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05-30-2021, 01:16 AM
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#1
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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SF -> NC round trip
We are a couple days out from our 7 week cross country summer voyage. About 5,600 miles over 18 travel days. Route is roughly I-40 when eastbound, then I-70 when westbound. All stops reserved. Will post updates occasionally on this thread.
Any tips on the route this time of year? I’m wondering particularly about any sections with few diesel stops to keep an eye out for. A lot of our stops are pull through so I’m hoping to not unhitch and refuel in truck stop lanes.
We have double AC and 50 amp service at almost all stops, so expect the upcoming heat event will be ok. We also travel with 3400W generator as backup and to handle some boondocking at our destination.
DW is a little concerned about potential impact of heat on the tires. All have less then 3k miles on them, so I’m not worried. Should I be? I run the truck at 75 PSI and trailer at 80 PSI.
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06-07-2021, 10:16 PM
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#2
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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Update from Albuquerque
Late night update from the road since were in a new situation.
First night I did a dumb thing and left our EMS at the RV Park. The park is mailing it to our destination, but that means this legof the trip we don’t have it.
This is relevant because we are currently having an under voltage situation in our campground in Albuquerque (High Desert RV). Around 9:45 PM our AC shut down and started humming, took me a while to figure out something was up. At first I thought maybe the park lost power, but our cord power lights were still on so I thought maybe The AC breaker had flipped. Checked on the panel and noticed that it was fine, but the GFCI breaker had flipped. I flipped it back and it flashed red at me a couple times. Then I tried turning the AC breaker off and on, doing that caused the GFCI breaker to trip again. At this point I figured some thing must be up, so disconnected us from shore power and went to find someone else with an EMS, sure enough E4 code is up.
So, hoping that our AC isn’t damaged from this (our other AC is already out due to the fan having a vibration problem).
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06-07-2021, 10:36 PM
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#3
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Site Team
2017 30' International
Broomfield
, Colorado
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,555
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What voltage do you believe the air conditioner was operating at and for how long?
Less than 108v for any real amount of time and you can burn up the compressor motor.
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06-07-2021, 11:12 PM
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#4
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wulfraat
What voltage do you believe the air conditioner was operating at and for how long?
Less than 108v for any real amount of time and you can burn up the compressor motor.
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Unclear, but the Progressive Industries EMS throws E4 at 110V and below. Probably 10-15 minutes.
We’ll see in the morning I guess, still no power.
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06-08-2021, 06:24 PM
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#5
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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Power came on around 3AM, and fortunately the AC came right back up without any issues.
Hauled for 8 hours and are now staying at Foss State Park in Oklahoma. Nice spot on the water for a night before our next travel day.
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06-08-2021, 07:04 PM
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#6
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Site Team
2017 30' International
Broomfield
, Colorado
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,555
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Awesome news!
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06-08-2021, 07:12 PM
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#7
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wulfraat
Awesome news!
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Indeed, we were quite worried. Gotta get up on the roof soon to see if we can fix that other AC... dealer said next availability is about a month out.
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06-09-2021, 08:05 PM
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#8
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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Light travel day, about 5 hours from Foss State Park to Lake Fort Smith in Arkansas.
It is huuuuuumid out here, the trailer is sweating on the outside due to the AC having cooled the interior.
Currently planning what we’re doing about the I40 bridge closure in Memphis, anyone local have some tips? We’re planning on staying on the west side of the bridge tomorrow, would leaving early in the morning make for less waiting on the crossing?
Nice spot at the park tonight, very quiet.
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06-09-2021, 08:17 PM
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#9
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4 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
Daytona Beach
, Florida
Join Date: Jan 2021
Posts: 357
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06-10-2021, 04:53 PM
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#10
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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Staying on the west side of the Mississippi tonight, at Tom Sawyer’s RV.
I40 is a mess, seems people aren’t aware of the slowdown so there are mor accidents too, which is making things worse. We passed a 5+ vehicle pileup that looked like it was caused by failure to slow for stopped traffic.
Hoping for some rain to wash the road dust off soon.
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06-12-2021, 03:39 AM
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#11
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Rivet Master
2014 20' Flying Cloud
Sag Harbor
, New York
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 17,523
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Thanks for the recent updates and photos. Glad you were able to resume the trip.
Back in the 1990's we did a NYC/San Diego/Napa wine country round trip in the old 1985 25' Sovereign . . . fun to remember those good times . . . thanks for this thread.
Happy trails,
Peter
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06-12-2021, 06:42 AM
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#12
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Rivet Master
2018 27' Globetrotter
Mooresville
, North Carolina
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 1,067
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Same here. Mid ‘90’s 6 week cross country NC to west coast, including Napa up to Vancouver and everything in between. You will have a great time. NC is a beautiful State. Enjoy your trip.
__________________
2018 GMC Sierra 2500HD Duramax
Equal-I-zer Weight Distribution attached to the Gen-Y Torsion Flex Weight Distribution Hitch
"Roadrunner"
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06-12-2021, 06:25 PM
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#13
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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We are now at our NC destination and spending a week with family before we start week of camping in the mountains. Weather since Tennessee has been quite wet, which took off some road dust but also soaked my shoes (which I stupidly left outside) so did the last leg of the trip in flip flops (do not recommend).
Our EMS was waiting for us at the destination, as well as a ladder to work on the roof AC issue this weekend.
Fun new issue is that the Battery Disconnect switch is now unresponsive. Went to put it into store mode in the driveway, no dice. Will see if there’s anything I can do or if that goes on the dealer service list...
Lessons learned this trip:
* Pack less in the fridge. We put too much and stuff in the back froze.
*Add vent covers (ours arrives soon), so we can run fan while traveling and keep temperature in the trailer more reasonable.
* Ram’s ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) can misidentify wide loads as obstructing vehicles and brake hard when you don’t expect it. Turn it off when passing those types of situations.
* Added a walk around after we pull the trailer out to check for left items to our departure process. Haven’t made a mistake since.
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06-12-2021, 11:08 PM
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#14
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Rivet Master
2014 20' Flying Cloud
Sag Harbor
, New York
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 17,523
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Thanks for the update, and welcome to the East Coast! That Use/Store switch's relay can go bad, and there are recent threads here on that, but the location and relay part can vary quite a bit by year and model, I think:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Use+...=airforums.com
Try those search results as a first trawl for useful into IMO. Maybe also call the 800 number in your Airstream briefcase stuff including the manual. Colonial Airstream has a good service dept. not too far north of you. Also, the OP BAB in this recent "Put Down Your Mobile Phone" thread highly recommends Out of Doors Mart, in Greensboro, which may be quite close:
https://www.airforums.com/forums/f42...ne-222385.html
https://www.outofdoorsmart.com/
Colonial: https://www.colonialairstream.com/
For starters, maybe try operating the switch on/off many times to see if that helps, there may be road dust inside. At least if is stuck in the "Use" position . . . "Store" would be NG!
Is it making that "relay" clicking sound? If not, look for loose wires on the contacts [after removing shore power IMO].
Good luck,
Peter
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06-13-2021, 05:00 AM
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#15
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GLCMRANGER - Sue
2016 25' International
Littlestown
, Pennsylvania
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 330
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There are two 5 amp fuses on the relay that could have been blown. The relay is probably located behind an access panel under your seat bench. Good luck
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06-13-2021, 07:12 AM
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#16
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2 Rivet Member
1976 Argosy 26
Reidsville
, North Carolina
Join Date: Mar 2020
Posts: 78
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Out doors mart
We live near and use out doors mart for parts. Great customer service and easily accessible. 👍🏻 I travel 30 miles to purchase there rather than online shopping.
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06-13-2021, 09:24 AM
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#17
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Rivet Master
2019 30' International
Pennsylvania
, Pennsylvania
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1,234
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I just wanted to mention I really appreciate your pictures, and the little writeups.
Thanks!
__________________
If you ain't havin' fun you ain't doin' it right
2017 Ford CCSB F250 XLT 6.2L Gas 4x4 Ruby
2019 International Serenity 30 Rear Twin
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06-14-2021, 09:45 AM
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#18
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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Got up on the roof today and fixed that second AC!
Took a little work to maneuver safely on the rooftop, definitely not my favorite experience. But once I was up it was pretty easy to remove two screws to access the AC.
Root cause was that vibration had shaken loose one of the motor mounting bolts, and it had completely fallen out. I found it rolling around the bottom of the AC housing, and traced it back to where it came from. As a result, the motor had fallen off center and the fan was contacting the squirrel cage. Recentering the motor and installing the bolt fixed the problem.
Since we’re now traveling with a ladder, I took advantage of this opportunity to rearrange the truck bed. I’ve been annoyed by the fact that my electrical and water hoses are in the same box. Mentally I thought “hookup box”, but in reality the electrical gets wet from residual water in the hose and filter. Plus the box was large so harder to move around.
I converted to separate, smaller boxes for the hookups. So now electrical and water are isolated from each other. Moved everything else into the larger box I previously used for hookups, it’s the “rarely needed” box.
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06-14-2021, 02:00 PM
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#19
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Rivet Master
2014 20' Flying Cloud
Sag Harbor
, New York
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 17,523
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Nice work . . . thanks for the update.
How is that Use/Store switch relay?
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06-14-2021, 02:12 PM
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#20
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3 Rivet Member
2021 27' Globetrotter
San Francisco
, California
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 119
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OTRA15
How is that Use/Store switch relay?
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Still unresolved. I pulled the switch and determined it’s just a switch, and I need to trace the wiring back to whatever it triggers (likely the 12V panel under the bed that looks like it’s going to be a PITA to access)
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