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Re: RV Batteries
partsman01 wrote: I always check my charge rate when hooked up to power, and when I have the meter on the battery the amount of charge goes up when the inverter kick in, so you could check to see if yours at least varies the amount of charge between no load and then after leaving the lights on so your inverter kicks in to charge it. I may just take the battery in to be checked (it's brand new) and the inverter system with the battery in the fifth wheel too.526Views0likes0CommentsRe: RV Batteries
Re: Questions. Yes, we were plugged in to power all weekend so I am sure we ran mostly off AC to DC power the whole time. The battery did not die, everything was fine all weekend. Plenty of power, since we were plugged in. It's just that when we got home, and I connected to the big charger to see how the batter was doing, my battery was no longer showing 100% charge; it was down to about 25% charge, which makes no sense. I may need to just have the RV power system (charging system) evaluated. I will also take this new battery in to have a diagnostic done. Not sure about "specific gravity." And yes, I need to show more attention to the wife. That's for sure.186Views0likes0CommentsRV Batteries
I just bought my third deep cycle marine battery in three years for my Rockwood Fifth Wheel. They keep going dead. I bring them indoors in winter and keep them connnected (plugged in) in the RV all during the camping season, even when I am not camping. I treat my batteries better than I treat my wife! I had a battery guy tell me that the trickle chargers cannot charge the heavy plates in the deep cycle batteries so you have to plan to recharge them on a big charger and not by trickle charging, or by battery maintainers (which I haven't used) or even by just keeping your RV plugged in. We took a three day camping trip last weekend after I had fully charged my new battery to 100% on the big charger. Now that I am home it is down to 50%, even though it was charging on the way down (140 miles), it was plugged in the whole time camping, and charging on the way home. Do I need to fully charge the battery with my 6 amp charger after each camping trip? Larry3.3KViews0likes20CommentsRe: How much below MSRP should we be paying for a new TT?
I agree with posts. We do it a bit differently as we do online searches for prices at dealers across the country. That gives us a good baseline on retail prices. PLACE: Then we focus on cold weather dealers in states ike Iowa or Michigan when it's time to buy. TIME OF YEAR: We try to buy in December, as no one is buying RV's in Michigan at Christmas time. DEALER: We also go to larger dealers where one unit won't make or break their year. LEFT-OVER: Another tip is to look for your favorite model as a "left-over" model from a previous year. That way you get the full warranty but a big discount. CASH: we make things easy for the dealer and bring the cash with us so there's no financing hassles or delay, even if you have to fiance elsewhere. We bought a 2014 Rockwood Fifth Wheel listed at $46,000 in December 2015 for a cash price of $28,700. This works out to about a 40.3% discount. Brand new, full warranty. Can't do too much better than that.1.2KViews0likes0CommentsRe: New 5th Wheel price
Another point I'd make is that we would not buy in a big buyers market in spring or early summer. We like to sell our old unit in spring and then buy new in November of December in a cold weather state. For example, no RV's are moving in Michigan in early December so that's where and when we buy. We also go to a larger dealer so they have some cushion in the prices they pay since they sell so many. My dealer is the largest purchaser of RV's in the U.S. with seven dealerships. So they save by buying in quantity, and their shipping is inexpensive since they';re a couple hours from northern Indiana where the factories are. We study the floor plan we want, then identify the make and model number and search for that vigorously online. Then we let the dealers quote against each other. We bought a 2014 Rockwood Signature in December,2015 for about 40% off list price. We have it serviced locally here in PA most of the times but for something big I'd likely go back to Michigan, even though it's a full day's trip. Dealers will try to make a buck on you any way they can, even if they're your local dealer.423Views0likes0CommentsRe: Worried about looks..
We enjoy the people we meet and don't care much about what they camp in. We have met so many really nice folks camping though the Rocky Mountain West. I admire the folks who seem to have their RV-ing thing together and enjoy themselves, no matter what they camp in.345Views0likes0CommentsRe: 2nd AC unit
I have a 2014 Rockwood Ultra Light Signature 8282 fiver with 30 amp service and one 15k BTU ducted A/C in the Living Room. In full sunshine and temps over 80 it can't keep the whole trailer cool, even with the ducted air. In hotter temps (with full sun) the trailer will creep up to 88 or 89. If the trailer is 30 amp, is it for sure not prewired for a front vent A/C? I have the roof height for it. Do you just remove the vent cover to see if there's a pre-wired set up or check elsewhere? If it is not pre-wired and I bought one of these direct vent Dometic a/c units, how would I run the wire? These dometic units are 110 v units. Would the wire just be run to a new 110 volt side plug? (RV park set ups often have the thirty amp plug along with a separate 20 amp 110 plug.) My local dealer (not place of purchase) seemed to suggest that it was likely not prewired and if so a second a/c unit could not be added. Appreciate any thoughts. Larry401Views0likes0CommentsRe: Searching for Owner of Red Standard Poodle
There are three types of microchips for dogs which use different frequencies. Be sure that the scanner you use to scan a dog for a microchip is a universal scanner and will pick up all three frequencies of microchip. Many shelters or humane groups purchase a scanner which is aligned with the chips they dispense or use but does not pick up all three frequencies. I had our greyhound microchipped with a new microchip some years ago, took him to the vet, and they could not find any chip. They had a dedicated scanner which just did not pick up the "European" frequency chip. Had he been lost, our vet would have said he had no microchip, when he actually had a new microchip. If the dog is well cared for it may be worth double checking this dog with a universal scanner. BTW, if a dog has a microchip, the chip has to be registered or it is a long haul to find the owner. Send me a private message if you need help on this.520Views0likes0CommentsRe: Should we buy used 5th wheel
We have bought two new travel trailers and one new fifth wheel in the past 12 years, going larger or for more slides each time. We particularly wanted to enjoy some warranty coverage for a year. We have never paid more than about 60% of the suggested retail price. But we use an approach that no one has mentioned for when one buys and where one buys. If you are willing to travel to buy your RV and wait until winter, you can save serious money. First, we go to trade shows to find a floorplan we like. Then we do a nationwide search for that trailer make and model. This can be done any time of year. We compare prices and get a good feel of what the model we want is selling for. But when we are ready to buy, we do so in early December. No one is buying new RV's at Christmas time. Dealers are anxious to sell something before the calendar year ends. This is especially true in northern states like Michigan. Since many trailers are manufactured nearby in Indiana, the dealers also have great inventory and less investment in transportation costs. You can save even more by buying a leftover new trailer from a previous model year. Full warranty is included while the trailer is depreciated (which you must insist on). Our first trailer was a 26 foot Wildwood with no slides. It was retail priced about 17k; we bought it on Ebay through a big Michigan dealer for $9,700. After we used it for a year, we decided we wanted a trailer with slides, so we sold the Wildwood in spring for $11,800, 2k more than we paid for it. we were covered by a warranty the whole time. If you go to your local dealer and pay asking price in springtime, you should expect to pay near the full retail price. You're swimming with sharks in a seller's market.1.1KViews0likes0Comments
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