r/GoRVing

Considering the ac unit would start and run fine on a 20 amp outlet without a soft start setup, I expected a generator rated for the same or greater output should have handled it as well.

It did not, with the generator being overloaded 90% of the time when the AC kicked on.

I am looking at two extreme opposites, one is a $15,000 ultralight and the other is a $60,000 5th wheel. I have a new 3/4 ton so for the most part I can tow both (I understand pin weight and payload as I move tractors and oil field equipment). My wife and I have two children and plan on camping once a month, whether or not that happens I don’t know yet. I’m leaning to the ultralight as we are tent campers before we had kids so it’s basically just a bed and ac at night and plan to spend the day and cook outside. If we don’t go as often as plan it’s not a big financial loss and if we do then we can run the wheels off it and when I trade my truck in in a couple years I can get a dually and a large 5th wheel as I know we will use and what we wish we had. On the other hand should I just get a 8-10k lbs 5th wheel now and have the extra space, room for the kids to be spread out some and the luxury but run the risk of not using it much after a few months. I’m leaning towards the ultralight but I want to hear some expert opinions first.

Wondering if anyone else has seen or heard of issue with the propane covers on the Grand Design Serenova campers. I have one, and my brother has one, same year (bought in summer 2025). the latches on the propane covers rarely actually latch, and when they do, they eventually unlatch anyway. My brother lost his cover coming back from a trip late last year. It blew off on the interstate, and Grand Design doesn't seem to interested in the issue. Mine is unlatched every time I look at it. Such a poor design, not even sure how these made it out of engineering. It's a huge liability and frankly recall worthy in my opinion.

Has anyone seen or heard of this issue? Curious what others have done. Changed out latching mechanism, removed all together, or...?

My grandparents got a camper and the tv that come with it did not really get any signal. What would be a good way to get tv signal? They are not the most tech savvy as well. I was thinking starlink but the 200 dollar kit will probably make them say no even though itd also give them navigation for when out of the USA.

I have an older camper with a 20 amp elixir power converter. I bought a 200 ah lithium battery (litime).

Can I just connect all the wires that used to run off the lead battery to the new lithium and be done?

I know it won't charge to full, don't care.i can charge it once in awhile with a lithium smart charger I have to balance it.

Would it risk damage to the battery or wires to run it off this converter?

Will it pull too much current from the tow vehicle through the 7 pin connector? Should I disconnect the 7 pin connector?

Just looking for any thoughts here, I’m pretty befuddled.

It was just a typical breakdown at a full hookup site, and I was draining the black tank. Pulled black valve and the tank emptied fine. Connected the black flush line and turned on the water. Black valve was still open and I confirmed water was properly coming out, so everything seemed fine.

A few seconds later my wife leaned out and said that it smelled like sewage. I didn’t remember that ever happening during black flush, so I shut off the water. I confirmed she hadn’t stepped on the pedal and confirmed no visible leaks anywhere, so I went ahead and continued to flush. A couple minutes later my wife noticed a very small leak from under our bathroom faucet. At that point the black flush was running clear anyhow so I just fully stopped and went in to troubleshoot.

After removing every panel we could, I couldn’t find any water lines near the black flush line. What I could see was what I think is the vent pipe to the roof. So the only thing I can figure is that somehow the water maybe went up the vent pipe, but I don’t understand how that would have happened when it was draining just fine through the sewer hose. Also doesn’t really explain the smell, which my wife noted penetrates up the pantry too.

At this point i decide we just need to get it home, but I’m not even sure what to try next.

Any suggestions? This is a ‘25 Rockwood 2509s for what it’s worth.

Be wary of RVezy and their biased rating platform. We rented through them and our trip was cancelled by the host on a Saturday night at 11:15pm - not even 48 hrs prior to our departure - because the AC is supposedly « broken ». I originally booked from this host based on his star reviews. Since my booking has been cancelled, I am unable to leave a review. I have learned that RVezy will post an automatic review for cancelled bookings, but their reviews never affect the host‘s star rating. I have brought this up to RVezy, and their response is that the host's star reviews are only from people whose trips were actually completed. This means that the   last minute « cancelled by host » negative experiences get swept under the rug, allowing problematic hosts to maintain deceptive high star profiles. If you do rent from RVezy, DO NOT trust the star ratings and read ALL the reviews to look for the automated "booking cancelled by host" notices, because the platform refuses to let those cancellations reflect in the host's actual score. It turns out my host had many of these and had I been aware of this before, I would have avoided booking with him.

I'm 26 years old. I would be traveling with my wife and 6 year old son. I am currently finishing up my last year of nurse practitioner school and me and the wife are eyeing a class A RV once my income allows.

For now though, I have a year left, and my wife and I love going on camping trips (car camping mostly).

We are looking at buying something we can afford now, and upgrading into a class A when I graduate. I have a 2022 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that has a tow rating of about 5000 lbs.

What is the best option for something now? I have looked at cheaper pop up campers or travel trailers I can tow and pay cash for until we are ready for the upgrade.

We upgraded from a pop-up We always took the bedding out and washed it after a trip, then stored it in the house till our next trip. With the larger camper, we’re trying to determine if we can just leave the bedding in there after washing, and if so should it be in a tote or can we make the bed(s) and leave it that way?

Saw someone zipping along on the freeway, weaving in and out of lanes, towing a camper and even for a relative camper newb like myself, it was NOT a good setup.

 

Tow vehicle was an older Ram 1500, no idea on the brand / model of camper, only that it looked to be about 25-30ft long, dual axle, and was not a fifth-wheel. The rear of the camper, it looked like the tail lights were staring right at me when I had the misfortune to be behind the guy. You could SEE the down-angle towards the tongue, the rear axle visibly had more clearance than the front axle on the camper. I could see the squat on the truck as well. The back end of the camper was frequently wiggling back-and-forth (and no, not after the guy was passed by anything, keep reading,) enough I was waiting to see him lose control.

To top it all off, I was doing the speed limit (70MPH,) and he PASSED me. I was not kidding about him weaving through traffic, he was hopping back and forth between lanes to pass other traffic.

 

I was so glad to get off the freeway while this guy went on his merry way...

Sorry, no photos as I was alone in the car and was not going to mess around trying to get a photo with my phone...

TLDR: I feel AC tingling even when the camper isn’t getting shore power…and there’s no inverter

I know people are going to respond with “something in the RV is shorting to ground” but I really don’t think it’s that, and it’s driving me crazy as to why this is happening. There are some posts about this but nothing conclusive and I’m curious if there is any new info out there.

So here is what happened:

Knelt on the ground to try and plug the hose from a slide-out range into the camper gas connection and felt a tingle as I pushed the fitting. Weird but figured it was just a muscle strain thing.

I pushed again, same tingle. I’ve been shocked a lot (110V, 220V, etc.) so I know what AC feels like and I started to get suspicious. I busted out the multimeter, stuck one lead on the fitting and one into ground and got 15V AC. Tried DC voltage, nothing. Also I tried two meters, one analog and one digital, same result.

I immediately jumped into diagnosis mode and tried everything. Turned off every breaker one at a time - still 15V. Turned off the 50A breaker on the pedestal….still 15V? The camper does not have an inverter or generator.

I then tried to measure current and got 15V at 0.8mA into the ground from the frame (by now I’ve noticed the potential difference of 15V between any metal part of the camper frame).

I then noticed the same behavior by the metal on the pedestal itself into ground…and my FILs camper in a different site entirely (smaller than mine, 6k lb TT vs 10k lb 5th wheel) shows 12V and 0.4mA.

At this point I have no idea what’s going on. If something in the 110V AC system were shorting to ground, I feel like the frame potential would have showed *some* change when disconnected from the 50A.

Also, I have one of those AC power testers. It shows the pedestal is wired correctly for 50A.

There’s some theories on here about induced EMF, the camper power ground being physically far from local “actual” ground and therefore at a different potential, etc. I’d felt this tingle for years and assumed it was muscle strain, but I realized it’s only that gas fitting that sees me kneeling on the ground and touching something other than squatting in thick soled shoes. It was also crazy hot that day so feels like conditions were idea for skin conductivity more than there ever has been before. It appears that 0.5mA is the point where it starts to be possible to feel a tingle, especially with wet skin.

Anyone dealt with this? What is actually going on?