Tag Archives: 5er

Do RVers Really Need A Power Management System?

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I see that question all the time on Facebook and most of the Blogs that I read.  For the simple, easy, straight forward answer, YES you do.  There are so many factors involved here that I can not possibility cover them all in a single post but, I would like to cover the basics so that you can better understand why you need a Power Management system of some kind.

1. You need to know what the AC (Shore Power) voltage is inside your rig.  This is the power that indirectly powers lights, water heater, microwave, furnace, charger for the 12 volt battery system, etc.  If the voltage gets below 102 volts and should stay there for a few minutes it would be possible to sustain approximately $1200 of damage or more.

So what do you need?  You will need a AC Line Voltage Monitor .  The unit shown below is plugged into an AC wall outlet that you can see and will monitor what the line voltage is.  If it should go below 105 volts you need to unplug your rig from the outside power pedestal until the voltage goes back to normal.

AC Line Voltage Monitor

So how do you know when the outside power pedestal is back to normal.  You plug the Voltage Monitor into the 125 volt two pin socket in the power pedestal and see what the monitor reads.  It should read 110 volts or higher up to 125 volts.  The same caution goes for over voltage.  You should unplug the rig form the power pedestal if your Voltage Monitor begins to reads over 122 Volts.  Plug the Voltage Monitor into the power pedestal and watch for the voltage to drop to below 122 Volts.

Could this monitoring of the voltage be done for less money?  Yes, by using a cheap Digital Volt Meter  pictured below;

 Digital Volt Meter  

You could plug the test leads that come with the meter into the meter and then the other ends of the test leads into the slots on the AC wall socket. (Caution do not leave unattended) Or  you could make up a cord from a 6 foot extension cord and the test leads that come with the meter.  See below for an example.

AC Cord With Test Meter Leads

2. Next is  The Polarity Tester .  This is used to be sure that the Neutral wire of the power line is not reversed with the positive lead of the power line.  If that where to happen you could have what is called a hot skin condition.  Meaning that if you had an aluminium skinned rig you could receive quite a shock from your rig.

 The Polarity Tester

The Polarity Tester can also tell you if the Earth Ground (the bear copper wire) is hooked up properly.  

The Earth Ground is a separate conductor which may seem to be doing nothing but, is in fact a protective wire. It is there, ready to take the current away to earth ground, from the body or frame of the electrical device it is connected-to, makes contact with any “hot” wire. [the 120 volts mains power is carried in two current carrying conductors called “hot” and “neutral”.] 
So, IF one of the “hot” conductors should contact the metal frame of the rig or housing of an appliance, perhaps because the appliance got damaged by being dropped from a table, or similar accident,  the third wire which is the earth ground wire, which runs directly from the housing to the grounding [or earth ground bus] in the fuse or breaker panel, will in effect cause a short circuit which should blow the fuse or trip the breaker. 
This third wire also guarantees a current path back to the electrical panel where the fuse or circuit breaker protecting that circuit is located, in the event that the hot wire should come in contact with the rig frame, but the neutral conductor should happen to have been cut or damage and become disconnected, or open. 
The idea is to guarantee that if a part of the rig, device or appliance should become “hot,” which could be fatal to anyone who then came into contact with it. That the earth ground would trip/open the circuit protection device [fuse or breaker], and turn off the flow of AC current. 

To help further in checking for unwanted or wanted electricity a good investment is the the Voltage Sensor which is shown below;

 Voltage Sensor

With this probe you do not need to touch the power line to tell if there is voltage present.  You can use this probe to find power lines behind the wall or under the floor of the Rig as well as the towing vehicle.

3.  Often times you want to know or need to know how much power something uses, especially if you keep popping a breaker or the power pedestal. The solution is Kill-A-Watt .  The unit shown below can be used to show how much power a appliance, tool, or piece of electronics is using.

 Kill-A-Watt

4. Next let’s look at surge protectors for the various pieces of equipment in your Rig.  Surge Protectors protect only what is plugged into them and only for over voltage surges.  Surge Protectors do not protect for under voltage or high voltages.  Shown below is a pair of good simple surge protectors;

Surge Protectors

There are Appliance Surge Protectors made just for appliances like, microwave and coffee makers

Appliance Surge Protector

AC refrigerators, freezers. 

Refrigerator/Freezer Surge Protector


These special surge protectors offer extra features like audible alarms, flashing lights, displays, etc and are to be used with just the items listed on the packaging for the one you would buy.

5.  Next is a group of power management items that will protect your entire Rig not just one item or several items in it. First is the Portable Power Management System This type of system looks at High and Low voltage protection, time delay for air conditioning compressor start up, 3-mode surge protection, reverse polarity protection, open neutral protection, open ground protection, AC frequency protection accidental 220 Volt protection. Includes an Integrated information panel, previous error code display, is weather resistant, and has a built-in locking bracket so it can be chained to the power pedestal at the campground to prevent theft.  The only thing this unit can not do is flush the black water tank.  The miracle unit we are talking about is shown below.

30 Amp Portable Power Management System

These portable units come in two sizes the one above 30 amp and the one shown below 50 amp.

50 Amp Portable Power Management System

Let’s say you were involved in a lightning caused power surge at a campground.  It is estimated you would suffer approximately $3000 worth of damage to the electrical system of your Rig along with the things plugged into it.  The features of the 50 amp unit are the same as the 30 amp unit.

Ah, but there is more!  What happens if you do not want something portable but something more permanent in the Rig? Then you have the permanent installed units which are called Fixed Power Management Systems  These units are not really DIY type of items but, they can be installed by the DIYer if care is taken during the installation.  The 30 amp models is shown below;

 30 Amp Fixed Power Management Systems

There is also a 50 amp version of the same unit as above and can be found here;  50 Amp Fixed Power Management Systems .  The features of both units are the same and are,  high and low voltage protection, time delay for air conditioning compressor start-up, 3 mode surge protection, surge trip indicator, reverse polarity protection, open neutral protection, open ground protection, AC frequency protection. Accidental 220V protection, with remote information display panel, and unit bypass switch.  Unfortunately this unit also does not dump the black tank.


I hope that you now have come to the conclusion that some type of power management is needed to protect your Rig, its contents and YOU!

 


 

Until Next Time

Let’s Check Those Tires

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So what do you do first when you take out your RV? There are many things you could do first but, I recommend that you check the tire pressure with a good tire pressure gage. The tire’s max pressure is located on the side wall of the tires on your RV. Do not use the pressures recommended by the RV manufacture UNLESS the RV has the original tires that it came with from the factory.

I use both a screw-on tire pressure indicator, such as Quick-Pressure-PSI-50-Monitor , which at a glance can tell you that you may have a problem [use only if your tires are supposed to have 50 lbs of air when cold.  [Other pressures are available] and the traditional pencil like guage, such as Pencil-Pressure Gage   to test or look at the tire pressure gage before you have moved your RV a mile.

Quick-Pressure-PSI-50-Monitor

Quick-Pressure-PSI-50-Monitor

Pencil Air Gage 2

 Pencil-Pressure Gage

Please Note: You need to check the tire pressure when the tire is still cold.

Another good, but pricey, system for monitoring your tire pressure as well as the tire temperature is the Wireless Tire Pressure Monitoring System.  I am saving for this one.

TireTech Wireless Monitor

Wireless Tire Pressure Monitoring System

The system will tell you of an overheated tire, in most cases before it blows, and of course tell you of low pressure in any monitored tire, even the spare, in real time no need to stop every 20 miles and check those darn tires – LOL. When you stop for gas or a bathroom break you should do a tire check of the RV as well as tow vehicle. My daughter was checking the tow vehicle for me and found a large cut in the sidewall of the truck tire. We were able to get the tire replaced before the large accident occurred.  I did not even remember hitting or running over anything on the highway.

Be sure to carefully look at the tread, and the side walls both on the front and the back of the tire.  Most RV tire experts agree that if your tiers are more than five years old from the date of manufacture you should replace them.  Most tire failures occur when the side wall of the tire is under inflated or rots out from the inside where you can not see. You can thank Mr. Sun for sidewall failure in some cases. Most tires have a Mr. Sun inhibitor built-in but when a tire sits and sits the inhibitor does not get moved to the outside of the tire by the tire going round and round. Now you see why you need wheel covers right?

RV Tire Covers

Trailer Wheel Covers for less than $25.

To protect the tires in storage from Mr. Sun and any other nasties that come along. You can also use an RV Tire Protection Spray which is applied, as directed, to the tire side wall that is exposed to the sun.
I have used RV Tire Protection Spray with good luck. This spray is not designed to make the tire sidewall shinier,  it is not a decorative spray, but something that is designed to put back into the surface of the rubber what Mr Sun is taking out.

tire protective spray

RV Tire Protection Spray

Also note that if you are going to store the RV for an extended period of time you should protect the tread from the surface that the tires are sitting on. Nasty things can leach out of your tires into the blacktop or concrete that your RV sits on while being stored. Or from the blacktop or concrete into your tires during storage. You can use an Office Chair Mat that sells for less than $20 for each side of the RV and just back onto it as you are putting the RV away.  Now that is easy.

If you are supposed to replace your tires every five years how do you know when your tires were made? There is a code date molded into the sidewall of the tire. (you can thank our government) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires that Tire Identification Numbers be a combination of the letters DOT, followed by ten, eleven or twelve letters and/or numbers that identify the manufacturing location, tire size and manufacturer’s code, along with the week and year the tire was manufactured. Since 2000, the week and year the tire was produced has been provided by the last four digits of the Tire Identification Number with the 2 digits being used to identify the week immediately preceding the 2 digits used to identify the year.

Below is an example of a tire manufactured since 2000 with the current Tire Identification Number format.

In the example: DOT U2LL LMLR 5107

DOT U2LL LMLR 5107  Manufactured during the 51st week of the year

DOT U2LL LMLR 5107   Manufactured during 2007
While the entire Tire Identification Number is required to be molded onto one sidewall of every tire, current regulations also require that DOT and the first digits of the Tire Identification Number must also be molded onto the opposite sidewall. Therefore, it is possible to see a Tire Identification Number that appears incomplete and requires looking at the tire’s other sidewall to find the entire Tire Identification Number.
I know you are saying to yourself, but the RV is only three years old. We are not talking about the year your RV was built, but the year the tires were manufactured and they maybe not the same so please check. If your tire’s serial number can not be read by you, then you need to take the tire or RV to an RV dealer or tire shop and have the tires read.

Post_2000_Full_Dot

Please do not be pulling your RV with old tires that may jeopardize your families safety as well as others. [If you want more information on tire markings and such go to Tire Tech Information]

Ok, you have checked the date code of your tires and they are in fact only three years old. Tire pressure is up and you’re ready to go.

Not so fast!

We need to discuss lug nut tightness.  Each Spring or before a major trip you should check the tightness of the lug nuts on each of the RV tires. You need to check your owners manual for the correct setting. My KZ Spree has the specifications of 100 ft LBS. I use a inexpensive torque wrench, which I keep in the RV tool box, to confirm the setting 1/2′ Torque Wrench .

Torque Wrench

1/2′ Torque Wrench

To keep the wrench outside of the tire rim I also use an extender. 1/2″ Socket Extension

Socket Extension Kit

1/2″ Socket Extension

The socket size depends on your lug nut size.

Tire Check Quick Guide
1. Check all RV tires for max pressure listed on tire sidewall.
2. Check tire tread and sidewalls for ware and cracks.
3. Cover tires from sun damage when not using.
4. Keep tires off of storage surface during storage.
5. Check age of tires yearly.
6. Check your tires every time you stop.
7. Do maintenance on your tires as needed.
8. Check lug nut tightness.

Until next time.

The Reason For RVer Hints & Tips

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What I plan on doing in this group is covering subjects and topics that are of interest to the Travel Trailer(TT) and 5th Wheel (5er) RV owner. It seems to me that there are a lot of websites and blogs for the big class A motorhomes but not so many for the bumper pull behinds. I do not want to get hung up on which rig is the best or what do I buy to pull my RV.  I want to spend your time on giving you hints and tips that will make your camping experience with your family the best and safest it can be.

Until next time.