2016 ACE 30.2 owners

[West]

Thats awesome! I wish I would have known that sooner.

[Dan9841]

Oh no! Would that have changed your mind? Sorry

[West]

I like that. It will make spinning the passenger seat around easier and add more leg room when the kids sleep on the couch.

[Dan9841]

I found out about that removable option as I was laying on it and wondered why it was loose compared to the other side. I wonder what else I will find out and especially when. I had my Nissan Armada for 5 years now and just recently my wife and I discovered a new feature
Let me know if you need pictures of anything else in question. I am allways happy to share.

[Scott]

I wish both the driver and passenger seats turned 180 degrees. It would make conversing with other people in the unit much easier. A poor design from the start. I wonder why something like that was allowed to happen. What is the benefit from Thor's perspective as to having the seats only turn as far as they did?

[Scott]

Originally Posted by West

I was installing a tv and inverter earlier and noticed the drawer was all messed up again. I'm pretty exited with the new inverter though. It's working great.

What is the inverter for? I see quite a few threads where people are talking about inverters. Please pardon my ignorance on this. This is our first motor home and first unit to have TV's.

Thanks.

[West]

No problem. It makes 120 volt AC power from your 12 volt DC batteries so you can run things like tv's, microwave and so on without having to run your generator. In my case it was so the kids could use all the tv's while we are driving. Running my generator just to watch tv seamed like a huge waste of fuel.

A converter turns 120 AC to 12 DC and an inverter does the opposite.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by West

Running my generator just to watch tv seamed like a huge waste of fuel.

Lets see how much compared to the V-10?
How fast do you run? Doesn't matter; lets assume your RV gets the same 6-10 mpg that all the other V-10 powered motorhomes get. Assuming an average of 8mpg travelling at, what, 55 mph?
An hour of travelling at that speed and consumption would use up 55/8 gallons = 6.875 gallons of gas.
From the Onan manual the generator consumes 0.29 gallons per hour no load, 0.48 gph 1/2 load, and 0.71 gph full load. If you're just running TVs & maybe a DVD player/video game I would suspect your generator is running at almost no load.

To summarize: Your RV is consuming almost 7 gallons per hour moving itself when the generator (with people watching TV) is only consuming 0.29 gallons per hour.

After a day of driving (say 6 hours) that ends up being: 41 gallons for the RV to move itself, and 1.74 gallons for the genny.

Of course if you were running the rooftop A/C your genny consumption would go up to somewhere between the 0.48 and 0.71 values most likely doubling the gas consumption.

[West]

So not a huge waste of fuel but a waste to run it for something so small. Plus the wear and tear on the generator. It's also nice to be able to use things without the noise of the generator. Specially when it's after hours and your not allowed to run the generator. I rarely camp where there is hookups.

[COACE30.2]

Originally Posted by West

Mine hits the steering wheel and thats all the further it will let me go.

West,

This worked for me to allow the driver's seat to move past the steering wheel.

Turning Driver's Seat
Here is a simple video...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r8OXwjzffn0

http://www.thorforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25331

[COACE30.2]

Originally Posted by West

The over head area has access panels you can unscrew then add more insulation.

West,

Can you share more info about this? Maybe even a photo if possible? I'm also interested in your TV / Inverter installation as I have 3 boys to entertain and would like to minimize the generator hours.

Thanks in advance!

Richard

[Scott]

Thanks for the info on the inverter and converter. We have only camped one night so far where we didn't have at least an electrical hook-up. Also, when we travel, if there is more than just my wife and I, we run the generator so we can use the air conditioner. In the grand scheme of things, the gas to run the generator is peanuts compared to the luxury of having the A/C on as well as the overall cost of gas to drive. Our generator has close to 4,000 hours if not mistaken. We have close to 15,000 miles on the unit. Of course a 6,600 mile trip to Alaska and a 3,300 mile return will do that to you.

[West]

Originally Posted by COACE30.2

West,

This worked for me to allow the driver's seat to move past the steering wheel.

Turning Driver's Seat
Here is a simple video...

http://www.thorforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25331

I've never tried that for the purpose of turning the chair all the that's a good idea. I did have the other side come out once so I had the learning experience on how to take it on and off.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Scott

What is the inverter for? I see quite a few threads where people are talking about inverters. Please pardon my ignorance on this. This is our first motor home and first unit to have TV's.

Thanks.

To add on to what others have said, for those of us that have residential appliances such as refrigerators the inverter allows us to use the appliance without having to be plugged into shore power or running the generator. For example during my last trip to Charleston I was able to complete the 800 mile round trip without running the generator except for when the interior coach temp got a little warm and I fired up the genny to run the coach AC. Other than that the fridge ran off the inverter and the batteries wer3e charged by the chassis alternator.

[West]

Originally Posted by COACE30.2

West,

Can you share more info about this? Maybe even a photo if possible? I'm also interested in your TV / Inverter installation as I have 3 boys to entertain and would like to minimize the generator hours.

Thanks in advance!

Richard

I thought about posting pictures of some of the things I've done but I don't know how to post more than one picture at a time on here. If anyone knows a way to share them easier I'm all ears. As long as I can do it from an iPhone or iPad not a pc.

On the over head part it was kind of a required fix that I ended up doing it. One of the cubbies up above the bed fell off and I had to fix it. They only had two screws on the top edge holding it on. With it off I could see in the front cap and there was a little insulation in there but not much so I carefully stuffed more in being careful not to mess up the wires go to the clearance lights.

[Scott]

West,

Is it fairly easy to remove the cubby front panels? Being paralyzed and unable to use my hands, this is something I'd have to convince my wife to do.

As for the inverters, don't the batteries charge while driving or do they require you to be plugged in or running the generator to charge? So far on most of our trips we have the generator running so we can use the a/c.

Thanks for all the information everyone. Starting to get excited about camping this year. Have a tentative plan for a week of camping in N. Carolina in a couple of weeks.

[West]

Yes it was just two screws holding each of the backs on the cubbies on mine on. I added more though so it won't fall off again. It is a little awkward to sit or lay on the upper bed while trying to stuff insulation in.

The batteries do charge when the engine is running

[Dan9841]

The awning can be tilted by adjusting the length of the arms. It took me a minute since one of mine was bent due to a run in with a tree

[Dan9841]

Originally Posted by West

I've never tried that for the purpose of turning the chair all the that's a good idea. I did have the other side come out once so I had the learning experience on how to take it on and off.

I found out about that the hard way a few weeks ago. I was messing around on the passenger side and my big butt must have nudged something. Needless to say the arm fell off it was an easy fix.

[Scott]

Dan,

Which arm on the awning did you move and do you have to put it back to its' original position? Also, is this easy enough for my wife to do?

Thanks very much.