New Owner questions ... Glad to be here!

[Dqcarol]

We have just acquired a 2005 24RB Born Free, after selling our 2002 40' Foretravel. The new learning curve begins! When I remember how many years it took us to find every switch, outlet, nook, cranny and quirk ... I just start to hyperventilate. But ... That is what Owner's Forums are for! I will be relying on you to help. One first question ... We formerly towed our 2012 Jeep Wrangler Sprot behind us and used an AirForce1 auxiliary braking system on the toad. It operated using the air braking system on the coach. Since that option no longer exists for us, I am wondering what braking assist any of you may use for your tow vehicles ... assuming you bother to take one along. The smaller RV makes a tow car unnecessary for many of our trips.
The next question is about adding solar panels. We did not do much boondocking in our larger coach, but we did have 450 watts of solar on the roof. We would like to add a panel or two to this rig. I would love to hear where you positioned the display panels inside and how you tied into your inverter.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Carol Savournin ... presently in Tucson, AZ

[jlef123]

I use the RVI brake system. I really like it for its portability between cars, its size and ease of installation. The newer models now come with a tire pressure monitoring system for the Toad.

[bigdipper]

Brake Buddy worked well for me. For solar put as much wattage as will fit on front horizontal and rear facing slope. Bring wiring down frig chimney.
Ralph

[John S.]

Good to see you here Carol. I had this very question on my grand Cherokee. I might be getting a new to me wrangler again.

[montir]

Hi Carol,
We use the SMI Stay-in-Play Duo on our 2005 Honda CR-V. The only thing I changed from the recommended installation is I moved the LEDs that show when the towed brakes are applied to the dash of the Born Free. This required running one extra wire, not a big deal. I want to know when the brakes are on and trying to see the LEDs glowing in the backup camera just would not cut it for me.

[jobrien]

I have an older model Brake Buddy and a Blue Ox tow bar for sale......cheap. If interested you can post here or PM me. I am in NJ, sold my BF 2 years ago and still have some "stuff" sitting around.

Thanks

John O'Brien

[Dqcarol]

Well ... we had our first bit if headscratching today! Realized that the rig had an electric awning!! We had done battle many, many times with a ZipDee Autoawn on our Foretravel, and our hearts sank a bit. But, we gamely decided to give it a try. How bad could it be??? We could see that there was an electric source to the awning motor ... but WHERE was the switch to extend and retract the awning? No help from the owner's manual ... no mention of the awning at all. We hunted high and low, inside and out ... crawled all over the coach and the cab and in every little bay door. Finally, one of our friends stopped by (part of our extended Tecnical Support Team ... people who keep us up and running and experts in various disciplines). He looked every where we did ... and then opened theaccess door for the fridge. BINGO! There was the IN and OUT switch to operate the awning!! Now ... WHY I never thought to look for it in the access to the fridge, I cannot understand.

Ah, well ... our first hurdle has been cleared!!

[Dqcarol]

OK .... next issue. We are checking all systems. Sanitizing the water tank and all the lines to various spigots, making sure that the hot water heater is filled, as per instructions. In that process, we began to experience issues with the propane. The stove burners will light, but the hot water heater lit only momentarily ... and the fridge will not operate on propane (it is chilling well on AC current). We have not tried the furnace. The monitor shows that we have plenty of LP. The first thing that comes to mind is the regulator. Any other ideas???

C'mon, folks! Help me out, here!

[bigdipper]

I would search out a propane dealer who understands the hardware. You might have bad batch of fuel, water, or whatever. RV dealers may not understand enough. Good luck!
Ralph

[John S.]

Carol, I would change the regulator and see what happens. Clean out the burners on the water heater and the fridge and even the furnace too.

[Dqcarol]

Just fiddling around and trying and trying has gotten the furnace and fridge working just fine on the propane. After sitting idle for a few months, the things may have just needed to be coaxed. However ... the hot water heater does not want to perform on either LP or electric. Heats briefly, but then cuts out. We are thinking there is a faulty thermostat. A genuine professional will be consulted. AND ... I am changing out the commode ... just because. The water pump seems to be a bit anemic. I may explore one with a bit more oomph. Any advice on a model that will deliver decent pressure without "surging"?

I continue to be amazed at the great storage space available! We have room for tons of stuff!!! I swear you could fit a family of 5 in the upper sleeping area!

[WardPAW]

Glad to hear that you successfully got the refrigerator and furnace to work. I'll share a few lessons learned with our 2005 26 RSB.

When bringing the coach out of storage, always make sure both valves are turned on at the propane tank; then before attempting to light the frig, furnace or water heater on propane, light the gas stove first. It may take a minute or so for the air in the fuel line to purge, but eventually the stove will light. With the air out of the fuel line, starting the frig, furnace and water heater should be successful on the first try. The water heater has an ignition delay (15-40 seconds) when using propane.

The wäter heater has a reset button on it. I would suggest you try pushing the reset button first. You should clean the burn tube as well. The owners manual addresses this service.

We recently had to replace the original Parallex AC/DC converter on the coach. The converter was not putting out enough voltage and causing the refrigerator to malfunction when on shore power. If your converter is original, you may wish to replace the unit. The converter may be impacting the operation of your frig and water heater. There are several posts on this site that comment about replacing a converter.

Enjoy your coach!

[Dqcarol]

Glad to hear that you successfully got the refrigerator and furnace to work. I'll share a few lessons learned with our 2005 26 RSB.

Thanks so much for the really good info! We have a fairly good understanding of the systems, as we had propane water heater and furnaces in our first 2 coaches, stoves and fridges in all 3 previous Foretravels. BUT ... they all look a little bit different and water lines and valves and whatnot are all in new and interesting places. We are labeling as we go! The nice fellows at Premier Motor Coach, here in Tucson, were able to help us figure out that a water line going into the hot water heater had been turned off! Once that was opened and the heater filled, it operated as it should. Bullet dodged!! It was interesting to learn that the water heater does not have a back-up electric heating system in addition to the propane, as out other coaches did. So ... now we are just waiting for parts for a new seal in the commode (too much scale and it won't hold water) and we can take our first shakedown cruise!

Owner's Forums are just the BEST. We relied heavily on the Foretravel Foreforum ... and I have learned more about mechanical systema than I ever intended, just by reading stuff. It really is invaluable to have personal experiences to help you avoid costly mistakes. We are also smart enough to know that our best tools are a credit card and a telephone ... that way, we avoid having to pay some repair guy to fix what we screwed up. But learning the way things SHOULD operate, and doing preventive maintenance is something we value.

Thanks to everyone who has chimed in to help with our learning curve!!

[tomzleapin]

The next question is about adding solar panels. We did not do much boondocking in our larger coach, but we did have 450 watts of solar on the roof. We would like to add a panel or two to this rig. I would love to hear where you positioned the display panels inside and how you tied into your inverter.

Here's a link to a thread on solar:
http://www.bornfreervclub.org/bulletin_ ... f=4&t=5123

I have found Jack Mayer and HandyBob to be great resources. There are links to their sites in the thread.

The battery cables come into the coach behind the converter/charger. This is where I installed my solar charge controller and my 300 watt pure sine wave inverter. I have a combination volt/amps panel meter that I mounted on the end of the lower kitchen cabinet. The meter requires the installation of a shunt near the negative battery terminal.

Link: Combo volt/amp meter on eBay