Tire pressure monitor caution and generator feedback

A word to the wise on tire pressure monitoring systems

I experienced a mishap I haven't read about in the excellent RV Travel Newsletter. Hopefully this will save others from the same fate.

I installed an external add-on tire pressure monitoring system [TPMS] on not just on my motorhome, but also the tow dolly and car. On a day to get chores done I decided to get the car washed at one of the quickie self guided, spinning brush type car washes.  Big mistake! The channel that guides the vehicle snagged and broke the valve stem to which it was mounted. The car wash manager was only authorized to pay for half the replacement cost, which I didn't fight, but the big problem was that on newer vehicles the valve stems have internal TPMS. Finding a tire shop with the right replacement in stock can be difficult, but what really threw a wrench in the works was resetting the indicator light on the dash. I spent two days at two different tire shops with no success. I now have to schedule another day of my time at a Toyota Repair Facility to have the indicator reset. Something as simple as resetting a indicator light can become extremely time consuming and frustrating.  – Pretz or Pretzel

Watts of feedback on inverter generator article

I greatly enjoy your daily RV tips but I think Greg Illes missed the boat on the tip about simply replacing common open generators with top of the line inverter-based models.

For many readers, when contemplating a new or replacement generator, the difference between a 4KW Yamaha ($3200 and up) vs. a 4500KW Champion ($250, delivered) is monstrous.  The Yamaha and Honda are beautiful machines, so if I were a fulltime RVer who "never" saw an electric plug and didn't recharge from repositioning drives, I'd probably spring for the Yamaha, but any other situation there are probably much better solutions per dollar (solar, wind, huge batteries like me), and courtesy will still go further than technology.

Greg asserts that typical generators sound like jets, which only the oldest ones do.  I have a 20 year old 6.5KW that is fine on a worksite but I'd agree insane for camping.  You can't comfortably talk until you're 50 feet from it. So, I know what he's talking about, but that's still 50, not "hundreds of yards."

I also have a smaller four-year-old 4KW open-frame generator I bought FOR the RV -- and I literally sit on it as a bench while talking only slightly raised voice.  It has a giant muffler compared to the 6.5KW, so I think what you hear is mechanical noise, not exhaust compression.  At 20 feet, it has more "rattle" than the Yamaha "hum" but absolutely acceptable decibels.  I don't feel AT ALL offended by my neighbor producing that level of noise 50+ feet away, since I can always hear my own furnace and hot water exhaust over my generator.  Drunk fishermen shouting 2:00 a.m. tall tales are more offensive than any genny I've actually seen RVing.

Put simply, Greg is (seemingly?  I don't get HOW with his expertise) out of touch with the current noise technology of generators.  Even that SUPER-cheap "Champion"  genny isn't as bad as you'd expect (making it very popular at most sites I frequent).  Unless it's run at crazily inconsiderate times, I've never heard someone complain.  I even saw one fellow semi-enclose his in a folding baffle-box that brought Cheapie down to the inverter genny's soft hum while supposedly still allowing enough airflow -- probably still under 300 for the rig.

I boondock, and love quiet, running off a huge battery bank for as long as possible when not *needing* cooling -- but again most modern gennies just aren't the loudest thing in camp. -- Wolfe Rose.

We asked Greg Illes for a response, which we epitomize:

I wasn't necessarily suggesting that an inverter-gen REPLACE the Onan (although that's what I did), but perhaps is an interesting "partner." My own experience with open-frame gennies is not as good as Wolfe's, albeit far from exhaustive, so I'll bow to his fuller perspective.

Further, space considerations of our Daily Tips doesn't allow for as complete a discussion as writers (and oft' times readers) would like.

Finally, having been chased farther out into the desert by TWO nearby campers at Quartzsite who insisted on running their open-frame POS's for roughly 14 hours a day, I'm admittedly a bit sensitive. --Greg

Got something you'd like us to hear about? Drop a line to Russ [at sign] rvtravel.com.