Yarome

Inside looks like this?

OHHhh.. crap! One of those... I should have read that more carefully. Sorry. You're not going to want to hear this.. but unfortunately.. it's not possible to wire in a new digital thermostat without rewiring the AC control box itself in order to bypass the "brain". The "com" connection passes codes back and forth from the "thermostat" to the "brain". You used to be able to get an analog replacement control box that would make a conversion possible, but I haven't seen any around for quite a while. Your current thermostat looks like this, right? Hmm. I can't think of a work around for what you want do at the moment.. let me think on it. Other's might chime in as well.

Did you look up in the control box on the AC unit itself to get the wiring diagram? It should show you which leads need to be pulled down (from the control box) to your new thermostat.. and should coincide with the diagram Dutch posted up in #4.

I might know of an outfit in Western Oregon. They built custom wood and aluminum framed canopies and basic camper shells. The question would probably be if it can be done at a reasonable price. If it's just the mount support, it's probably doable. If the frame itself was racked out of square and needs a full side tear-out... likely not. Do you have any photos of the damage that I could forward along?

This one Honeywell TH6220D would work. A dual powered.

If you look at the bottom of page 11 of the installation manual you'll see the notation for 24v.

Chalkie is correct. That particular unit requires 24v. There ARE battery operated residential thermostats (like Hunter) that can be used in either application, though. This one uses batteries for some functions, memory, backlighting, but the actual control board requires 24v. If you follow the current thermostat wiring up into your A/C unit's control box, it should have a wiring diagram in the bottom of the cover. On edit: Just FYI.. the jumper should remain in place unless you have both R and Rc wires.

Great! Glad it worked out for you.

If it needs a really deep cleaning then it depends on your awning material.. vinyl or acrylic... but before I would do any really heavy cleaning I would first try a soak, on either type, and see how well that does. I use the blue dawn dish soap in a 5gal bucket of warm water. Brush it on with a soft bristled brush or broom. Just on the top. Then I roll up my awning and let it "soak" for a half hour or so. How long you can leave it kind of depends on where you are and how hot it is outside. You don't really want it to dry out.. just soak. After the soak then I extend my awning and rinse both sides. You don't want to spray rinse it (it can remove the water repellent treatment on some awnings) just flowing water over the surfaces. Let it dry completely and then see where your at. I don't recommend using any after market chemical cleaners.. no matter how much someone might try to convince you that it will work better and help protect your awning. They likely won't do any better job than dish soap but WILL likely do more damage than good. Some will add a 1/4 cup of bleach per 2 1/2 gallons of the water/dish soap mixture. I will do that if the soak cleaning fails, but only doing spot cleaning and scrubbing lightly with a soft bristle brush. Again.. rinsing with a gentle water flow, let it dry, etc. If THAT still fails then you can sprinkle the stained area with a little baking soda and then lightly scrubbing again with the water mixture, rinse, dry. For any step of the way you don't want any of the solutions or baking soda to dry into the fabric and ONLY scrub/treat the top surface. If you get that far and it requires additional heavier spot cleaning then it "would" depend on what type you have.

They generally aren't adjustable. More than likely it's not your ATS that's causing the delay.. although it might be a part of it.. but more likely your genny isn't passin da gas until it's fully spun up and the regulator is settled in. No kiddin! I seem to remember you owe me a 1.5 amp feeding for my ice maker. Any time you folks want to mosey over... you know me... I'm always kickin around somewhere's in the TX or NM hills come winter.

Sounds about right. Looks like plenty of good info so far. Just one clarification. There are actually different types of ATS's. The most common in an RV being a straight "break-before-make" type. Less common.. but you might also see a delayed (typically 1-6 second) BBM. When both inputs are energized (shore + genset) or with a load on is where you typically will see the most damage and arcing with a straight BBM ATS. With a delayed BBM ATS there is a disconnect then a pause.. one input having to be fully de-energized before switching occurs. It's also beneficial for some genset's.. not applying an immediate load to a "cold" genset which could cause it to stall... but then again.. a lot of inverter gensets have built in electronics that won't engage output until the genset is "up to speed". The most easily damaged.. or likely to do damage to sensitive electronics will be the standard BBM type. A delayed ATS is generally a better choice, but probably not a stock item on most rigs. Then again.. by implementing good switching/load practices.. a standard BBM ATS is perfectly suitable. As others have stated, and as Kirk put it the most directly, running your genset with an active shore power connection (even a smaller load) is a really bad idea. You won't see them factory installed, but if you are replacing an ATS you might also want to be aware that there are "make-before-break" ATS's. The name is self explanatory and a big no-no in an RV application. Most RV specific stores won't even carry them, but if you're shopping online.. be sure of what you're buying. Genset auto-starts. Basically all it does is send a signal to your genset's electronic start to engage the genny. It just "happens" that most auto starts are most commonly installed with a low battery voltage sensor/module. There are a number of sensors/modules that can also signal your auto start. Including AirCon calls ("temp sensors") and line monitoring sensors/module that will monitor shore power and signal your auto start if power is lost. Basic auto-starts typically only accept a single sensor input. Others will accept any and all as well as additional features like "quiet time" settings (programmed time periods when the genset will NOT engage).

I've never wanted to find out. They are so cheap I just replace mine every 3 years or so. Mine is only hooked up when actually dumping. Just observing hose failures.. it "seems" leaks tend to occur most often after expanding the hose. I say that simply because I've seen a number of folks at dump stations go frantic with hose failures and can't imagine they would have hooked up a leaky hose if they already knew it was faulty. KWIM? I'm quite sure mine would last much longer.. I've just never wanted to find out I used it one too many times.

X2. You would think that being known as a "discount" type store they would accept our passport america cards.. wouldn't ya.

It's probably a matter of perspective. For a boondocker water is 'premium', and if you've ever spent a couple hours over your pooper working a wand trying to clear your tanks... to me, doing an ounce of prevention and having them clear cleanly each dump is well worth the few minutes and extra dollars.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Geo Method yet. Works for me.

It has fantastic appeal to me, but just not practical. Not using water to flush greatly extends your fresh water supply, the existing black tank can be converted to gray water storage or be removed to add additional fresh water capacity. If it worked as advertised it also would negate the need to deal with black water disposal and is much more eco-friendly.

I don't have any personal experience with them, but it's something I did look in to a year or two ago. I have a trusted acquaintance that had one installed. I don't know if he uses it any more, but at the time he remarked, "horribly inefficient, fumes, runs forever, don't try to use it too much, good luck expecting to clean just 'ashes'." That's about where I decided it wasn't for me. I know the 120v models do much better than the 12v (although.. at the time.. they were pulling 15amps with a 'liquid' cycle around 5-10 minutes and a 'solid' cycle around 35-40 minutes), and I know they have LP and diesel fueled models out now. For a 50amp rig on shore power that probably doesn't mean much, but a 30amp rig would need to watch their other loads every time you need to 'flush'.. and on inverter.. that's just not really a viable.

Appreciate the additional info/clarification. I didn't realize it had that feature. Apologies for the threadus interruptus, Zulu.

I have a 211k... it has two tuners? I'm a TV dunce.. what exactly does it mean if there is more than one tuner? Is that what you need to watch one program and record another at the same time? Does it require separate equipment or does it go through the same cable?

When starting do you turn the key and wait for the glow plug indicator to go off before actually attempting to start the engine? Does your glow plug indicator blink per chance?

Just to clarify... you're asking for "nut" budget figures, right? Just what's necessary for day to day travel/life, lodging, maintenance, etc. Minus any 'optionals' like entertainment, donations, upgrades, etc. Ie., include things like internet, cellular, satellite, clothing budget, eating out, etc., but exclude entertainment/sightseeing, donations, one time costs.. like a roof replacement, etc? Just so everyone is on the same page.

I've never heard of them and I might be a little leary. A cursory search only turned up excerpts submitted by BCM themselves.. not a single user comment, review, or mention of any kind. The domain was only registered in 2009.. but maybe they didn't have a web presence prior to that. The parent company (Klohoker technologies) has been around since 1999, but the location looks kind of like a swapmeet/rundown rv park. I find it difficult to believe a reputable mail forwarder in Quarzsite (a bit of an RV'r mecca).. in business as long as they claim, wouldn't have a single user score/comment/reference/review of some kind. Their website seems quite "primitive. If you decide to try them be sure to post your experience.

X2! 3 out of my 5 have had mild to severe allergies/hay fever and locally produced honey was our remedy of choice. Generally starting a good 30 days prior to allergy season.. a spoon full a day.. and it really seemed to take the edge off. Something to do with the way bees metabolize local flora. I can't imagine it would taste good in coffee or as a white sugar substitute, but we always had great success as a replacement whenever a recipe called for brown sugar. Particularly when baking squash it always turned out real nice. Cobblers.. zucchini breads... grits.. baked beans.. that sorta.