Community Forums

BirchyBoy · 10-01-2017, 04:33 PM

Beautiful coach!

Regarding your hose issue. My Winnie has a hole that the hose is supposed to come up through for connecting. The Rhino was a bit to big, and someone recommended a compartment hose. It’s about 2’ long and the total OD is a bit less than the Rhino and worked well. This may be something that would work for you as well.

Gonna_Wander · 10-01-2017, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BirchyBoy

Beautiful coach!

Regarding your hose issue. My Winnie has a hole that the hose is supposed to come up through for connecting. The Rhino was a bit to big, and someone recommended a compartment hose. It’s about 2’ long and the total OD is a bit less than the Rhino and worked well. This may be something that would work for you as well.

Thanks for the idea. What is a compartment hose? Can you send a link?

BirchyBoy · 10-01-2017, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gonna_Wander

Thanks for the idea. What is a compartment hose? Can you send a link?

Here's what I bought:

http://a.co/9CpfJb8

It isn't magical, just not as beefy as the Rhino. I've actually ditched the Rhino in favor of a Camco setup. The Rhino kept loosening at the joints. The newer hoses seem to fit as well as the compartment hose.

Gonna_Wander · 10-02-2017, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BirchyBoy

Here's what I bought:

http://a.co/9CpfJb8

It isn't magical, just not as beefy as the Rhino. I've actually ditched the Rhino in favor of a Camco setup. The Rhino kept loosening at the joints. The newer hoses seem to fit as well as the compartment hose.

Much appreciated, I will give this a try.

Gonna_Wander · 10-02-2017, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skywatcher1

GonnaWander, Thanks for the review.

In the NewAires we tested, you press the different camera view icons on the left monitor (pink arrow). The views should pop up on the right monitor. If you are talking about the button area circled in blue - I did not try that.

We could not get the bedroom slide in either but the batteries were a bit low. We started the generator and charged the batteries and it seemed to work fine.

Thanks for posting the photo Skywatcher. My cameras on the right screen are controlled via the left screen as you described. The issue is those buttons you circled in blue are inactive, they don't do anything. So every interaction with the cameras system requires hitting Menu-Camera-Choose camera setting-Menu again-next selection to take you to what you want on the left screen. It is not a good process and buttons on the left side of the right screen do have marketings for what each are for, they just don't work.

Gonna_Wander · 10-02-2017, 11:55 AM

The Rand McNally GPS works very well on the New Aire. I actually prefer the interface and functionality of the Garmin I previously used, but that may just be my familiarity with it.

The thing that is so nice about the New Aire GPS system is the size and location of the screen. Having GPS on a 9 inch screen makes everything so easy to see. The angle and location of the screen are very good. Because you have GPS on the left screen and the 360 camera on the right you retain a virtual view of your surroundings while looking at the GPS, so your not really taking your eyes off the road to see the GPS.

gkebb · 10-02-2017, 12:44 PM

Does the Rand McNally GPS come with lifetime maps? How does the GPS get updates like construction etc?

valentob · 10-02-2017, 02:47 PM

TurboPilot - any word on when your coach is expected to be delivered to you? I will be interested to hear how well it does when you hit some steeper grades at your anticipated weight of 38,000 lbs. Gonna_Wander's review of going over the Delaware bridge tends to confirm my suspicions on Newmar's engine choice. Will be interesting to hear other reviews as more are delivered and closer to my anticipated total weight of 42-43,000 lbs.

turbopilot · 10-02-2017, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by valentob

TurboPilot - any word on when your coach is expected to be delivered to you? I will be interested to hear how well it does when you hit some steeper grades at your anticipated weight of 38,000 lbs. Gonna_Wander's review of going over the Delaware bridge tends to confirm my suspicions on Newmar's engine choice. Will be interesting to hear other reviews as more are delivered and closer to my anticipated total weight of 42-43,000 lbs.

Just talked to the dealer. My New Aire popped an engine light somewhere in Missouri. Message was relayed between drivers back to dealer. No further detail is available. So no one knows when it will arrive now. I need to find out more about the failure to decide if I want to accept the coach. On the flip side having a 2,200 mile shakedown trip before purchase may be a good thing to deal with infant mortality.

As to weights, I think running a New Aire at 43,000 lb GCWR may be pushing it. Given the hp and torque of the coach I think it makes more sense to operate at a GCWR closer to the GVWR.

brucemcdou · 10-02-2017, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stripe34

RDV: perhaps there is a “solar prep” option that would run the wires you’d need but not install the actual panels? We got that prep on our DSDP to reduce aggravation with any future solar install.

Newmar's solar prep kit runs a 6-gauge wire from the roof to the battery bay, along with a phone jack connector. That was fine for us (we had 480 watts installed after delivery by our dealer). However the OP says he wants to install 900 watts so he would benefit from a heavier gauge wire.

[On Edit] I see that it was Turbopilot who said he wanted to include at least 800 watts solar panels, not the OP. My bad! Still, comments above should apply.

Skywatcher1 · 10-02-2017, 08:54 PM

TurboPilot - sorry to hear about your delivery news. Of the NewAire owners you take the prize on the amount of tech analysis you've done. Hopefully the engine light represents a nominal issue versus something serious. I am looking forward to your detailed pilot debrief of the NewAire.

GonnaWander - Did your slide issues get resolved , ditto with Oasis (air in line)?

Welcome 'new' NewAire folks!

turbopilot · 10-02-2017, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skywatcher1

TurboPilot - sorry to hear about your delivery news.

The toughest par of this waiting game for a Newmar is quality information about the process. I really don't want to bother folks everyday with a "is it ready" email, but there is really no other way to know what is happening.

So as I sit here tonight what I know for sure is that my coach started its journey last Thursday to California for a 4 day trip. Today when I called the dealer he told me another in bound driver today heard that my rig experienced "an engine light" somewhere in Missouri. No additional information. So I have no idea if it blew an engine or somebody forgot to fill it with DEF. Frustrating.

RUFINIT · 10-02-2017, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkebb

Does the Rand McNally GPS come with lifetime maps? How does the GPS get updates like construction etc?

I have this GPS in my Essex. I think it is very good GPS. It does come with lifetime maps. It gets updates as often as you want to update it. Take the SD card out of the unit and plug it into your laptop and there is a Rand McNally dock that you download that downloads the updated information. Some do it weekly. I do it before a long trip. Construction, speed limits, maps, POI's etc. are all updated upon request.

joes2901 · 10-03-2017, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbopilot

I had 500 watts of solar combined with a Blue Sea automatic charge relay on my LTV Unity. As long as my coach was outside I never had to worry about the SOC (state of charge) of either the coach or chassis battery.

The New Aire is an all electric coach. It really needs solar to complement the existing electrical system. Dry camping is not the driving issue. Running the generator when it is not necessary is more important to me. I got the New Aire instead of an Essex to get into small places. Small places (National Parks for instance) usually don't have power.

I deliberately ordered my New Aire without solar and a satellite dish to give me more flexibility in planning the lay out of the solar farm on the roof. There are many options to consider.

The biggest decision is to go with a fixed, raised rack of metal cased panels versus the flexible thin panels such as those offered by Newmar. Newmar uses the Global Power Panels. They look like a high quality solution. I used GoPower panels on my Unity.

I am leaning toward the flexible panels for several reasons:

1. Flexible panels are much easier to install. Just glue them to the roof.
2. Flexible panels are aerodynamically clean. They are flat on the roof.
3. Flexible panes can be walked on allowing easy servicing of the other roof components (air conditions, antennas, vents and awnings).
4. Flexible panels will allow snow and ice to be easily cleared from the roof versus raised panels which can trap snow and ice.
5. Flexible panels are much less resistant to damage from tree limbs passing overhead.
6. Flexible panels will adhere to curved surfaces.

On the flip side flexible panels are not ventilated so the output will be reduced (less than 10%) during hot conditions compared to raised rigid panels where air can circulate around the panels.

So, unless someone convinces me there is a better solution I am going to load up my roof with patch work pattern of 95 and 50 watt Global Solar flexible panels. I would like to get at least 800 watts on the roof.

I would use the raised roof rack for high efficiency mono-crystal panels. They will cover the vents and give more shade to the RV roof and aer easy to move if you ever need access to the roof. I used 3 255 watt Mitsubishi mono-crystal panels on a roof rack and they they are trouble free and highly efficient through the use of an Outback controller. The panels are rated for 24.5 amps and I see 59 amps going into my 4 Lifeline L-16s coach battery bank. Search my posts for pictures and more details.