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Re: Mount “ditch spots” on tow hooks? / legality / clamps?
JaxDad wrote: The law, which is pretty uniform across all of North America, says you must have a minimum of 2, and a maximum of 4 LIT lamps on the front of a motor vehicle. That is why on 4 lamp systems with fogs, the fogs won't come if the vehicle's high beams are on, or the high beams turn the fogs off. I've not seen anything that restricted how many lights you could have, just that you can't light up more than 4 of them at a time. Then PLEASE tell some of the car manufacturers that! I'm starting to see more and more cars/SUVs/crossovers with 6 lit white lights: headlights, fog lights, AND extremely bright LED strip lights. And they look like a ball of light coming at you until you're less than 50' away from them! Or the Ford trucks that have 4 very bright headlamps on (all separate bulbs too), AND their fog lamps (2 separate bulbs there). Regards, Mike699Views0likes0CommentsRe: Is this normal for a 30 amp breaker
LoudRam wrote: We're talking about TT AC units not household or commercial units. My trailer AC unit is on a 15 amp breaker. If that has a 50 to 60 amp draw at start up, there is something wrong. Nope. In fact, 50-60 Amps is probably uber conservative for initial in-rush current, and most ammeters cannot measure the instant current spike when the switch is closed. Keep in mind when the compressor is started, it is in a stalled rotor situation. If you think about it, the stator at this point can be considered just a really long wire, and at the moment of power-up, looks exactly like a dead short circuit. Once the rotor starts spinning, it creates what is called back EMF that fights the incoming current flow. Eventually, as the rotor gets up to speed, it creates a back EMF that equals the incoming voltage. This is why when you start your A/C unit, your room lights flicker hard. That compressor is a REAL BIG sponge for a second. Now, as to why your unit can use a 15 Amp breaker without tripping it on startup? Well, other than a soft start kit, most breakers, as mentioned before, use bi-metallic strips that warm up with current flow. The more current, the hotter the strip gets, until the current flow exceeds the rating, hence heat in the strip, the strip flicks, and opens the breaker. However, the strip takes time to heat up, and the initial in-rush current of a starting A/C unit isn't present long enough to heat the strip to trip point. Usually. There are exceptions (like warm to hot ambient temperatures, worn strips, etc). Cheers! Mike687Views0likes0CommentsRe: Ram CTD jump start question
wilber1 wrote: Cummins12V98 wrote: This is what my RAM owners manual says, I have always done it this way for many years. Jumper cable positive to positive on batteries. Negative cable end on battery of charging/jumping vehicle. Discharged negative cable end to a ground, NOT on the discharged battery. Makes sense, you would want all the batteries using a common ground. The batteries on my truck died last year and I had to get the auto club to give me a boost. He connected his two booster batteries in parallel then hooked them up to my truck just that way. And is probably the reason why vehicles get fried when attempting a jump start. I ALWAYS go battery to battery on BOTH vehicles. Never had an issue, and I've jumped newer vehicles than mine without issue. My procedure to jump start another vehicle from mine (see sig): 1) Pull up to dead vehicle, pop hood latch. 2) Set high-idle on engine, set at 1100RPM. 3) Make sure all accessories in both vehicles are switched OFF. 4) Connect whichever battery in my truck is closest to dead vehicle's battery, pos to pos, and neg to neg. 5) Let the setup sit for about 10 minutes. Remember, you have a dead battery, it will literally soak up EVERYTHING coming down those jumper cables! 6) Attempt to start dead vehicle. In most cases, it will crank slowly, but it should start. If not, wait another 10 minutes. 7) Once dead vehicle engine is spinning, immediately disconnect cables. 8) Advise owner of now operating vehicle to not shut it down for at least 30 minutes, and maybe put the battery on a plug-in charger overnight once home. I have followed this procedure every time, and I have never had a problem. I think most of the problems occur when you attempt engine start as soon as the cables are connected. Bad Idea!!!! That dead battery WILL soak up pretty much all the power coming down the cables. And, I believe that jumper cables are a tenuous connection at best. I've seen jumpers, even heavy duty ones, get very warm very quickly just charging the dead battery. So, if you wait 10 minutes or so, you should put enough charge into the dead battery that it should be able, with a little help from the running vehicle, crank over the engine. It will be a slow crank, but the engine SHOULD start. Again, I've done this many times, and have over 267,000 Km on the vehicle, with the original alternator still spinning. Just my $0.02.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: "Towing a trailer can be dangerous" youtube video
The one thing I saw in that video, like others said, is the fact the model trailer is a pole. In the real world, trailers are usually a lot wider than that. So, what is not mentioned is that, not only should you have 60% of your weight forward of the trailer axle, but that weight should also be fairly evenly distributed from side to side. 60% forward is great, but if it's all on one side of the trailer, you are still going to have the trailer attempting to wag the tow vehicle. Ask me how I know this. ;-) Cheers! Mike574Views0likes0CommentsRe: Pull over!
blofgren wrote: I then clued in and realized that I had not used the service brakes at all in the stop and go traffic and had only used the exhaust brake on full mode. It works very well on the Cummins/6 speed manual combo! :B I have the 6.7 Cummins with the integrated brake, and yes it works very well, even with the automatic! I'm still waiting for an RCMP officer to pull me over and attempt to ticket me for no brake lights after descending hill (15lbs of "boost" in 4th locked, and us hanging off the seatbelts). :W197Views0likes0CommentsRe: Real funny story that's not so funny
You know, when I read this, the first image that popped into my mind was the scene from the movie RV, where Robin Williams gets a black tank shower after the other guy flushes the commode. Mind you, I also cringed reading this, but I did chuckle when the RV image popped up. Cheers! Mike505Views0likes0CommentsRe: WOOHOO!! New Batteries!
One comment I have to add is, if you get the T-105's (or any Trojan batteries), invest in the Hydralink watering system. Only 1 set of my T-105's don't have the system installed (due to the offset in the cell tops). The rest do. And the system makes it so easy to water the batteries WITHOUT spilling water or running the risk of having a cell burp in your face as you hover over it with a flashlight while adding water to the correct level. Cheers! Mike568Views0likes0CommentsRe: WOOHOO!! New Batteries!
BFL13 wrote: Somebody just won the Lotto jackpot it seems. :) Note that the new Interstate 225 AH batt is made by Trojan, so you get a T-105 that way too. Around here they are both going for about $219 Can (about $175 US) In the States look for those Interstate 225 (not the previous 232, which is not a Trojan) at Costco or Sam's for half that price--at least that is what guys on here are reporting. Perhaps the OP got a discount for buying so many. I do question those 14.8v PDs as such, although that is better than 14.4 to meet the Trojan 14.8 spec at 25C temperature. Since it is seldom that warm around here, the correct temp adjusted voltage would be higher most times. I am not clear on whether those "Trojan" PDs also have the Trojan spec Float voltage instead of doing the old 13.6/13.2 trick. IMO getting the correct float voltage is more important than the charging voltage for longer battery life, but I could be wrong--Mex might know about that? Therefore an adjustable voltage charger is the ideal, or else use the solar controller which is more likely to have adjustable voltage and temperature compensation. The Trojans will last many years even without being that fussy of course. According the Best Converter website, only the BOOST voltage was changed to meet the Trojan charging spec. The other 2 settings retained the original values. CheerS! Mike567Views0likes0CommentsWOOHOO!! New Batteries!
Well, after 9 years of faithful service, and one too many times being allowed to boil dry, not to mention twice being run into the ground, the trailer's battery bank (4 Trojan T-105 6V batteries) finally gave out earlier this year. Even after re-watering them in June, the bank would not hold a charge. All things considered, they did very well. So, I sourced out new batteries, and today on my way home from Victoria, picked up a pallet of 8 brand spanking new Trojan T-105's. 4 of them are now nestled in the battery box in the trailer, and have the Hydralink watering system installed. The other 4 are now charging up and will be the standby 12V power source for our computer network and my amateur radio station, replacing a bank of 4 Trojan SCS-225 batteries. I have to acquire a Hydralink system for them, though. Tomorrow I will take the old batteries to the retailer for recycling, and have them bring in 2 more Hydralink kits, maybe 3 as I have 2 T-105's for the emergency power system. I also ordered 2 of the PD9245 charger/converters that are configured for the Trojan batteries. I am awaiting their arrival, but these chargers will deal with the network and emergency battery banks. The trailer has 400W of solar to do the same job alongside the PD9280 (for bulk charging). Cheers! Mike3.7KViews0likes13Comments
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