It's not just Winnebago stuff that breaks

John_Canfield · 04-24-2006, 01:34 PM

We are currently in SW Minneapolis for the express purpose of having our King Dome replaced (completed this morning at King Controls) due to losing the even transponders late at night/early morning. King thinks it is a moisture problem and they wanted to dissect/test my entire dome assembly. This problem has literally been going on for months so we are hoping for a cure.

The entire gig only took maybe 25 minutes - unbolt the old one, bolt the new one in place. King must be pretty layed-back - there were no forms to sign or anything like that; it was install, have a nice day, and get on the road.

We also had my six-month old Samsung 19" LCD PC monitor start to flicker in and out. Been slowly starting to do this beginning a few weeks ago. Got so bad I bought a new Samsung monitor yesterday at CompUSA. Now I need to send the bad one off to Samsung since it has a three year guarantee. I figure I'll need a spare.

A few weeks ago the cheapie Dell laptop I bought for the express purpose of sitting on the Jotto desk and navigating us decided to have USB port hardware problems. Replaced it with a little better quality Dell; the old one is in the closet.

Jane's HP mini-tower started acting up and shutting down without warning also a few weeks ago - we left this at my brother-in-law's house in Austin. Maybe I'll troubleshoot it one of these days (or turn it into an artifical reef in an aquarium.)

I suppose we will never lack a reason to travel - we will migrate from place to place where the best shopping is so we can replace everything

John_Canfield · 04-24-2006, 01:34 PM

We are currently in SW Minneapolis for the express purpose of having our King Dome replaced (completed this morning at King Controls) due to losing the even transponders late at night/early morning. King thinks it is a moisture problem and they wanted to dissect/test my entire dome assembly. This problem has literally been going on for months so we are hoping for a cure.

The entire gig only took maybe 25 minutes - unbolt the old one, bolt the new one in place. King must be pretty layed-back - there were no forms to sign or anything like that; it was install, have a nice day, and get on the road.

We also had my six-month old Samsung 19" LCD PC monitor start to flicker in and out. Been slowly starting to do this beginning a few weeks ago. Got so bad I bought a new Samsung monitor yesterday at CompUSA. Now I need to send the bad one off to Samsung since it has a three year guarantee. I figure I'll need a spare.

A few weeks ago the cheapie Dell laptop I bought for the express purpose of sitting on the Jotto desk and navigating us decided to have USB port hardware problems. Replaced it with a little better quality Dell; the old one is in the closet.

Jane's HP mini-tower started acting up and shutting down without warning also a few weeks ago - we left this at my brother-in-law's house in Austin. Maybe I'll troubleshoot it one of these days (or turn it into an artifical reef in an aquarium.)

I suppose we will never lack a reason to travel - we will migrate from place to place where the best shopping is so we can replace everything

rebelsbeach · 04-24-2006, 01:41 PM

Nice to see King Controls stand behind their product...

I'll try out their "super spray" tomorrow morning after I clean the dome with alcohol.

Today was "get the yard work" done,as the DW had done it last week...

She

took care of making sure I got that done today....

John_Canfield · 04-24-2006, 02:16 PM

Bob - we sprayed the dome with 'super spray' right after we got back to the campground from King. Figured never a better time than when the dome was new.

Unfortunately the wind was blowing (sound familiar?) and I must have sprayed about five bucks of it into the air

Our signal strength went from 62/63 to 72/73 after the spray application.

Yard work???

bobpie · 04-24-2006, 04:19 PM

is this super spray the same as the Magic Dome Fade Solution that "eliminates rain fade, Easy to use spray, Long lasting" That cost 26.95 for 5oz. can? I wanted to get it for my KVH A5 roof mounted system. How does this stuff work? My dome is flat, and the water does build up on it and distortes the picture when its raining.

rebelsbeach · 04-24-2006, 04:45 PM

Yes indeed !!

jimandsue60 · 04-24-2006, 04:47 PM

Hi John, I am no expert but could you have a low ac voltage issue?. With all the electronic issues you have maybe there is a common cause. Do you have any type of meter that tells you incoming ac voltage? I am wondering if I should get one for our new 05 Journey that we are about to take delivery on as soon as it gets back from cummins/freightliner for a turbo problem.

Jim

AdrianLee · 04-24-2006, 04:55 PM

Bob - you obviously need to sell that house or hire some lawn people and get out on the road and travel

Meanwhile - John - About the only difference I saw in the Magic Spray and Rain-X was that I had to re apply Rain-X a little more often.

rebelsbeach · 04-24-2006, 05:02 PM

Adrian,I am going to get out of the lawn business....just been too tight to pay the $35 bucks to the guy.

I think once the 3rd week of June rolls around there will be a lot more motivation to hit the road..

John_Canfield · 04-24-2006, 05:19 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jimandsue60:
Hi John, I am no expert but could you have a low ac voltage issue?. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Jim - we have the tower on a UPS which does a nice job of providing conditioned power to it. Laptops are probably immune for the most part to power issues because I think the power 'brick' is only charging the batteries.

A good digital multimeter is an essential part of any toolbox in my opinion. Don't forget that you cannot measure a non-pure sine wave output inverter (like the Dimensions) voltage with a standard voltmeter. It will read high or low - I forgot which.

arkaussie · 04-24-2006, 05:43 PM

OK John,
Can you run that past me with a little more info regarding reading voltage out of the Dimensions Inverter.
I have that Inverter but have not read the voltage with a digital meter. We do have the little $15 analog plug in meter and it seems to work OK.

Thanks

John_Canfield · 04-25-2006, 03:36 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by arkaussie:
OK John,
Can you run that past me with a little more info regarding reading voltage out of the Dimensions Inverter.
I have that Inverter but have not read the voltage with a digital meter. We do have the little $15 analog plug in meter and it seems to work OK.

Thanks </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Lindsay - a digital multimeter will not read the 'effective' (or RMS - root mean square) voltage the square wave (or stepped square wave) inverter output. You need a special RMS-measuring voltmeter. The analog meter will probably read correctly (~120V) What the analog meter 'sees' or reads is what the device that is being powered thinks it is getting. Sort of 'smoke and mirrors.' [The voltage at any point along a sine wave is different and a different polarity depending on which side of zero you measure. We have peak voltage at the top of the wave which is different than the commonly used RMS voltage measurement (.707 x peak voltage.)] This is getting complicated and my head is starting to hurt.

I can't give you a better technical explanation because then I would have to read up on fourier transform. Here is a link that will describe it.

I'm going to get a cold compress for my head now...

CHIPPYSGT · 04-25-2006, 03:49 AM

John,

Send me a cold compress, too! Way too early for that much technostuff. In fact, in my case it's always too early for that much electrical info.

All I need to know is that my refrigerator keeps my beer cold.

Doug

rebelsbeach · 04-25-2006, 03:50 AM

John, do you remember talking about this in the car during the tour of Winnebago? You and Tom,the representative of Winnebago were discussing this in the front seat as Jim and I sat in the back....

I looked over at Jim and he made that "over my head" gesture......sort of what I'm feeling right now!!! Too funny!!

ON EDIT Good points Sarge!!!

AdrianLee · 04-25-2006, 05:04 AM

If I may and please correct me if I am wrong here - In an attempt to make this simple - there are 2 kinds of inverters - a sine wave inverter and a modified sine wave inverter. The sine wave puts out an electrical signal that looks like the nice smooth up and down curve we are all familiar with. The modified sine wave is a square wave - the verticle portions of the wave are more or less straight up and down with a flat (sorta) top and bottom. I think John is saying that the voltage of a modified sine wave cannot be measured accurately with a digital voltmeter because of the nature of the wave.

Electric motors and some electronics do not like a modified sine wave.

Guys, if I just explained something that is obvious to everyone - sorry

Also - if I am wrong let me know because this is what I think I know

rebelsbeach · 04-25-2006, 10:46 AM

Just realized I was with Jane and John ALL WEEK and I never got to see their coach as it was already in service before I got there on Tuesday....

DonavonP · 04-25-2006, 11:55 AM

I felt a little funny showing up without notice but it was a spur of the moment thing. Cheap excuse and I've got more if that one's no good.

John and Jane's rig sure looked good up on the higher camp site overlooking the Indian casino.
The Indians have done a fantastic job of making a beautiful facility and maintaining it. It's a great place to eat, entertainment, and lose your butt gambling (they don't finance those places on the winners)

It's called Mystic Lake Casino near Prior Lake MN (Minneapolis MN) for anyone heading this way. Dakota Meadows RV Park Dakota Meadows
etc. - appeared to have good security. John C. would know for sure.

rebelsbeach · 04-25-2006, 12:43 PM

Donovan,isn't the campground called Dakotah Meadows?

We're staying there in July....the wife is trying to convince me there's some big mall there I have to see....

arkaussie · 04-25-2006, 02:06 PM

G'day John,

Thanks for your explanation and the link, now if only I could read!! I was thinking this may have been over my head but asked the question anyway. At least now I'm sure it was over my head.

I think I will go back to asking dumb questions, at least that way I can read the answers!

Just kidding John, I have learnt a lot from your various posts so please don't be put off by dumb Australians.

Thanks and keep up the great work,

DonavonP · 04-25-2006, 02:41 PM

Thanks Bob. I had the name wrong and the wrong town

No wonder I get lost all the time. But I won't ask for directions and I refuse to buy a GPS

Anyway folks - it's up here in Minnesota somewhere.

The Mall of America is doing a huge expansion in the near future - if the city of Bloomington OK's the project. I believe they said $ 1 billion (with a B). Enjoy your visit Bob.