Brian
Forum Replies Created
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bubbles are great as mentioned.. Also old bus mechanic said I use gray teflon tape that it seals better. Any thing on this ongoing air system ghost.
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Good Morning Art – a temperature pressure chart for the refrigerant is the only way to know the appropriate pressures. Below is an example
https://ricksfreeautorepairadvice.com/ac-pressure-gauge-readings/
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I need to do this. I have 3 cruise airs and 2 roof airs, until recently, now I have 3 roof airs and no cruise airs, adding a 4th roof air. Im in AZ and today in the sun running the 3 AC’s it was cool, but not cold. I want a meat locker. Ill have to coat my roof and get that window covering! Thanks for the post.
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A low hanging utility line in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico took mine off along with a couple of the air horns. I found it was easier and cheaper to replace the spot light with a wireless remote unit than to patch the holes and repaint. Same for the air horns. I have never used the spot light other than to test it but it is there none the less.
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I continue to pursue this entire issue because I am convinced our coach insurances are not only too expensive relative to claims, but that the coverage is inadequate. To add to the matter that makes this issue more serious is using ACV policies which are providing a false sense of security. Below are some summaries of what might be considered the fine print.
Here is how you as insured coach owners have to view an ACV policy. First, in the event of a total loss you get a check and the insurance company gets the coach. The insurance company determines how big the check is. It is important for you to understand the insurance company determination of the ACV is the foundation for how much they will pay you for a partial loss. Pay close attention to the wording about how coach value is determined. If we want to be consdered as buses, look at their value and remaining life after 10 years of being driven hard and put away wet.
If we want to be considered motor homes (an RV) take a look at how depreciation takes their new value down to almost nothing in a relatively short period of time.
Understand clearly that if you scrape the side of a coach on a big oak tree the age of the coach will have nothing to do with the cost of repairs. It costs as much to repair an old coach as it does a newer one so keep in mind your ACV policy is not going to cover the total cost of repairs due to the oak tree.
If your coach value is 25% of its replacement cost using the formulas insurance companies use to determine useful life and depreciated value your repairs are only covered by that percentage of their cost. You pay the rest. It is very reasonable to assume a $500,000 coach today whose replacement cost is $2,000,000 is only going to get 25% of the repair costs covered. What about a $250,000 coach or one worth $150,000? The reason ACV seems inexpensive is not because it is a real good deal, it is because what is actually covered is little or nothing.
It gets worse. No matter how much influence you think you have because the same company covers your house and cars, the reality is you have none. You likely will never win an argument about what you think your coach is worth compared to what the insurance company thinks it is worth. If there is some nerd in the back room responsible for determining these values, and he thinks your Prevost motor home conversion is just like a similarly aged Winnebago motor home he wins.
My point in sharing this wonderful news is unless and until we can be seen and heard as a single voice demanding appropriate insurance coverage we lose. Your local Allstate or State Farm agent is dancing in the streets because he collected your premium, but do the math based on the two paragraphs below to determine what percentage of total and partial losses you will collect, and then see if you think your cheap ACV premium is a deal. The worst part is we do not have a company willing to cover all of us with agreed value besides Safeco, and they are screwing us because they are the only show in town and they will only agree to an agreed value policy up to a certain level. And the premiums are almost at the level of being called white collar crime.
What we need is an insurance expert with contacts to sort through this mess and see if we can act collectively to place our insurance with a company that will provide adequate coverage for a fair price.
Do I have anyone’s attention yet?
Actual Cash Value is commonly defined as the ‘fair market value‘ of your property. … Similar to RC, when a total loss happens, you would receive the full ACV amount. However, partial losses aren’t paid in-full. Instead, the amount you’d receive is a depreciated value.
Actual cash value is computed by subtracting depreciation from replacement cost while depreciation is figured by establishing an expected lifetime of an item and determining what percentage of that life remains. This percentage, multiplied by the replacement cost, provides the actual cash value.
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Thanks Mike but just got the new ball joints in the mail.
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Brett…
I think the California Coach that Per mentioned is a 1998 H3-45 Vantare with 2 slides… That was our old coach and the slides are built by HWH and are very good slides… we were told by HWH that our coach was the first H3-45 with slides… and you will find that all H series coaches had HWH or another brand up until 2005 when Prevost installed their own slides in an H3-45 for the first time… may have been in late 2004… not the same as the XLs which had Prevost slides much earlier.
Hope this helps sort things out a bit.
Cheers, Diane
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Butch and Dawn:
We are here now but leaving in the morning. We will look out for you and hope to meet before we leave. We are in lot # 2 close to the entrance. Nice park and weathere has been perfect……..
Safe travels!!!!
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We’re going to have to raise Grizz’s dues if this keeps up.
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Guys,
Thank you very much for all of the information!
We are still in the planning stage and your sharing your experience with 101 is very helpful.
Chris
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Tesla’s massive Powerwall battery promises to be able to take homes and businesses off the grid. Here’s a sanity check on how realistic it is, and what it means for the energy market.
Tesla’s new Powerwall battery.Image: TeslaAs usual, Elon Musk was extremely convincing in his most recent announcement about Tesla’s new Powerwall battery. Imagine: in a matter of months, you could be weaned off fossil fuels and start participating in the clean energy ecosystem of the future. Your home or business could be off the grid completely.
As solar energy is more widely adopted, a dedicated battery to store the energy makes a lot of sense. Without one, that excess power generated during peak sun hours is often sold back to utility companies, then purchased back when customers need it. That actually adds demand on power plants, increases carbon emissions, and overall, it’s not sensible or efficient. The utility providers can end up making money off of the power you generate.
So Tesla made the Powerwall, which works like most other renewable energy storage systems. You may recognize names like Alevo or Enphase Energy, if you’re familiar with the clean energy industry. This battery stores electricity from solar panels and helps balance loads from the grid. It charges during non-peak energy usage hours, when the rates are lower — like the middle of the day or middle of the night — then provides you energy during morning and evening demand, when rates are higher.
However, there is still no great economic return because the market hasn’t matured enough and installing a whole system of solar panels and massive batteries remains incredibly expensive, even though the Powerwall was announced at a much lower price point than the industry expected.
More on that in a minute. First, here’s a rundown of the key takeaways from the announcement:
1. Telsa’s plan is to remain agnostic: Tesla is seemingly willing to work with any company to install and utilize these batteries. That doesn’t lock them into anyone, so third party developers, installers, and software companies can access the storage systems at a much lower price, and it gives the company the ability to scale and work with providers around the world.
2. They’ll begin installing this summer: “I was surprised they said next year [they will be] scaling significantly,” said Brian Warshay, an analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, noting that the Gigafactory will be complete in late 2016 or 2017. “So it sounded awfully optimistic.” The Gigafactory, which is the world’s largest battery factory, is being built with Panasonic, which will manufacture lithium-ion battery cells for Tesla car batteries. Customers can reserve a Powerwall on Tesla’s website, and installations — done by third party installers — will begin this summer.
3. Tesla Energy is a new division of the company: Tesla is officially no longer just an electric car company. Tesla will offer Powerpack, sold in 100-kilowatt-hour modules at $25,000 each. According to CNET, Tesla has already started working with industrial customers on these installations.
4. Low price point: The price for the residential battery is much lower than most experts anticipated — upwards of $10,000. Musk announced Powerwall at $3,500 for the 10 kilowatt hour (kWh) battery and $3,000 for the 7 kWh model. However, that’s not including the installation costs, or costs for an entire solar outfit on your home or business, which can rack up quickly. “The fact they openly announced pricing… will put pressure on competitors,” Warshay said.
Here’s how it works: The Powerwall comes in a 10 kWh weekly cycle — for backup applications — and 7 kWh for daily cycles. If a home/business has a greater energy need, multiple batteries can be stored — up to 90 kWh total for the 10 kWh battery and 63 kWh total for the 7 kWh battery. The Powerwall generates 2 kW continuous and 3.3 kW during peak usage. It weighs 220 pounds and can be installed indoors or outdoors. The battery technology is lithium ion.
Many companies offer lithium-ion battery solutions, though there are other types out there like compressed air energy storage or flow batteries, but those are still in the nascent stages of R&D. Tesla is also the first large company to plan to manufacture energy storage and it’s offering a 10 year warranty.
Musk’s enthusiasm would have you believe it’s incredibly easy and cheap to go off the grid. Soon, it will be much easier, and it continues to be more cost effective as the price of solar panels and installations plummet, with the help of SolarCity where Musk also serves as chairman. But as of right now, the ROI still takes too long to reach break-even for people to view it as an economic benefit.
Why? Basically, it boils down to how much you pay per kWh put into the battery, which is then retrieved later. And if you don’t already have a big enough photovoltaic system to get off the grid, paying the estimated $0.30/kWh for electricity through the Powerwall may not make much sense. On average, grid prices for electricity in the US are about $0.12/kWh. Rooftop solar PV is estimated to reach grid parity in most places by 2016, but it’s not quite there yet.
“It’s much more likely people have a PV system, a few kilowatt hours of storage here and there, and self supply 70-80%, but not 100%,” Warshay said. “As you get up closer, there are significant diminishing returns.”
The batteries are already big with early adopters — engineers, renewable energy professionals, and avid Tesla or Musk fans — but they’ll have to show a significant economic benefit to catch on in the mainstream. The utility scale batteries, on the other hand, show a lot of promise, as Tesla already has pilot programs and partnerships to deploy the systems, and it will probably be the cheapest option for commercial storage.
The way to do that is to create an ecosystem, so that renewable energy makes sense from all angles. Musk, as usual, already seems several steps ahead of everyone with this. According to Greentech Media, Peter Rive, CTO of SolarCity and Musk’s cousin, said that the solar company plans to offer shared grid revenue services by allowing SolarCity customers to use Tesla’s batteries as grid resources and make some money off of the revenue they share with other grid users. SolarCity will install Tesla’s batteries for $5,000 (which is on top of the $3,500 price tag for the battery itself).
Just days after the Powerwall announcement, Tesla announced it will sell used electric cars at lower prices, and there’s a four year (or 50,000 mile) warranty on pre-owned vehicles. Since the first-generation Model S is reaching its three year mark, people who leased the vehicle will be returning it soon, which means there will likely put more electric vehicles on the roads.
Bringing the attention back to the cars — and especially, to the move toward more affordable cars — was a smart move by Musk. He’s expanding the ecosystem for Tesla and for sustainability, and pushing back against the idea that renewables are too expensive to invest in. That’s the primary argument people have at this point, and it’s quickly fading — even if it’s not quite as rosy as the picture Musk painted in the Powerwall announcement.
Also see:
About Lyndsey Gilpin
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Very valid observations.
I know nothing of the details, nor can I be considered conversant with Li batteries, but the concept appears interesting except for the fact to make economic sense the billing for electric usage has to change.
As I understand the reason for installing a bank of batteries for home use is to charge the batteries when electric cheap, such as at night, and power the house via the batteries and inverters during the day when electric would be more expensive. Right now my cost for electric does not reflect different costs based on the time of use so from an economic perspective there is no justification for installing the needed system.
But like any puff pieces put forth by the PR people the cost of the battery is a small element in the system cost. I suspect the price reflects some wishful thinking in that as volume goes up the costs may get down to that level. The whole story hasn’t been told either. I have a 200 amp panel for example and that means I would need 6 4000 watt inverters to start with. Then I would need some form of transfer switch to automatically determine the source of power, either from my batteries or from the grid, depending on the cost of electric, my demand, or my battery state of charge.
With winter electric bills on my house running $140 to summer bills running $290 or a total cost annually of $2580, if my electric bills went to zero it would still take me more than 10 years to recover the investment, and by then I would have to replace the batteries and likely repair or replace the inverters.
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Ken, there are actually two XLs being parted out that I am working with. One in Cairo, GA and another in Guntersville, AL. Have you spoken to either of these guys? If not, I’ll see what they have. I’m actually going down to Guntersville in the next couple of days. This one has just come up so should be a good source.
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Damn John how do you get your brain to do that. My brain is full, however I have a malfunction. A lot of information is going in but it gets lost in the filing process. Complicated by the fact that the delete button is inoperable. It appears to be a total cluster. Any suggestions?
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Yeah, sure you did……..
I’ll bet you won’t even let Nancy near a slide coach. You are breaking her heart. Tonight everyone with a slide coach needs to invite Nancy (not no-slide, last bus Tom) for a tour of their slide coach so she can see how Tom is depriving her of her dream.
Tom has been hoarding dues money for several years now and all I have heard is there are no dues. We know better. Spend it Tom.