dennisvr

15 hours ago, Phil D said:

 

Also check for a dual filament bulb (either a turn signal or a blind spot indicator) that may have burned out and the bright filament falls across the parking light filament.  I had this happen in the right side blind spot signal near the door.  It drove first me, then my electrical engineer neighbor and me crazy.  Fixed it by accident when he went to look for some additional diagnostic tools and I decided to replace the burned out bulb while he was gone, which was when I found the source of the problem. 

I ran into that one time as being a mechanic.  Dont remember how I found it, but like you say it drove me crazy looking for it.

34 minutes ago, jenandjon said:

For some reason when I turn on the 4-way flashers all the lights blink. 

Usually when that happens its a bad ground between truck and trailer.  Thats if they are all flashing on the trailer.  A quick check is to clamp a jumper cable from truck to trailer and if they start working properly, then I search for a bad.

21 hours ago, podwerkz said:

Please don't reprimand the guy. This terminology and way of referring to diesel fuel as 'gas' and the footfeed or throttle as a 'gas pedal' is just one of the ways we can differentiate between hobbyists and professionals, and then provide an appropriate answer or solution.

I sure didn't mean to reprimand anyone.  I guess if I was as good of a teacher that Cory is I could have worded it differently.  I was taught at the school of "hard knocks", not really liking it at the time, but it seemed to really sink in when taught that way.  The guy that taught me how to shift his truck was sitting in the passenger seat and said clutchs are expensive and If I see you touch the clutch pedal except to start or stop, I'll tap you on the head with this winch bar he had in his hand.  I really think he would have done it just to prove his point.  
Quoting Dolly Troller,  DRIVE ON, but dont put gas in your diesel truck..................

18 hours ago, Vegas Teacher said:

Hello all,

Yesterday I went and put gas in my 780.

Later,

Cory O 

Well, there's your problem......... If you want to be around "REAL" truck drivers and stop at truck stops and talk about your truck, NEVER, I repeat NEVER say you put GAS in your truck our that you pushed down on your GAS pedal.  You put diesel in your truck, and you pushed down on your accelerator pedal.  I learned that many moons ago when I started out.

Just a thought.  Just because you can drive one in doesn't mean you can get out of the car once its inside.  It must be narrow enough or a convertible.  

1 hour ago, SuiteSuccess said:

Sorry, not enough information provided by me.  This is the fan in my truck.  2006 Volvo 780.  My bad.

Don't know about a 2006, but I worked on a late 90s Volvo that the fan wouldn't work.  Fuse was good, so I tested for power at the motor and had it there.  Determined that the fan motor was bad. Replaced it and it still didn't work.  Come to find out that they ran constant power to the motor and ran the ground through the switch to turn off and on.

Sounds like you're going to be busy.  Picking up your trailer, setting it up the way you want it and putting on the WCR...........I bet you're glad your retired.  I got confidence you can do it.  
Sitting here thinking, if you want to do a turn and burn to get your trailer and need a co-driver, let me know.  I'm always up for a road trip............

Chad, it's good to know you were not hurt.  My first thought after seeing the video was how was your wife.  Good to know she didn't have to go through what you did.  After knowing you were not hurt my thoughts went to your 5th wheel that I know you put so much work into.  I could just imagine your feelings knowing its a total loss.  Then I starting looking at the bright side.  This means you get to build up a new trailer.  I'll be waiting to see what the new one has to bring.  
 

I will say that Snap On and other top quality brands are nice to have, but at a high price.  When I started into wrenching over 45 yrs ago I bought the biggest set of Craftsmen tools they had.  At $2000 that was a big set if I recall over 1000 pieces and up to 3/4 drive.  I also bought a roll around tool box for $1000.  So for an apprentice starting out at $7.00 an hr, that was a lot.  But for Snap On that would have been well over $15,000 if not more.
After using them daily for 25 yrs (last 20 yrs was management) I still have and use those same tools in my home shop today.  Needless to say, I got a lot of ribbing from the other mechanics that had Snap On tools.  My response to them was, I can buy an entire set of Craftsman wrenches to only one Snap On wrench.  Call me cheap, I say I'm thrifty.
So as being a mechanic, I like to have tools with me at all times while in my 25 yr old Pontoon boat, my Dune Buggy ( 1959 tub and 1972 transaxle and engine) and 21 yr old HDT.  So in all of these I have tools from Harbor Freight "I call them throw away tools".  Just last week while driving the Dune Buggy, it quit shifting, with the tools I had I was able to get to the shift linkage.  Found stripped set bolt, wasn't able to fix it, but was able to kick it out of gear and called wife to bring truck which had tow bar in the back and towed it home, yep it breaks down a lot, but fun to drive.
Sooooo after typing this lengthy post, back to your question (what tools to buy).  If I remember you saying this is a volunteer and not a paying position.  If it were me before buying a lot of tools, I would go in and see what jobs they will have you doing.  Probably starting out as a grease monkey, don't think they will have you do inframes for awhile, so that will determine what tools you will need.
So have fun and learn a lot.............................

22 minutes ago, Steven@146 said:

Thanks Kirk, We are really looking forward to our trip. We have seen videos of bigger park animals roaming through campgrounds so we intend to always be aware of our surroundings. Another thing I told the wife, we will burn out and clean our smoker grill (GMG Davy Crocket) and not use it on our trip, keep it locked inside the RV storage compartment. The smell of smoked meats would attract meat eating animals like bears.

I was thinking the same thing about my smoker.  I'm volunteering at the Tallac site in Tahoe this summer for a month and glad its got bear boxes that my smoker will fit into.  Last time I was in Tahoe I seen a bear ripe a hole in a garage door big enough for it to fit into with little effort.  I could just imagine what it would do to a compartment door.

I enjoy going to Borrego Springs CA and look at all the metal sculptures in the desert something like a 130 life size pieces.  I'm leaving Lake Havasu AZ this morning and heading that way.  I haven't been there since 2016 and thought it was time for a revisit....

4 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

Good to hear yours is working so well for you.

I have a confession to make.  My last post I bragged that I had 93% in the morning even with me powering my neighbor, which was not true.  I have 93% with just me and 84% with him plugged into my rig.  Still, I think is excellent performance from my set up.   Still can't thank up enough for the superb install. 

22 hours ago, oldjohnt said:

Dennis my BMS will shut down BEFORE any complete full dead discharge but I forget the exact voltage or SOC. I would venture that's (along with over voltage or cold temps etc) one of the important features of any quality BMS but I have no idea of your system. Similar to Randy Ive read some brands ???? if discharged too low require a jump/boost at a certain level prior to activation of recharge.

FWIW this IS ONLY ME, even if you can theoretically discharge Lithium to 90% or even more (BMS and charger settings can come into play) I have an alarm set so Im notified if mine ever reached 20% at which time even if BMS or charger doesn't, IM GOING TO ACTIVATE SOME SORT OF CHARGING (Solar or DC to DC or Converter/Charger) because I choose NOT to discharge mine over 80%........That being said with my Solar and Converter/Charger and my overnight use I have never discharged anywhere near that low yayyyyyyyyyyyyy

Best wishes These are ONLY my preferences, experiences and choices, see what the experts have to say

John T

Thanks John.  I will see if his system has the ability to have a alarm to be set.

22 hours ago, Randyretired said:

I am not familiar with the BMS in that battery but every BMS I have seen will shut down at low voltage in any cell and the battery overall.  That is a basic BMS function.  A few BMS's will not restart automatically and some solar charge controllers will not restart if the BMS has shut down and manual intervention is required.  That isn't  likely but something to keep in the back of your mind.  It is best to set the low voltage shut-off on the inverter above the BMS cutoff.  

Good info, thanks.

Great to hear that your system worked pretty much what you expected.  Always nice when a plan comes together.  
My system is performing better than I expected.  I have so much excess power, I have my camping neighbor plugged into my unit and still only get down to 93% SOC in the morning.
To let everyone know, I bought Chads solar panels that he removed from his rig.  He did a fantastic install and introduced me to Victon products (150/100 Charge controller).  Since the Install I have installed a Victron inverter/charger and a shunt that I can view the working via bluetooth.  Thanks again Chad................

Thanks all for the responses.  As I always say, learn something every day.  The guy had to buy a new trailer and solar plus the batteries and is in debt for all, so I dont think he will be buying a shunt to monitor the batteries like he should.  I talked him into going Lithium over the AGM that he wanted to buy, so I'm trying to make sure all goes well.
 One more question, does the BMS shut down the battery if the SOC drops to around 0% to save the battery.  Thinking that if it does at least he cant hurt the battery if he runs it low.

I have a friend that installed two Chins 100AH 12v batteries.  The spec sheet says nominal voltage 12.8v.  When he received them they showed they had 13.2 volts charge.  He used them all night with heater running, "all most continuously, thermostat set at 75deg and 40 deg outside.  This morning woke up to 13.2 volts.  While brewing coffee this morning they dropped to 12.7 then went back to 13.2 when brewing stopped.  I would have thought after the sun went down last night and charging stopped from solar, they would have settled down to 12.8 and then dropped during the night with the consumption.  I'm not that knowledgeable on lithium batteries, so thought I would ask if this is normal.   

I agree its most likely a venting issue.  If the tube itself isn't restricted, the check valve itself may be stuck.  The valve is the angled fitting that screws into the tank.  Take it out wash it up good and you should be able to blow through it one way and not the other.
PS,  You need to do both valves, one on each tanks.

Yosemite is a must, it is beautiful.  Tioga pass "East entrance" is closed in the winter and it depends on the snow pack to when they open it.  From the west you can go Hwy 120 and there are RV parks before getting to the park.  Coming from the south you can take Hwy 41 and theres a lot of RV parks along the way.  If you can walk 2 miles you will have more than enough to see.  I'm not sure if you have to have the daily pass this yr, but you can check the web site.  After visiting the valley take a ride up to Glacier Point and look down 3000' down to the valley floor. one of my favorites.  As I said its a must see and May is one of the best months to go, "before school is out" and the most water coming from the falls but there will always be crowds.  I would suggest making RV park reservation ASAP they fill up fast.

Nice setup.  I did the same thing on my truck and for the same reason.  It does make it a lot cleaner this way.

21 hours ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy All,

The gathering of the Clan continues.  "Dirt" Doug showed up with his rolling circus, John talked to another HDT'er who wasn't aware of our group and they have now joined the circle, lost track of how may rigs are here I suppose I should do a count and post up some photos but the internet is so SLOW I doubt I could post photos.

Dave

I did a drive thru the other day with the smart, but didnt see anyone out and about so didnt stop, most where probably out on their SxSs.  I'm parked off Dome Rock rd with some friends until Friday and then back to Havasu to serve beer at the balloon festival.  If I get a chance I'll stop by and say hi.

I've been pondering doing something similar but using a day cab and using a 20 to 24' box.  I see in one picture you have passthrough from cab to living area and wondering if you used a boot to seal it and also does the cab have airride and how does it work with the seal.

11 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

 It seemed like the only thing missing was a way to open the van doors before docking, but that shouldn't be difficult to engineer.

They could use a roll up door.  

17 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:

Yes, the Rio Tinto - 20 Mule Team Borax Mine Visitor Center is a hidden gem - one of the best visitor centers I've seen.  Follow the signs, it'll look like you're going into the mine itself but take the gravel road to the top of the slag heap.   The Visitor Center is up there, overlooking the mining operations and has numerous exhibits about the mine and borax's history from the 20 Mule Team days to present.  Parking and admission are free but donations are accepted to support the local community.  The parking lot is RV accessible but no overnight stays are allowed.

https://www.borax.com/borax-operations/borax-visitor-centex

There's an unaffiliated Borax mining museum in town, also worth a visit.

Thanks for the info.  

Most of the time I travel to Arizona from Calif for the winter I lay over in Boron CA which is about halfway for me.  I have always thought about taking the time to visit the Borax mine just north of Boron CA, but never have.  This time I'm hoping to take the time and go there.  So my question is, has anyone checked it out and was it worth going to see.