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Old 09-30-2014, 07:59 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
State: Washington
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THOR #1152
New (to us) Four Winds 31P questions

Hope this is the correct area to ask a couple of questions.

We just took delivery yesterday afternoon of a 2006 FW 31P. Less that 15k on the clock and showroom new on the inside. Our luck to find such a well cared for unit.

Had a couple of "newbi" questions. Our unit has the 6 gal dsi water heater and it appears to only run on LP. The switch on the control panel (OEM) for the water heater is just a single rocker that say "ON" on top and "Gas" on the bottom. Is the "On" for starting the water heater? Possible gas and electric? Private seller went over it all we we first looked at it and I forgot. The online owners manual is a joke as to specifics. LOL (sorry, I don't have the Atwwod model # for the water heater at the moment)

Second question is about the chassis radio in the dash. I'm trying to compile a complete manual set for all items and have had luck except for the E450 chassis entertainment system. This unit has an AM/FM CD Cassette with tons of buttons and a few that have satellite, etc. One annoyance is on power up there must be a volume preset for power up and it's set very high. Must be right at the volume knob or we get blown out the back window. LOL

All other items work well (as I know the water heater does too) and are really common sense operations. Even the Gen set upon start has a signal to denote ready for loads. I just don't want to screw up the water heater ops if I can help it....but that would add to our campfire stories. LOL

We're hoping to take our maiden cruise/shakedown trip this weekend and I'm sure the Mrs. would like hot water.......or I'll be in hot water. LOL

Thanks for any help you could give a "rookie"

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Old 09-30-2014, 09:08 PM   #2
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Model: 2011 Four Winds 28Z
State: Michigan
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THOR #531
Congratulations on your new moho.

Your heater is probably gas with an electric start. My heater has the same switch. I also have a LED next to the switch labeled "Pilot Out"

When I throw the switch on (after turning on the gas), the Pilot Out LED lights for a few seconds until the spark unit ignites the gas.

One thing though. Those switch panels are often a bit generic and may have switches on them that do nothing as you may not have that option.

The radio is likely an aftermarket unit. You will probably want to replace it anyway as most of us have backup cameras integrated into the radio - a very useful item to have.
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Old 09-30-2014, 09:14 PM   #3
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Thanks FW, I'll give that a shot. I figured it was for ignition/on and down was off. That's convenient.

As for the radio. It's a Jensen VR185 after looking at it. Sounds good, works good other than the power up volume thing. I threw an e-mail to Jensen to see if they can provide help.

Looking forward to this weekends "shake down" trip.
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Old 09-30-2014, 09:27 PM   #4
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For the water heater, just turn it on. There is no need to hold it down for ignition. It will fire the spark until not needed.

On the other hand, some Atwood heaters are manually lit, so you need to look at the model number to know for sure.
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Old 09-30-2014, 09:44 PM   #5
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Thanks again FW, It is a DSI or whatever they call them now with auto ignition. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. LOL

Now to just figure out the antenna/entertainment box with all those buttons to multiple TV's, ETC. LOL Oh, and 2006, before free TV was digital....antenna head change if we want to.....maybe not. I'll leave that up to the co-pilot....or I mean the Admiral. (the Mrs.) What's the ol' saying...."I'm the Capt. of this ship and what I say goes.....and I say see my wife, she's the Admiral! LMAO
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Old 10-01-2014, 02:11 PM   #6
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I'm sorry i can't help with either problem. My water heater has two switches, one for gas and the other for electric.

I would think that once you can get the model number of your heater, it will be a quick google search to come up with the manual for it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FW28z View Post
The radio is likely an aftermarket unit. You will probably want to replace it anyway as most of us have backup cameras integrated into the radio - a very useful item to have.
Honestly, I find the aftermarket radio with patched in camera feed very clunky. If I had a clean slate, i think I would likely opt for a stand alone camera monitor. With the integrated "system" that Thor provided, there is too much putzing required in the menus to get to the camera feed, or switch tho the radio, and no less than 4 button pushes to turn the thing off (if I'm lucky)
and one time I found the setting that would automatically switch the camera on when shifted into reverse, but disconnecting the battery for storage wiped that and now I can't find the setting again if you paid me..... & I've spent time looking!

So if I were swapping, I'd find a simple radio to your liking, maybe upgrade to CD if that's your thing..... or hey, maybe an 8-track if that's your thing....
and it sounds like you need one with an old analog type volume control....
then
want radio? go to the radio
want the camera? go to the monitor.
keep it simple
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Old 10-01-2014, 02:16 PM   #7
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another comment about the radio.....
My wish is that they would just provide the Ford radio. Mass produced and highly intuitive.
Maybe you could get a good one from a junk yard....

I think it would be great if they Ford would produce the chassis with the Lariat package (or whatever it is that Ford calls there high end trucks). Even with the option of factory navigation, etc....
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Old 10-01-2014, 02:55 PM   #8
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Blw,

Thanks, we got it figured out. It's LP only and is a simple on off toggle. The Screen printing labels are a bit confusing for us "newbies". Works well, nice and hot and seems to recover real fast.

As for the "entertainment" system in the chassis/dash. I found out Thor orders the cutaway chassis without radio and installs their own of choice. At the time of this 2006, they were using Jensen. It's a VR185-RV unit. Nice unit, good power and sound for a dash unit. Don't have plans to enable the satellite, but that could change since the wife has it in her SUV and has become very accustom to it. It is nice traveling when signals are week. Heck with this we could even pull out some old cassettes... Now what to do with the old 8 tracks....
Ours has the factory visor mounted rear view/back up camera set up and it works very well. I was surprised how well and clear it is with a very wide angle view.

Well, it's now all over but the shouting as they say and we're prepping for our first shake down trip. Nice thing is the sellers had the thing completely detailed and even the tanks professionally cleaned. I had to call after looking down the toilet throat and noticed the plumbing/piping and tank (that I could see) looked brand new clean and there was not one ounce of smell....not even chemicals. They said they just wanted the next owners to get it in as good or better shape than when they got it. (well to do couple, so $$ isn't really an object to them) So getting it for 63% of NADA value with all the extras including cover and brand new michelins all around due to the recall, I think we did good.

Thank you all for your help and I'll report back after our trip.....so looking forward to it. Can see us now with our coffee, little fire going and relaxing under our canopy! And, I get to share that with my best friend of 33 years!
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Old 10-01-2014, 03:00 PM   #9
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Yep, good stuff.
I looked it up and your floor plan is very similar to mine. We like it very much. Only real complaint is the toilet height, but that's not too big of a deal.....
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Old 10-01-2014, 03:10 PM   #10
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LOL, ya, for my 6'2" frame it is a bit low, but not to bad. Hell of a lot better than the tent camping toilet lid set up or digging a hole in the dirt. LMAO

The floor plan is perfect for us. We learned a lot by looking at pictures then actually walking thru units. Funny how a good looking floor plan in pictures was NOT what we wanted in person. More of the ones we looked at "looked" real good pictures, but not so much in real life. This one the pictures did not do it justice.
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Old 10-01-2014, 03:38 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrrabk View Post
The floor plan is perfect for us. We learned a lot by looking at pictures then actually walking thru units. Funny how a good looking floor plan in pictures was NOT what we wanted in person. More of the ones we looked at "looked" real good pictures, but not so much in real life. This one the pictures did not do it justice.
Yeah, i would not have picked ours in 100 years based on the paper floor plan. I tell people it's boring on paper, but it works well and just felt right once we found it.
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Old 10-01-2014, 03:39 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrrabk View Post
LOL, ya, for my 6'2" frame it is a bit low, but not to bad. Hell of a lot better than the tent camping toilet lid set up or digging a hole in the dirt. LMAO
yours might be a bit different then.... mine is too high... but yeah, beats the hole or the bucket!
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Old 10-01-2014, 04:48 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blw2 View Post
Even with the option of factory navigation, etc....
For 2015, you can get a nav package from Ford as an option. And you can certainly put in an aftermarket stereo with a nav package... probably for less money than the factory package.
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Old 10-01-2014, 05:29 PM   #14
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For 2015, you can get a nav package from Ford as an option. And you can certainly put in an aftermarket stereo with a nav package... probably for less money than the factory package.
true enough, a lot of money and trouble after the fact....but it will be very unlikely that it is as simple and elegant.
Not always i suppose, but aftermarket always looks.... well like an afterthought..... and usually works that way too. From my perspective, the exception might be for a real audiophile that really wants top end performance..... but I listen to AM radio

My wish isn't to do an OEM radio after market, but to get it form the factory. Imagine the built in blue tooth functions, nice looking dash radio, the whole 9 yards..... in the cab of your RV....
http://image.truckinweb.com/f/editor...0-interior.jpg
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Old 10-01-2014, 06:13 PM   #15
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Funny thing about the sound system in ours....the in dash Jensen is just fine for driving and we have a nav system to share between vehicle already. As for the coach/living quarters, the previous owners upgraded that. They upgraded the front TV to a LCD flat screen and added a LCD flat screen with built in DVD player in the bedroom. The front one is connected to a DVD/CD/Tuner (RCA) with a surround system and nicely hidden sub woofer. We tried it on an FM station to test and WOW what a room filling sound...and clean!
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Old 10-01-2014, 07:32 PM   #16
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This is the OEM Ford Nav Pkg for the 2015 E450, which is also available on the cut-away. Of course, the RV factory would have to order it.

Perhaps you could retrofit one into your coach. However, it probably requires different switches on the steering wheel, and who knows where else, so it might be more bother than worth.




One down side about factory installed nav systems - the lawyers are out of control. I had a factory nav system for my 2009 Nissan Maxima, and almost every function was blanked out until you stopped and then you could use it.

For example, driving along the interstate... you get tired and want to see what hotels are in the area. So the nav system will show you nearby hotels, but only the 5 closest can be accessed. So (depending on where you are), you might only see "Billy Bob's" Motel and 4 of his cousins. If you wanted to stay somewhere safe, say like a nice Hampton Inn, you would have to pull off to the side of the road before the nav system would allow you to view them.

Repeat that for almost every function on the nav system, and you will soon be wishing you had a Garmin portable system.

I got so frustrated with it, when we bought our new car a couple of months ago, we made sure it did not have a factory Nav system in it.
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Old 07-04-2016, 01:10 PM   #17
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Go outside, open water heater door. Lower left corner, behind a pipe, or burner tube, there will be a black rocker switch, If the unit is indeed gas/electric. Switch may have a locking pin, looks like a hair pin. That insures you don't turn on electric until the heater has water in it, else the element will burn out in less then a minute. If there is no switch, your heater is gas only. Also the model number will have an E if it is electric.
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