modifications

Enhancements and repairs to our coach.

Rechargeable motion lights

Inside cupboards and in the half bath we have compact motion-activated LED rechargeable lights, that are magnetically mounted to a self-adhesive patch, so they can be easily removed and recharged via USB. These lights have a switch to toggle between off, on, and auto; we leave them set to auto, so they come on via motion.

Convenient to illuminate in cupboards, and also in the half bath, so we don’t need to turn on the ceiling lights. In that bathroom, we have one mounted on the wall and one under the cabinet, above the sink.

Light

How to prevent the auto-generator start (AGS) from turning off when manually starting the generator

For Tiffin owners (or anyone with a Magnum inverter), having the auto-generator start (AGS) enabled is a good idea, even if you are normally connected to shore power. It’s useful so if there is an extended power cut at the RV park, the generator will turn on before the battery level gets too low. (I have mine set to come on for 2 hours when the battery drops to 12.2V, which is about 50%, since I have AGM batteries.)

If you boondock at any time, or use your generator while driving for AC in hot months, or even just the monthly exercise you should be giving it, you may find an annoyance with the system: if you manually start the generator, it will automatically disable the AGS feature.

But fear not, there is a solution:

  1. Press the AGS button on the Magnum control panel.
  2. Turn the dial until you get to the AGS TECH item, and press the dial to select that.
  3. Turn the dial until you get to the AGS Mode item, and press to select.
  4. Turn the dial to change from RV to Other, and press to select.

Now the AGS will remain on, even after starting the generator manually. Much more convenient.

Here’s what the AGS TECH menu item looks like:

AGS TECH menu item

And with AGS Mode: Other selected:

AGS Mode: Other

I hope this helps!

Dumping waste tanks into house septic system

While staying at our Washington home in previous years, we were careful to avoid filling our gray and black waste tanks, since we didn’t have a way to empty them until after we left; we used a bathroom in the house instead of in our coach.

This time, we were staying longer, but we also had new tools available: we had purchased a waste tote tank, and a macerator pump. I used both while staying this time.

The house has a septic system in the backyard, with inspection/cleanout ports:

Septic system inspection ports

I initially drained the waste tanks into my tote:

Draining waste tank into tote

I then pulled the tote around the back using the handle (not too difficult with the steerable front wheels), and drained it into the septic system:

Draining tote into septic

Using the other port to drain the last liquid out of the tote:

Draining last of tote

That was pretty easy. But then I tried a different approach. I bought two 100 foot hoses (that will only be used for this purpose, left in our shed), and used my macerator to mash up and pump the waste through the hoses directly into the septic system:

Macerator

I plugged the power cord into the electrical outlet in the wet bay, via a plug-in switch:

Switch

A power supply, to convert the 110V to a 12V car-style connector (there is a switch after the power supply, but the power supply has a fan that runs as long it has power, hence my plug-in switch):

Power supply

(Hmm, there is 12V power for a light in the wet bay, so I could hook up a connector to that… nah, probably not worth it for this occasional use.)

A closer look at the macerator, connected to my sewer hose closure and the hose:

Macerator

200 feet of hose going around the house:

Hose

The end of the hose into the septic system:

Hose into septic

Taking a peek; it isn’t a high flow, so takes longer than usual, but is much easier than using the tote:

Hose into septic

I removed the hose and re-sealed the inspection plate when done each time, to avoid smells getting out or animals getting into the septic system. If we were to ever do this longer-term, we could no doubt devise some sort of gasket or port to let the hose remain hooked up in a sealed way, though it really wasn’t a huge hassle.

With the 50 amp electrical hookup, a water hookup, and these waste solutions, we are able to stay home as long as we like.

Shed

As mentioned, we bought a shed for our Washington home, to store stuff we want to keep for the future, but not carry around the country with us (storage space even in a 40 foot motorhome is limited!).

We got the shed from Home Depot, a 10 x 8 foot wooden shed with shingles on the roof. The purchase included delivery and installation, since we would not be home at the time; we wanted to have it ready for when we arrived.

Here’s the shed as installed, unpainted:

Shed

Shed

With the doors open:

Doors open

Inside:

Shed

Roof rafters

Window in door

Door latch

I caulked the joints:

Caulked

Then Jenn and I painted it, starting with the main color:

Painting

And the trim:

Shed

Nice.

You should vacuum out under the fridge occasionally

Under the fridge in our coach is a vent and some radiator fins. We hadn’t previously cleaned it out, and noticed our fridge making weird noises, so I removed the cover and investigated (a couple of screws and some clips). The fins were chock full of dust and cat fur. Oops! I’ve added a recurring reminder to vacuum that out in the future.

Vent under fridge

Vent cover

Vacuum

Dusty

Dusty

Using a filter canister to help sanitize the coach water systems

Since we drink the water in our fresh water tank, it is important to keep it clean. In addition to five filters, that we replace every three months, every six months we use bleach to sanitize the tank and pipes in our coach. This involves diluting 12 ounces of bleach in the water tank (about half full), running it through the pipes until we can smell the bleach, then filling the water tank and leaving it overnight, and finally flushing it out with a couple of dump/fill cycles.

Previously, we tried adding the bleach via a small inline container hooked to the hose, but it was too small for the amount of bleach required. We also tried mixing the bleach in a bucket and pouring it in the gravity fill for our tank, but that wasn’t ideal either.

But I came up with another idea: I purchased a filter system with a clear canister, and put the bleach in that, without the filter itself, and connected it to my hoses (with quick connectors, naturally). It’s bigger than needed, but better too big than too small. And is much easier to add the bleach without risking spilling any:

Filter canister

Filter canister

Filter canister

That was much easier!

Shower shelf bar

A handy tweak: to be able to leave bottles on the upper shelf in our shower, even when traveling, we added a self-adhesive shower shelf bar (Amazon link):

Shower shelf bar

A closer look:

Shower shelf bar

It works really well. One less thing to have to worry about on travel days!