What did you do to your RV today ?

[Pat & Pete]

I'll start :

 

One day , a short while ago , I turned on the TV and there were no stations available .

Just the night before we watched a couple hours of prime time OTA .

So , no TV since .

I'd checked all connections and thought about what might be the cause . 

After eliminating everything else , I tore the original Batwing antenna off it's perch and took it apart . 

Inside , I found a couple decades of dust and a couple of stink bugs . Stupid stick bugs , anyway . 

There is also a small circuit board . It was covered in a few layers of dust . I cleaned that off to find a small char on the underside of the board .

Hmm . turned out to be a connecting link between two components . That link was about the width of a human hair and it traversed about a quarter inch . 

I ended up using a piece of bread bag tie wire to reconnect the two components .

That job required the use of my reading glasses and a magnifying glass to see the where and what ...

Anyway , re-installed the circuit board in the antenna body and freshened up all contact points and put the antenna back together .

Put it back on it's perch , connected the cable and went inside to try a channel search . 

Dang , only good for a dozen channels . I guess that's pretty decent , considering the closest tower is over 50 miles away . 

I'm calling it a good save .

Edited December 6, 2021 by Pat & Pete

[dennisvr]

I finally looked into why the igniter wasn't lighting the burners on the stove.  Found the igniter was faulty and the wires from it to the burners had cracks in the insulation on all 3 wires.  Ordered new igniter and wires.

[Steven@146]

12V Power Converter WFCO 55 amp. Last winter came to the realization our 12V converter wasn't working. In a pinch, Looked up the closest Camping World and they had the converter in stock. I installed the new converter and back in business. Kept the old one and since I worked in electronics for 25 years, I took the old one apart to diagnose the failure and found one leg of a component soldered to the board had broken off, probably due to vibration. The converter has no shock mounts. There was enough of the leg left to reattach to the board, so using my pin soldering iron and solder sucker, removed the component, then resoldered it to the board and used some non conducting stabizing/glue between it and other components to secure them. Works great, now we have a spare 12V converter!

[Pat & Pete]

5 hours ago, Steven@146 said:

12V Power Converter WFCO 55 amp. Last winter came to the realization our 12V converter wasn't working. In a pinch, Looked up the closest Camping World and they had the converter in stock. I installed the new converter and back in business. Kept the old one and since I worked in electronics for 25 years, I took the old one apart to diagnose the failure and found one leg of a component soldered to the board had broken off, probably due to vibration. The converter has no shock mounts. There was enough of the leg left to reattach to the board, so using my pin soldering iron and solder sucker, removed the component, then resoldered it to the board and used some non conducting stabizing/glue between it and other components to secure them. Works great, now we have a spare 12V converter!

I'm the same way about 'stuff' that takes it's leave . Always good to have a spare . 👍 

[Danfreda1]

We took our fifth wheel to have the flex armor spray on roof put on. Dropped it off Tuesday morning and picked it up Friday afternoon. Had to make an appointment 2 months ago and got lucky to get the last one in Dec. had rain this morning in Mississippi and can’t believe how much quieter it is and looks great. The guys at Dependable RV in Madison Mississippi take pride in there work something we seldom see anymore. They are one of the installers of flex armor and also a long standing rv repair facility. 

[Chad Heiser]

I replaced the turret on our Winegard Trav’ler antenna today.  I got an azimuth motor error when trying to deploy the antenna while at the coast the end of October.  Couldn’t get past the error and ultimately called Winegard.  The only way to fix the problem was to remove the turret and send it off to them, which I did in mid November.  It came back last week repaired and I finally got time to reinstall it.  All is back to normal now and we have our satellite TV again.

[Kirk W]

9 hours ago, Danfreda1 said:

can’t believe how much quieter it is and looks great.

Could you post some pictures? 

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

The only way to fix the problem was to remove the turret and send it off to them, which I did in mid November.  

How long have you had it, and what did they charge you? 

[Danfreda1]

Have had it exactly 1 year and right around 7500-7600 + tax. All the roof installers charge by the linear ft for that roof. That includes taking things off roof, prepping spraying roof and putting top coat on and reinstalling everything. They do one solar panel removal and install in the price but any extra panels are 75 each if I remember right. Just got set up on Waco lake and got up there to look real good and take pictures. I looked at it from a ladder when we picked up Friday but was raining and I didn’t get on it. It is about 75 % quieter than just the pvc roof was. He rounded our roof measurement to 42 feet. I think it comes out to around 155 a linear ft. We had them put more anchors for the solar panels in also. 

[Danfreda1]

[Danfreda1]

[Danfreda1]

[Danfreda1]

[Chad Heiser]

On 12/12/2021 at 5:03 AM, Kirk W said:

How long have you had it, and what did they charge you? 

The Trav'ler was installed by Rolling Retreats before I picked the trailer up when it was new (February 2017).  I did this rather than having DRV install it as part of the build because it was less expensive.  Winegard charged $455 for the repair.  This included shipping both ways.  I was right at the end of the 5 year window to get this pricing.  I don't know how much more it would have cost if I was outside that 5 year window.

[Pat & Pete]

Today I replaced the inlet 3 way ball valve for the CITY/FRESH WATER TANK in/on our Monaco . 

The original Swan valve was allowing the fresh water tank to fill when the valve was set in the city position . 

I spent a couple hours lollygagging the job because I could . Probably could have had it done in one hour , maybe less .

I cheated and simply cut the coach system pex lines with a sharpened hand trimmer for small tree limbs . Worked a charm .

I left the pex clamped to the fittings .

After I had all the fittings transferred from the old valve to the new , I installed a couple of SharkBite straight couplings on the pex and mounted the new valve in the original Swan valve box . The box affords stability when changing valve flow direction and the couplings are a time and energy saver . 

Done and not a leak anywhere .

[Chad Heiser]

Mine is in getting an RV Flex Armor spray on roof.  The work started this morning and should be completed Friday.  I helped with the removal of the solar panels and wiring this morning and then let them get at the rest of the prep work needed before the spraying starts.  Anyone looking for a Flex Armor roof, I highly recommend Rolling Retreats in Elk City, Ok.  They have a dedicated crew that does nothing but Flex Armor roofing.  They are very good at what they do.

 

I also added a second 50 amp power hook up at the front of the trailer.  I had an open spot in my OEM transfer switch, so I added the additional hook up just in case.  There are a couple of places we go, where it will simplify setting up in the site if I can hook up at the front of the rig rather than the rear.

[rollinbrian]

Completed a couple projects.

10x 250 Watt panels on the roof with all cabling complete down to the front bay.

Dropped the fresh water tank, fixed sensor wires, corrected vent/overflow issues, added a roll of insulation between it and the coroplast, resealed coroplast.

RV Roof Armor scheduled for 10/24.

Packing the new wheel bearings for disc brake install this weekend.

Edited September 1, 2022 by rollinbrian

[Kirk W]

I waved to ours longly as we drove past the storage lot.     😘

[Pat & Pete]

2 hours ago, Kirk W said:

I waved to ours longly as we drove past the storage lot.     😘

Poor lonely RV .

[Pat & Pete]

Today I repaired the roof access ladder on our Monaco . 

Three of the six plastic receivers had loosened from their respective standoffs , making for an interesting climb . 

All the screws used in those receivers were rusted .  I figured the remaining three receivers would likely soon follow the loosening act .

Anyway , I had screws too short and screws too long , but none just right . Off to the hardware I went , where I taught a couple new employees what round head screws looked like , what barbed T nuts are and what ( rubber ) conical faucet washers can be used for . 

Back at the 'ranch' , I removed all the plastic receivers and rusted screws which broke rater than turn out .

The nuts that those screws originally turned into where even more rusted that the screws , so useless .

The receivers were still in decent condition . I used a hacksaw and made six cuts in each of the barrels of the receivers . The cuts allow the barrels , which slide into the standoffs , to spread . 

I inserted the screws through the ladder uprights . The screws then went through the receivers and the conical washers and finally into the barbed T nuts .

I placed each receiver and parts into their respective standoffs and thoroughly tightened the screws .

The end result is a solid , good looking ladder that I have no qualms climbing .