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Re: Help planning trip to include Delaware
What will you be driving thru Connecticut? RT-15 is the Merritt Parkway and NO trailers or motorhomes are allowed! It is a 1930's scenic parkway with some quaint bridges that can trim the top of your camper for you. I suggest that you consider taking I-287 up through northern New Jersey to the New York Thruway north to I-84 at Newburg. Then take I-84 east across the Hudson River and on into Connecticut. Check out the tolls before committing to any particular route. It is my understanding that the George Washington Bridge is crazy expensive. I have not checked it lately but I expect the Mario Cuomo Bridge (previously called the Tappan Zee Bridge) is likely to be more pricey than the Newburg Beacon Bridge for crossing the Hudson River.912Views0likes0CommentsRe: Long Island to Burlington VT
We live in Ridgefield CT and often drive to visit friends near Rutland Vt. Our preferred route is NY RT 22 up to the Bennington VT area then cut east to VT RT 7 north. The CT Turnpike (I95) to New Haven then I91 north is not a pleasant drive in my view. Taking CT RT 7 north from Norwalk CT up thru CT, MA and into VT is not my choice either. I suggest looking at Throgs Neck Bridge, I95 north to I287 west to I684 north which leads directly into NY RT 22 at Brewster NY and you are on your way. We have camped many times both at Burlington North campground and on Grand Isle. Loved them both. The 13 mile long Burlington Waterfront Bikeway rail trail passes right thru the Burlington North campground. A very nice ride.271Views0likes0CommentsRe: First Trip
We also have a 2001 Dutch Star 4095 with the Cat engine. Adopted it spring of 2014. Our most serious electrical problem was when the Leece-Neville alternator become "intermittent", which I fixed by replacing it with an after-market one that looks exactly the same except for not having the official label. I look forward to hearing about your maintenance, repair and upgrade experiences. I know that I could write a book about mine.144Views0likes0CommentsRe: Inverter with residential refrigerator
We installed a residential refrigerator two years ago. It is similar to yours but is 10 cubic foot capacity. Using a Kill-O-Watt meter, I measured the power draw when running at 100 watts and the multi-day average draw at 40 watts. Per the Home Depot Energy Guide label for your unit (411 kwh/year) your average draw should be on the order of 47 watts. If your running duty cycle is similar to ours, your running power draw should be around 120 watts. A key consideration is the startup surge drawn by the compressor. The compressor in our unit is labelled by the manufacturer at LRA = 11 amps (or about 1,320 watts, Locked Rotor Amperes). The inverter should be sized to supply this surge, not just the running watts. I selected a 1,500 watt AIMS pure sine wave inverter dedicated to the refrigerator for our application. During our last camping trip, the AIMS stopped working. Since we were at a campground with electric power, I simply unplugged from the inverter and plugged into campground power. A first project this spring will be to replace the inverter.90Views0likes0CommentsRe: Inverter
I have an AIMS PWRIX120012S sine wave inverter that I installed spring 2017 to power my new residential refrigerator. During our last camping trip this fall, the inverter stopped providing 120 volt power. After returning home, I called AIMS technical support and confirmed that at 15 months, my warranty was done. The tech suggested that I open the unit up and check the internal fuses myself as this would no longer invalidate my already expired 12 month warranty. What I found was that the fuses were all good. However, I observed that a "daughter" circuit board mounted perpendicular to the "main" or "mother" board had torched spectacularly leaving a good soot trail. I am now planning on replacing the AIMS with a SAMLEX sine wave inverter this coming spring.434Views0likes0CommentsRe: Slide left out during first snow
I would not put the water pump off till spring. Any water lines or components like pumps, faucets and valves that are not purged of water and filled or rinsed with potable antifreeze are at risk of splitting open when the water freezes. Low point drains do not necessarily drain all of the water out of everything. I blow out the lines with compressed air, then run antifreeze through them all, then blow the antifreeze out with compressed air to minimize after taste from the antifreeze in the spring. A gallon or two of RV antifreeze is a bargain compared to the cost of repairing any freeze damage.241Views0likes0CommentsRe: Ignition just clicking
I do not know what chassis your motorhome is on. If it is a Ford, we had the starter energize relay mounted near the radiator go bad. It would click solidly, but not pass the juice. After perhaps a dozen cycles, it made contact and the engine (a 460) cranked right up. Once home, I replaced the failing relay and had no further trouble with it.495Views0likes0CommentsRe: HELP!!!!!! with last step of inverter install
I purchased an AIMS PWRIG150012120S a couples of years ago. It was specifically selected as it was advertised as "bondable". After a long delay, I finally got around to that project after the window to return it had expired. Before installing it, I chose to run some electrical tests to confirm the operation. The AC voltage line to neutral was a solid 120 volts and it handled an electric space heater quite well. However, I also measured the voltages from line to ground and neutral to ground and both read equal (but reduced) voltages! I suspect that they push the positive going half AC cycle out one lead and the negative going out half AC cycle out the other lead rather that a true full sine wave cycle out the line lead. The only way that I would consider bonding the neutral to the ground with this inverter would be to run the power through an isolation transformer which could cost nearly as much as the inverter itself. Another project on the shelf to get back to "someday".602Views0likes0Comments
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