Three Questions

[hirstpb]

Buried in my rambling 2019 Grand Tour shakedown cruise observations were three specific questions.
1. Do your batteries stay fully charged when driving?
2. Do your drawers bang open when driving? If so, what did you do about it? I’m thinking child locks.
3. Does the Fusion system support Apple Car Play? Have you paired an iPhone with Fusion by Bluetooth and/or plugged into the USB port?
I hope to get to the owners manuals soon, but hope your collective experience may provide a shortcut. Many thanks.

[A W Warn]

I'm not a GT owner, but here's a link to an Owners Manual.

https://www.airstream.com/wp-content...ers-Manual.pdf

Happy reading!

[Delores]

Owner of a 2016 Grand Tour for a little over a year.
1. House batteries does stay fully charged when driving.
2. No problem with drawers coming open, but put heavy items like pots, coffee makers, etc. in the bottom drawers.
3. 2016 model does not have the fusion system so no help there.
Best advice I found is to read, read, and read those manuals not once, but over again, and refer back to them for problems. This forum is an excellent source, however;
with your newer unit, you may be in a class with newer features than most.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by hirstpb

Buried in my rambling 2019 Grand Tour shakedown cruise observations were three specific questions.
1. Do your batteries stay fully charged when driving?
2. Do your drawers bang open when driving? If so, what did you do about it? I’m thinking child locks.
3. Does the Fusion system support Apple Car Play? Have you paired an iPhone with Fusion by Bluetooth and/or plugged into the USB port?
I hope to get to the owners manuals soon, but hope your collective experience may provide a shortcut. Many thanks.

HIRSTPB - Mine is 2018 Lounge

#1 - yes
#2 - no, but I do not have the larger drawers you do, only 3 small ones
#3 - I have Android bluetooth paired. Do not plug into usb port. It was only meant for updates. It can/may create unpredictable Fusion behaviour (many posts on this).

[Pez Vela]

1) Yes
2 ) Fixed with 10lb tension locks provided by Airstream through the mail. I think they ship with 3lbs.? They are mounted at the back of the drawers after removing the drawer. Still open when the drawer is overloaded with weight, but i have determined the balancing point to avoid the problem.
3) No apple car play. This is a complicated question. Are you looking to display album artwork and be able to control playlists, artists etc. My library will not work with song search because it is too large (18 days). It fails loading at 85%.

Before you do anything look at your system settings in the Fusion system (software update). What version software does the system show? What version maps?

!#$%@ pictures upside down

[Tronadora]

Originally Posted by hirstpb

Buried in my rambling 2019 Grand Tour shakedown cruise observations were three specific questions.
1. Do your batteries stay fully charged when driving?
2. Do your drawers bang open when driving? If so, what did you do about it? I’m thinking child locks.
3. Does the Fusion system support Apple Car Play? Have you paired an iPhone with Fusion by Bluetooth and/or plugged into the USB port?
I hope to get to the owners manuals soon, but hope your collective experience may provide a shortcut. Many thanks.

#1 - Depends.... your alternator will flow energy into your house batteries at a certain rate. It might start out pushing in 50A and settle into 30A and it goes lower if your batteries only need a Absorb or Float charge. So if you start your day's travel needing to replace 80Ah of used energy, you would need to drive several hours. If you start out only needing to put in about 20A, then a shorter one hour trip should suffice. Someone else will add to this explanation with better info I'm sure.

#2 - Ditto on the 10# pulls. I got from local AS dealer; they said that's all they stock cause no one wants the original 5# pulls. Someone a while back I think posted an Amazon replacement for cheaper but they're not too expensive. I only did the ones that were a problem. You only need to replace the half that is mounted in the back of the cabinet. You can leave the "striker" in place on the drawer back. (Problem: now wifey needs me to sometimes open heavy drawers. Solution: Stay tuned... looking at different cabinet pulls...)

#3 - Dunno... don't have the Fusion system in a 2015.

[Pahaska]

While we are asking questions. . .

I know the Fusion interacts with the CAN bus, but I have the Kenwood in my 2014.5.Does the Kenwood interact with the CAN bus?

I hate the Kenwood with a passion. At the start of the trip, I turned it on to listen to a CD, but it was hung up in an initialization phase. Odd, since it has always come up asking for either a user login or a guest login. This time, I couldn't get it to take any input. We made an almost 2000-mile trip without music. The Kenwood human factors are the worst I have ever encountered. Tiny buttons that you can not read when driving.

My navigation is by a big Garman GPS on the top of the dash that also serves as my speedometer. I wear photo gray glasses and the dash instruments are very dark looking down in bright daylight. The Garman speed is super accurate and displays speed in big numbers where I don't have to take my eyes off the road.

My intention is to buy a simple DIN-2 radio-CD player to replace the Kenwood, but I would like to avoid any setup problems. I don't care about the steering wheel buttons for volume if I have decent controls on the radio.

[Rig Rat]

#1-Yes

#2- ordered 10# pulls for the lower cabinet drawers from Amazon for $9.95.
link here; https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
* note, these will not work on the upper cabinets!

#3- I have the kenwoood unit and can't help here!

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

While we are asking questions. . .

I know the Fusion interacts with the CAN bus, but I have the Kenwood in my 2014.5.Does the Kenwood interact with the CAN bus?

JOHN - While I know nothing about the Kenwood, I can tell you how to determine if your unit is connected to CANBUS - if the unit has 'nanny controls' like certain functions are not useable while vehicle is in motion (i.e.internet, photo gallery, video player, etc, you get the picture) then your unit is connected to the MB CANBUS. That is the way the unit gets info from the ECM/ECU to know if vehicle is moving, in Drive, in Reverse for certain cam functions and in Park which then turns off nanny controls. Another example is the Fusion displays speed when in Nav mode. It gets that info from the CANBUS, because I don't believe the Fusion GPS has an altimeter, therefore it can not accurately extrapolate speed when vehicle is not on flat terrain. Even if Fusion has an altimeter function, a real altimeter that is calibrated is far more accurate. So, it needs the CANBUS speed in order to display on monitor.

Regarding replacement radio - have you considered the OEM MB cd/radio? It would re-instate full functionality of steering wheel buttons to control all radio & phone functions.

[Lumatic]

I use commonly available "child proof" drawer locks.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

Regarding replacement radio - have you considered the OEM MB cd/radio? It would re-instate full functionality of steering wheel buttons to control all radio & phone functions.

Good idea. I'll look into that.

[AI927]

Originally Posted by hirstpb

Buried in my rambling 2019 Grand Tour shakedown cruise observations were three specific questions.
1. Do your batteries stay fully charged when driving?
2. Do your drawers bang open when driving? If so, what did you do about it? I’m thinking child locks.
3. Does the Fusion system support Apple Car Play? Have you paired an iPhone with Fusion by Bluetooth and/or plugged into the USB port?
I hope to get to the owners manuals soon, but hope your collective experience may provide a shortcut. Many thanks.

1. No, my batteries do not always stay fully charged while driving. Sometimes they will be fully charged at the end of the driving day other times only partially charged. I think it us due to the BMS that some people have upgraded.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

Regarding replacement radio - have you considered the OEM MB cd/radio? It would re-instate full functionality of steering wheel buttons to control all radio & phone functions.

Originally Posted by Pahaska

Good idea. I'll look into that.

You would also lose GPS by doing this, but if you have a separate GPS and someplace to mount it, that's not a major issue.

[hirstpb]

Originally Posted by Pez Vela

1) Yes

2 ) Fixed with 10lb tension locks provided by Airstream through the mail. I think they ship with 3lbs.? They are mounted at the back of the drawers after removing the drawer. Still open when the drawer is overloaded with weight, but i have determined the balancing point to avoid the problem.

3) No apple car play. This is a complicated question. Are you looking to display album artwork and be able to control playlists, artists etc. My library will not work with song search because it is too large (18 days). It fails loading at 85%.



Before you do anything look at your system settings in the Fusion system (software update). What version software does the system show? What version maps?



!#$%@ pictures upside down

Thanks for the photos. Haven’t checked software version yet. Another tomorrow project. Not looking to display album artwork or anything fancy. The Bluetooth shows it is paired, and a song selected on the iPhone displays on the Fusion screen. But when I hit Play, either on the Fusion screen or my phone, the audio plays on my phone and not the Fusion speakers. Phone calls do come through the Fusion speakers. I know the iTunes audio will play through Fusion. That happened while on a Fusion phone call trouble shooting the situation with a Colonial rep. The screen for the call had a “change speaker” button, which switched the iTunes audio to Fusion speakers. When we concluded the call, the audio went back to the phone. Beats me. Might be a setting on my phone. I’ve now read the Fusion manual. Need to read again tomorrow.

[Pez Vela]

Here you go.

[hirstpb]

Originally Posted by Pez Vela

Here you go.

Thanks. I haven’t found anything in the manual to explain the problem. I Bluetooth pair my iPhone regularly with a variety of systems and never have had a problem. I’m sure it’s going to be a button or setting situation. All part of the adventure!

[Pez Vela]

Pez Vela is the name of the RV. See photo with arrow. My best guess.
I use the USB when parked for Album Cover artwork, control, and BETTER FIDELITY.

I have to visit Pez Vela to leave the tank heaters on and run the heater at night (starting to freeze at night), so it has not been an incovenience to try to help you.

I must admit the learning curve is long on this complicated vehicle.

[hirstpb]

Originally Posted by Pez Vela

Pez Vela is the name of the RV. See photo with arrow. My best guess.

I use the USB when parked for Album Cover artwork, control, and BETTER FIDELITY.



I have to visit Pez Vela to leave the tank heaters on and run the heater at night (starting to freeze at night), so it has not been an incovenience to try to help you.



I must admit the learning curve is long on this complicated vehicle.

Yep. My screen shows my phone is Bluetooth connected just like your screen shot. And, the music selection appears on the screen as in your photo. But when I hit the play button, the audio plays through the phone speaker! I’m taking the day off this topic to read about other more important topics, like emptying black and gray tanks!!! Thanks again for the photos that show I’m heading in the right direction.