Aluminum Camper Forum

You might also want to spend some time looking at info on line about good cable connectors as someone suggested.  A standard hand crimper for wiring sizes greater than 14 or 12 gauge may be problematic.  Last time I wired a vehicle for towing I used dual 10 gauge wiring in parallel (it ended up being cheaper this way) and used a Harbor Freight hydraulic connector crimper ($40 at the time) for secure connections.  I have used it since for other battery and ground connection (4 - 8 gauge wiring) and it did a good job for infrequent use.

I am not familiar with the term "rollup shower door".  Is it just an accordion type pleated curtain or does it actually retract?

Several videos on line with people descaling.  Combination of apple cider vinegar cooking for several hours and left to sit and cool.  They report good results.

However......  Unless the scale has reached gargantuan proportions I wouldn't think this would be a huge issue.  I flushed mine out with a nozzle this spring and there was quite a bit of sediment on the bottom that readily flushed out.  Later I did end up with some clogging in the bathroom faucet that looked like the same stuff that probably got loose.  But otherwise the heater heated just fine on gas or electric.

Livin Lite FaceBook page had one identified yesterday as "I saw this..." listing at a garage sale in Huntsville, Al coming up with one or two pictures.  Looks like part of an estate sale.

These are Hitachi CS3   HRL12540w FR.....  They measure about 13  1/2" long, 6 3/4" wide, and 11" high.  134 AH each.  Got them off Facebook Marketplace as used.  Cell tower service guy had them.  They are date stamped 2017.  Spec sheet says they have a 10-12 year service life.  Passes load and capacity tests.  Paid $60 each for them; they go for $300 - 400 new.  I figure that even if they have reduced capacity it is still a lot more than the 27 battery I have now (70 AH) and should be great for several days of boondocking.

The guy home bases out of Rutledge, Ga (about an hour east of Atlanta).  Seems to have a lot of different size AGM batteries.  Travels a lot.  Had to wait until he passed through to Birmingham to pick them up.  Seems to service the Southeast.  This was the best deal for the amount of capacity.  In hindsight I might should have gone with more multiples of smaller sizes so that I could mount them in readily available boxes.

Back in my ham radio days we would routinely buy these type batteries surplus for VHF repeater back up power.  Spec sheet says they weigh 96.76 pounds.... so may have exaggerated a little saying they were 100#.

Sounds like no one disagrees that I can probably just mount them on the aluminum floor under the bed as long as they are secure and I protect the positive leads.

Thanks for the advice.

Just bought two AGM deep cycle batteries for my 21RBS CampLite.  Was planning on removing the existing conventional lead acid from the tongue and mounting the two AGMs under the bed area.

- should I buy a polypropylene housing to put them in versus leaving them "bare"?  The AGMs are about 100 lbs a piece so getting them off the tongue would be a benefit.  Plus they are a size (bigger than 31's) such that a standard inexpensive battery box wouldn't work outside ......  would have to use a "toolbox" type.  I have found an Atwood 9084-1 which would accommodate one battery except height; they are reasonably priced at $21 each that I could make work inside.

- For under the bed, I was thinking about just mounting a piece of angled aluminum directly to the floor at the base to anchor and maybe a strap to the side to hold them in place.  Should I put down a rubber mat or insulator rather than letting them rest directly on the aluminum?

I think that running the fridge on propane is safe while traveling (IMHO).  There are several features built into your propane regulator that perform a safety function:

"ACME fittings are equipped with two safety protocols. First, they have a heat sensitive thermal bushing that if overheated, shuts down the flow of gas. Great for barbeque grills. Second, there's an excess flow check valve. When the flow of gas is first allowed through the ACME fitting, the check valve closes, allowing just a small amount of gas through the fitting. This gas pressure builds up in the lines on the far side of the ACME fitting, and provided there aren't any major leaks or broken lines, pressure builds up in the line, backing up against the check valve. When that happens, the check valves open fully to allow the maximum flow of gas."

In this case the "ACME" fitting is part of your standard propane regulator.  The excess flow check valve is the reason you see a lot of sites advocate for "slowly" opening up your isolation valves when placing the cylinders in service.  Opening them fast to quickly pressurize a line makes the regulator sense a leak.  I have found these sometimes to be very sensitive (ask me how I know).

Unless you turn the gas valves off at the cylinder every time you travel, then the risk of running the fridge vs. just having the gas line break or rupture in an accident are probably almost the same (assuming an accident will generate some kind of heat or spark; electrical or mechanical). 

I do understand that technically the laws require you to "have no open flames" while near the gas pumps and refueling.  This appears to be 50 ft by fire codes.  So technically you would have to shut the fridge off while refueling.  In practice it appears that a lot of RV'ers may ignore this.......

I have a 21RBS Camplite.  Has a small plastic kitchen sink.  Anybody have any experience with replacing it with something bigger and stainless?  How large of one can you install and any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dave

I have a 2015 21RBS (bought in July) and pull it with a Toyota Sequoia.  The Sequoia manual recommends a WD hitch.  I pulled the trailer initially with a 2000 4Runner rated to 5000# which it did ok with (suspension wise), but didn't have the engine Hp to handle it.  Did not have the WD hitch with the 4Runner but did have rear suspension air bags.

I bought a used Equal-i-zer hitch (both WD and sway control) and have been using it.  The hitch is adjustable on how much weight distribution you use...... Because of the issue I saw here about deformation of the hitch, I decided to install a set of air suspension airbags in the rear of the Sequoia.  I have a portable compressor and use it to pump up the rear end to firm up and to take some of the additional tongue weight.  Then I adjusted the hitch for the recommended settings (adjustable washers to set the hitch angle) which is less than standard.... and Camplite has less tongue weight than other trailers.  Seems to be a good compromise.  Noticeable improved difference in stability both in weight and sway.  I have been watching the coupler for any sign of degradation / deformation and not observed anything.  Pulled it about 5000 miles so far without issue.

As an interesting side note, when I got the WD hitch I had to buy new longer safety chains.  During installation I found the coupler bolts (to the aluminum frame) to be very loose.  One of the nuts was hand tight.  This was before the WD hitch (and other than me buying the trailer one state away and pulling it home without WD) and was the "as found" state.  Torqued everything down and used blue Loctite on the bolts.  I think that had I continued to blissfully pull the trailer with loose couple bolts that I would have ended up with a bent coupler (WD hitch or not).  So if you haven't checked these in a while it may be worth your while.

BTW; the air bags are inexpensive (IMO), easy to use and worth the effort.  And so far trouble free. I had a set on the 4Runner as well and would recommend them.

I think a lot of the other WD hitches are also adjustable.  Using a standard setup for a normal trailer is likely too much weight distribution for the Camplite (again IMHO).  I talked to the Equalizer manufacturer before I bought it and they confirmed that the adjustment was important and their installation literature is very detailed. Installation is not just a "install to general generic use".... you need to go through the steps of measuring loaded / unloaded suspension and adjusting the hitch to your vehicle.

Dave

I had a similar problem where the fridge cooled well on electric but not well on gas.  This was in contrast to a trip out west earlier in the year where it operated fine on gas.  After cleaning, checking the flame, etc. I noticed that some online videos showing how to troubleshoot the flame... mine was a beautiful blue but not as robust as the video.  The Dometic manual also has you check gas regulator pressure as one of the first steps.  I could have went down to Home Depot and bought the materials to make a home made manometer ($20 and a hour of effort) ... however I had previously noted that it seemed to take 3 - 4 tries to light our stove.  Decided to just go ahead and buy a replacement 2 stage regulator.  Installed it and there was a noticeable difference: stove  now lights first try and the fridge flame is more robust.  Two day check of fridge temps running on gas indicated it is now cooling very well equivalent to electric.

I saw a Youtube video of a guy troubleshooting trailer brakes.  It was advertised as a "normal" hub with bearing removal and repack along with it.  You could clearly see that it was an EZ-lube hub.  He basically did as you suggested.... removed the grease seal, cleaned both bearings, repacked them like a normal repack (along with a complete replacement of the brake assembly). Didn't appear to replace the bearing races.  THEN he put it all back together and pumped grease into the EZ Lube until grease came out.  None of the benefits of the EZ lube axle.

Not sure about this as I thought that the EZ Lube hubs might have a different procedure for bearing adjustment but will have to check.  He adjusted it normally... cinched down on the bearing and then backed off the main nut a quarter of a turn.  ..... in the video he was recommending complete disassembly for brake inspection once per year..... which seems like overkill to me.

For travel trailers is it considered a good practice to replace the races along with the bearings?  In autos they are normally sold as a matched set but for TT seems to be sold separately implying that it is not necessary....

When I recently bought the trailer I was informed by the previous owner that he had done most maintenance, but the wheel bearing maintenance was overdue.  Trying to get ready for repacking wheel bearings (not my favorite activity), I was researching the Dexter Axels to go ahead and line up the grease seals and bearings to have spares when I start the disassembly.  Copying down some of the casting marks on the drums indicates it has the EZ Lube systems.  What a pleasant surprise.... just hook up a grease gun and go.  The only downside is that it seems to use a lot of grease for the change out.  Since repacking "normal" bearings seems to always end up with me with a thin coating of grease as well.......... this seems like a more than fair trade.

I don't know if all Camplites come with the EZ Lube axles but I am impressed with this trailer.

Dave

I had a problem like this where I had replaced a bottle and thought the regulator had failed.  Tried swapping bottles, swapping the regulator to a preferred feed, etc.  Was all set to go and buy a new regulator.

Watched a video on line about changing out bottles and was cautioned about not opening the bottle valve(s) too quickly or it would enable the some kind of protection feature which isolates the bottle with excessive flow rates.  I reinstalled and slowly opened the isolation valve and it worked.

Probably old news but I thought I would comment on the Calcium battery aspect.  A large number of "maintenance free" batteries sold in automotive applications are the lead-calcium battery.... some have sealed water access ports and some don't.  However most advertise no watering but that is a misnomer.  Even though you will see less water usage, they do eventually need water and ignoring it will result in a failed battery.  Electrically, an automobile would have no distinguishable difference in performance between the two.

As long as the battery is advertised as a "deep cycle" battery then I don't think it really matters whether it it is lead or lead-calcium with the same ratings.

screwed up my email address... sorry.  Dllamber@charter.net