Its been over a year since I installed the Isotherm Cruise 219 in my RV. I just completed a 3 week trip out west and I thought it would be a good time to record some thoughts. So here, in random order, is what I learned so far: Refrigerator Drainage I originally totally missed the […]
Finally! TPMS. And no, you don’t need to install Borg stems! Here is the background: Many people buy DIY TPMS off the Internet, and have their stems crack on the way home or after a short trip. The reason is usually due to either a rubber valve stem, or more often, a dually valve stem […]
My RV came with a propane regulator (Fairview) known for early failures, and sure enough, like clockwork, it failed before 2 years passed. The symptom was propane smell around the rear of the RV; but others report a reduced gas pressure as the first sign. Actually now that I think about it it may have […]
Many people who have switched to Lithium, particularly with more than 200 AH of capacity, have installed a DC-DC charger. But I am not quite ready. They steal some of the efficiency, have relatively low output, require a big chunk of mounting real estate near the battery, and its another item to break and ruin […]
I previously installed a Cradlepoint IBR900 Router. I was reasonably satisfied with it. It wasn’t a perfect experience though. The registration process (required to manage remotely) was chaotic and took numerous calls and trouble tickets to be resolved. It immediately started crashing due to router bugs. Again, resolved through support tickets. It was a firmware […]
This is one of those super trivial upgrades that I almost didn’t write up, except its really useful. My Unity CB had a dual USB socket behind the drivers seat. That was useful. My security cam stays plugged in there. But I really wanted a cigarette lighter plug there as well. I have a backup […]
Just like clockwork, after about two years of ownership I noticed my alternator stopped charging my batteries reliably. Its always a little unreliable on my Lithium batteries. (I count on the solar to top them off.) But in this case the alternator completely stopped charging. (Although sometimes it would). From posts on the internet I […]
When I ordered my RV I made the big mistake of ordering it with 400 watts solar, a costly option. It made sense as it was the most you could get and LTV must install the best, right? Well as I learned in time it was actually awful. The solar controller was a cheap PWM […]
Update September 2021 – Looks like they have a nicer 12″model now, which is similar but has some new goodies including gps. See links at bottom for the new model. For my RV (and most others unless you have a really small van) the rear view mirror is useless. Mine shows a view of my […]
The best way to describe the Venus GX is remote control. It will basically export all your Victron devices to the internet, assuming you have either a router or hotspot in your RV. There are two main reasons i wanted this. First, while the RV is being stored, I can keep an eye on its […]
Its like a domino. Each thing I kick in the RV causes some new deficiency to be noticed, that either wasn’t there before or had escaped my attention. After all my upgrades I noticed that the stock Magnum inverter/charger doesn’t work well on lithium. It sorta works much of the time, but on generator instead […]
(Pictured on the left is the original Dometic refrigerator. On the right is my replacement.) My RV came with an industry standard Dometic refrigerator. I won’t spend a lot of time on the deficiencies as they are well known. The technology has some great advantages. You can run them on propane or electric, and this […]
My new RV came with what I thought was pretty good solar. Only as I learned, it was just fair. There are 4 main issues: I can always use more. My van came with 400 watts of solar. 600 would be nicer. The GoPower Flex panels, as I learned, are a bit yucky. The biggest […]
At first I really intended to keep the crummy flooded lead acid batteries that came with my coach. They need to have water added every month, only have about 110 Amp-Hours (for 2, because you can only discharge them 50% if that before damaging). They weigh 60-70 pounds each. In spite of all that, they […]
So, I will be replacing my refrigerator with a compressor refrigerator (more on that soon). The first step in doing that is to expand the battery life by going Lithium (more on that even sooner!). Which leads me to the Magnum Energy ME-RC50 Remote Control. Turns out my RV comes with a crappy remote control […]
UPDATE 21-Feb-2021 The Cradlepoint worked well but I put in a new router and antenna. This article is still mostly relevant for drilling the roof and installing in general. We travel in our RV to get away from the city, and enjoy remote places. That said, I have a job, and I need to be […]
Sooner or later, if you have an RV, you are going to discover that some of the nicest places you would want to camp don’t have any cell service. None. Nada. Now, some people might think that’s just fine. But I have a job, and can take emergency calls round the clock, even on vacation. […]
This weekend, we finally will be taking a short trip where we will be “off the grid” for a few days. This is partly by design – in Florida you cannot really sleep in an RV in the summer without AC! So it occurred to me, that we will have literally no clue how the […]
My Sprinter RV (2019 LTV Unity CB) came with a basic radio and Becker Map Pilot. So to be honest, I only turned it on once. I’m a technology bigot, and as soon as I saw the decades old interface and the lack of any modern features I switched it back off. To be fair, […]
Being new to RVing, all I knew about dump tanks was summed up in movies like Christmas Vacation or RV. I almost skipped getting an RV entirely, over the potential disasters that await. Oh, did I say I was kinda squeamish about this? Back in the day I had a (very) small yacht. It had […]
Update: Jan 2, 2018 Thanks Google! I didn’t think much when I posted this, but this page has been showing up in Google searches for terms like “rv bidet” and the like, actually becoming #1! Turns out a lot of people like having a clean time in the bathroom. One question I get a lot […]