Fun / Projects / with my 1997 America Dream

cant wait for the replies.....myself.

and FWIW my circuit breaker panel is wired like yours....netural & ground wires on the same buss.
in fact on our panel they inter mix neutral (white) & ground (green or bare) w/in each of the two busses.....i guess if it passes code for the house then i can do it too ;) :o

bshpilot wrote:

GlennLever wrote:

bshpilot wrote:
OK ill go 1st....let me guess your 3 to 4 wire conversion ties Neutral & Ground together ?

Correct, and there is a 220 volt potential across the two lines. This is my welder extension cord. The single wire for neutral and ground are the same gauge as the two hots.

I do likewise in my garage w/ my welder outlet.....

and brace yourself....i also use a neutral bonded cord when i run an EXTERNAL generator (small 2kw) at the track to keep the coach batteries charged & the electric/basement beer cooler running :D

Not what I expected, waiting for the naysayers to beat me up.

Long thread on three to four prong.

This was my post there.

I have been using my welding outlet in the garage to power the motor home for over a year.

It is true that the three prong outlet has no neutral, it contains two hot leads and a ground, 110 on one led to the ground and 110 on the other leg to the ground. There is 220 cross the two hot legs.




The four prong plug contains two hot leads, one ground, and one neutral.

It also has 220 potential across the two hot leads.





The different between the two is that the four prong contains the neutral.

What most people forget is the natural and ground are connected together on the same buss bar in the breaker box.



Note in this circuit breaker panel that the white netrual wire and the bare ground wire are connected to the same buss bars.



So if the natural and ground are connected together at the plug it will work just fine. It is not code. Every electrician will tell you not to do it, but it works.

What I did is I went to Home Depot and purchased a drier cord, and a four pin outlet that fits the Motor Home. I wired the plug and wire to the outlet, one outside wire (one leg) to one hot prong, the other outside wire to the other hot prong (other leg)and connected the ground and neutral together.

GlennLever wrote:

bshpilot wrote:
OK ill go 1st....let me guess your 3 to 4 wire conversion ties Neutral & Ground together ?

Correct, and there is a 220 volt potential across the two lines. This is my welder extension cord. The single wire for neutral and ground are the same gauge as the two hots.

I do likewise in my garage w/ my welder outlet.....

and brace yourself....i also use a neutral bonded cord when i run an EXTERNAL generator (small 2kw) at the track to keep the coach batteries charged & the electric/basement beer cooler running :D

bshpilot wrote:
OK ill go 1st....let me guess your 3 to 4 wire conversion ties Neutral & Ground together ?

Correct, and there is a 220 volt potential across the two lines. This is my welder extension cord. The single wire for neutral and ground are the same gauge as the two hots.

Need help on the install of new Atwood Water Heater

Well I am trying to replace my old 10 gallon electric / gas Atwood water heater.

Water inlet and out let appear to be in the same location.

110 volt line hook up is in the same location.

The old unit has three wires from the control unit (Blue, Green, Brown)

The new unit has four Blue, Green, Orange, White)

It appears that the old unit used brown to trigger gas in the hot water heater, and the 110 was turned on manually either by a switch on the back of the unit or in my case a manual separate switch in the bathroom.



The new unit appears to have a separate line for gas and electric and the white (for electric) troughs a relay on the back of the unit for electric.

There appears to be a way to use the same single switch I currently have by tying the orange and white together.

The new instruction are really bad.



Has anyone run across this?

What I think I do is use the single switch and than if I also want electric I use the switch in the bathroom to supply 110 to the relay which will be thrown because the "Atwood switch is already on???

OK ill go 1st....let me guess your 3 to 4 wire conversion ties Neutral & Ground together ?

Well once again I found a surprise, and not a good one.

I wanted to address the corroded contacts we found in the solenoids in the power transfer switch

This is the shore power cord compartment that holds the power transfer swich.



We have already removed some shoddy wiring done by the previous owner in this compartment



The gray box in the foreground is a surge protector and high/low voltage monitor. It was loose on the wall so I thought I would remove the cover and tighten it back up.

What I found was it had been completely by passed, the input and output wires were wire tied together.





I traced the monitor wires inside the coach and found that all though the face plate was in place for the monitor all the circuitry in back of it had been removed.

This is an RV Electronics unit and my research says they are no longer in business.

I decided to completely remove it until I can find a replacement unit.

By removing it, it provided great access to the power transfer switch.



This is the inside, some people would look at this and say Oh my gosh, I look at it and can understand it and also know that it is repairable rather than having to replace it.

Someone has also been in here note the red circle (the black on the wire nut is not a burn, just black worn off the cover where it was rubbing)



I elected to leave this alone for now as I want to move on to the next project.

I bought some flexible files made for cleaning relay contacts.



This was the contacts that failed when we turned the generator on but it never engaged and we were running the A/C through the inverter on our last trip. Note the corrosion.



I was able to dress every set of points except one, and that one I used emery paper on that set.

The surge protection, high/low unit has been removed (it will be replaced with a new one, unless I can find a used one in good working order with the monitor, or maybe just the monitor.



All back together and the generator fired multiple times and each time the transfer switch worked correctly



Hooked the shore power up (using my conversion from three to four wire 220 volt adapter) and the transfer switch again works correctly (this connection should start a fire storm of comments).

GlennLever wrote:

bshpilot wrote:
Glenn -

Nice mod ! We feel your pain We campaign a car w/ a friend in the NASA road race circuit & occasionally support a motorcycle friend in the CMRA series - we use scanners & hand held radios to catch the announcements / call to grid.

I recently added a antenna for use on top of the trailer to try and improve the signal reception.

We also plug our handheld & scanner radios speaker output in to portable "boom boxes" (like yours) and our coaches outdoor entertainment system so we can amplify the track announcements.

Thanks, I hope it works.

Probably could have used a Coat Hanger ;)

I wrote to NHRA,

"Sir,

At Bowling Green Hot Rod Reunion, at tech inspection they were looking at front tires on dragsters that had tread. They were particularly looking for "MoPed" tires and tries with "max MPH limitations". My front tires were gone over with a fine tooth coom and neither of those marks were on them. The inspectors were looking for "For Racing" on the side of the tire, but my tires did not have that. They passed it anyway because there was no "MoPed" or "max MPH limitations".

Could you provide me with the specific rules and regulations on front tires?

I run in Pro Comp in an 8.0 index

I will be running in the New England Hot Rod Reunion and certainly would not want to get there and not be allowed to run.

I was runner up in both the 2014 New England HRR, and 2015 Bowling Green HRR.

I have read General Regulations 5.1 and 5.2, also Nostalgia Dragster "Class of competition within Nostalgia Dragster is for front-engine,
methanol-burning dragsters."

TIRES & WHEELS: 5
TIRES
Maximum width 12 inches as measured across tread surface or indicated by manufacturer on the sidewall. See General Regulations 5:1.
WHEELS
Lightweight automotive-type wire wheels permitted on front axle only, provided total car weight does not exceed 1,800 pounds, excluding driver. Maximum rear wheel width 12 inches. See General Regulations 5:2."

on 7/4/2015

and never heard back.

Not willing to take a chance on travel and then not being able to race.

Baby has new shoes and shoe laces (stainless steel cotter pins).

Kenda Ribbed Style 2.25 X 17 with bolt in tubes and rim liners purchased from Hayden Enterprises.





I was more concerned about tread depth than type of tire as there is a stipulation on tread depth in the rules.





Can you believe these tires and wheels hit 165 MPH?

bshpilot wrote:
Glenn -

Nice mod ! We feel your pain We campaign a car w/ a friend in the NASA road race circuit & occasionally support a motorcycle friend in the CMRA series - we use scanners & hand held radios to catch the announcements / call to grid.

I recently added a antenna for use on top of the trailer to try and improve the signal reception.

We also plug our handheld & scanner radios speaker output in to portable "boom boxes" (like yours) and our coaches outdoor entertainment system so we can amplify the track announcements.

Thanks, I hope it works.