Nuke-E
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Re: LED Bulb Replacement for Taillamp - Possible Snag
Before you buy LED "bulbs", consider replacing the whole light housing if you can. There are a few reasons for this: First and foremost, you'll get better performance, and have a sealed light assembly that should last a long time. It'll look better, with new lenses and probably a sharper look. LED bulbs don't have the same light output characteristics as the bulb you're replacing. The LEDs might seem brighter at certain angles, but may (likely will) fail to meet the photometric requirements in FMVSS108. At the very least, you'd need to add a separate license plate light--it's required to be a white light, with a number of requirements regarding intensity and beam pattern. Will you ever get pulled over for this? More than likely not. Could you be? Sure. If you can, post (or send me directly) a picture of the lights you have now. I work in the lighting business, and might be able to point you in the direction of a suitable replacement.320Views0likes0CommentsRe: Being pulled over by LEO
I've been stopped once, about 7 years ago, driving my motorhome. It was an interesting experience, so I figured I'd share what happened and how I approached it. First of all, it was dark, and caught me by surprise--I had no idea why I was being stopped, but had regularly seen cars being searched along that stretch of I-40 (Shelby County, TN). I had never given much thought to a traffic stop, but as I was stopping, the first thing that popped into my mind was how I absolutely wouldn't want to approach a high RV window if I were a police officer, where there would be no way to see what was going on inside. I had a mid-ship entry door, so his approach from the passenger side wouldn't have been any better. I had a switch on the dashboard for a side-facing floodlight. I turned that on immediately on getting stopped, and exited the RV calmly. I walked to the rear of my rig, and waited for him to get out of his car. I was allegedly stopped for going 71 in a 65 zone (just before the speed limit went to 70). I had been having trouble with the speedometer drive gear on my GearVendors overdrive, and knew I couldn't have been going that fast. I also had a laptop on the dashboard with a GPS that had been logging my position and speeds all day--and told the officer as much. It was a relaxed conversation, and he dropped the pretense for the stop and explained that they were looking for drug trafficking. After a few questions about where I was going, and whether anyone else was inside, he asked if he could search the RV. I gave him a few conditions (like being able to watch, to be able to stop the search at any time, and that everything had to be put back as they found it), and thought it would be somewhat amusing given the hidden spaces that would be hard to search. That resulted in a quick end to the stop and I was on my way--without him ever asking for my driver's license or registration, setting foot inside, etc. Bottom line, I think, is that the approach put him at ease, and things usually turn out better that way. I had no intention of allowing an invasive search, but he didn't have to know that.263Views0likes0CommentsRe: Electric for air conditioning
A couple of things that haven't been mentioned here that might be useful for the OP: When you're trying to run the AC and/or microwave, don't worry too much about the fridge. It's only going to use ~200W (<2A) when it cycles on. Depending on how long you expect the RV arrangement to last, you may want to consider installing a new outlet like some have suggested. Regardless of who does it, you should check for yourself to see that it's done right. Given the relatively small difference in cost between a 30A and 50A installation (a little more in wiring mainly), I'd probably install 50A. You'd have to run new wiring and pay about as much in labor to upgrade at a later date. Perhaps the biggest thing to keep in mind (and that's often overlooked) is what the converter is drawing to keep the batteries charged. On a normal 30A service, I regularly run two air conditioners--but I do it with the converter either off or plugged in to a different circuit. In your case, with only 15 or 20A to work with, you should be able to run one air conditioner (assuming sufficiently large wiring to the RV) without issue. You might consider a habit of turning off the converter in the morning, and letting the batteries recharge overnight. That last bit--and power management in general--might sound a little bit complicated, especially for your mother to manage herself. But if you put together a list of appliances and what they consume, and explain to her what the connection can handle, I'm sure it could be done.313Views0likes0CommentsRe: Am I Guilty? I think not!
If the yellow light were longer, he might have entered into the intersection still on a yellow light instead of red. The length of yellow light is to give time to react and safely stop *before* entering the intersection. The time it takes to get through an intersection should be addressed by the "all-red" clearance time. Traffic lights govern entering the intersection, not exiting it. Short yellow lights are key to these cameras generating revenue, and directly counter to safety. A huge fraction (often >80%) of violations come in the first few tenths of a second--well before the other direction sees a green light.266Views0likes0CommentsRe: Am I Guilty? I think not!
It looks like the yellow light time there is below the minimum required. See figure 10-36 in the ITE's Traffic Control Devices handbook (summary here: http://www.teex.org/eu/documents/LSR_1-11.pdf). The ITE handbook is referenced by the FHWA's MUTCD, which all 50 states adopt in order to receive highway funding.267Views0likes0CommentsRe: Coleman A/C Motor Serviceable?
See if you can read the part numbers on the motor itself--it should be a FASCO motor, and there should be a 5-digit number (e.g. E0904). Then look it up to see what the current part number is. I was able to replace mine about a year and a half ago with this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G20RCI/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 -- identical to the motor it replaced, but about half the price of what I found using the Coleman part number.595Views0likes0CommentsRe: New window in door The best !
I really like this idea--here's my question: What would prevent someone from using a regular RV window in the door? Is there something special about it other than size? Right now I don't have a window in the door at all (though I have one of the cheap windows that was given to me laying around), so size really doesn't matter. Thoughts?261Views0likes0Comments
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