douglitas

Like Derek up North, I have a coach battery issue, but don't want to crowd his thread with another set of circumstances. When we bought our 87 Seabreeze 9 mo ago, the salesman demonstrated to us that the coach batt would charge on shore power, but the batt was old. we replaced with new deep cycle batt ($200). When we next went camping we noticed that the battery went dead right away, so wasn't charging from alternator. RV Repair guy did some looking around and found bad connection and fixed--no charge($). batt seemed to be working fine, but when I checked with the motorhome battery level checker, it would only get 3 lights (of level) after driving all day. So I figured that was just the normal condition. then last weekend after running the heater all night, we charged the battery directly with an external 12V solar panel...in 4 hrs of sun, the battery got up to almost 14V! (245W panel charged at 17Amps) the level checker showed 6 lights! Now I wonder why alternator doesn't give us that kind of result. any suggestions? thanks to you all for your great help!

just got back from weekend up over 9500'...O/D worked flawlessly! toggle switch mounted on dash. click "on" when going downhill. click "off" when going up...THANK YOU all for the info and the wiring diagram!

had a great trip to Rock Creek Lake over the weekend. quite a steep ascent but Seabreeze did quite well (in second and first gear LOL) . first trip with the OD bypass installed..worked great! more to come...

I had a Sandtana but it was mounted on a 1984 Nissan 1-ton. I loved it! but wifey wanted a bigger unit so sold it 2 yr ago (120K mi) for $1800. A guy drove to my house from Vegas to buy it! (about a 4 hr drive one way). Our setup was a little different with the dinette in the rear that converted to double bed and a closet behind the driver where we stashed our porta potti. Consistently 22+mpg.

O/D for gliding downhill on long slow descents..like from Flagstaff to Kingman. "OFF" when going even slightly uphill.

RV shop cut hole in wall above stove and replaced shower faucet. going to the mountains this weekend...Oh for a hot shower! They did a nice job of replacing the cut out part.

just dropped another $200 getting a toggle switch to bypass the altitude cutoff switch. going up to Bishop again this coming weekend to test out the result...will keep you posted!

we also have 87 Seabreeze 20' with 22RE and auto with OD. our first couple of short trips we got 11 MPG, but then took a long trip and saw mileage increase to 13-14 mpg.

more great info! thanks to you all. I ordered the hard start capacitor from Amazon. Toyhome still in shop so haven't checked the other suggestions. (getting the shower faucet replaced).

waiter, I just learned of the hard start capacitor...very interesting technology! I'm checking it and other stuff on the Mod your RV site linked above.

the A/C starts and cools great for about 5 min..then trips the breaker. Lots of great advice--thank you!. I will check for a 20A plug around the house and see what I can put together as far as a decent extension. I could make my own #8 extension just buying the wire in bulk at Home Depot if it looks to be a long run from the plug.

our hopes are to visit granddaughter in AZ and park in their driveway and power our A/C from the house...maybe not going to happen?

wow thanks for all the help, folks! I had it connected to a regular duplex plug in the garage and the breaker that switched was labeled GFI. I had it connected via a 75' 10ga extension cord. I dropped the Toyhouse off at the shop today...we'll keep you posted on the outcomes. thanks again! PS the house is 20 years old and wiring seems to be in good shape.

thanks for the reply jdemaris. the only thing I had running was the A/C just to test it out in the driveway. Our Seabreeze is 20'. I was thinking to just replace the plug with a straight 110 plug, but after reading your post I will take it to the shop and get their opinion first. I have no 220 plugs in the house that I can test it with (at least non that I can find). maybe I should stop by an RV park and see what they offer for plugs and then try it out there.

just hooked up shore power and Coleman roof A/C for first time on our 1987 Seabreeze which we've had since jan. Blows cold for 5 min then blows a breaker in the house elec panel. End of cord feels hot to touch. cord coming out of Toyhouse has a 220v male plug plugged into a convertor that has the conventional 3-prong 110 AC plug which I connected to house power. The little door to the power closet on drivers side of Toyhouse says "110 V only"....what could be wrong? the other end of the cord is connected to the breaker box/ power convertor under the sofa. Someone converted something to 220? and then back with weird plug convertor? anybody else with problems like this? thanks!

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but it is something I have been thinking about for awhile. I would like to expand batt capacity--only one fits in the cute little battery box. For starter I would like to add one more deep cycle 12V batt...is this a common modification to Toyhomes? Where would that new batt go? thanks!

great info! thanks waiter.

took MH for a test drive today. OD would not engage above 3000'...as soon as we passed the 3000' sign (descending) it started engaging! very accurate sensing of elevation--incredible! Since our favorite destination is near 4000' and we live at 2350, i'm inclined to see if we can get this sensor disconnected.

yeah getting ready to do this too! any pointers about exactly how to bypass the elevation sensor for OD? mine is '87 Seabreeze 4 banger with auto trans. thanks!

thank you all for great help! will be moving on this soon and will keep you posted.

thanks everybody...I've got some work cut out for me!

little by little addressing the issues on our 87 Seabreeze we bought 6 mo ago. Now we notice that when you try to take a shower, the water leaks out of the faucet assembly where it connects to the shower tube. Our local MH repair place (generally very competent and reasonable) says we have to cut a hole in the wall between the shower and the stove in order to access and replace the fitting. Any comments or suggestions? I guess I could just tape the piece back after repair is made.

shop charges were $326.94

wow thanks for all the replies! I didn't see these until just now when I returned from picking up our baby. shop did not replace solenoid, Instead removed and installed valve body, disassemble and assemble valve body...reduce overdrive solenoid feed hole from .030 to .015 and service the tranny...inspect and change fluid and clean filter. guaranteed 6 mo. they said one of their servicemen said the this procedure works on Toys 99% of the time, but to take it on a shake down drive and check if it's a good fix. overdrive coming on all the time now. I'll ask about the altitude thing as we are at 3000 ft and bishop sits at 5200. thanks again I'll keep you posted on what happens next.