WME
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Posts posted by WME
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-20 with a -55 wind chill. I was plugged in to 110v ac. My 1500w electric heater ran 100%, my propane heater was running 50%. About 10 min on, 10 min off. Still need 3 blankets and a dog to keep sorta warm
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Put me in the cheapie gas grill and a Cobb grill group. Both have their place.
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Its the right hand fender mounted connector with two wires. The rubber ring is just a storage mounting the connector is not connected to anything.
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Its an easy job to replace the molding. Buy 25 ft of it and leave it on the roof of a shed over the winter. That you will pre shrink it and your install will last longer before a corner will pop out.
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Ya know there is a reason that they make both big and little rv.. Different strokes for different folks
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Non starter subject... There plenty fire retardent paints for use on coated foam boards. Painted foam will be safer than paneling.
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87 is a change over year for the connector location. 86 and earlier its on the drivers side. 87 and later is on the passanger side.
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So how bad were the originals?
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See your post #17, in picture #5. The connector is the larger of the two round yellow plugs on the inner fender by the AFM
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Well then sail switch, on my first RV I used JB Weld to add a small piece of brass to the sail switch to make it work at lower speed.
A small 12v LED and some wire soldered across the switch would give you an indication of if the switch was working. Any info would keep the guessing down.
The gas valve and the ignitor are still on the list of possibilities
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It seems to still be about voltage. 12.2v should be plenty to run a heater. Starting the truck gave you a bit more v to make the fan run faster and trigger things off. My heater runs down to 11v with no problem.
So your down to a bad blower, a sticky sail switch or a igniter that need cleaning and adjusting.
If you have the skills remove the heater and clean things up and lube the blower with some sewing machine oil. If you have to have this done just install a new blower motor
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We went through this 3 years ago. The Toy Escaper was perfect for weekends, but sorta got a bit small on a 10 day trip to CA. So we stepped a bit just before we spent a month traveling from WY to FL and back. The trip to FL ended up being 3 people something that could have never been done with the toy.
Ended up with a 26ft Georgie Boy with a Workhorse chassis and a Vortec engine. We get 10 mpg at 65 mpg, but I now have a 5000lb hitch and can pull a towd easily.
IMHO the Ford V-10 powered offerings are all 6-8mpg RVs no matter what size they are.
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If your going to live in it bigger is better, as in a 19ft vs 21ft. The driving force behind the Toyota RVs is the MPG. If your not going to be driving a lot, a USA built MH in the 24-28 ft range can be had for Toyota prices.
Where are you going to park your RV house ? RV parks cost $$$, have you factored in that and storage of all your household stuff.
Full timing in a small RV can be done. But it requires thought and a large dose of reality. Heating and cooling are harder in an RV than a house. Factor in utilities in your planning
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I have a 20ft run from my panel to the controller and 6 ft from the controller to the battery. Thats just where everything fits. I used 6ga wire for the runs. Zip cord ain't going to cut it on a 30ft run.
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Don't forget that you have acres of unused counter space in your RV...... The bottom of your cabinets, lots of breadbox for under cabinet mounting.
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How long is the 24 ft ladder in the stowed mode? About all I can think of is to treat it like a kayak and roof mount it, ther are many posts about roof mounting boats.
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To keep your pocket book from having a heart attack, you can build your system in bits.
1.A cheap controller and a 100w panel
2. next would be a good mppt controller, a good deal might get you a MPPT instead of a cheapie in step 1.
3. Based on actual experance when you need a new battery decide if you need a 200 AH dual battery set up or if a good, 27-100AH or 31-125AH size, single will work.
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I see a lot of EFI stuff, does it have spark when it won't run?? Easy to check. The ignition ampifliers do go out due to heat and age some times.
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Ya the back side of the refer is hot so you need to keep the cab sealed off from the heat. And good air flow through the backside.
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WME .. Could I just put in a extra battery & hook it up to the house battery ... Would the toyota manage to charge both while driving & would the house charger do the same ? . I have a class A too & the coach battery's are like 3 hooked together . Thanks again
Its your RV you can do anything you want to it
The reality of doing 2 batteries correctly is that would cost as much or more as doing a solar setup. Correctly done a 2 battery setup uses 2 6v batteries in series. One battery goes through the other battery.
The cheapskate way is two 12v batteries in parallel, side by side +to+ and - to -. As the batteries age, one battery becomes stronger than the other, so the strongest battery will control the charging. The weak one will get weaker as time goes on because the charger is turned off before its charged.
A crutch is to install a HD battery combiner switch, (1,2, both). Every couple of weeks use the 1 and 2 to charge the batteries separately. This will keep them almost matched longer. If you use the 2 12v batteries its best that they both are about the same age AND capacity.
BASIC battery stuff 2 batteries in series= add voltage, capacity stays the same. 2 batteries in parallel = add capacity, voltage stays the same.
MORE math find out how much 12v power everything in your RV uses. Fantastic Fan, lights, water pump, computer, tv and anything else.
Take a guess as how long each thing runs in a day.
Fan 1.5 amps (low) x 12hr a day = 18 amp hours (AH) a day. LED lights 1 amp x 4hr= 4AH. The water pump uses a lot of power but it only runs 30 min in a day. Do this for all your 12v stuff and then add it all up and get your total power usage.
A size 24 battery has about 80 AH, a 27 size has about 100 AH. For max life span of a battery DO NOT discharge continually below 50% of capacity.
So hit the net and sharpen your pencil up and see what you need.
P.S. everybody lies to themself the first time they do this and end up using more power than they thought, but it is a starting point.
A 100w solar panel makes about 5 amps under perfect conditions. So figure 3.5 amps x 8 HR and you get 28 AH back into your battery each day. Longer days and brighter sun and you might approach 40AH. A good MPPT controller will give you a bit more than a normal PWM controller.
MPPT, PWM ???? ya, more internet reading.
RV power is not rocket science, only close to it if your easily confused
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If you drive 3-4 hr each day you really don't need solar. A 100ah battery and LED lights would go 2-3 days. Add 75-100w of solar and your in the "no worries mate" class, in Mexico I don't think your going to be running the heater much.
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A 100w panel is about the minimum for real long term boondocking. You will need more if your winter camping and running the heater.
You can do with less, but then you have to watch usage and be careful. To me the idea of solar should be in the "no worries mate" class.
Use what 12 power you want and still have a full charged system at sunset.
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Those are C range so their MAX is 50 psi. A D range tire is an 8 ply.
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A single vbelt on a 2" pulley will handle around 1 hp. Thats about 750 watts. On a 1.5" pulley only 1/3 hp, a 4" pulley about 3 hp.
So plan accordingly.
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in RV CHOW
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Yep the Cobb is sometime shy on the searing, that's what the cheap grill is for. But veggies, corn, potatoes, small roast and whole chickens its totally awesome.
You also need to WAIT until its hot enough to do what you want, rushing a meal on a Cobb doesn't work very good. BTW "loading up" a Cobb is only 8-9 charcoal brickets