AMPS

[Al Scudder]

As I read the response below it was long enough to not see the name of the responder, that had put words to a situation.Before I could see the name I knew it was Pete. I have never met Pete, who lives on the opposite side of the world to me, and knew it was him I have read Pete's responses here on the forum for quit a while I can see that when he starts to hit the keys to give us his perspective you can count on it being well thought out and precisely to the point with a amount of color to help you along the words of wisdom. I appreciate his responses and others but I can always count on his"to the point" words. Just because you do not have any feathers Pete keep flying with the flock



Scooter

200LX Ocqueoc, MI

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To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
From: aeonix1@...
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:13:27 -0700
Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] AMPS

A 93 WB 40 (42 started in 95) generally takes a 50 amp circuit. You can use a 'dog bone' (a reference to its shape) adaptor to run from a 30 amp circuit.

Keep in mind that a "50 amp circuit" is TWO 50 amp inputs while a 30 amp circuit is a single input -- so you only have about 1/3 the available power when operating with 30 amps. Careful power control is necessary -- for example, it's wise to limit AC to one unit at a time while on 30 amps.

As for reliability, in three years and approximately 25,000 miles on the road, I had two unexpected breakdowns forcing immediate attention and a call for help: One was a complete loss of electrical power to the engine -- making it impossible to start up. Turned out it was a loose ground strap. (A common situation -- and it suggests that the "inspection" (which I did) was insufficient, but rather putting a wrench on each ground connection to ensure tightness is the better action.)

The second was a tire blow out on the tag axle. I had guessed the tire would last for "one more trip" --- but I was wrong. I paid the price as the on-the-road replacement cost nearly what 2 new tires at a competitive dealer would have cost. Lesson learned.

Every other 'issue' was general maintenance related or self-caused events (I won't go into those now -- I'd rather just forget about them...) This is not to say that I didn't have any other 'problems' from time to time -- but those were generally an inconvenience that I was able to fix on my own or have attended to on my next regular annual service at the shop.

One example of that was the AquaHot had the tube to the overflow/recovery tank separate (heat near the main coolant cap had caused it to become brittle). I did not notice this until sufficient coolant had evaporated, causing the AquaHot's safety switch to shut it off... Once I inspected (to determine why we had no hot water), I quickly spotted the problem. Then it was a a couple trips to Walmart to buy-out their anti-freeze inventory. (It took 12 or so gallons to get it back up to operating level.) This type of situation was, at most, an inconvenience -- it did not stop us from getting on the road or operating the coach.

Loose wire in a tail light, burned out clearance light, and so on -- these are common items that could happen to any RV of this age ... so not really a big deal (and not unexpected.)

Keep in mind that correspondents to this list (and other WL forums) often are in the midst of a 'situation' and need some help or hint of a direction to take. Some topics (like tires or replacement AC units) are for normal replacement of components or systems that have reached the end of their useful life.

Because the constant stream of "I'm having trouble with..." messages, you might draw the wrong conclusion that these coaches are sensitive, fragile, or poorly put together. It's actually quite the contrary. Most other RVs of 10 years of age are pretty well whacked out. Few 20 year old units are even operating. And there are only a handful of 30 year old RVs still on the road -- and most of those are Blue Bird Wanderlodges (and a few bus conversions).

Pete Masterson

(former) '95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42

El Sobrante CA

"aeonix1@mac.com"

On Oct 23, 2009, at 11:49 PM, Flippen Austin wrote:

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AT A CAMPGROUND WHAT AMP DOES A 1993WB42 USE; JUST SO I WILL KNOW BEFORE I GET OUT THERE WITH YALL, ALSO IT'S GOOD TO HEAR THAT A BIRD ROLLED 500 MILES WITHOUT A BRAKE DOWN FOR A CHANGE. FLIP + KAREN 93WB MEMPHIS

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