Greg
Forum Replies Created
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Back when I learned to drive I was taught that you should not ever drive faster than you could stop if an object suddenly appeared in the road. I also was taught that it is the responsibiliy of the overtaking driver to make sure that it is done safely. Seems neither were applied here. Tragedy to be sure but not the truckers fault regardless of how he was parked.
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If there is dye in the system the leak will be visible, but to see the leak every part of the system has to be seen. If the leak was not there prior to the work on it, I would be all over the things that were changed.
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Passenger vehicles are next. If this goes through it’s only a matter of time before all new vehicles will have a road speed governor.
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Thanks for the scouting report and photos. Becky and I are ok without locker room access. It should be a great event and you have found us a beautiful spot to enjoy it all. -
First, understand that in all my years of having coaches with the Vanner EM70 monitor I do not remember seeing or paying attention to an indicator light when the ignition was on or the engine was running. I looked at it today with the key off and the key on and in neither condition I had no power indicator light.
That does not mean my coach is the way things should be. It just means if I have a light it does not come on when the monitor should indicate power.
The PDF owners manual file shows an LED light so either mine does not work or something else is going on. http://www.vanner.com/manuals/EM70D.pdf
But I did take some checks. The 24 volt ignition circuit is hot when the key is on, and has no voltage when the key is off. That makes sense because that lets the monitor function and light dash indicator lights as necessary but only when the key is on.
If you get a power on light when the key is off, check to verify you have voltage or no voltage at the ignition input. If your ignition input is at zero volts with the key off, but the power light is on I do believe you have a problem with the monitor. If you do have input voltage, even with the key off the problem lies elsewhere, possibly at the ignition on relay in the rear electrical box. I would check that for continuity with the key off. The contact points may not be fully opening. Also check the coil for input voltage and if that does have power the problem could be in a number of places, including the key switch.
BTW, the most reliable of the monitors seems to have been the EM70D version, earlier models, especially the EM70A were not as reliable.
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Our first bus was a Country Coach XL 45 w/2 HWH slides on a 1999 chassis called MSO 2001. Many late model Country Coaches have two year spread. Didn’t matter to us, nor did it reflect when we traded. The big hit was trading it in with one year ownership. Depreciation yikes! Just for driving off the lot
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As soon as I see the readings I think we all will have a pretty good idea if you have a problem and where it is. Jeff is correct regarding a good place to get the equalizer or monitor, but lets make sure if you have a problem where it really is.
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Any time I have gotten an indication of a voltage issue, whether it is a gauge reading, a warning light for balance or hi or lo voltage my first reaction is to verify voltages.
At one time or another I think I have gotten every warning our coaches can provide and the reasons have been everything from a failed instrument or voltage monitor to a failed alternator, failed equalizer or bad terminal. The starting point is to verify what you are being told by your instruments or monitors. After that the answer is either obvious or the answer is only going to come after a laborious and time consuming check of the entire system.
I will admit to using a scorched earth procedure to make a problem go away in which I started at the device and went through every single terminal, connection, ground wire, and when I got done the problem was gone, but I never did figure out where the specific problem was, but I did know when I got done every connection was clean and not creating resistance.
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It depends on the resort/park, its popularity, its size, and what is going on around it.
We made reservations this past Thursday (Aug 8) for a RV Park/Resort in Woodruff, Wisconsin to arrive Aug 16th and they had room. They had room for a 45′ coach. We’ve found that the RV parks at state fair parks (Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana) have lots of room EXCEPT during the state fairs and other HUGE events.
It varies from park to park. I suspect that RV parks in Sturgis, SD are booked a year in advance by repeat customers.
Obviously the earlier the better.
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Weekends are difficult but during the week one can still get good spots. We just went to the Oregon coast (Newport) for 3 days and only reserved a couple of days ahead. Even on weekends you can still find dry camping spots in state parks if you are willing to run your generator for a couple of hours in the morning and evening.
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Thanks Tom, great information. Glad to see you are earning your money. -
Jeff.
1) Yes correct. But I just spoke with Bill Daugherty to learn that the top four breakers in the control panel for inverted circuits are powered by leg one i.e. Refer, micro wave, coffee maker, and tv/vcr. The only one we ran was refer, so no answer on the last three. We need to test and will. Bill also said leg two powers the bottom four breakers i.e. Outlets fwd, outlets aft, entertainment center, air compressor. And we only tested fwd and aft outlets which had 0 inverted volts. He thinks leg two inverter is bad while leg one inverter is ok. I need to catch up with you guys on some tests.2) Yes correct.
3) Yes correct.
4) I put new house batteries into service December 2011, they are Deka 8A8D agm batteries x4. The dash gauges, house and engine, have both shown full batteries throughout this matter. I just metered the house batteries with out disconnecting any wires and they show 12.7 volts while nothing was charging them.
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I have both seated and motorhome air schematics and yes they are a bit different.
I posted an article with the PDF. You’ll want to look at bubbles 2, 3,4,5, and 6 for control and solenoid valves and ride height valves are 42, 43, and 47.
PS – just in case you have a 102″ MTH coach ( I don’t remember the year they changed) I posted another Air Schematic for that as well dated 1/86 – it’s in French 😉
Dan
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It would have never occurred to me to release the parking brake in an emergency stop situation. Is that what you should do? Or is full application of service brakes better? Or both?
My coach: No ABS, drive wheels are the only wheels with parking brake.
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Jon,
I read a rumor that Motorola is coming back out with a new razor flip phone. You may be one of the only people who held out just long enough for nostalgia to kick in just like tie die t-shirts and mullets 🙂
I feel stupid asking questions here, but I also know my experience hasn’t been dealing with a commercial vehicle and a rolling house. Now if I had to develop a software to move data back and forth between a server and a device or manage a team of engineers to develop that system then I probably wouldn’t feel so ignorant and come here looking for advice, guidance and assistance.
Ive learned in my life two ways. Doing and reading. Both have lead to failure but reading how to do something first has lead to less expensive and less overall failure. So I will ask and read and hopefully do it right the first time or at least not do it so wrong that it costs me a lot of money (Hmm, I think my first marriage was a learning by doing?).
Since I know I don’t know what I don’t know, I take the good with the not perfect and read the important bits and let the personalities out of it. I know if I had taken a lot of the advice posted on this forum, I probably wouldn’t have ended up with my coach. Sure it’s cost me more in the end, but then as we go through it, the coach is a very well known coach to us know. We didn’t have documentation so I spent the past 2.5 years making that documentation and bringing the coach up to date.
I see other coaches in the same vintage as ours going for the same price I paid for ours 2.5 years ago. And I know for a fact that those are not at the same level of freshness as our is now. So it makes me feel good that in the end I have a coach that I know very well and I can trust. Even a coach with full records doesn’t mean you really know how the work was done so there is a level of unknown still there.
I guess what I am saying is if you are going to buy a coach use these forums as a tool. You will never find the perfect coach at the perfect price. But the information here will at least make you an informed buyer who knows the risks and potentials after the purchase. And if that’s all you come away with, then that’s enough.