I see this, I'm the judge". She went away with the permit and the Notice of Violation, she came back and pointed out the note she wrote in at the top of the violation 4-7-2023. She gave me a six month grace period to finish the friggn' shed or I will have to see her. Time's running out I got month and half.

Part of the reason I am sensitive to providing "good instructions" is history. Here are couple of examples from history. I was "commissioned" to install a Jackalopee on this rig to replace this. I believe I I rejected a warranty inquiry on this Jackalopee installation.

So what happened? The Old Goat was indeed on a straight and narrow, albeit at a retirement speed, it was going to take weeks if not months. The Goat owns a "legal" $5,000 worth copy of Solid Works which he employed to come up with a magnificent set of of construction drawings (40 pages) for the shed. Total overkill, Solid Works dimensioned the 2 x 4s to ten thousands of an inch accuracy. And as you can see the Goat actually took out and filled out a permit application to go with the plans. Here's what happened, Mark Shelley happened. Mark and I go back twenty years to the beginning of this HDT movement, ET hitch, Jackalopee, etc., etc. We've been fast friends over all this time, he's brilliant, quirky, real diamond in the rough, I love the guy, he also happens to be a hell of a builder. He's also in the process of becoming serious Florida snowbird, which means he's here, in the Sunshine State. He looked over my plans, nodded sagely, suggested changes here and there and said. "You got the lumber, right?" "Yeah, it's in the 10 x 20 storage". "I'm here, why don't we frame it over the weekend". I said, "but Mark, the permit, the permit". "I see you got application, run down there Monday and get it, in the meantime lets frame it". Indeed by the end of the weekend we were there. Monday morning I ran to the City Hall with my plans and the application and got asked, "very nice, are you a certified architect?" "Well no, I'm an engineer, good with Solid Works and I know construction". "Sorry, you have get these approved by a Florida licensed architect". Crap, what do I do now, I see bunch of them in Port St. Lucie approving multimillion dollar developments. While I am pondering, this gets hung on my doorknob. I called Mr. Figur right away to ask what my options were and my dilemma. His answer, "you have one, get an architect". "Any suggestion?" I asked. Here a bit of a "dance" occurred", see that IAS accreditation logo, one of only 25 in the nation, part of it has to do with the legendary corruption within municipalities and building departments and forbids any kind of hanky pinky. After a bit on hesitation he said, "I can't recommend an architects but on many small projects like this one I have seen a name of XXXX XXXXX". Hint taken, off I went to see XXXX XXXXX. It gets better, but along the way I did get court summons.

All of the conversions I made to BluDot for "friends" and clients were on trailers which already had pump driven electric over hydraulic systems. This was in the pre-DirecLink days. Days of slow hydraulic pumps and crappy controllers to drive them. I would simply yank the pump out install the BluDot and tell the client, "put the pump on the shelf someplace, when you sell the trailer years from now put the crap back in. In the meantime enjoy real brakes and braking". Looking at Larry's video, if I was that smart back then, I would have done what he did with a three way valve. No need to get rid of the pump, it does no harm shut off. Having "cheap" option of a friend towing you is a bit of a stretch. If you are in a big Dudu, need to be towed and hire a "real" towing company, they will not care what kind of brakes you have, or any. They'll put a light bar on the bumper, hook it up and off they go.

Few months back I inquired on the forum about updating the kit to be more complete and cover the extraneous wiring, which are really not that extraneous. The wheels of progress were moving slow but we are at the deciding moment. I'm open to "evaluation" and suggestions. The start of it all was a display I made showing a Jackalope wired pretty much for all the functions it can do. There will be a two page "Cliff Note" describing the various components and their function, you can see below how it relates to the numbers in the picture (piece of the cliff notes). So this is how the 1,2,3,4 & 5 added to the standard kit would look like. And this is what the six tags say. Thoughts, suggestions, criticism?

The BluDot airlines found a home. They are sharing a box with a Jackalopee kit and going to Oregon

Do you have Tuson pump or other maker? Tuson started originally as electric over hydraulic system selling their controller and their pump. Must have realized that this market is miniscule compared to straight electric, so they abandoned the pump manufacture.

DirecLink is the top of the line controller for electric and electric over hydraulic brakes. It gets its information for what to do from the truck computer. Their software is proprietary but I am guessing the algorithm looks at the truck speed and then at the rate of change in that speed when you start braking. The brake light tells it that you are indeed braking so go and apply what you calculated for electric current to the electric brakes. Small amount of current if the change in speed is small, large if it's rapid. Computers are very fast, swinging pendulums not so much. In hydraulic application it's the varying amount of digital signal going to the pump. However the pump introduces another fly in the ointment, it's not instantaneous. Max pressure in hydraulic brakes is 1,500 psi, you don't need anything close to that for most application but remember, there is this 12VDC motor in the pump trying to build this pressure from zero to whatever. The pumps have gotten a lot better but originally there was upwards of 1 second delay between applying brakes and the braking action in the RV. Hydraulic brakes, whether shoes or disks are better than the shoes activated by magnetic puck hanging on the stick trying to stick to a steel plate which could be full of rust sitting unused. I don't care to argue otherwise. So the beauty of BluDot is? You can only use it with hydraulic brakes, plus number one. Second, it's instantaneous the air pressure going to your air brakes is pushing that hydraulic cylinder on your trailer brakes, at the same time, same intensity. The hydraulic brakes on RVs are typically disks which require high hydraulic pressure (the reason for the pump delay). On my rig I had three axles with six hydraulic shoe brakes (yes they do make them, dexter.com), very low hydraulic pressure and low volume to activate. These are about $900 a piece these days, but combined with bludot you are in the braking heaven. Now that you know this, it answers another question you might have. Why these options for BluDot when you order the kit? They have high pressure, low pressure option (disks, shoes). High volume, low volume, primarily for disks. More axles more fluid needed for the the disks, even more fluid needed with Dexter disks which squeeze pucks from both sides.

Very interesting, but only if you have hydraulic brakes on your fifth. Go to their website and learn about this fantastic air over hydraulic braking system. Instantaneous, proportional, no need for stinkn' brake controller, driven by the same semi system that stops tractor trailers. The Old Goat did the first conversion and installation on his rig almost 20 years ago. Since he got to be good at it, he did bunch of these conversions on other RVs (for friends). Few RV makers will install it in new rigs, but most, being ignorant. will try to convince you that there is something wrong with you. Here's a picture of factory installation on a SpaceCraft. Two reasons I started this thread, newbies might appreciate further discussion about it's benefits and installation tips and if you are following my shed building thread you know I am getting rid of "treasures". Guess what I found? A brand new pair of these! Pay for shipping and they are yours.

On point, I learn what the codes are, then build to codes or beyond. My story was somewhat similar, except the amount for an official engineering drawing (required) was "only" $800. When it comes to the interpersonal intercourse the experience was rather pleasant. Why was it and is? I mentioned early that I have taken out permits before and had my work inspected and passed. City of Port St. Lucie is one of the ten fastest growing cities in Florida if not in the nation, it doubled in population from 100,000 people to 230,000 people in the last twenty years. Plans are for a population of 450,000 by 2050. The city's Building Department is IAS accredited. Only 25 are such accredited nation wide and 4 in Florida. Play by the rules and the permitting process is smooth as silk, quick, inexpensive and professional. Request an inspection the night before (on line) and the inspector is there next day, usually in the morning. Homeowners can do their own work, just take out a different style permit application, have them notarize it (free) and off you go. But you get the warning, you are now the "contractor", know the codes and build to codes. Friday night I requested and electrical inspection for my two outlets and a light. Inspector was here 8:30 AM this morning. He passed the rough but wouldn't do the final until I do one small thing (GFI breaker). Since I know all this, how come I got crossed with the city building department. The story of that "sin and punishment" will be explored in subsequent chapters. Right now I need to continue with the shed work to make ready for the next three inspections on the list.

Like the original sin those are the memories one wishes to wipe out from one's memory. Poor Kechup waiting patiently to escape to Florida. Alas the sand, there is an associated tale. Upon moving to Florida wife was concerned🤫, hurricanes, flooding, etc., she likes to be prepared. Husband not so much, but who is he to question a proactive wife. Wife purchased 17KW whole house generator (on wheels about 3-400 pounds) and a pallet of sand bags. Husband was arranging the garage for ET production and fashioned a spot for the generator, but the pallet of sandbags, moving it and storing it became a subject of bitter discussions. Husband argued that a chance of ingress of flood water into domicile, regardless of what Al Gore says about the rising seas, is zero. Besides, the house, per Florida recent codes is built on an elevated mound 5 feet above the flood plain. Regardless, the sand was moved eventually to the 10 x 20 storage facility where it stayed for years. Upon abandoning the 10 x 20 storage the sand returned. Husband in anger ripped the bags open and deposited the sand into the low spots around the shed foundation visible in the picture. There! You will see the elements of the above picture in the new shed. Ah, the generator? In a decade, through number of passing hurricanes it was never started in anger to power the Old Goat's domicile. The starting battery went dead and needed to be replaced. The Old Goat banned the generator to a storage bin outside of the house. NOT IN THE SHED!