I love my Thor | Damon Outlaw!

[clarkcollins]

"Is there ever a time when your house and chassis battery banks are not connected?"

Steve: I don't know, and we are leaving for a cruise today. I'll respond back to the forum on this issue when we get back. I already ordered a new solenoid, and may not need it now, but it wasn't very expensive.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by clarkcollins

"Is there ever a time when your house and chassis battery banks are not connected?"
.

Only when there is no charging source on either battery bank AND they have lost their surface charge and dropped below 13.2 volts.

[Scarab0088]

Since our 2 solar equipped Outlaw owners (Scott and Clark) are reporting automatic Bi-Directional charging (house to chassis and vice versa), I'm gonna venture a guess that their solar outfit has added a level of monitoring from the original set-up.

I have acquired a pair of volatage monitors to test this...



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019MBR2OE
One will go in each of the power ports we have for each of the battery banks.

Previously, I understood that charging did not typically pass from the house (converter/charger) to the chassis
supporting the need for a B.I.R.D. or Trik-L-Start device, if an owner wanted it.
Products - DC Power Management - Intelligent battery charging - The BIRD
and
Ultra TRIK-L-START Starting Battery Charger/Maintainer

I submit that Bi-Directional charging is great - as long as both battery banks are getting a metered charge...or cell damage can occur if an idle battery has long-term exposure to a high charge level. And...I am going to check this.

Safe travels

[Scarab0088]

2018 Outlaw 29H (Class C) highlights here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmfaWNt-h80

We are not affiliated.

Safe Outlaw Travels

[True]

I finally took my 2011 Thor 3611 for it's maiden voyage a couple weeks ago. For the most part things went well, but there were some issues which luckily I believe are covered under my extended warranty.

I do have a couple questions for the veteran owners here I'm hoping you can help.

1. When I turn on the porch light, it also lights up the exterior light on the slide-out side, which my neighbors surely didn't appreciate. I couldn't for the life of me find a way to shut them off without killing my porch lights. Please tell me this isn't a design flaw and that I just haven't found the switch yet. I will remove those bulbs if necessary.

2. I ran my generator the whole trip to the campground because I thought it was necessary to keep the refrigerator cold. Then the other day I noticed the inverter light on the backside of the closet. Is the inverter powerful enough to keep the refrigerator cold and if so, how do I actuate it, or does it automatically come on?

3. I kept tripping the GFCI when plugging anything into the outlets. Then I discovered the outside TV wasn't working. The power light would come on, but not the screen. I found that if I turned the TV off the GFCI outlets worked again. This is one of the things I'm having a repair shop look at, but I'm wondering if anyone has experienced it. My theory is the outside panel doesn't seal against water well enough and the TV has shorted.

4. Propane tank valve handwheel broke off with very little force. I'm having it repaired, but I've never seen anything like that before. Wasn't fun to camp with no hot water!

5. I haven't test the fuel station yet, but I did discover the 20 amp fuse for it is blown. I'm going to replace it, but I wonder why it blew?

6. My rear ramp is falling apart. I had to bring a rubber mallet with me to slide the aluminum back together so the door could actually close. Another thing getting fixed hopefully under warranty.

7. Speaking of the rear ramp, the gas struts are just too strong. It makes my rear ramp hover nearly horizontally without touching the ground. I had to use luggage to weigh the door down to load my Scion IQ. Just a minor annoyance, but it would be nice if there was a solution.


Some other observations. I'm happy my Scion IQ fits (like a glove) and I can still open the door and get out of it, but I'm planning on buying a 4 seater UTV and I think the garage height (73") is lower than almost every UTV roll cage I find. Has anyone gone through this? I'm looking specifically at the Kawasaki Teryx4, which is 125" long, but I think I can just remove the rear pickup bed and it will fit.

I'm a little annoyed my garage doesn't have a drop down bed as it would be a great guest bedroom for my son-in-law and his gf. An air mattress just doesn't work as well. What makes it worse is that blank switch slot that says "rear bed". I wonder if the wiring is there, making retrofitting easier?

[focker]

I will answer a few of these questions for you (in RED)

Originally Posted by True

1. When I turn on the porch light, it also lights up the exterior light on the slide-out side, which my neighbors surely didn't appreciate. I couldn't for the life of me find a way to shut them off without killing my porch lights. Please tell me this isn't a design flaw and that I just haven't found the switch yet. I will remove those bulbs if necessary.

There is no separate switch however I can suggest using a low set of lumen LED bulbs and possibly (this is what we did in our case) use a thin piece of frosted plexiglass inside the fixture.


2. I ran my generator the whole trip to the campground because I thought it was necessary to keep the refrigerator cold. Then the other day I noticed the inverter light on the backside of the closet. Is the inverter powerful enough to keep the refrigerator cold and if so, how do I actuate it, or does it automatically come on?

Your refrigerator can run on propane when you are not connected so there is no reason to run the generator or the inverter! Just make sure the switch is set to "Auto" that is beside the On/Off switch.


5. I haven't test the fuel station yet, but I did discover the 20 amp fuse for it is blown. I'm going to replace it, but I wonder why it blew?

If you put in another fuse and it blows again you will most likely need to replace the gears in the fuel station. The stock gears swell and will cause the fuse to blow. It is very simple and takes about 15 minutes tops to do the replacement. I have discussed it here if you do a search and also put a video on Youtube (youtu.be/0P8_4VvnTd8)

[Scarab0088]

So, I'll take a stab at these...

Originally Posted by True

I finally took my 2011 Thor 3611 for it's maiden voyage a couple weeks ago.

I do have a couple questions for the veteran owners here I'm hoping you can help.

1. When I turn on the porch light, it also lights up the exterior light on the slide-out side, which my neighbors surely didn't appreciate. I couldn't for the life of me find a way to shut them off without killing my porch lights. Please tell me this isn't a design flaw and that I just haven't found the switch yet. I will remove those bulbs if necessary.
These are not "porch" lights...being halogen, they are more usually called "Scare lights" to scare off intruders or critters when boondocking. There's no switch - but a switch was added in about 2014 to the electrical service bin. Because of this recent factory change, I will be looking to check if a switch can be added to the existing wire loom in that bin

2. I ran my generator the whole trip to the campground because I thought it was necessary to keep the refrigerator cold. Then the other day I noticed the inverter light on the backside of the closet. Is the inverter powerful enough to keep the refrigerator cold and if so, how do I actuate it, or does it automatically come on?
No, the OEM inverter does not power the fridge. The off shore-power mode is propane. If you want to make the fridge run on battery power, you can add a point of use inverter. It's affordable and easy to add.

3. I kept tripping the GFCI when plugging anything into the outlets. Then I discovered the outside TV wasn't working. The power light would come on, but not the screen. I found that if I turned the TV off the GFCI outlets worked again. This is one of the things I'm having a repair shop look at, but I'm wondering if anyone has experienced it. My theory is the outside panel doesn't seal against water well enough and the TV has shorted.
Probably right. Just unplug the TV until the it can be checked

4. Propane tank valve handwheel broke off with very little force. I'm having it repaired, but I've never seen anything like that before. Wasn't fun to camp with no hot water!
Yeah, that's odd. They should replace the whole valve

5. I haven't test the fuel station yet, but I did discover the 20 amp fuse for it is blown. I'm going to replace it, but I wonder why it blew?
100% of owners report the pump impeller swelling Scott described...it's due to infrequent use.

6. My rear ramp is falling apart. I had to bring a rubber mallet with me to slide the aluminum back together so the door could actually close. Another thing getting fixed hopefully under warranty.
That is odd. The aluminum is only a frame cover. The actual ramp frame steel. Hope they fix it properly.

7. Speaking of the rear ramp, the gas struts are just too strong. It makes my rear ramp hover nearly horizontally without touching the ground. I had to use luggage to weigh the door down to load my Scion IQ. Just a minor annoyance, but it would be nice if there was a solution.
You can reduce the tension by moving the cable end in the bracket holes toward the hinge and extending the cable length using the in-cable adjuster.

I'm a little annoyed my garage doesn't have a drop down bed as it would be a great guest bedroom for my son-in-law and his gf. An air mattress just doesn't work as well. What makes it worse is that blank switch slot that says "rear bed". I wonder if the wiring is there, making retrofitting easier?
The Gen-1 electric drop-down bunk was made by Happi-Jac...see their website
Welcome to HappiJac
The bed could be acquired, but reportedly only through a RV supply.

Best luck

[True]

Wow great responses thank you guys!

[focker]

True, just to clarify my first answer I meant to say "use a pair of LOW lumen LED lights". You could even just use one bulb for a very subtle glow (there are two in the fixture but it will work fine with one).

I use these in the light you were asking about:
Elite Series Retrofit LED to replace Small 10w G4 / T3 Halogen

And here is the post where I talked about what I did. I would be happy to post a photo if needed:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f121/i-lo...ml#post2466976

[Dry]

Outlaw sighting

Sunday June 7th
heading towards Sacramento from Stockton? i think.

EGG...
Was it any of us?

[Badlands]

We were coming back from Street vibrations

[Badlands]

Received our seat covers today. Yeah

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by Badlands

Received our seat covers today. Yeah

Photos in the Mods and Fixes thread, please

[Scarab0088]

It's not a Factory Video, but it could be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae0zNvFMzXM

We are not affiliated.

Safe Outlaw Travels