RTR Bulletin Board

[rvwandering]

A Big Welcome to the all of the early arrivals at the RTR gathering!

   Bob makes accouncments ( stuff for sale, services to provide, help needed, etc.) at the beginning of every seminar meeting but since it looks like we'll have a record number of people this year I decided to start a thread where everyone can post about anything pertaining to the gathering.

  We'll have our charging station set up again this year so if you have any 12 volt items that need a charge feel free to plug them in. We're in the small class C east of the fire pit. Look for the blue table.

  Please post on this thread if you:

• Have something you want to sell/trade/barter
•  Have a service that you want to offer - free or paid
• Have experience to share or a helping hand to lend
• Need a hand with anything
• Want company for walks, cards games, morning coffee, campfire gatherings, etc.
• Need a ride to town or want to offer a ride
   
• Or anything else!

 

[Solari]

Hi! I'm Ray, have mostly been a lurker and full timing since April of last year in my little Scamp.

I just arrived here at Ehrenberg this afternoon and was able to meet Bob and a couple other folks briefly, so nice!

I'm looking for some help to tweak my solar set up. More specifically, my Morningstar 300 inverter seems to be funky (or maybe it's the way it is!) -- it power cycles to save the battery and when it detects something plugged in, it kicks on. My issue is it doesn't always kick on (likely due to too low of power signal from devices like iPhone iPad and such) and when it does kick on, it often keeps cycling off and on so sometimes I'll find my phone or laptop constantly turning off and on which ain't good.

For now I have it disconnected from the battery until I can get this sorted out.

Am willing to pay or trade service, am familiar with computers and also internet, having run a business on there full time for nearly 20 years now (which enables me to do analog full timing (camping life).

Hope to meet some of you soon. If you see my Scamp with silver Toyota RAV4 and blue kayak on the roof, feel free to pop over.

I'm deaf so you will likely need to shake the camper a bit to get my attention. I do read lips and speak decently. The only sign language I know are the dirty signs. ; )

Camp on!
Ray


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Oopslala]

Solaris I also have that 300 watt inverter and has the same issue. With mine, if I only had the iPhone charger going while charging the battery it would cycle on and off and I figured out the issue was that there's not a big enough draw coming from the charger for the inverter to run. I'm not sure if you can lower the setting to allow that, I ended up just leaving my fan plugged in but not on and that pushed the draw up just enough to allow the inverter to work without cycling.

About to go check out the manual for it, I'll edit this if I figure it out before edit time goes away, if not I'll PM you.

Edit: found it, "Standby - The AC output will remain off until AC load greater than 8 watts is detected. When AC load falls below 8 watts, the AC output is turned off."

It's on page 11 of the manual.

 

[jimindenver]

I'll have a extra 230w portable solar system if anyone needs a house battery brought up. I should be there by the start of the RTR.

 

[Solari]

Solaris I also have that 300 watt inverter and has the same issue. With mine, if I only had the iPhone charger going while charging the battery it would cycle on and off and I figured out the issue was that there's not a big enough draw coming from the charger for the inverter to run. I'm not sure if you can lower the setting to allow that, I ended up just leaving my fan plugged in but not on and that pushed the draw up just enough to allow the inverter to work without cycling.

About to go check out the manual for it, I'll edit this if I figure it out before edit time goes away, if not I'll PM you.

Edit: found it, "Standby - The AC output will remain off until AC load greater than 8 watts is detected. When AC load falls below 8 watts, the AC output is turned off."

It's on page 11 of the manual.

Exactly! My issue is I'm guessing when the laptop or phone etc is charged up the inverter starts cycling on and off again which isn't good for them when they are still plugged in. It actually ended up draining my laptop battery some this way. I'm often away from my camper on long hikes etc so it would be nice not to have to babysit the thing when stuff is plugged in.

I did set the dip switch to stay on all the time just to avoid that issue and it keeps faulting out (red light) so I'm not sure if it's defective or operator error on my part. Ideally I'd rather not have to keep it on all the time.

There is supposed to be a way to make a switch you can flip manually to force it on when you need it (without having to mess with dip switches) but that's beyond my meagre electronics capability.

Thanks!
Ray

Ps even plugging in iPhone and iPad simultaneously isn't enough of a load trigger it on but the laptop will do it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RVtrek]

I did set the dip switch to stay on all the time just to avoid that issue and it keeps faulting out (red light) so I'm not sure if it's defective or operator error on my part.

The red light is a really bad sign.  Page 11 of the manual says that it's a "Inverter or System Fault".


How's your battery voltage when this cycling going on?  Is the AC output LED on/off/blinking, and what color is it?

Is the unit really hot?

 

[RVtrek]

I'll be arriving at RTR either late tomorrow (Sunday), or sometime on Monday.  Anybody got a ladder I can borrow that would reach the top of my 11' trailer?

Oh, and how about a caulk gun?  I have some dicor around here somewhere, but I failed to pick up the caulk gun.

I'm pretty sure I'd only need these items for a couple hours at most.  Thanks.

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

I have a caulk gun, I won't be in til Monday or Tuesday but if you need it sooner, I'm at the river in Ehrenberg.

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

Beth aka almost there and I will set up to make name buttons.

 

[rvwandering]

We have both a ladder and a caulking gun. You're welcome to use them as long as it takes to finish the job. We're in the 25' class C in the seminar/fire pit loop.

 

[FALCON]

I have for sale:

• Little Buddy heater. It works great. I've used it very little. I guess I don't mind being cold so much.
• Nikon D90 Camera body. Well used but in great shape. 30k actuations (most of these are good for 100k). I got a newer camera so I don't use it anymore. I used this camera for nearly all the pictures in my build thread and my captain's log. So while it's far from being the latest and greatest, you can see that it can be used to get pretty darn good pictures. (includes charger, some memory cards, and a pretty nice bag. No lens, though I do have some you can use to test the camera if you need)

I want to buy:

• A water container. (2.5-5 gallons)

 

[Madpeep]

I need a solar shower! I figured it wouldn't be too hard to find while driving across country, but nope. Now that I'm in AZ, my only option is to wait for REI in Tucson to open or Cabela's in Phoenix. Think they're doing a food/cooking event at noon, maybe I'll get a free lunch out of the trip.

 

[towhee]

Falcon I have a 5 gallon Reliance water jug that I am not using (I switched to 1 gallon jugs for ease of filling). Look for me in the silver previa with pink trike on the back.

 

[towhee]

Wanted. Alcohol stoves to try out. Or other small alcohol or propane one burner stoves.

 

[towhee]

OFFER. Charging solenoid. Purchased 2 years ago from starlight solar in Yuma.

 

[Gypsysoul]

I am looking to buying solar for my class C. I need help figuring out what to buy and installing it. I am willing to pay.

I have been delayed leaving. I should be there by Friday.

Caryn

 

[decatria]

Carefree 11ft. Awning going on the free pile tomorrow Sunday afternoon.   Just needs a new motor.

 

[Van Man Dave]

Van Man Dave here


I can fix things :idea:


I prefer barter or cash :exclamation:



General handyman, auto repair, solar, electrical, carpentry, mechanical, etc.....

 

[Van Man Dave]

Van Man Dave here

I'm hoping we can get some musicians together for some playing / jamming.

I play bass,  a little guitar and sing.

Let's Jam!!

 

[rvwandering]

The free tarp is down so bring all of your extra stuff or come find a new treasure!

To whoever supplied the tarp - Thanks!