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I may be storing my coach for a few months and wonder if I should deflate the air bags or leave them in the level position. The storage pad is quite level.

I am going to replace the turn signal flashers. Is there a particular flasher that I should use considering that I plan to install LED tail-lights in the future?
Thanks

i ordered a WD live video server today. i want to be able to have a bunch of movies on a portable usb hdd and play them in hi def on any tv.

so scott did the research for me and i bough this one.

http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330

i got it refurbished from WD on sale for 48 bucks. i already have a portable usb HDD.

once i get it i will do a review of it for you guys.

tom

West bound on Academy Drive, cream with black Newell about 3:30 pm today. Late 90's or newer.

We are spending 2 nights at the Cheyenne Mountain State Park. About to grill some steaks for dinner. Looking up at the entrance to NORAD.

Because of the Wanderlodge fire it has me thinking hard about any and all recalls pertaining to a Newell Coach. I'm concerned about any recall and sure the factory will take care of any they know of but what about the Newells which have changed hands and the new owner doesn't receive notice about the recall with a hazard waiting to happen.

Bob

Report Date : October 2, 2012 at 12:30 PM
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number: 05V242000
Vehicle Make / Model: Model Year(s):
NEWELL / MOTOR HOME 2003-2005

Manufacturer: NEWELL COACH CORP. Report Receipt Date: MAY 27, 2005

NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number: 05V242000 NHTSA Action Number: N/A
Component: EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE:LPG WATER HEATER
Potential Number of Units Affected: 71
Summary:

ON CERTAIN MOTOR HOMES EQUIPPED WITH VEHICLE SYSTEMS' AQUA-HOT AND HYDRO-HOT WATER HEATERS, WHICH USE WEBASTO BURNER TUBES, THE BURNER TUBES DO NOT MEET SPECIFICATIONS AND COULD FAIL PREMATURELY.
Consequence:

THE SURFACE TEMPERATURE OF THE EXHAUST TUBE EXITING FROM THE HEATER CAN INCREASE AND COULD POTENTIALLY IGNITE COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS IN OR AROUND THE VEHICLE.
Remedy:

VEHICLE SYSTEMS IS CONDUCTING THE OWNER NOTIFICATION AND REMEDY FOR THIS CAMPAIGN. OWNERS MAY CONTACT VEHICLE SYSTEMS AT 1-800-685-4298 OR NEWELL AT 1-918-542-3344.

I have been using a Cradlepoint MBR-1400 WiFi as WAN Router in my coach for about 6 months. Even with a Hawkin Indoor Directional Antenna, I was not getting great reception from most RV WiFi signals. We are currently traveling with a long-time friend Don Bradner (Wanderlodge owner). He has been using an EnGenius Outdoor router on his coach for about a year and I was surprised how much stronger signal he was getting. I did some research and ended up ordering a EnGenius ENH200 Business Class Long Range Wireless N Outdoor Client Bridge from Amazon for $73. Since we are Amazon Prime members, I got second day deliver free. I ordered the router in Cheyenne for delivery to Golden, CO shortly after our arrival. Don came over and we set it up in about 30 minutes for a test. It received a much better signal than the Cradlepoint even indoors. Then onto the roof. We already had a lot of wires running across the roof, a cellular antenna, a radio antenna, a CB antenna and the DirecTV antenna on the front and a DataStorm Satellite/DirecTV antenna on the rear of the coach with the wiring running to the front. As a result there were several roof penetrations so we didn't have to create a new hole in the roof. We chose the DataStorm penetration since it was the newest and largest (5 existng wires). We opened that penetration up and ran a single ethernet cable (I used a 50' cat 5e cable, would have preferred cat6 but for WiFi cat 5e is adequate).
    The gray wire is the new ethernet cable for the EnGenius

We looked at various mounting options such as mounting the unit on its edge to the side of the CB antenna mounting bracket and finally decided the easiest and most secure method was mounting it flat on top of the cable bundle from the DataStorm, about 4 feet from the front of the coach.
    Note the opening for the ethernet cable is mounted toward the rear of the coach.

Don has his mounted on the electric lift for the TV antenna but my TV antenna is at the rear of the coach and I didn't think that was necessary for adequate reception. Don used the stretch electrical tape to cover all the openings to maintain a weatherproof environment with a flat mounting position and both taped and tie wrapped the unit to the cables between two wire clamps that had previously been drilled into the roof. I fished the ethernet cable down through the cabinet in front of the passenger seat, behind the TV, across to the drivers side, through the wall into the light cove on the drivers side, down into the window valence and around the edge of the window to my desk. I used a strip of Velcro to attach to the felt/carpet on the inside of the valence panel, over the wires and ot the felt/carpet again to hold the cables securely and out of sight. The ethernet cable plugs into a power injector that comes with the unit then you need a short ethernet cable to plug into a switch (or a computer if that is the only unit you will have on your network) or the WAN port of a existing router. Don uses a single router at a time (although he has multiple routers in his coach) but I am double NAT'ing using 192.168.5.1 for the EnGenius and feeding it into the WAN port on my Cradlepoint which is still on 192.168.1.1. That gives me flexibility and make it easy to move my computer system (3 computers, one network laser printer and 2 Network Attached Storage units between the house and the coach without having to redo the network setting every time. If you don't have as complicated a system, you can use the EnGenius as a standard router (its default is 192.168.1.1) and run the ethernet cable directly to a computer or a switch after the power injector. The setup and changing from one WiFi signal to another (which you will do a lot when traveling) is not difficult but is easier the second time. I will be happy to provide more guidance to anyone that wants information in setting up the router.

The result so far has been satisfying. Using a standard WiFi USB adapter, I don't get a strong enough signal to connect. Using the Cradlepoint WiFi and WAN router, even with the Hawkin Directional antenna I get high 70's to 80's (not great to barely useable). With the EnGenius on the roof, I am getting signal strengths in the upper 50's to low 60's. That is a significant improvement. It makes the difference between getting a strong signal and getting a signal that keeps dropping.

My signal is NOT as strong as Don's with his mounted vertically instead of horizontally and elevated an additional couple of feet but I didn't have a way of mounting it vertically and higher without a lot of trouble and expense.
    EnGenius viewed from the rear of the coach. Other mounting option would have been to set it vertically next to the CB antenna and strap it to the CB antenna mounting bracket (center of roof in front of the unused Satellite dish.

I will update this thread as I travel and use the system more. In the meantime, if you have any questions, ask away.

hi all,

after reading about the tragic fire of a 99 wanderlodge this week and that it was being attributed to the propane fridge as the most likely reason for the fire, it has renewed peoples interest in converting from a propane rv fridge to a household fridge.

since i did that not too long ago on my 1990, i thought i would share my experience with it.

darlene was never happy with the dometic 2820 fridge we had. it was small, it didnt cool very well when it was hot outside (this is a debate on forums, but until you live in the phoenix area, you dont really know what hot is.) by hot i mean 110-120 degree ambient. and you say, why would we want to use the fridge when it is that hot? because we want to load it up and since it takes a better part of day to get cold, we fire it up the day before we are leaving to be able to stock it up.

i have studied ammonia gas fridge specs, and no matter what any of you say, if it is 115 degrees outside, your fridge is NOT going to get down to 40 degrees. particularly if you turn it on and the interior of the coach is 125 degrees. i talked to a tech at campingworld service and he said he believes people have them change fridges in the summer not understanding that it just cant cool like a compressor fridge can.

if you look at specs, the best operating ammonia fridge will cool 55-60 degrees from ambient. so, for those of you who live in normal parts of the world and it is 95 degrees, yea your fridge will get down to 35 degrees and you are happy as a lark. if it is 115 degrees and your fridge is even a little less than perfect, you now have a slightly cool fridge temp of 55-60 degrees. and the freezer is not good enough either.

i have discussed this with many people who are claiming their fridges work when it is hot just fine. the problem is that they really dont know what HOT is. it is all relative.

btw, once we would get on a trip and get to a temperature that most of the rest of you believe is hot and we believe is a cold wave, the fridge would work fine....just still be too small.

so....having established that the fridge needs to be replaced with a household one, i went on the quest to find the right one. i had very little room to get too different of a fridge dimension wise. there were several discussion in different places on what fridge replaced their rv fridge and when gordon (who is on this forum) replaced his, i followed his lead and used the same one. although, in typical newell fashion of no two newells are the same, my cabinet work was much more extensive than his was.

i used the whirlpool Model# ET0MSRXTB. i paid $300 delivered from Lowes on it.

it has rear cooling coils that are exposed but that made it easier for me to put a cooling fan there to blow up.

i will tell you it took fairly extensive modifications to the cabinet. i had to trim on both sides and the top and re fabricate the base (cutting down the drawer as well) to make it fit in mine.

in addition i made a removable panel that is accessible from the exterior fridge access door to seal the compartment up since there is no longer a need for outside air. i also enclosed the top roof vent from the inside where the gas chimney went.

i added a computer fan that is switched from a switch in the cabinet next to the fridge to turn the fan on to blow across the coils.

i did current measurements. the biggest current drain was the defrost circuit. so i disconnected it on the fridge. i was not going to use it for more than weeks at a time so that is not a big deal. and if it was, it takes ten minutes to plug it back in from the inside freezer compartment.

when i was done i do not believe you could tell it wasnt done at the newell factory. i have shown several members of the forum and they say the same thing.

1. the new fridge was taller and wider. so i had to cut the sides and cut the top and lower the platform it sits on by 4". that meant i had to make the drawer shorter and shorten all the supports underneath including the plenum for the heat in the bathroom. i made a jig out of aluminum stock to cut straight since it was so close to the wall.

2. i used black edgebanding since the fridge is black. and painted the inside with flat black. it blends perfectly.

3. i drilled five 1" holes across the top for ventilation and painted the inside of the holes black.

4. i made a small plenum about 12" high and mounted a 3 speed computer fan on the top pointed at the bottom of the coils on the back of the fridge. i ran a switch to the inside back of the cabinet over the dinette. just for extra ventilation if needed when really hot.

5. i did the same as yours with full sized house fridges. i made a piece of wood go across the top just behind the hinges that i used the front levelers of the fridge to "jam" the fridge up against to hold it steady. i also put 2 wood screws on the bottom plate of the back of the fridge into the platform. it aint going anywhere

6. i sealed up all former openings to the outside. the roof and the side access panel for the old propane fridge. i made the outside one removable to get at the back of the fridge.

7. i wired the fridge into the inverter circuit.

7.5 i disconnected the fridge defrost circuit. we dont live in it full time so it gets defrosted by turning it off. besides, it consumes 400 watts. the fridge is only 1amp with the compressor running and 2 amps at startup for a few seconds. i am trying to keep it as low a power as possible. the uline icemaker i have draws 2 amps....not counting the heater to loosen the ice cubes before it dumps them out.

8. installed it and turned it on. got from 85 ambient to minus 4 in the freezer in a few hours. love it.

i have to say that it was way more work than i expected, but the results are outstanding.

it cools down in a few hours and is ice cold even when it is 115 degrees outside.

darlene was happy so i was too. and it was a fun project

tom

my daughter laura has become quite the newell spotter after spending a month traveling with us this summer.

out by her home in surprise she saw a early 90's cream colored newell with beige stripes on Olive Street.

I will teach her to tell the year better but from what she describe (she compares it to our two coaches), she was close.

later

tom

Does any one else foresee a problem coming for Newell as the 2014 models are now selling for 1.8 million. Seems to me that Newell is moving toward a problem that the Prevost converters ran into and that is not enough people able to buy their coaches. Prevost prices have stabilized and even dropped. Newell's break even point seems to be around 24 coaches a year and that is where they have been for several years now. A few less sales could be very bad. I hope my impression is wrong. Just wondering if I'm the only one with these concerns.....................I owned a Country Coach when a vibrant business went into liquidation very quickly.

Folks, there has been many discussions on the fires that have been caused by rv refrigerators. Another disaster happened last night when a friends coach caught fire. Fortunately, he, his dog and his wallet survived. He had enough time to get out with just his underware. His wife was in another location. He had a Norcold and had all the recalls and recalls on the recalls done. The coach from kitchen to drivers area is gone. He had a working smoke detector, Thank God.
I went out to my coach and I have a Dometic. I checked the smoke detector above the refer and found out it is defective. I will purchase a couple more detectors this week. When that unit goes out, a Whirlpool will take its place.
Tom is a member of the wanderlodge group and maybe he can get the photos about this situation. I don't believe anyone should take this lightly. Ernie Ekberg