Denver_Transpla
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Re: Leaving the house batteries in the chassis for the winter
We don't have power at our storage site. I started using a portable 100W solar panel to keep the batteries charged up. I didn't have much faith in the cheap charge controller that came with the solar panels as being suitable for being continuously connected to the batteries. So I bought a Bogart Engineering PWM solar charger and wired it to the batteries. Choice was driven by the fact we already had the. Bogart Battery Monitor. The battery monitor tells me how much solar power is being generated and how much power had gone in and out of the batteries. The portable worked very well over two winters. The SC-2030 is smart enough to not over charge the batteries and I think I've only needed to top up water once over then winter. Even then it was minimal. This year I installed 200W of flexible panels on the coach roof so I don't have to haul out the portable and have something sitting outside that is subject to being walked off with. I do have a pig tail installed on the solar charger so I can hook the portable in parallel with the two roof top panels. One unlooked for advantage of having the 100w panel (now 200w) is that if I forget to put the Use/Store switch on the coach into Store I still have enough power to not have coach parasitic loads discharge the batteries. I've seen some folks with small 10w or 20w panels, and am not sure how well they work over time.490Views0likes0CommentsRe: Renting a TT in Denver, CO
Colorado camper rental is good for trailers, but they are likely mostly if not completely booked up by now. We rented a trailer from them several years ago before we decided to buy and found they we're booked until after Labor Day, which is when ended up going. They are very good people and spent a lot of time going through the rig before we left. You also can rent from Lazy Daze in Loveland - trailers, Class A, Class C, Class B or from El Monte RV in Saldalia (near Castle Rock) - Class A or Class C https://www.lazydays.com/rentals?callid=1&cid=96-0008-01&atrkid=V3ADW8CB877AF_40739245844_kwd-98148736__258354351581_g_c___1t1&trkid=V3ADW493584_40739245844_kwd-98148736__258354351581_g_c__&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7--lp9LY2wIVGbbACh1UwwVuEAAYASAAEgL2RPD_BwE https://www.elmonterv.com/rv-rental/where-you-can-rent-rvs/rv-rentals-location-denver-rv-rentals/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9IPR_9HY2wIVAaZpCh1H0Qn-EAAYASAAEgI0YvD_BwE332Views0likes0CommentsRe: Disconnecting Batteries with Solar?
When I installed my solar panels and controller, I put circuit breakers in the + DC connections for both the panels and connection to the batteries. If you don't have fuses or circuit breakers in these circuits, you should consider adding them. They protect against accidental grounding and provide a convenient disconnect so you can work on components. Size based upon your system size. My controller is a nominal 30A controller so I used 40A breakers. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H3DKGGE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1356Views0likes0CommentsRe: ARCO TOP TIER GASOLINE
I used to work for ARCO, back in the days when its was still ARCO. BP took over in 2000 and in 2012 sold the Carson Refinery and the southern half of brand to Tesoro, which is now self renamed to Andeavor (who came up with that name?). BP still has marketing rights starting somewhere north of Bakersfield and kept the old ARCO Cherry Point Refinery in Washington. After they blew up the credit card around 1984 ARCO became a bottom tier gasoline and sold only on price. The additive package was a general basic package and they did not attempt to compete with Chevron, Shell, Exxon, etc, who had premium packages (Techron) and sold hard price, price, price. ARCO went for low price period. Volumes went up per station to multiples of what a Chevron station would sell in a month. We were quite profitable, though a trip to an ARCO station could be an interesting experience, and the stations were always full while the Chevron across the street would have a car or two. They were not big on fancy stations and there was a big deal with California when they tried to close the restrooms. When the employees would complain about the stations to the marketing guys we got told "you are not our customer". The executive's wives would go to Chevron stations. While I was in Southern California, I would generally fill up at a Chevron or Shell. When they got rid of the credit cards, they also got rid of the employee discount and also the incentive to put up with the stations., But I did get about $500 to compensate me for lifetime loss of the discount. Though when I worked at the Harvey Tech Center (now just a bare lot taken over by a car wholesaler) we had our own gas station (the only ARCO Station in Chicago) and would get a good discount. Even more if you went on a test program. I got free gas for a year while they tested the impact of methanol blends on GM's new gas tanks. They took my gas tank off my car and installed a prototype from GM. When the program ended, they put my old tank back on. I miss the old ARCO - I worked in Refining and we had the best people in the industry and a management that would let them do their jobs.We mostly ignored what the marketing guys were up to. When BP took over it turned into a massive bureaucracy and they ended up selling the Carson Refinery and the SOCAL marketing because they basically ruined the business (in my view). As far as I know, the target market has not changed with the multiple changes of hands. So if you are looking for 'top tier", its not an ARCO station.743Views0likes0CommentsRe: Colorado campground advise..
Mountain Dale is very nice. We've been there several times. North side is mostly full time residents and the south side is used for actual campers. Its a good base for going to Canon City, Royal Gorge and Colorado Springs. Its about half way between them. Also Mueller State Park is good for Elk, but in the fall it can be cool as the park is at 9000 ft. You might even get some snow. North of there there is Golden Gate Canyon State Park - also high (8,000 ft). One other spot that may not be open in late fall is Brainerd Lake Recreation Area - its even higher at 10,500 ft and generally closes in mid October. You want a site in the west loop. The east loop had a micro burst a few winters ago that knocked down all of the trees. All these locations are popular and you will need reservations, especially for weekends.483Views0likes0CommentsRe: Magnetic Tow Lights Failure
We got these LED tow lights from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X0ZJCQA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 They replaced an older set I had with incandescent bulbs. Magnetic grip is excellent. I found a rubber sheet with adhesive backing and cut out pads for the lights. Thin enough that grip isn't affected, but keeps Mini from being scratched. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005I58QF8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1578Views0likes0CommentsRe: Toll By Plate - A Unique Challenge for RVers!
Toll roads around Denver have the same pay by plate and have gotten into no small amount of hot water over claiming to have mailed bills and then piling on the penalties when they don't get payment. We use them quite often so have an account that is tied to window stickers but had a problem when I changed credit cards in getting them to automatically replenish the pot. Fortunately I checked my account and caught it. I'm sure that they would have been quite happy to add on fines even with a valid CC on record. When we first got to Colorado we had a few tolls on an out of state plate. I kept wondering when I'd get a bill and then 3-4 months later a bill shows up with an additional non payment fine. Never got a first bill. Amount was small so I just paid it. There are people who have had penalties in the thousands racked up and never got one bill. Big deal about this about a year ago and since then they appear to have cleaned up their act. Caution is that these toll authorities seem pretty casual about actually sending out bills and are more than glad to keep adding penalties. My fear is that the motorhome and toad both have stickers, and that I might find out I get charged twice - once for the motorhome + dolly and toad (4 axles) and once more for the toad. So far is seems that their system is smart enough to figure out when a second vehicle is being towed but I check every time - when we got to RMNP or points north, its a $40 toll bill, but DW does not want to go the free route on the 25 though downtown.163Views0likes0CommentsRe: What's the WORST Experience You ever had at a RV/Camp site?
We've been relatively lucky, but two instances stand out First was last year at Coulter Bay campground in Grand Teton. A guy with a 30 ft trailer pulled in down a site and across from us (in that loop everything was pull out type sites). At 7:00 AM the next morning he fired up his construction generator (generator hours were 8am to 7 pm). Apparently momma needed her coffee. Next morning the same thing... but he moved his generator 20 ft down the road (towards us) because I guess it was too loud for him. I was very tempted to sneak out and cut his cable.He skipped a day, probably because he got a visit from the campground staff, but the next day (and thankfully last) he was at it again. Apparently his batteries were bad and couldn't power anything. In the evenings he ran the generator (within generator hours at least) and then had his truck connected to the trailer plug and ran the truck until midnight.Noisiest generator I've ever heard. The other case occurred in our tent camping days (late 1970's) - we stopped at Castle Crags State Park in northern California. The campground was deserted - we were the only people when we got there. We were half set up when some guy pulls in in a Class A (huge at the time, but its probably minuscule compared to today). He's got the entire campground to chose from, but chose the site next to us. We got anti-social and picked up our stuff and moved across the campground. Never talked to the guy, but we were interested in solitude and at the time, the tent camping folks thought little of the motorized crowd. I think most still do, but now we have out own Class A, we aren't so bad.234Views0likes0CommentsRe: Grand Tetons; need a campground recommendation
You also might consider Flagg Ranch (Officially now Headwaters Lodge). The sites are a little close together (we have not stayed at the Coulter Bay RV Park so I can't provide a comparison), but you are in the trees and generally have good shade. The RV sites are full hookup. There are some tent sites mixed in with the RV sites. We had a tent site next door and one of the three occupants that were there when we were weren't too happy about it. Also no cell service in the campground. Some wifi in the lodge. At Coulter Bay you can get a signal, but its spotty. The "lodge" is basically only a front desk/tour sales desk, gift shop, small store, gas station and a fairly nice restaurant. It about 15 miles north of Coulter Bay (2 miles south of the south Yellowstone entrance). Not as high traffic area as Coulter Bay. We stayed in a non-hookup site in the Coulter Bay main campground a couple of years ago. They do have some electric sites, but those are hard to come by. We checked in at 10:00 and the electric sites were all gone (main campground doesn't take reservations). There are also a couple of commercial RV Parks near Teton. We passed Fireside RV park about 4-5 miles east of Moran Junction on Highway 26. Looked "OK" but its on the Prarie and doesn't have much, if any shade. We haven't stayed there, so I can't provide any better information393Views0likes0CommentsRe: Denver Colorado FHU camogrounds?
Also Chatfield State Park (SW of Denver) or Boyd Lake State Park (NE of Denver). I think they have limited FHU, but RV sites have power. Most private RV parks in the immediate area pretty much suck. Dakota Ridge in Golden sucks less than the others and gets middling reviews475Views0likes0Comments
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