[tom]

Thanks

[tom]

Tom, appreciate the offer but you know Country Coaches…….gotta have that DC for the mother board and control. When we had the FBO (Repair Station) we were a Concorde dealer (sound familiar)? My first set of AGM’s came from their sales rep…… I did notice that they make an 8D for the “off the grid solar dudes”….kind of wondering if they may be more heat resistant, and probably bullet proof in the true sense of the word!

[tom]

You get what you pay for fly dude. I could have fixed you up with Lifeline’s probably cheaper than you paid for Bubba’s Batteries and you would would have had a 5 year warranty to boot. And, if you would have ordered during our OKC Rally, you could have taken another 10% off.

Have you not seen my signature?

[tom]

The key to the chassis voltage is not what it is reading as much as the reading prior to engine start and with the engine running.

If the voltage does not change from the not running to the running voltage then there is an issue.

What has me really, really confused is exactly what systems are you looking at? It sounds like you are not reading house voltage at a gauge, but then talk about chassis voltage. One very important thing an owner needs to know is what the gauges and warning lights are telling him and exactly what they are monitoring.

Please differentiate the voltages at each system, engine running and engine off so the first thing that can be determined is if the alternators are working. From the description of the warning lights on the dash it sounds like the chassis system is functioning as expected, but that likely has nothing to do with the gauge you described.

[tom]

If the stack is a greater diameter than the generator exhaust tip and is positioned at the bottom to overlap but not contact the exhaust tip the flow of generator exhaust will pull fresh (cooler) air into the stack to mix with the generator exhaust and the larger diameter of the stack will not change the back pressure already present in the generator exhaust system

With the stack as described the top can be straight because even if rain enters it is not going to get into the generator exhaust. I would not want an elbow at the top because I would rather the exhaust continue to flow up rather than being directed sideways.

[tom]

Making the assumption you are describing the flush valve as a solenoid valve if I understand your water system you go from the pump to a “tee” from which all house water is distributed. The other outlet from the “tee” is a straight 1″ line through the ball valve, check valve and flush valve.

If that is the case which I suspect it is, you have at least two leak points. One is the check valve in line with the toilet. It is apparently not preventing back flow when the water system pressure is zero.

The second check valve is at or internal to the water pump, and in order for the water system pressure to go to zero it also is leaking, or you would not back flow from the toilet. That leak is likely why your water pressure is zero after the pump has been shut off. If that is the true then when you use your coach you hear the water pump kick on periodically even though you are not drawing water.

Most of our coaches likely have some uncontrolled water usage such as to refill an RO accumulator tank or to make ice cubes. So on occasion in the middle of the night we hear the water pump kick on. but if the house system check valve at the water pump is leaking, the water pressure in the system eventually falls until the pump kicks back on to restore the pressure.

If you want to verify that turn off the valve between the water pump and the fresh water tank. Turn off the icemaker, and make sure your RO system (if installed) is not generating water (or turn it off).

[tom]

I love our dishwasher, and use it just about every day, often twice a day. We both enjoy cooking and I bake a lot, so it’s a huge convenience.

[tom]

I asked Prevost in Quebec about the D 16,and was told the engine compartment would have to be totally reconfigured as the D16 Block was quite bigger than the D13. They were concerned it would take up more of the precious rear interior space already at a premium (bathroom or closet.} 1750 ft lbs.of torque is plenty,horsepower is only bragging rights. I think the new Allison 10 speed would work well with the D13,rather than the ZP. Lacey

[tom]

Thanks for all the kind words. We have been very busy as Tom said. Haven’t been in here much to see what is happening. We are traveling now from Ohio to Texas so that is our ‘catch up’ time for the forum.

We did a complete interior in a 1950 Oldsmobile Fastback in Beavercreek Ohio and also did a couple of extra seat jobs including Liam and Claudia’s. Liam was great to work with and knew what he wanted and that is always helpful.

We will be in Texas and Oklahoma thru early fall and then return to Jeff Rowe’s in Tennessee late fall. After that we will spend the winter in Florida in the Orlando area.

Yes, Jim and Chris. We will be in OKC for the rally. Looking forward to seeing you then!

[tom]

I can’t believe how gorgeous those seats turned out. What a major transformation!

Congrats!

MM.

[tom]

My bad…….now I am trying to get that mental picture of Red in front of the mirror out of my mind.

[tom]

Sandy and I can’t get to the OKC rally. We tried to work it into the schedule, but its over 800 miles from the Prevost Prouds, Orange Beach, AL rally that starts the following day.

Hopefully, we’ll make the next one.

[tom]

Maybe JDUB can come to Jeff’s with some of his sheep.

I’ll let Tom explain why JDUB has this fixation with sheep and boots.

[tom]

Sid,

We had an Asko for our home (since replaced due to reliability issues) and one of the problems was related to the drive belt. Before you remove it for replacement or repairs can you get it to an open area and see if all it takes to get it going is a new motor or belt?

[tom]

Andy, our all-electric Signature has a split system with two 2,800 watt pure sine wave inverters. Basically all the big loads come off the main panel with a seperate panel for inverted loads.

With this arrangement, nothing big – like air conditioners, cooktop, etc. are powered off an inverter. Like Jon said, if a converter wants to power one of more air condtioners off an inverter, much bigger inverters are needed.

Personally, I don’t hesitate to run the generator. It’s paid for, easy to service, and designed to easily power the whole coach. If I’m just warming up something quickly in the microwave, no problem, but if I’m doing real cooking, I’ll start the generator.

Down here in Tennessee in the warmer months, I’ll need to run all the air conditioners, so running the generator is very routiene when traveling and dry camping. We just got back from dry camping 5 days near Memphis, TN so the generator had a decent workout. The generator had around 200 hours on it when we bought the coach and now has well over 2,000 hours.

If we end up with a bus that has large inverters that could run an air conditoner, I’d still start the generator if the need for a large load was going to be for a significant period of time. No sense in bogging down the whimpy 500 HP Detroit Diesel with additional alternator loads. (Shields Up)