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12-24-2024, 03:19 PM
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#1
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Member
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Lansing, NY
Posts: 96
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DSS Project??
Hi fellow Tiffinites!! I'm researching how to have a 'spare' def head simulator on hand in case the worst happens. I found a thread that takes you through the process to build your own. It seems legit. The article is generated by 'voltdoc'. Has anyone gone through this? If so, does it work?? Thanks!!
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12-24-2024, 09:02 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 335
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The DSS instructions are now located here:
https://defsimulator.wordpress.com/
Voltdoc was kind enough to host the original website for the simulator and has archived the original website to the new location.
And yes, a lot of people have used these instructions.
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David
2020 Tiffin Allegro RED340 33AL
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12-24-2024, 09:10 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2024
Posts: 149
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I just bought one for like 280 bucks from K1 Technical.
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12-24-2024, 09:21 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 490
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frogpond
Hi fellow Tiffinites!! I'm researching how to have a 'spare' def head simulator on hand in case the worst happens. I found a thread that takes you through the process to build your own. It seems legit. The article is generated by 'voltdoc'. Has anyone gone through this? If so, does it work?? Thanks!!
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You can make this simulator with about $60 in parts and less than hour of your time.
Last I checked, there was still a lot of info you can access here...
https://defsim.myervin.com/canbed-rp...nsor-simulator
Edit. You should use the link posted above by dwaugh10
__________________
John and Jana Z
2020 Allegro Red 37BA
First Motorhome
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12-24-2024, 11:19 PM
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#5
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Community Administrator
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: DFW, Texas
Posts: 24,221
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I've built two, one for me and one for a friend. It's an easy follow the directions process and it works.
__________________
2017 Phaeton 40IH XSH Maroon Coral - Power Glide Chassis with IFS
Previous '15 Tiffin Allegro RED 38QRA and '06 Itasca Sunrise 35A
White '24 Jeep JLU Wrangler Willys
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12-25-2024, 07:12 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Southern NM
Posts: 3,786
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Quote:
Originally Posted by R.M.A
I just bought one for like 280 bucks from K1 Technical.
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Wow, did you get hosed
__________________
2018 Allegro Bus 37AP
2014 Phaeton 40 QBH (sold)
2022 Jeep JLURD
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12-25-2024, 08:02 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 2,478
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I built one from the instructions. The hardest part is the soldering. I am terrible at it, but mine works fine.
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12-25-2024, 09:18 AM
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#8
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Member
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: New Tripoli PA
Posts: 63
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Bought the parts built the unit and just used it on our last trip coming home. About $40.00 It worked great!
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12-25-2024, 11:29 AM
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#9
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Entegra Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 2,064
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For the record, while you may be able to buy a DSS from a third party like K1 Technical or Voyager RV and probably many others, there is only one design and it is the one at the website defsim.myervin.com (original) or defsimulator.wordpress.com (archived).
Any DSS you buy is just someone building them using the instructions there and charging you an exorbitant price. They are not different or better in any way from one you can assemble yourself using the instructions at one of the websites and for a fraction of the cost.
The assembly and programming instructions were intended from the beginning to be easily within the ability of users with minimal skills. I don’t know how many of the DSS units have been successfully built by ordinary users, but it’s at least in the hundreds if not thousands.
If you decide to do it yourself and have a question or need some help just DM me with your phone number and I’ll get in contact with you. My number one bit of advice is to buy a new, known good USB cable for the programming step and don’t try to use one you have lying around. There is a better than even chance that your cable may look fine but is in fact intended just for charging devices and will not work to transfer data.
__________________
2021 Entegra Aspire 44W
Previous: 2006 Newmar Essex 4508
2013 Tiffin Allegro Open Road
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12-25-2024, 11:37 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 5,326
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Quote:
Originally Posted by R.M.A
I just bought one for like 280 bucks from K1 Technical.
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Don't do that. Seriously.
The simulator was designed to be built by the end users (a Creative Commons license), not to be commercially produced. It was a gift to the affected part of the RV community to help out when DEF sensors and full head assemblies were not available thanks to crappy engineering or manufacturing on the part of Shaw Development in Florida.
But the DEFsim was never meant to be a commercial product, and in fact there were several offers to buy / sell completed units that were deleted by the mods/admins here at iRV2
__________________
2005 Four Winds Majestic 23A
“To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.” - Dr Suess
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12-25-2024, 05:07 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 490
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Quote:
Originally Posted by garykk
Wow, did you get hosed 
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Yup.
Someone made $220 for 40 minutes of work using someone else's design and intellectual property.
__________________
John and Jana Z
2020 Allegro Red 37BA
First Motorhome
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12-25-2024, 10:37 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,545
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DSS build
Yes, build it yourself, but .... $40 or $60 is a bit optimistic for all up cost.
For those that are concerned about building a DSS, IMHO, it is not as easy as pouring water out of a boot, but is not terribly difficult. I still have the programming and final assembly to complete before testing to verify the final product.
Using RP 2040 Can Bus PWA board. When ordering, I ended up with three PWAs. It was my error in that I picked 2 on my first look at the web site and inadvertently added a third to the order when I looked the part up a second time. Added some price to the order, but I wanted a spare assembly in the event my soldering or programing failed.
My soldering iron did not do much of a job, the last time I used it. Most of my soldering work has been on plumbing and trailer lighting. I have never worked on PWAs, but years ago, I worked with production PWA assembly and the folks who did fault repair. Dialed up You-tube and the soldering instructions - in general they say that to work properly, the tip has to be tinned before use.
Since my iron was old and had a somewhat large tip that was obviously oxidized, I went to ACE hardware and purchased a Weller 60 watt iron that came with a small tip. Cost was a bit less than $30 and I paid about another $10 for solder and flux.
Note ,it was not hard to clean and tin the tip. It was not difficult to solder the connector assembly to the board. However, I have not verified that the connections are not shorted with too much solder. A new multimeter skill to learn.
I did not have a cable to program the board. That was about $8 for a shorty that will connect to a pigtail that I do have. Could not find a grommet at the hardware store, but ran into a box assortment at Harbor Freight. That was about $10 for a $0.10 item, but grommets are nice to have on hand. The enclosure box was about $10 at OSH Hardware from the electrical section. The silicone sealer is about $10 for a tube and the cables were a little less than $15 each. I got two so I could make two DSS units. Should have purchased three so one cable could be an extension to make the DSS install easier in the case it needs to be installed on the road.
In truth, the two cables will be enough. The PWA can be replaced using the same cable and box that the first DSS will use. The connector you solder on the PWA board is a screw down terminal type and that makes a change out possible.
You can see that there are some additional costs for the individual that is short on tools and experience. Same for an individual that feels redundancy in the build might be $s well spent. It still is much less expensive than a tow from anywhere to a service facility. It is also less than paying someone else to build it and it certainly adds to your skill set. But I've invested a lot of time to collect the parts, study the procedure, and build up my courage to do this project.
DSS development team, thank you. I really appreciate you developing this work around.
__________________
Travel Safe and with a Smile! Pat
2020 Tiffin Breeze 33BR
2022 Cherokee Trailhawk toad
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12-25-2024, 11:34 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Entegra Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 2,064
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PKI, there’s nothing wrong with how you went about collecting the parts and doing the assembly but just for anybody reading your post there is an easier way. In the instructions on either of the websites there are internet “hot links” where the parts are described. Clicking on the links will take you directly to pages where you can order the exact parts. For example, if you click on the link where the enclosure is described it will take you directly to an Amazon page where the enclosure can be ordered and that enclosure comes complete with a few grommets even though you only need one (I probably have a couple of dozen spare grommets from the various units I’ve put together).
You are correct that if you have more circuit boards than you need you can hold them as spares in case of a failure of a board. You should go ahead and program any boards you have. Once programmed, even without any power being applied, the board will hold the programming for years, perhaps as much as 100 years!
Finally, the secrets to good soldering are:
1. Make sure the iron is clean. Get it up to temp. You know it’s at temp when solder melts immediately upon being touched to the iron's tip. Then apply a little resin-core solder to the iron’s tip, let it melt and wipe it clean on a damp sponge. The solder is irrelevant in this process but the resin core in the solder cleans the iron's tip and helps it conduct heat. Do this after soldering every few joints.
2. Use the soldering iron to bring the parts to be soldered up to a high enough temperature to cause the solder to flow as soon as the solder is touched to the joint. Remember, the iron is to heat the components and the solder should be applied to the components. Done properly the solder will melt and flow freely into the joint but will not be drawn to any parts that are not hot. Do not use the iron to melt the solder and drip it onto the joint-it’s not like a hot glue gun. The iron heats the joint and the joint melts the solder!
Lastly, as far as using your multimeter to check your soldering job, just put the meter into resistance mode (or continuity if you prefer) then hold one probe on the first connection and use the other probe to check each of the other 3 connections to verify that none of the connections show 0 ohms to any other connection, then move the first probe to the second connection and repeat for each connection. No connection should show 0 ohms to any other connection. It may or may not show a few hundred ohms but it should never measure zero ohms.
__________________
2021 Entegra Aspire 44W
Previous: 2006 Newmar Essex 4508
2013 Tiffin Allegro Open Road
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12-26-2024, 03:14 AM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2024
Posts: 149
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I value my time and someone else's abilities. I have all the knowledge and tools to build a house, I would rather pay someone to build these. Which is my perogative. My post was not an invitation for your comments or anyone else's for that matter.
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