Brandonitis
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Re: No charge to auxiliary battery
I found the solenoid (also called a battery isolator?), I'll voltage check it today to see if I'm getting power there, meanwhile I've got my battery on the charger to see if that'll perk back up. I found a new solenoid online for about $75, that seems high to me, anyone agree?252Views0likes0CommentsRe: No charge to auxiliary battery
I plugged it into shore power to see if the power converter was pushing power to the aux battery, which it is. So at least I know the power converter is working, still not sure if it still has some charging capabilities left in it or not, I'll find out tomorrow. As for the battery, I hope its not too late. I'll put a charger on it in the morning and see what happens. The switch I was referring to is located to the left of the driver's seat and the manual says in the dual setting it will charge the aux while driving, the middle part of the switch is for when the RV is not running and the other setting is to have the aux assist the main battery in emergency starting.252Views0likes0CommentsNo charge to auxiliary battery
Hi all. I recently purchased a AGM battery in hopes of it lasting a long time in my 21ft 1978 Chevy Itasca class C. I've been slowly remodeling the interior and while doing so, I've been using the cabin lights and intermittently checking the voltage on the auxiliary battery. I noticed it came down from 14 to now 10volts, so I flipped the switch as my manual says to charge the aux while driving. I noticed after taking it to Menards for supplies that it didn't budge from 10 volts. So I unhooked the positive cable from the aux, and with the rv running, hooked a test light up to the positive cable, nothing lit up. I don't know a thing about what to do next. Any help would be much appreciated.1.3KViews0likes6CommentsRe: Major repair costs for a Class C
About a month ago I bought a 1978 Chevy Itasca 21ft machine, ad said mechanic owned and maintained, oil recently changed, tires 2 years old, new hoses, belts, plugs and wires. All I could do was take his word and my eyes for it, and it all appeared to be true. I picked it up for $3300 ($300 less than advertised), Right off the bat he said the fridge was questionable and that turned out to be true, we don't plan on replacing it right away so thats no biggie. Took it in for a systems and mechanical check and they confirmed the fridge being junk, the only surprise was the fresh water pump. I ordered a new one on sale from Camping World and will put it in myself and that is going to run me about $110. It came without an auxiliary battery so I just picked up a group 27 AGM battery from Cabela's on sale for around $200. There are a few drawers that need repair, a little bit of caulking that has dried, torn upholstery on the couch cushions, a non working horn and cruise control. All in all its about what we expected, no rot, no leaks, good mechanics; maybe we found the diamond in the rough, who knows? We're planning on redoing the upholstery and curtains and putting in some new speakers and a CD player for the road, maybe another $500 since we'll be doing the upholstery and all installs on our own. All in all its been great so far, so sometimes in can work out to get a vintage machine and not have to break the bank prepping it for adventure. I'm not saying that we won't run into problems, we'll just prepare for those as best we can (credit cards and roadside assistance). RVing isn't just for big budgets, or at least it shouldn't be. Our monthly budget is around the same as yours, and if our costs increase, then we'll adjust how long we travel or stop and work for awhile. No big deal. Chase your dream Traveling Druid, just buy smart and expect to pay for repairs and updates along the way. KCCO1.4KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Refrigerator options
My plan for now is a cooler with ice, I want to remove the non working refer and make use of the space for the time being, and for that I was thinking dry food storage and a spot to bolt down a small floor safe possibly. That's one thing this beast lacks is storage, and as long as there is space available I may use it. Also need a fresh water pump replaced for the storage tank. I was looking at the Shurflo Revolution or the Flojet Quiet Quad 2 for starters, anyone have any input there?396Views0likes0CommentsRe: Refrigerator options
Son of Norway wrote: Opinions on these forums tend to be weighted towards replacing RV absorption refrigerators with residential AC units. But if you plan on doing a lot of dry camping, I would not recommend it unless you have a large battery bank or even a solar set-up. The absorption refrigerators can run on gas for days with very little power, that's why they are in RV's. If yours doesn't work, figure out why. It might just be the circuit board. If it's the cooling unit, you can buy a new or rebuilt one without having to buy a new fridge. I changed the cooling unit out on my fridge for a little over $300. Miles I haven't picked up the RV yet from the place I had it diagnosed, so I'm not sure what all they tried to determine that it wasn't working, I'll try and figure it out myself. I'll definitely check out trying to have it rebuilt, but so far what I've heard is that a 37 year old refer has difficult to find parts...unless he's telling me that as a salesman. I have checked Craigslist and found a few parts, and a few used refers although they were too big for my unit. If worse comes to worse, I'll go with cooler and ice, or look into building one potentially. Our trip is planned for 6 months, and I need to rebuild a few drawers and re-do some upholstery throughout, if I still have budget room after that I'll weigh my options. I'll get the RV back on Saturday and hopefully run some diagnostics on Sunday, and repost my findings. Thanks for all the help everyone!396Views0likes0CommentsRe: Refrigerator options
Merrykalia wrote: In our last TT, we replaced a broken Dometic 6 cu ft fridge with an Avanti 7.4 cu ft apartment size fridge. We purchased it online for a little over $300 and had it shipped to us in 3 days. It was about 6" taller than the Dometic, so we took out the trim piece off the top, cut 6" off, then installed the fridge and put the trim back on. We had to rig up a closer to make sure it didn't open while going down the road, but we drilled a hole in the plastic and put in a small dowel rod which was on a short chain. We never had a problem with it getting warm or thawing things in the 4 years we had it in the TT and we did several trips of 7-8 hour travel time. We also don't boondock, we always have some type of hookups. This is where we purchased it. Avanti 7.4 The lack of hookups will be our problem, we plan on "dry camping" a whole lot so we need a 12v supply, and don't have a to of room for a big battery bank. I'm looking to purchase a Lifeline AGM battery, probably group 27 if it fits, which it should, that battery should buy us about 4 days without hookups??397Views0likes0Comments
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