Technical Issues (Good and Bad) 12 May – 22 June 2022

• My Friend’s 297RSTS
  • The bathroom skylight was damaged by hail in Minnesota (smashed a hole clear through the exterior shell).He temp fixed with white gorilla tape and covered the tape with Flex Seal.(It held the restof our trip!)
  • The furnace fails to heat (runs but heat output is “weak”).Found propane regulator set at 8.5” WC under load (furnace calling for propane).Adjusted to 11” WC and furnace worked perfectly.
  • Both PSX1 stabilizers fail to move.Found bad motors on both the front and rear of JP’s camper.Howard’s rear also failed to move, so ordered a spare motor.(Temp fix that works in most cases is moving the motor manually off the “dead” spot gets it to work.)
    • After replacing the motor it worked once, then would not respond.Took a wire brush to the studs on the self-resetting circuit breaker (with wires removed) and cleaned them and the wire connectors.Put back together and worked as expected.
  • There was a heavy propane smell outside of the camper.We found the regulator leaking through the vent and one of the hoses (“pigtails”) also had a leak.Replaced regulator and hoses.(During operational test the new regulator’s WC setting was “high” at almost 14” but that was without a load.Under load it settled in at 11”.When the load was removed the pressure did not exceed 14”, but it was close.14” is the max.) Conclusion: the new regulator is not the best but it works.
  • The DC-DC Charger setup in his Ram 3500, which is a mirror-image of the one installed in Howard’s 2017 Ford F-350, trips the 60A breaker.What we found is his truck pulls slightly over 60A so swapped out the breaker with an 80A breaker.Also swapped out failed 60A relay for an 80A continuous duty relay.
  • His WFCO (lithium compatible) converter quits charging consistently around ~85% SoC.Upon researching the WFCO lithium charger manual it has a timer that shuts down the charger after four hours.It’s a very slow lithium charger as it only puts out about 18A in Bulk and even less (~3A) in Absorption mode (the only two modes on the charger).(Doing the math, the SoC at the start of charging was 65%, thus the batteries needed 70A.)My friend called WFCO technical support and found out the timer is a “safety device” in the first version of WFCO’s lithium-compatible chargers.They recommended swapping out for the newer AD version (which doesn’t have the timer).
  • Hutch outlets were not working.Found both the washer and dryer breakers tripped.No repeat or explanation for why the breakers tripped (outlets had been working just fine).
• My 315RLTS
  • Five separate Govee Water Alarm activations.
    • Toilet water valve failed.While filling up the hot water tank (I empty prior to each tow day) the toilet backfilled and overflowed onto the floor.(Relatively “clean” water as only the top section of the bowl filled up and overflowed.)Currently using the manual shutoff valve I installed in the water line (just prior to toilet) as a work-around to keep it from happening again.I have the new part, just waiting on an opportune time to replace the valve.
    • Water pump slight leak.Tightened ¼ turn on the pump’s connections and also the filter bowl. (No reoccurrence to date.)
    • Alarm near refrigerator went berserk—very odd alarm sound.No water found—removed batteries as alarm is not needed in that area any longer.
    • Alarm under sink went off due to weep from the expansion tank installed in that area. Fix was to tighten the screws holding the two halves of the tank together.
    • Bathroom sink’s sensor had a low battery. (Replaced batteries.)
  • Upper bulb seal on kitchen slide mysteriously slid ½ way out of its track while towing and with the slide pulled in Sealant along the top edge came off in one long string.Temp secured the bulb seal (need to replace) and need to reseal top edge (that’s under the slide topper).
  • Curbside pass-thru door opened by itself while on the road (twice).Installed butyl tape under strike plate to raise it slightly for more grip.
  • Vibration and the result of poor roads caused the holder for a Garmin RV770 GPS to separate the RAM ball arm from the faceplate, causing the GPS to crash down onto the console between the front seat.Glued the RAM ball arm to the faceplate (were it is meant to snap together)—problem solved.
  • Momentarily dumbfounded when sewer hoses would not interconnect.Found a seal missing. (!?!)Stole one from another sewer piece as a temp fix.Need to research if those seals are available as separate items.
  • Winegard 360+ does not “see” campground Verizon MiFi Access Point.No idea why not.Will post as a separate item on the forum to see if anyone else has seen this issue. Thread on the topic here: https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...i-access-point
• What Worked Well
  • The water-pump-in-a-box setup worked to perfection during the trip.When I needed to add water to the camper I didn’t need to take the camper to the water, I brought the water to the camper and pumped it in (as if from an external city water source).Excellent mod.
  • Having a 32 gallon tote with the ability to use a macerator to fill it (so no need to be right next to the dump connection on the trailer) was great during a 7-day boondock (with power but no water or sewer).I never had to move the camper to service it.
  • Carrying all the “outside stuff” (water, sewer, power cord, tote, etc) on the modified Harbor Freight rear rack was very convenient.
  • Boondocked for another 5 days with no utilities of any sort at the site.Even though the weather was iffy on many days (lots of clouds and occasional rain) the 1200W solar configuration kept the four 100aH Battle Born batteries sufficiently charged.(One day the SoC only got up to 86% due to the lousy weather.)Note that the air conditioners were not needed—it was cold up in Jasper at Whistler’s Campground in Alberta!On some days the solar worked so well an extension cord was used to plug my buddy’s camper into mine so his two Battle Borns charged off of my inverter.(He plugged into the side of his camper as normal, so his converter charged the batteries using the 120vAC from my camper which was being generated using the PV solar power from my setup.)It was awesome!
  • The hard-wired Mopeka propane sensors were great—easy to check propane level on a daily basis so never ran out.(The furnace was used more than the air conditioners on this trip!It was cold in South Dakota in the Black Hills, cold in Banff and cold yet again in Jasper.)
  • The RockStar stone guard installed on the truck worked perfectly.Very happy with the product and how it installs because I didn’t have to wrestle with a huge stone guard every time I removed the ball mount from the truck during the trip.
  • The self-made mud flaps installed on the camper also worked to perfection.Drove over a lot of stone-laden roads.Between the guards on the camper and the Rockstar on the truck there’s no damage to the camper.My friend, who followed me the entire trip (over 1,800 miles) never complained of rocks being tossed up, either (and there were plenty stuck in the tires as we pulled out of a several campsites).
• Other Notes
  • Found out it is imperative to secure the front wheel of the motorcycle to the chock when winching in the bike.Also must have the front of the truck slightly pointing down.These two lessons learned were found the hard way by dropping the bike in the truck bed while trying to get it moved the last two feet forward after using the winch to get the bike as close to the front of the truck bed as possible.(sigh)What happened is I ended up moving the chock but not the bike .Once the chock was pulled forward (bike didn’t come with it) it fell over.Securing the front wheel to the chock with a strap will avoid this happening again.
  • Found the Splendide washer uses a lot of water—almost 16 gallons per load (using switch position 4 on the washer).With a 32 gallon tote, that meant a trip to the dump after two loads (which are relatively small to begin with) when boondocking. Obviously that also meant there was a regular requirement to load water, too. Spent a lot of time dumping and loading to do laundry.Lesson learned: no laundry without full hookups!
  • Better indicators of water quantity left in the tank and also in the waste tanks is definitely something to consider in the future.The “idiot lights” are useless, and running out of water at an inconvenient time is, well, inconvenient.
  • Really do not like having the motorcycle and bicycles exposed to the elements in the back of the truck.That puzzle must be solved.
  • If anyone is interested in the non-technical portion of the trip through the Black Hills and then to Banff and Jasper, shoot me a PM and I’ll attempt to answer your question.