neubie
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Posts posted by neubie
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Thanks all. The combiner is WMEs recommendation above. This one charges both batteries when alternator provides current, I tested that. There is a pin called ignition assist on the thing, I should read its manual. Perhaps it does combine when truck falls below usable levels. Will try the headlights + other lights idea. With a new charged truck battery, are we talking hours on the lights,or just a few minutes? Need to measure electric use everywhere anyway.
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Amazon gave me an isolator. I stuck it in hodge podge. It seems to work. I dont know of any electrical issues remaining, though wiring cleanup is quite overdue. Unless I see the apparatus on fire later in the day I assume this will do for now.
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Except for a hole in the wall with no screw in it now, the electrical circuit seems to report correct voltages. How can one test the combining ability of thing -- solar is sort of charging things and currently both battery sets are sort of charged.
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Ebay guarantees things a bit. So you wont get a brick. But there are inspection services that might be useful. I forget the name of the service that is commonly advertised but someone else here might remember it. That way you get the carfax (you can get carfax for these things) equivalent. Getting it inspected or asking the seller to take it to a local toyota dealer or shop to get a clean bill of health at your dime might be options.
Read through the car purchase tutorials for ebay to understand the process, for example,
http://pages.motors.ebay.com/buy/howto/research-protection.html
but always assume the protections offered are not quite 100% true and certainly not 100% hassle free.
I posted that ad to show you the variety available, in the end you will have to make the decision on what fits you best.
Truth in advertisement is not really a thing anymore but if someone is willing to risk ebay refunding you your money for cause, they should have some confidence in their vehicle.
Also note that your situation is often used as a scam. Service member sending money and asking vehicle to be shipped etc. Buying through ebay would save unneccessary suspicion and hassles even if it costs a bit over the real value.
Deals that look too good to be true often arent real deals. I can only recommend that you budget for unforeseen repairs and planned upgrades together then make your best choice from the options.
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sunraders can still sort of command a price. Especially if appearance is decked up for sale. The rvt.com page for this vehicle has bee taken down, so it could well have sold to a person with a largr chunk of spare change. Toyotahomes have seen prices of even 35k. But even to get a decent sunrader it seems unneccessary to spend that much. For example, this sunrader ad has readers deeming it overpriced:
https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/rvs/d/1984-toyota-sunrader-18-mint/6676244797.html
Are you searching craigslist with a broad enough area? There are national craigslist search engines that should help bring up more choices. Even ebay has multiple options. For example, this is getting good review here
and would likely hold its value better than most toyotahomes.
This person seems to do one sunrader restoration a month and plans to put one/more up for sale soon.
https://www.facebook.com/lito.sum
Dont overstretch your budget. Try to get a reliable model with as much as possible saved to have some upgrades done professionally yourself.
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There is no reason it should take 3 months. Folks post interesting finds for sale here and on that group. Take your time, you are planning on spending way more than any normal non 4x4 toyotahome buyer plans for. Wait for the right one that will let you off the hook for maintenance at least for a little while. There are dozens upon dozens of toyotas always up for sale.
Focus on your recovery. This will happen in due time.
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As for cost, please do not spend north of 15k. Even on your dream version -- even if you had 100k to spend. It is already selling season. 10k should get you a factory complete renovated non-sunrader. 15k would get you a nearly new non 4x4 sunrader. Anything over is misspent. Technology changes weekly. You are far better off buying a 10k version and adding 2000 in upgrades than buying a 15k version.
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7 hours ago, linda s said:
That's a stupid ridiculous price for an 86 Conquest. Keep looking. For that price you can easily find a Sunrader.
Linda S
Indeed. There is nothing in that motorhome to demand 15k.
As for peculiarities, the one thing I understood from emphasizing their current situation was that it wont be a great thing if they had to climb on the roof in the middle of a rain storm. A conquest -- any conquest -- cant guarantee that. This one likely had pitting in the aluminium serious enough to demand a cover up. The roof isnt ugly enough that you would want a golf course up there. I dont see an airconditioner. The solar panel is taking the room where it would go if you wanted to put one on. cruise control does not work.there is no talk of a generator. 150W solar with no description of the kind/AH of batteries.
IKEA grade interior does not merit this price. I would recommend sticking with a turnkey sunrader -- you can buy one off ebay if you want to spend that much. Look at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ToyotaMotorhomeClub/
and ask Lito Sum there if they will customize one of their sunraders to your liking or Gail fraiser if she is ready to sell her latest remodel. Gail's work is known here, Linda probably can vouch. I havent seen her advertise their project yet this year. At least get a sense of what gets done during a remodel/refurbishment even if you dont buy from them.
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is all the bad things that can happen to a 1986 conquest. If yours doesnt have any of these things, consider the possibility of them happening sooner or later. It is very rare for a conquest to escape cabover water damage. Must have been parked indoors.
On the positive side, it has aluminium framing. One of very few motorhomes of the era that cant be completely eaten away by termites.
Sunraders are available plenty. Unless you have made up your mind about the conquest already, try looking over the facebook toyota motorhome club page and talking to a guy named lito sum there. He is in washington but is working on putting up a sunrader or two up soon.
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Is that it? as in a single layer of plexi? If so, its probably a no,no. No matter what. If this is the top layer of a regular sandwich with foam insulation and plywood then as everyone above notes it depends upon the quality of the load bearing members.
The cabover roof never has any meaningful strength in it, certainly not enough to hold a person. From the look of it the major impact of the change is in the cabover area and forward of the ac vent. With insulation and ply layers it may not be much worse than original.
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There was a hairline crack beginning to form in the neck of the black tank. Poked a bit of two part epoxy, laid a couple of layers of fiberglass mesh around the neck and soaked it in thoroughly in the resin. A few hours later things are dry. A little bit of oatey on ABS joints lower down and the holding system should be functional. Thought I had ABS cement but open the can and its dry as a brick. Another day.
Started adding water to the water tank, want to put in measured amounts to label the tank on the outside by volume. Next up water line test. Then the holding tank cleanup and test. The repairs should be cured and set by then.
Hoping to get the battery combiner this week, clean up the engine a little and then get an oil change whenever they can get it in.
After that a lot of cleanup and washup and start thinking of stocking and driving! Finishing can happen slowly.
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I see even renogy is making these now
https://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Extremely-Flexible-Monocrystalline-Solar/dp/B07BMNGVV3
remember regardless of the manufacturer, these thin panels do not take kindly to thermal expansion/contraction cycles. Mounting them on a roof is equivalent to using them as they die a slow death. some people get lucky or use them in moderate temperature conditions. But the panel problems are still well documented.
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windynation is likely polycrystalline. i dont claim to fully understand the difference but monocrystalline appears to be the preferred version. the windynation setup likely has alarger footprint but not by too much for most folks. here a couple square feet could make a big difference is use and maintenance. its not just putting the panels up there but also still be able to wander among them for panel, vent, and roof maintenance. nothing stops you from substituting the renogy controller or better still adding a monitor display like
https://www.amazon.com/bayite-6-5-100V-Display-Multimeter-Voltmeter/dp/B013PKYILS
that probably should be in any rv battery system anyway for health monitoring.
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The practical differences in benefits from mppt over pwm controllers may not be as great as emphasized on the internet especially if you dont plan on using up your 200AH (or rather 50% usable -- 100AH) every day.
This renogy kit is a very common starter kit for rvs, not too much wrong with it. The minor quibbles have to do with minor things like no charging display statistics or battery status. Things that a clamp meter could tell you.
If you try hard by buying parts on sale you can assemble the kit for about a 100 less, but its a chore to buy the controller, charger, panels, etc from separate vendors at separate times. So its a bit overpriced BUT direct from manufacturer.
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I think propane is pretty much settled and tested. When the external tank is connected the 4-port adapter still sings a bit, probably the pigtail isnt quite the best quality. Nothing seems to leak. Need to fillup after the oil change.
Will try the holding tank neck surgery later today. Add some water to the tank and try water seals and pump.
A lot of superficial stuff will remain -- a seal here, some tape there -- but except for the engine and transmission things are cleaned up. Not pretty yet, but installed, test, functional. Finishing will happen slowly over the coming years.
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22re. no idea of mechanics.
edit - shed weight, drive in lower gear, put on hazards/flashers.
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couldnt hurt trying one then. They arent that much costlier than a solenoid.
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Do the combiners act like isolators except for charging purposes or are they combiners for charging and discharging?
I would worry about losing all batteries to my mysterious lights-coming-on-by-themselves and such if it was just a safe always on fuse.
This is what I have now, so everything is an upgrade, even a new solenoid. I wouldnt hate a combiner if it doesnt discharge the truck battery from house use.
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Cajoled the propane connections into not bubbling. I notice the old flare connections were gummed/glued up too. I had to trim copper once or twice. Is it recommended to apply something on top of the flared joints? I know flared joints dont get anything inside the joint, but there was certainly something applied on top of the flare nuts. If so, what is recommended?
I now have propane (I think) and dc (I know). 110v ac is fine EXCEPT the airconditioner wire is just lying in the front vent unterminated. I need to fix this better. Wonder how they got away with leaving it loose like that.
Water comes next. I think I can add a gallon or two to the tank without using the holding tanks yet.
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The isolator shows alternator voltage on one side but house battery voltage on the other with engine running. This is the old solenoid type little cylinder. Can only assume the isolator is busted.
What's the favorite replacement? solenoid or solid state?
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Got a pigtail finally in the mail. Connected a 1lb throw away into the system. As all connections were unplugged, they were all loose and bubbling. Luckily, only two -- fridge and a union to furnace -- will need convincing (by which I mean flaring again).
The appliances all turn on and off correctly. New systems had sat for months in boxes but dont seem to have died before being turned on. Even my refurbished stove top works. So hopefully, propane is done and tested soon.
But the flexible solar panel is acting up already in month 2-3. Output was not great for a 120W panel but voltages were correct. Of late, only 12ish volts. Will need adjustment to the attachments to remove whatever flexing is taking place disabling some cells. If its not damaged permanengly.
Also, the new LEDs come on ONLY at night every now and then. Cant figure out what causes this yet either.
Still hoping an oil change and holding tank fixups are the major remaining known items. Hopefully, in a few days it starts getting use!
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so the plastic tank repair things arent meaningful? I was givdn to understand the holdinb tank plastic isnt quite easy to repair like ABS.The crack found so far is right where the tank neck/exit starts. Probably the result of my moving thd truck around while the tank was unsecured from above.
Are the dump valves basically completely unatrached to the frame? Or am I just missing some fixtures, because here the ABS exits the tanks with nothing but the tanks holding them. Its a large lever to dangle like this. Worse when it gets a dump hose.
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One of the holding tanks has a crack at the neck where the ABS and valves attach. Not a large crack, but crack none the less. What are folks favorite repair kits?
1986 Conquest: To buy or not to buy?
in Reviews - New Products - Campgrounds - Links of Interest
Posted
Toyota motorhome club member Lito Sum. His link is above in a previous post.