1990 Hi Lo - new owner

[JackandJanet]

Look at my thread on the replacement. Yours will be similar.

- Jack

 

[Slackkinhard]

Look at my thread on the replacement. Yours will be similar.

- Jack

I see you chose a 45amp model. Was that an upgrade? If so, what reasons did you have for the upgrade? The cost between a 35 and 45 is somewhat negligible, but my current converter is a 30amp. I was planning to convert to LED everything, and I can't think of anything else I may need current for. Then again, I'm not an experienced RV person.
Thank you for all the help. Hoping to get it on the road in April.

Also, any idea where to get some touch up paint? I've polished some surface rust away and cleaned it up, but the wheels and some of the exterior panels could be touched up.

Another issue is my awning. Pretty rough. Missing parts

 

[Angel-HILO]

From Usagi5678: Never heard of paper foam on the underside of the HiLo. Perhaps a previous owner installed.

To Usagi5678; I can tell you that my 2589RD does have a paper and foam on the under side, factory installed and it appears that it has been there for more than 32 years.

All vehicles on the road have some type of hard undercoating. Why it was done like that makes no sense to me! When I replace my bathroom floor I used a good 'ol can of spray Automotive Undercoating on the underside. Has been working OK so far.

 

[JackandJanet]

Slack - My original Elixir converter was a 45 Amp one. Yes, the trailer is designed to draw power from a 30 Amp outlet, but it can momentarily exceed that draw if you are running the Air Conditioner, refrigerator, maybe other A/C powered things and have lights on and are charging the battery.

I think the 45 Amp converter works a bit cooler than one rated at only 30 Amps, and I believe it is the desired "standard" size for our trailers now.

- Jack

 

[Slackkinhard]

Slack - My original Elixir converter was a 45 Amp one. Yes, the trailer is designed to draw power from a 30 Amp outlet, but it can momentarily exceed that draw if you are running the Air Conditioner, refrigerator, maybe other A/C powered things and have lights on and are charging the battery.

I think the 45 Amp converter works a bit cooler than one rated at only 30 Amps, and I believe it is the desired "standard" size for our trailers now.

- Jack

great info. I was about to buy the 35amp. Seems there is no good reason not to buy the 45amp, althought the 35 is bigger than my current 30. Just don't want to get into having to do something else if I upgrade. The difference in price about $20, so just want to get the right thing.

Any ideas on the color code of the beige paint from these years? Would be nice to get it right the first time

 

[Slackkinhard]

From Usagi5678: Never heard of paper foam on the underside of the HiLo. Perhaps a previous owner installed.

To Usagi5678; I can tell you that my 2589RD does have a paper and foam on the under side, factory installed and it appears that it has been there for more than 32 years.

All vehicles on the road have some type of hard undercoating. Why it was done like that makes no sense to me! When I replace my bathroom floor I used a good 'ol can of spray Automotive Undercoating on the underside. Has been working OK so far.

Pretty sure that's what I'm going to do. It looks like a 1/8" layer of insulation with a paper backing. It's reasonably still attached and aside from a lot of the paper being frayed, it seems like it will stay. I need to find a good automotive coating and respray it all. Should provide some waterproofing and keep it from deteriorating further. Thank you for the reply!

 

[JackandJanet]

Nope, no clue about paint codes or colors. If you are looking at exterior paint, I'd settle for white, which will be cooler in the hot summers.

- Jack

 

[Slackkinhard]

Nope, no clue about paint codes or colors. If you are looking at exterior paint, I'd settle for white, which will be cooler in the hot summers.

- Jack

Hoping to find some touch-up. Would like to avoid repainting too much. I'll post up a color code if I can find a good match to these older beige rigs.

 

[Slackkinhard]

After some more thought, considering painting the entire thing white. Saw the work Angel did and since I have a white truck to pull it. Seems easy enough and it will look nice.

Started playing with the AC unit. A duo-therm Briskair by dometic unit and it won't get cold. Blows hard, all the knobs turn, but after running for 15mins, it was just blowing air. Is there a 'recharge' or something I need to do....or?

 

[oldcarguy]

Think J&R has rattle cans of paint that match the beige lower skirting on the later Classic series trailers - wouldn't be surprised if they may also have other colors.

I got a section of lower skirting from then last year when I fabricated an access hatch to make it easier to get to the black/gray tank drain valves. Rob said it was pretty faded so he shot a fresh coat of paint on it - the color was a perfect match to the existing skirting on our 2307C.

I see you chose a 45amp model. Was that an upgrade? If so, what reasons did you have for the upgrade? The cost between a 35 and 45 is somewhat negligible, but my current converter is a 30amp. I was planning to convert to LED everything, and I can't think of anything else I may need current for. Then again, I'm not an experienced RV person.
Thank you for all the help. Hoping to get it on the road in April.

Also, any idea where to get some touch up paint? I've polished some surface rust away and cleaned it up, but the wheels and some of the exterior panels could be touched up.

Another issue is my awning. Pretty rough. Missing parts

 

[Slackkinhard]

I bought a bunch of 1156 LED replacement type bulbs because I looked at the bulb on the outside door lamp and it looked like a single filament 1156. I bought enough to replace all the interior bulbs, however now that I'm attempting to install them, I realize they aren't 1156 bulbs. Most are 1157 dual filament, but only one filament lights? I figure I'm doing something wrong and better ask before I blow another fuse.

Am I using the wrong lamps?

 

[oldcarguy]

This may be detailing the obvious, but the bases of all 1156 & 1157 automotive bulbs should have two key differences:
- 1156's have one contact in the center of the bulb base with the two small pins that hold the bulbs in place in the bulb socket opposite each other at the same depth near the bottom of the base
- 1157's have two contacts in the center of the bulb base with the pins opposite each other but offset, with one deeper than the other.

It's not easy to do, but occasionally somebody will force an 1156 bulb into an 1157 socket (or vice versa - usually by filing down one of the pins) - you might want to check the depths of the notches the pins receive into in your trailer's bulb sockets - if they're at the same depth (and there's a single contact at the bottom center), they should take 1156 type bulbs.

I bought a bunch of 1156 LED replacement type bulbs because I looked at the bulb on the outside door lamp and it looked like a single filament 1156. I bought enough to replace all the interior bulbs, however now that I'm attempting to install them, I realize they aren't 1156 bulbs. Most are 1157 dual filament, but only one filament lights? I figure I'm doing something wrong and better ask before I blow another fuse.

Am I using the wrong lamps?

 

[Slackkinhard]

This may be detailing the obvious, but the bases of all 1156 & 1157 automotive bulbs should have two key differences:
- 1156's have one contact in the center of the bulb base with the two small pins that hold the bulbs in place in the bulb socket opposite each other at the same depth near the bottom of the base
- 1157's have two contacts in the center of the bulb base with the pins opposite each other but offset, with one deeper than the other.

It's not easy to do, but occasionally somebody will force an 1156 bulb into an 1157 socket (or vice versa - usually by filing down one of the pins) - you might want to check the depths of the notches the pins receive into in your trailer's bulb sockets - if they're at the same depth (and there's a single contact at the bottom center), they should take 1156 type bulbs.

Thank you for reply. I'm familiar with the 1156 and 1157 lamps and their differences, however I'm trying to understand why the interior sockets have 1157 interface, but when ya flip the switch to on, it only lights one filament. I can't think of a good reason for it. Especially since the light just outside the entry door has a single filament 1156 type socket. It works fine. I first attempted to force one of my new LED type bulbs into one of the interior sockets and it blew a fuse. I had never actually looked into the socket prior and had not notice that it had a dual filament 1157 type socket.

Is this true for others? Are the interior bulbs dual filament, but only one lights up?

 

[JackandJanet]

Slack, when I replaced my interior and porch lights with LEDs, I used 1156 base bulbs. I don't understand why your trailer would need 1157 based bulbs, and then light only the one filament. Are you saying in the above posts that the incandescent bulbs you took out are 1157s? That sounds like some prior owner may have changed the sockets, so that they would fit.

I think you can buy 1156 sockets at a nominal price and then change them back if that is the case. It's a simple rewiring job as I'm sure you know.

- Jack

 

[oldcarguy]

Boy, that seems odd - and I have no idea whether the bulb sockets in the interior lights in ours are set up that way. The only reason I can think of for using 1157 bulbs in a fixture would be if it had a three position (on-off-on) switch so the lower wattage filament could be used to save power at times when less light was needed.

Some of the fixtures in our trailer have one bulb, some have two with an on-off-on switch so they can be used with either one or both bulbs lit, but none have a high/low option.

We'll have our trailer home from the storage yard in a few days - I'll take a look at the bulb sockets in our fixtures and post what I find.

Thank you for reply. I'm familiar with the 1156 and 1157 lamps and their differences, however I'm trying to understand why the interior sockets have 1157 interface, but when ya flip the switch to on, it only lights one filament. I can't think of a good reason for it. Especially since the light just outside the entry door has a single filament 1156 type socket. It works fine. I first attempted to force one of my new LED type bulbs into one of the interior sockets and it blew a fuse. I had never actually looked into the socket prior and had not notice that it had a dual filament 1157 type socket.

Is this true for others? Are the interior bulbs dual filament, but only one lights up?

 

[Slackkinhard]

Thanks again for replies. They are definitely 1157 type sockets, the pins are staggered and there are two contacts. I was thinking that maybe when on battery power it would only light the lesser filament, but on shore power it would light the brighter of the two. Either way, the bulb gets awfully hot. To have all of them on must have been a second heat source

 

[JackandJanet]

Just to clarify, Slack - the lighting on the HiLo, both interior and exterior is ALL 12V DC. Using shore power does not have any effect on it. The interior lights get their power from the HiLo's battery. The exterior lights (excluding the "porch light" and a light on the tongue jack) get their power from your Tow Vehicle's electrical system.

Shore power supplies power to the 120V AC equipment and the battery charger in the converter.

I'd replace all those 1157 sockets with 1156 types. Here's a source for 12 of them: https://www.amazon.com/ONLYFU-12Pcs...cphy=9030174&hvtargid=pla-1459676949337&psc=1

- Jack

 

[oldcarguy]

As an alternative to rewiring your lights with new sockets and installing LED 1156 bulbs, it might be worth considering replacing the fixtures with something like these that are currently available on Amazon. The fixtures in our 2307C are very similar.

The bigger double units are about 11x5 inches, draw 6 watts and put out about 600 lumens, the smaller single units are about 8.5x5 inches, draw 3 watts and put out about 300 lumens. the bigger ones are $14 each or 5 for $47, the smaller ones are $15 for two or $25 for 5

https://www.amazon.com/Leisure-LED-.../141-2315280-0785954?pd_rd_i=B0733RQDXL&psc=1


https://www.amazon.com/Leisure-LED-...ffc72&pd_rd_wg=Cjzgv&pd_rd_i=B072BJHTGK&psc=1

 

[JackandJanet]

Oldcar and Slack - those fixtures are very similar to what is in my trailer too. I suspect the lights inside are hardwired though, rather than being bulbs that can be replaced. Slack, since you already have the bulbs, the sockets might be more suitable.

However, those fixtures DO look very nice. I'd get them if I was going to replace mine.

- Jack

 

[oldcarguy]

You're undoubtedly right about the LEDs in those being hardwired in, Jack - on the other hand, the lifespan of LED's is generally so long that it's not too likely they'd ever need replacement.

I've been thinking about replacing the fixtures in our trailer for some time - may bite the bullet and do it this summer.