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Thread: The wonders of modern lighting

  1. #11
    LHBA Member ChainsawGrandpa's Avatar
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    Blower motor

    Those things are power hogs! A friend has his trailer at my site and he's in the process of replacing his incandescent with LED, but the blower motor for the propane furnace is sucking his batteries dry! any advice for finding a DC blower?
    -G'pa

  2. #12
    LHBA Member rreidnauer's Avatar
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    Blown lights and blower motors

    First, update on the blown CFLs. Turns out the culprit is the trailer's on-board power converter. The regulator seems to be shot, and voltage throughout he RV is running at 20.8 volts!!! (at least when the power hungry furnace isn't running) So the poor 12v CFLs didn't stand a chance. From what I gathered from the net, the brand converter I have is a horrible piece of junk. I have two options. Disable the converter, and have a separate battery charger. Or, replace the converter with a quality retrofit. ($215 + S&H) (plus another $60 in CFL bulbs)
    Yes G'pa, they are hungry little beasts. Now the bad news. (or is it badder news?) They already are DC motors!!!! Whether they are permanent magnet or not, I am unsure of. On top of that, they are pretty specialized, as they have dual function of running the inside blower fan and the combustion exhaust blower fan.
    My suggestion, if you have any free wall space, is to install a non-powered, direct-vent wall heater. Then just a small fan to set up a circulation works wonders. I was surprised yesterday, that my 7000 BTU heater was keeping up @ 35F, after the big furnace had warmed everything up first. (and this is before I have fully insulated the RV, as I still need to apply window film, add roof vent insulating "pillows", foam board insulation between the door and screen doors, skirt the perimeter of the trailer, and insulate the slide-out) I would have liked a 20,000 BTU model, but the price of the one I got was too good to pass on.
    On another note, after calculating my expected propane usage, (and costs) I'm considering yet another heating option. I got lot's of firewood, but I don't want a woodstove in my trailer. (way too much easily combustible stuff in there) So I was thinking a makeshift outdoor boiler, and run hotwater baseboard in the trailer. I'd use an antifreeze solution so I don't have to worry about busting pipes when the fire is out. Regulation would require some thinking though, like a low antifreeze temp pump cutout, RV thermostat, and boiler over-temperature management. (when the RV isn't calling for heat)
    Last edited by rreidnauer; 03-06-2011 at 03:28 AM.

  3. #13

    Battery Charger

    When my converter made some smoke signals before passing its last volt, I hard wired a separate battery charger to a 120 VAC circuit. So any time the generator is running or I am using the shore line, the charger is running and charging my batteries just like before. So far it has worked out well. I think I paid HF $65 for the charger, which by the way also has a reconditioning feature.

  4. #14

    by the way Steve

    we miss our generator. Not the whole shebang, mind you, just the generator...................
    tough snowstorm this weekend

  5. #15

    I sure wish I could get it

    I sure wish I could get it running. Rod and I (slight thread hijack) tried for quite some time. Cleaned out the fuel bowl, rinsed the tank, put in another fuel line, etc. We had to pull start it because the batteries were dead. It ran but sounded like a hit and miss engine. Later I installed new plugs but still couldn?t get it running. It?s got spark and I?m sure I?ll get it running but will probably have to rebuild the carburetor.I sure wish I could get it running. Rod and I (slight thread hijack) tried for quite some time. Cleaned out the fuel bowl, rinsed the tank, put in another fuel line, etc. We had to pull start it because the batteries were dead. It ran but sounded like a hit and miss engine. Later I installed new plugs but still couldn?t get it running. It?s got spark and I?m sure I?ll get it running but will probably have to rebuild the carburetor.

  6. #16
    LHBA Member rreidnauer's Avatar
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    bout of D?j? vu

    Yea, it's definitely a fuel delivery problem of some sort. Probably just a simple dismantling and cleaning of the carb is all that's needed. Not fun trying to rope start that two-banger.

    The mower down at work had a similar fit this past summer. Turned out to be a little piece of crud in the fuel bowl that would get sucked to the main jet siphon pickup. It would randomly cause the thing to all of a sudden loose power and almost come to a stop, then all of a sudden take off again. I guess as the vacuum dropped with RPMs, and the motor vibrated, the crud would get knocked away and allow fuel to flow again. Took me a bit to figure that one out, because I thought it was an electrical issue at first by the way it was acting.

  7. #17
    LHBA Member edkemper's Avatar
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    So often

    So often the problem is bad gas that has caused a blockage. You might try one of the gas stabilizers. I know you are supposed to use them to prevent a problem. But when I forgot and didn't use it one year on my small generator, I put it in and tried to just let it sit for a few days. I was able to get it started once it had some time to work. Just a cheap and easy "possible" solution.

  8. #18

    hey, back to the lights.......

    http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/02/10/the-light-bulb-showdown-leds-vs-cfls-vs-incandescent-bulbs-whats-the-best-deal-now-and-in-the-future/
    l really like this page; and we are going with the CFL's for now in the recesssed workroom lights ( 12 of them)

    ps Steve, I agree with LHN about the fuel stabilizer; we were using it , remember? Also the last time I ran it was definitely around April- May 2009. by July I had switched to the two 12V battery chargers Rod and I discussed and just plugged it in to the house.
    you'll get it, you always do

  9. #19
    LHBA Member rreidnauer's Avatar
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    Thumbs up More efficiency updates

    I gave up trying to find quality 12v CFL lamps, and started the hunt for LED lamps which can match lumens with incandescent and CFL lamps. I did find them, but they are only available in China. (come on USA, what the heck is the deal?) I have ordered four to replace the CFLs used in the ceiling lights. Here is what they look like:



    They are actually brighter, at 800 lumens (vs. 700 for the CFLs) and less wattage at 9 (vs. 13 for the CFLs) I also just ordered a pair of LED lamps for the bathroom vanity lamps which were still incandescent. I gave up a slight bit of lumens each at 250 (vs. 264 for the incandescent) but wattage is slashed from 18 to just 3 each. Here's what they look like:



    So, now every 12v light in the RV is LED, and check out the specs now. Total power is only a measly 71 watts! And if that's not impressive, then the fact that my total lumens increased to 5690 is! I have cut power usage by 81% from the original incandescent lights, and actually managed to increase light output by about 3%.



    All the lamps are rated 8~30VDC so I won't have the burn-out problems like I was having with the CFLs. They aren't cheap though. The first bulbs are nearly $30 a piece, and the second ones are like $24 each with shipping. They are the cutting edge of high-output LED lights right now. Given time, they will become much more affordable, just as CFLs have become.

    Oh, forgot to mention, I also swapped out the outside porch bulb (a 1141, 18w, 264 lumens) for a pair of cool white 3w, 240 lumen LEDs. That nearly doubled the brightness and cut it's power consumption by 66%. It really lights things up like a dusk to dawn light, but it's instant on.

    I think I got about every bit of power savings I can get out of the lights now. Now what can i do about that darn furnace blower motor?
    All my bad forum habits I learned from LHN

    Rod Reidnauer
    Class of Apr. 9-10, 2005
    Thinking outside the vinyl sided box

  10. #20
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    Great job!

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