Trace Engineering RC8 Remote Control

There is some mis-information on the net.. (go figure)

http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=4152.0;wap2

Whats quite curious to me is Sean (2nd post) is just wrong.. and thats pretty rare.. Sean (now a boatsman was a solid RV'er in his past)

Anyway.. the RC8 is just a simple board..

1 diode 1N4001
1 resistor 470ohm
1 led
1 switch

I'm not going to reverse engineer the schematic, there is enough info in the photos for someone to do, if I do get round to it, I'll post, if you do it. please also post.

If anyone has an RC9, I'd love to see inside that...  (dead or alive)

Trace Legend Series 1 Manual

LifeLine AGM Battery packout

So the wet cell batteries the coach came with were leaking up a storm.. and my lack of timely maintenance to fluid levels killed them.

I ordered a pair of 8DL lifeline batteries (House) and a pair of Lifeline GPL-2400T batteries for the engine

I carefully cut a 3/4in ply sheet to fit the base of the battery box.

everything fits.. had to relocate the door bracket.. and then let the local RV shop do all the wiring (they have the nice lug crimpers)

Only thing they forgot was to switch the Trace Engineering Legend charger/ inverter to Sealed batteries

Lifeline says
The recommended method of charging  Lifeline® AGM  batteries is  to use a 3 stage charging
profile.  In the first stage, a constant current is applied until the voltage reaches a pre-set limit.
The first stage is often called the Bulk charging stage.
In the second stage, the voltage is held constant at the same pre-set limit until the charging
current tapers to a very low value, at which point the battery is fully charged. The second stage
is often called the Absorption charging stage. A voltage setting of 14.3 volts ± 0.1 volts (7.15 ±
0.05 volt for a 6 volt battery) should be used when the battery temperature is 77°F (25°C).  The
battery is  considered to be  fully charged when the current  drops below 0.5% of the battery’s
rated capacity (0.5A for a 100Ah battery). The absorption stage will typically last 2  – 4 hours
before the current reaches this level.
In the third stage, the charging voltage is reduced to a lower value that minimizes the amount of
overcharge, while maintaining the battery at 100% state of charge. This third stage is often
called the Float charging stage. A float voltage of 13.3 ± 0.1 volts (6.65 ± 0.05 volts for a 6 volt
battery) should be used when the battery temperature is 77°F (25°C). The charging voltages at
other temperatures can be determined from the following table:

Trace Legend Series 1
Sealed:  If you are installing sealed batteries, the jumper remains across this pair of pins.  This
selection sets the charge rate to 14.3 VDC in the Bulk stage and 13.6 VDC in the float stage.  For
vented batteries, remove the jumper across these pins to set the charge rate to 14.7 VDC  and
13.3 VDC  respectively

I've switched over the jumper... to sealed.. will monitor to verify

LED Tail lights

No photos here:

I wanted brighter tail lights, the OEM incandescents seemed not very bright.

The culprit turns out to be the 80 feet of wire in the loop.

the batteries are at the back of the coach, power needs to feed forwards to the switchgear, and then thin wires come back to the tail lights.

we were seeing around 9v across the bulbs..

So I thought.. lets get soem LED bulbs.. that would require fewer amps less Vdrop in the wires... win win..

not so fast...
It seems that the LED bulbs didnt like the long runs either.

some lesser brightness ones would possibly work.. but the absurdly bright ones I found on amazon failed.. flicker/flashing or just not turning on.

with a solid 12v they were great...

Solution was to run a direct 12v feed to each tailpack and have 5 relays in each corner that are switched by the signals and that select the direct 12v feeds into each bulb as needed.

Results:

Super bright leds...

and I can hang more lights on here with no worries about overloaded switch gear.

lots of side markers, huge reverse pods...

LED Bulb Conversions

So theres plenty of blown bulbs...

the plan is to switch these out to LED as we go...

the first ones are 8W fluorescent replacements, they are $17.91ea with free shipping from Amazon.

We picked the Natural Whites.

Green LongLife 3528102 LED 12" Replacement Light Tube with T5 base 300 Lumens 12v Natural White

Note this bulb needs you to remove the ballast and plug the bulb directly into 12V

You can see the flying lead for 12v in black.

This bulb fits neatly in the housing. However you have to basically disconnect the ballast entirely (easy enough, just cut all the cables (make sure its switched off before you cut the leads)) THEN you have to also cut the wires going to the socket ends (especially the one that joins the bulb on one side to the other (basically cut all the socket end leads (otherwise you'll blow a fuse))

Verdict: nice and bright.. I want to replace them all.. but the price is high.. so I'll wait for the bulbs to fail and go one pair at a time...

The coach has plenty of "1141" 12v bulbs...

looking at google apparently this is 19watts.. the 1156 bulb is a acceptable size also.. 

Amazon has:

These bulbs are really great.. one was bad out of the box, Amazon gave me a refund (I had to call them, as the only online option was to return the box of 12)

Online reviews indicate there maybe some attrition at 2-3 months, we will see...

50amp Power cord issues

So I wanted to plug the coach into a 120v 20amp circuit so I removed the 50-30amp pigtail.

here is what I found:

The heavy blackened terminal is the neutral return.

So I planned to cut that end off and install a new one from Camping World

Cutting that cord is not easy.. I used this tool from sears and even with that it was hard going.

Here are a few photos of the wire prep, slit off the insulation (about 3.5inches)

Remove the fabric/nylong filler materials.

Trim the wires to length. I started with the white one and then trimmed the red and black ones and then lastly the green one. The color code is in the plug leaflet.

Surprise when I removed the stub of insulation on the white wire I found heavy corrosion...

compare that to the green wire.. nice and shiny copper...

at first I thought this was localized to the end of the wire, near the plug, so I cut off another foot of wire. no difference... in fact I found that the black and white wires were corroded.

I hypothesize that the black and white wires are the phase energized when running single phase and that this coach may not have its phase loads properly matched or maybe the previous owner didn't use the 20amp switch to put the load management into the low power mode.

So.. I'm resigned to install a new power cord, but for right now I need to rehab the cordset I have and get going...

So here is my last few wiring photos. I sealed the terminals with GE Silicone II clear product, this is a non acetic acid cure silicone.

tighten up all the screws.. and good luck...

Missing Gas Fill Line

So the RV is missing a gas fill line.

Took it to the fill station and blew a gallon of gas out into thin air.

The fill connection has no line connected to the back of the fitting.

What I took to be a propane gas grill hook up in that compartment is actually the disconnected fill line.

So.. hook it up and then put in a few gallons and see if it holds..???
 lets see what internet research yields...

Firstly the tanks in RVs are permanent installations and do not need periodic inspection, they are ASME rated.  (the small portable tanks are DOT rated and need to be recertified after 12 years and then every 5 years)

Ok.. so I hooked it up as is and it worked kind of.. yes fluid was transfered BUT.. also fluid was "lost"..

On inspection this hose was some sort of "non crimped" compression fitting ends to flare ends.

so basically you cut the braided steel reinforced hose to the correct length and then screwed on the "collar" and the "tapered compression" insert and then assembled those tightly together. That made your hose which is then used on the 1/2in flare gas fittings.

When I cut off the ends and reassembled and cranked everything down "tight" was able to fill with no leaks...

and low and behold.. no leaks or smell

I still need to buy a manometer and do the proper tests but for the moment this is OK.

Pictures to follow...

Exhaust Brackets

So the nice previous owner guy had noticed that the exhaust hangers were breaking..

so rather than replace them properly he decided to use some baling wire... nice... not..

Napa sells the hangers.. the one at the very end was easy enough. I also replaced the one on the lower coolant hardpipe.

However the other 3 locations had a slight twist.. the clamps were welded to the hangers.. and they are corroded.. so I'll get new clamps and hangers.. the hangers were only $6..