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Old 09-12-2021, 07:18 AM   #1
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New RV Owner Question

Hello! I am new at RV Ownership but so far absolutely LOVE IT! I do have a couple of questions that I need your collective expertise. I have to admit my manual and the service group at Camping World were not helpful.

I have a 2019 Forest Rive Forrester Diesel.

Extra information: I was plugged into shore power, my battery switch was set to on. My emergency brake was on. I am using the one control panel to manage all. My generator was off.

1. When I want to extend my slider it is offline until I start the engine. Why is that? The same thing happened when I wanted to extend the awning.

2. I started my generator twice for a very short time (less than one minute). I used the stove to cook breakfast twice. My refrigerator is set to auto (which I understand means it will choose electric first). BUT my propane tank used almost 40% of a 20 lbs tank. What is using so much propane?

Thank you in advance for your help!
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Old 09-12-2021, 07:44 AM   #2
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I would take a check on the house batteries for actually being charged. Do you have your WH set to electric? or running on propane.
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Old 09-12-2021, 07:48 AM   #3
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My monitor says the batteries are charged.

I know this is going to be a stupid question so I’m reluctant to even ask: what is WH?
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Old 09-12-2021, 07:58 AM   #4
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My monitor says the batteries are charged.

I know this is going to be a stupid question so I’m reluctant to even ask: what is WH?
Water Heater. Not a stupid question, you said you are new to this, you can't be expected to know all of the acronyms and abbreviations yet.

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Old 09-12-2021, 08:49 AM   #5
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The water heater has 2 switches on the monitor panel, I used the electric water heater.
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Old 09-12-2021, 09:00 AM   #6
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WRT the propane usage:

1. It may not have been full to start with.
2. If you ran the furnace that will use it quickly
3. If you suspect a leak find it and fix it NOW
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Old 09-12-2021, 09:06 AM   #7
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I did use the furnace (sorry forgot that). I ran it for about 20 minutes to take the chill off. My brother check for leak. He didn’t smell anything but I’ll get it checked. Thank you.
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Old 09-12-2021, 10:25 AM   #8
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If you are plugged into shore power or running your generator the batteries will always show full. Check them without shore power or generator.
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Old 09-12-2021, 10:39 AM   #9
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Although my Forest River is a different model, I do have the one control. My slide and awning is the opposite of yours, if the engine is on neither show up on the one control. At least with yours the engine will help supply power to the coach batteries to move the slide/awning without running them down as much.

On the propane, like others said maybe your tank wasn’t full. The furnace is a big propane user, but 20 minutes shouldn’t use that much. Check for leaks on the gas line connections with some soapy water in a spray bottle. Mine had a small leak at one of the connections by the tank regulator. Another thing is to turn off the propane at the tank valve when in storage. Or you can leave it open, mark on the tank gauge where the needle is, then come back a week later and see if it went down indicating there’s a leak. May not be the safest thing to do, but it will tell you if there’s a leak.

Good luck with it. Watch some YouTube videos about RVing and the propane system etc. Ask questions here as there’s plenty of people with years of knowledge that are happy to help. We were all newbies at one time!
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Old 09-12-2021, 11:34 AM   #10
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I have an older model without “one control”, so my thoughts may be out of date, but:

-From posts on the forum here, I believe Forest River has varied the engine running requirement wrt operating the Slideout over time. Believe some of the more modern Slideout mechanisms are sensitive to voltage, and the changes (like requiring engine running) are related to trying to ensure sufficient voltage. Suspect the awning requirement just followed the Slideout.

-Not sure how you determined 40% propane usage. From my experience, Motorhome propane gauges are quite inaccurate. Also, from my experience fill levels vary significantly. On my Motorhome, the gauge on the tank seems the best - the remote level read apparently tries to read that gauge and only does a mediocre job of it. Still, even reading directly off the gauge on the tank I would not believe +/- 20%.

FYI, Jim
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Old 09-12-2021, 12:35 PM   #11
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This is from my 2019 Forest River MBS forester with one control: (yours might be different)

in 2019 Forest River decided they wanted you to run your engine to raise the voltage before moving the slides and awning because they believe that is what was causing the motors to burn out. (at least that is what they told me).

If you look in your Battery control switch in entrance step well, take cover off, you will see the RS wire connections (I think J2, 4, 5, 6 and 8) only work with the engine running, and the LS mostly work most of the time.

J14 (F10-Red Awning). I recall that passes through the bulkhead in the box and goes down between the outside cabinet and the chassis in a wire loom. This Red wire goes about 6" and is cut off, with tape wrapped around it .
If I recall this output will NOT work with engine running.

J6 on my 2019 was labeled Kitchen slide, but really it was the power for the awning. NOTE: this wire only works when engine is running and Ebrake is in.

SO I someone was to move this wire from J6 over to J14 (and move fuse if needed) you would not have to start the engine to operate awning
Plus it makes sense because now the awning will NOT work when driving down the road .

2nd problem I had:

The rear stabilizer jacks only work with the engine running and Emergency brake applied, BUT when you do have engine running it triggers the the alarm which is so loud you need hearing protection to get close enough to the switch to use them. Let alone hearing the motors when they are slowing down with load as you over jack them.

Solution: the one control module that runs the awning (which now works with engine off) had 2 additional pair of wires connected to it, but nothing was programmed into one control for them. I traced these wires out and discover they are wired (in parallel) to the rear stabilizer (along with the switch that is near steps and alarm). So I figured out how program one control and now I can use one control to raise and lower the jacks (even standing behind RV!) with engine off. Since the one control to jacks circuit is wired parallel to switch by entrance steps if I start engine the alarm will scream and I can raise jacks by using switch near steps with engine running .
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Old 09-12-2021, 12:50 PM   #12
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I have an earlier Forest River Sunseeker MB’s but believe the configuration is similar. My propane tank is almost 80#, are you sure yours is 20#?
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Old 09-12-2021, 01:52 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aduffy View Post
Hello! I am new at RV Ownership but so far absolutely LOVE IT! I do have a couple of questions that I need your collective expertise. I have to admit my manual and the service group at Camping World were not helpful.

I have a 2019 Forest Rive Forrester Diesel.

Extra information: I was plugged into shore power, my battery switch was set to on. My emergency brake was on. I am using the one control panel to manage all. My generator was off.

1. When I want to extend my slider it is offline until I start the engine. Why is that? The same thing happened when I wanted to extend the awning.

2. I started my generator twice for a very short time (less than one minute). I used the stove to cook breakfast twice. My refrigerator is set to auto (which I understand means it will choose electric first). BUT my propane tank used almost 40% of a 20 lbs tank. What is using so much propane?

Thank you in advance for your help!
You mentioned starting your generator twice, but not what fuel source it uses. For the sake of clarity and full disclosure, does your coach have a propane or Diesel generator? What is the model number of your Forester?
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Old 09-12-2021, 02:04 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by BehindBars View Post
You mentioned starting your generator twice, but not what fuel source it uses. For the sake of clarity and full disclosure, does your coach have a propane or Diesel generator? What is the model number of your Forester?
You may find a detailed build sheet glued to the back wall inside one of your kitchen cupboards outlying the exact model of your Forester motorhome.
You’ve mentioned diesel Forester……a Mercedes Benz motorhome?
Just to the left of the entry door you may find letters and numbers to identify the exact make and model of your rig.
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Old 09-12-2021, 02:49 PM   #15
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First of all THANK YOU All

I just got back from going to storage to look at my RV so I could answer some of these questions. When I turned the battery switch on and the engine was not on the voltage of the batteries in the motorhome and the chassis were just a little under 13. And the LP was at 100%. So I must have read that LP monitor wrong. The stabilizer jacks were also some thing that the engine had to be started in order to run so the comments makes sense. The thing that doesn’t make sense is the fact that the stabilizer jack switches by the door do not work. I have to control them from the one control panel.
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Old 09-12-2021, 08:19 PM   #16
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Whenever possible I plug into shore power before using slides and awning. Saves the motors I believe.
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Old 09-12-2021, 11:26 PM   #17
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Aduffy, I question the ability to move the slide and the awning with the engine RUNNING. What is to keep them from moving out when you are going down the road? Most RV's I have had lock the slide and awning when the engine is running. I am on my third FR motorhome.
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Old 09-12-2021, 11:58 PM   #18
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On my 2019 sunseeker mbs 2400w the engine has to be running and parking brake on to operate the slide and stabilizers. The engine must be off to operate the awning.
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Old 09-13-2021, 08:48 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by Aduffy View Post
First of all THANK YOU All

The stabilizer jacks were also some thing that the engine had to be started in order to run so the comments makes sense. The thing that doesn’t make sense is the fact that the stabilizer jack switches by the door do not work. I have to control them from the one control panel.

Did you turn the engine on AND pull up the emergency brake lever?


after I moved my wire so the awning would work with RV off, I could use stabilizer jacks with one control with engine OFF, and switch by steps would work with engine ON (and emergency brake turned on)
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Old 09-13-2021, 09:01 AM   #20
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Everything worked fine with engine on except the stabilizer switches. They only work from control panel. It just seems unsafe to start the motor to do those things. I would think that you would want not only the emergency brake on but the engine off. I understand that that’s what I need to do and it’s much cheaper than replacing a burned out motor. It just seems like an unusual fix.
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