Jack Mayer

We just replaced four of the IS packs on a customers trailer. It took two guys two hours. It will be faster next time. That was in a shop with proper tools. We replaced one of mine in a campground with a service truck. That took a little longer than an hour. Probably closer to two by the time we jacked the rig up, pulled in a slide, etc.

Derek, have you seen a tablet yet that has an HDMI input??

Geo, welcome back to the cold.....well, not quite "real" cold, but it must seem that way coming back from the tropics.

We do 6 seconds gap. It it fills we simply slow down. Darting cars often fill the gap....and we slow down. I'm not saying we are perfect at it, but we actively work it. I try to stay off of "busy" roads/times, but sometimes you just have to do it. The pre-trip inspection is incredibly important. It must be done. Plus we do a walkaround at EVERY stop. And we tend to stop every two hours....Personally, I don't want to be in an accident so we actively try to avoid that....and I don't want to be broken down on the road, so we do pretrips, walkarounds, and preemptive maintenance. In 13 years fulltiming with a tractor, zero roadside breakdowns.....

I've been in Parsons, KS for the last week at the shop.....always some work to do. Head back to CO tomorrow. The cool mountain air will feel great.

You can get a rebuild kit for your pump and see if that helps. It may, in my experience. But if it does not then keep that pump as a backup and then put in a new higher flow model. The rebuild kits are cheap.

Water line sizes inside RVs are the same as most houses. 1/2" supply to appliances (at least most of them). The "house" supply is also 1/2" unlike a fixed house, where it is typically larger than that. But given that in an RV you are unlikely to be using more than one high-draw water appliance at a time, there really is not much difference. A higher output pump will make a difference in the shower. But you might also wish to remove any "water saver" restrictors in the shower head if the higher output pump does not satisfy you.

No doubt that is true, at some point. But I've tapped a fair amount off the input side without an issue. Of course I use LEDs. But for sure it is something to be aware of. If you are going to go crazy with lights then I'd recommend that you use those junction strips as a signal wire, and use a relay.

The purpose of the strips is to tap functions in the future. For example, on my drom boxes with LED light strips on top....I tap the separate stop BEFORE the Jackie so the the center of three light srips can function as an individual marker/stop (no turn). You cant do that with the Jackie alone. I've also tapped for various other purposes both on the input and output sides. Of course, if you don't need these "functions" then just run a Jackie like Phil does.

Left the ECR yesterday and headed back to KS to finish our truck conversion. We got stopped by the weather in Cadiz, Ky. Going to punch through the rain today, now that the worst is over. One week in KS, then on to Woodland Park, CO for the summer season.

The basics are pretty well laid out on my website. LInk in signature. I'm happy to answer questions.

Yeah, for SURE.... Victron does have very good monitoring on external devices. I'm installing a Victron battery monitor in my new truck, since I have an electric battery based apu for cooling. I'll give you external access so you can play with it, once I get it in. I use an ATT Homebase (and other stuff) for Internet access "on the fly". But you might use the Mobley....I'm about to order one. That would give you unlimited data and "always on" Internet from your not always used" trailer. You need to retire.

Chad, what is your phantom draw averaging on that coach? Are you doing anything to manage that, or are you like me, and ignore it I'm designing a system at the moment with three (or 4) PAE 4448 inverters in parallel. Solar managed by multiple arrays of panels with PT100's. Have you used any external applications to monitor things? I'm trying to decide if I want to use the Magnums or go to Victrons for this project....any thoughts?

We will build a couple of those identical droms at the same time.....

Be very, very careful on limitations of use. In some cases they can be quite restrictive.

Chad, our systems are "similar". What you see in the charge profile/behavior is about what I'd expect to see. It is consistent with our system. As to keeping up with things....you should have no problem as long as you are not running air conditioners. You can do that - assuming they were wired in - but you will eventually run out of juice. Keeping up with house loads once you fill the bank is no issue.....you will have "free" power to use once you get full. I can run almost everything in the coach and not degrade the battery charge level, as long as the sun is out. It easily keeps up. I've even run the convection oven and baked in it.

David, where are you staying in that area? We are looking for a stopping point headed North.

I agree with Chad's assessment of the RV industry and buyers. MOST manufacturers will not install proper solar because there is little demand. And most manufacturers do not have the expertise to do a proper job. Even the custom manufacturers are challenged with getting it right.....I've worked with them to educate them on proper wiring and component selection. But they simply do not do enough of them to build an expertise in-house. I'm talking about large systems like Chad, Smitty and I have. It is hard for most users to justify spending $15K on an advanced, large system installed by a manufacturer. And that is what it is going to run if you include everything. Of course, you can write off about 30% if you fall within the laws. Chad is correct that I'm working on a design with an entire roof of solar....the airconditioning will be capable of running off the solar/battery bank, and there will be nothing else on the roof except solar. Which will help cool the rig The battery bank will be a large LFP bank. There will be about 4kw of solar, perhaps a little more. But this is not a coach most weekenders would buy. It will be a coach/truck "system" that will compete at the level of a Newmar King Aire, but will cost far less. Same amenities and a little less "flash" in the style.

Nice job Chad. If we manage to get to the WCR I'll be expecting some "solar talk". A "less than" $4K price for all that is spectacular. Others should not realistically expect to duplicate that. But you CAN save a bunch by installing it yourself, building your own cables, and buying in bulk and sharing. Which was the entire premise of the winter "solar rally" we did two years ago in Mayo, FL. Anyone that is a DIY oriented person can install this stuff. Just follow best practices. There is a LOT of info on my website. And I'm happy to answer questions.

Would you not be titling the semi trailer as an RV?

According to the agent at Miller all the insurance companies have raised rates this year. And from our limited sampling that seems to be true. OUr policy(s) on the truck/trailer went up over $1K, combined. So we are looking at Miller to see if they can improve things. Searching elsewhere we have found that the rates have all increased over a year ago. Now if only Geico would insure the HDT we would be pretty well off.....they clearly have the best trailer rates. At least for us.

The driving test is now done at "Regional" centers. I don't know if Livingston is one of those centers. You might want to check that before making plans.

I'll reinforce what has been said.....having available service is a key factor. Like John, I also like the Mahindra. But we have zero service where we are, and parts are hard to get. So JD it was. The tractor works as expected, and we have not really had to buy parts for it. Other than filters. But service was a key factor in that decision. Oh, and 0% for 5 years (at the time) did not hurt either. Now on the skid, I think in the class we are buying that the JD is actually "overall" the best available machine, not even counting the price. And it was far cheaper than a Bobcat (almost 14K), and outperforms it. Plus, again 0% for four years. We almost bought a larger Volvo skid. Which would have been nice. But the deal was private and a little too "sketchy" if you know what I meant. The only problem with the Deere skid is that it is yellow, and will clash with the green on the tractor

I do wish the loader was "bigger". But we just got a skid (again JD) to solve that. The good thing about the JD is that there is 0% financing on it, so "capital reserve" is pretty compelling from a business perspective. But that is no reason to buy a machine The skid will lift higher, and more weight. It can dump into a 10' side truck...or so they say.... The plastic fenders are fine in the application we put the tractor to. It works hard, but on a limited number of tasks in a campground. Frankly, I don't know how we could live without it. But it only does loader and scraper work - no grass cutting. I do notice a deficit of PTO power in some loading applications. You can push into a pile and not be able to lift/rotate when you want to. But that is a minor complaint and it is only when you are pushing the limits of the tractor. Not for routine work. If you intend to fork a lot of material be VERY sure on the weights. That tractor does fine on lighter stuff, but it will not fork a pallet of bricks. It is simply too small.

The question is, are you going to be doing work that will stress the loader to near its limits? If you are then my advice is to get a heavier duty piece of equipment. You don't EVER want to be near the limits on any of these lighter tractors. If you are doing "normal" work, then the Deere may be the best choice. I say that ONLY because if you are not comfortable on the machine you will curse it every time you are on it for more than an hour. I spend up to 6-8 hours at a time on the machine....it HAS to be comfortable.