Larry
Forum Replies Created
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Tom…Sorry, George is correct. And no need to pay the $20 a month for the east/west feed.
I get national network channels through the local affiliates whereever I travel with DirecTV. Now it doesn’t happen automatically and you need to make a phone call to DirecTV. I call (800) 531-5000 and when Linda or Mary answers from the Philippines I just tell them I want to “change my service address“. You give them the address and county of your local RV resort or wherever you are parked with the zip code and voila, once they update the feed, you’ll get all the network channels. It takes about 5 minutes…most of the time is spent letting you know they can help you with this and thanking you for every answer to each question.
Important: you need to get your account set up on autopay and paperless biliing so all of your bills come through your email. Because they will ask you if the new service address is the current billing address. I always say yes. I just looked up my account and my billling address is in Florida though my autopay information is set up for NY. Never had a problem in most southeast states. On my last trip, I changed my service address 3 times in a week without a hitch.
A few years ago, I did have problems when I tried to explain that I was in an RV and this was my 2nd home and I had equipment in both homes and I need the local channels wherever I travel. I spent hours of frustrating phone calls to many supervisors abroad and in the U.S. No one ever got it. But no more of that frustration. Just change your service address and you should be good to go with DirecTV for local networks.
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Hold your IPhone horizontal and the picture orientation will be correct.
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What’s next? A store for AMC Pacers? Ford Pintos?
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The bus is a 2000, and what range should the diff. tempatures be?
Thanks Jon. -
to make it clear, asking about A/C system. All of my other buses have not had OTR ( Bus Air ) so this would be a new system to me.
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Chip,
One more thing, if you are traveling this way, go on line and get an “EZ Pass” toll transponder.
It will save you a lot of time and aggrevation. There is also a great base in Lexington Mass, Hanscom Air Base.
It is close to Boston, and Lexington has a lot of historical sites.
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NOW you tell me !
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Larry, just because a coach has low mileage it does not mean it is a dog or needs a lot to make sure the low mileage hasn’t harmed it. Without proof any coach, regardless of mileage needs at least a comprehensive service including coolant and transmission fluid change. Tires and batteries are date coded so you may have no issues there. Where the low mileage coach can be an issue is as you use it things can pop up needing repairs and can be annoying such as waking up and finding the coach is leaning all the way to one side.
Dealers treat low mileage coaches as something special and a lot of buyers seem to agree because they pay a premium for them. But low mileage may be perfectly fine or it may be a bus with ongoing problems. One thing to consider is if the low mileage coach was used as a second home in an RV resort, it could have low miles, but the house devices and appliances can have had lots of use and the chassis might be OK, but the house may have had a lot of wear and tear.
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Yes, shore power was plugged in both cases (using the internal outlet and using the barn outlet). Both are grounded through the barn panel.
What may be going on is that the block heater element leaks towards ground only when hot causing the GFCI to trip.
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A very interesting discussion. I replaced a 1350 Ah flooded bank with 1200 Ah of LFP in 2012…on a boat. It is impossible to compare on equal terms. The performance off grid is night and day different. However, that said, they still seem to loose about 8-10% of capacity per year. Notably, this observation is not universal. Other cells seem to be doing better. See the mentioned Cruisers Forum discussion for more. RC Collins posting as Mainesail has had better results, but over a shorter timeframe. Our cells are the same as the Technomadia RV Bloggers which have observed the same things I have.
Used for lots of cycles or at dock, doesn’t seem to matter much on capacity lost. But 1200 Ah of lithium is equal to 2000+ Ah of AGM because of the usable range of 10-90% SOC vs 50-100% of AGM. So even degraded, the lifetime is long on a comparative basis.
My other direct experience was with a customer who purchased 160 100Ah cells and they got stored for 1 year prior to install. Based on sampled capacity testing, these lost 5-6% over the year. These Forzatec cells. Digging into this, there is some research supporting capacity loss over time. Temperature does seem to count for something. Both the storage of these cells in a warehouse in Florida and my cells in the engine room were not exactly cool places. Research has also shown a correlation to high temps and capacity loss.
2000 cycles seems like a myth, I’d put the number at 800-1000, unless you can do 2000 in a short timeframe.
I’ve also had a cell failure, one in 48. The 160 cell customer had 2 of 160 fail shortly after install. Finding the problematic cell is not so simple in banks with 10-12 cells in parallel. The failures I’ve observed benign, a high resistance internal short causing high self discharge. Not catastrophic, but still a PITA.
Also as pointed out, the adjustment to systems designed for regular batteries is not trivial. One example is alternators, they don’t take well to losing a battery on the fly if the battery management system decides they are over or under voltage at the cell level and disconnects the bank. Tends to blow diodes on an open circuit, so if the lithium battery disconnects, there must still be some sort of load. I keep 200Ah of AGM in parallel. Not an elegant solution, the Lithium have the parasitic load of trickle charging the AGM when no charging sources are online.
Don’t let anyone convince you there is a drop in replacement. That simply doesn’t exist!
There are some new conversions coming out now with Lithium designed in from the start. There is a lot of promise to the technology. But until there is more positive experience, if you don’t boondock months at a time, or have a situation where weight is critical, or like to tinker with the latest tech, it’s going to be prudent to let this shake out a little more.
Further, LiFePO4 is the only lithium chemistry reasonably safe enough for most people to play with today. And while that’s a good bet with proper precautions. its not guaranteed. Other chemistries are not as intrinsically safe and require more engineering to keep away from the Boeing or Samsung like safety related problems.
Bottom line…for most of us…watching developments is wiser than adopting in the current state of affairs. In my opinion anyway….
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Well, a day late & a dollar short, but here’s a toast to two terrific guys looking to help those who own these magnificent & complex machines!
Cheers Boys!
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Joe … you took the words right out of my mouth!
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Thank all of you for the replies to my posting. My preference would have been for someone to pick this coach up this weekend for me in IN and drive it to Greer for us. Alas, not to be.
I did some deuce and half driving while in the ARMY, and I have piloted a similar XL40 once before but only on the flat terrain of Mississippi. I hope I will be able to relax, take my time, and enjoy the ride. The mountains are my real worry since I have not driven those in a very long time.
Ron
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I agree with that , Too costly for the benefit. And I have read a Lot of good stuff on the Lifelines. But I have a Question. I have an old Silverton Yacht, And they needed to replace the House Batteries. The Marina doing the work looked them up and told Me they were 6 Volt . I said there must be some mistake ? They said no. Two 6 volts wired in series are supposed to last longer. So that is what they placed. Today searching the net , I got to reading about the Lifeline batteries. Someone suggested using 2 – 6 volts instead of the large 8d’s . That would be easier to install with each 6 volt weighing about half of what the 8’s would . And wired in series they would be stronger / More Ah ? So I looked around a little at the Lifeline 6 volts. There is one that says it has 400 Ah , So What would two of them Give You ? Would the newer inverters charge and maintain these ? There has got to be a Fu Pa Somewhere in using these in a Coach ? Or seems like everyone would be doing it ? The two 6 volts would cost more than the 8D ? Humm , Might boost Sales for Tom ?
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Chuck, thanks for stopping by to help. I will pass the word that you were there and give her your site number.
she has a Techs name but not sure if she has been in contact with him yet.Its hard trying to help long distance and I know it will mean a lot to her that you stopped by.