Brand new owners! Very lost. Routine help :)

[Sean]

Great!! Thank you very much! Man, I love this forum
So right now my rv isn't hooked up to anything, and I probably won't have it connected until Friday. In the meantime I don't want to drain the battery so I turned the red key next to the water pump portion outside of the rv and pulled the red key out. Now most of the power is off but the fridge is still running? I don't plan on using the fridge until we hit the road here in a couple of months, so I just wanted to know the correct way to shut off the fridge to reserve energy. Also I have read that it could be running off propane? I'm assuming if the rv is just sitting in my lawn for now with no intentions of running shower, oven, fridge etc that I don't need to have the propane on correct? Thanks again everyone!!

[Carl n Susan]

The Red Key does not disconnect all the 12V parasites. The inverter that feeds your residential refer has a separate disconnect near the batteries. The best way to disconnect power is to remove the Ground Cable from the battery. That way there is no 12V going anywhere.

You residential refer is electric only. A RV refer is electric and propane/12V

[BB_TX]

My .02 cents.

You can run one AC on a 20 amp home outlet. But pretty much nothing else at the same time. I have done it a number of times to cool the trailer. Not likely on a 15 amp outlet.

You can use one of the Y adapters to connect to 2 outlets to get extra power, ONLY IF neither of the outlets is a GFCI outlet. It will trip a GFCI outlet. And of course those 2 outlets must be on separate breakers.

And one thing I didn’t see mentioned. W I D E turns. A 5er turns more inside the track of the truck than a bumper pull. Make wide turns to avoid jumping curbs, or worse, scraping a fuel pump, power pole, or traffic sign. There is a reason semis have those WIDE TURN signs on the back.

[rames14]

Here is the Changing Lanes episode on moochdocking. You will see the video on using the Y cable.

https://youtu.be/80ZucqclD80

[Sean]

Originally Posted by rames14

Here is the Changing Lanes episode on moochdocking. You will see the video on using the Y cable.

https://youtu.be/80ZucqclD80

This was perfect! Thank you very much!

[RMcNeal]

Originally Posted by Sean

This was perfect! Thank you very much!

Just to add to that, Chad from Changing Lanes has some great videos about setup and tear down lists, safety, maintenance, etc. You may want to subscribe and watch several of his videos.
My daughter and her husband have been considering the travelling nurse route. They are currently in Charleston, SC. Both are nurses there, and my daughter is getting her masters so she can teach.
Good luck and safe travels.

[L0veless]

everyone has great input, couple simple things to add. when you start to set up check the interior sides on your slides. as you travel and things move around we have found a couple of times where stuff has dropped/fallen and would have been crushed deploying our slides. as mentioned the rally would be a great place to learn and experience.
happy travels and good luck.

[Zinnman]

Before we lover front jacks.
1) Determine if there is room for the slides.
2) Be certain my cord can reach the electrical box and the rear plug.
3) Note where my water and drain pipe are. Can those be reached?

All good.
1) Lower front jacks.
2) lower gate, unlock hitch, unplug power cord.
3) Pull truck out and hit the Magic button “Auto Level”.

While unit is leveling.
1) I plug in the Power protector unit.
2) Run cord to the back and plug in and then plug into the Surge protector.
Unit is now level
I continue the outside work and the wife goes in to do her items.

Outside
1) Hook up dual water valve to water source.
2) Note. At this point all my water source have quick connects. I attached the blue filter which has the water pressure regulator attached.
3) Attach my Zero G hose to the On the Go softener which is attached to my water in slot.
4) next the drain hose is laid out and hooked up. I do not use any of the drain hose supports.

The wife.
1) Puts the slides out
2) Makes sure water is flowing.
3) Turns on the hot water electric.
4) Turns on the heater or ac units as needed.
5) Makes the inside comfortable again.

Hope this helps, after a few campgrounds you’ll have a system that works for you.

[Sean]

UPDATE: successfully plugged into my dad's outlet with the split and everything seems to be running great! Can use both AC's, and I go through the process of starting the fans first for a minute and then the ac. No problems there! Tested my luck and was able to have all the lights, fire place, fridge, and TV on at the same time with no issues, but I don't plan on keeping all that on anyways, but just testing. But I've been told that a lot of those things will run off of the DC anyways? Before I plugged the 5th wheel in it showed that I had 11.6v of battery, but as soon as I plugged in it showed 13.7v. I'm assuming that means the battery is drawing energy to charge? Really appreciate everyone's help! And thank you for the routine ideas! It's helping us out big time!

[Annaoinga]

Congrats and welcome to the Montana family!

Join the Montana Owners FB group - tons of great folks and info! The National Rally would be a big help too - ladies driving class, etc.

Hope to meet you there.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Annaoinga

Congrats and welcome to the Montana family!

Join the Montana Owners FB group - tons of great folks and info! The National Rally would be a big help too - ladies driving class, etc.

Hope to meet you there.

Thank you! We really want to go to the rally!! But our honeymoon is during that time!

[DQDick]

One thing about the traveling nurse gig. Since we have full timed for over 11 years now we have several friends that do that. Like all employers there are good and bad situations out there. See if you can find some forum or facebook page where you can ask questions about jobs you are interested in and get feed back from those who have been there and done that.

[Maury]

I am sure you will receive a great deal of valuable suggestions. I would only add to you and all other rv'ers. No matter how friendly and welcoming you may be, do not talk with the owners of any rv either arriving or prior to leaving! My opinion is that most errors occur at this time.

[lj_cox]

Everyone has had great advice for you. My tidbits:

Make a checklist of everything you need to do to set up at a campsite on arrival, and to break down at a campsite when leaving. Add stuff that's important to you and tweak it until you're happy with it, then make a few copies for the tow vehicle and trailer. We always laminated one for in the truck. After a while you won't need the checklist unless you're doing each other's setup/teardown chores.

We have a few rules about RVing:

-If you can, don't travel when you're too tired. Every one of our major RV fubars have been due to being too tired, being distracted, or rushing too much.

-30 second rule: if concerned about something ("is the propane off?" "did I close the vent?") take 30 seconds to check it out. Might save you hours at the repair shop and if it's fine, well, it was only 30 seconds.

-If you get yourself badly aligned when parking, remember you can pull out and go around the campground loop if you need to. Sometimes it's easier to start fresh on backing into a site then to try to get out of a bad situation.

Enjoy your RV lifestyle; we love ours!

[Code80]

Welcome, folks are giving you a lot of good information. I'm going to add a couple of items. First a good 50 amp surge protector and if you can afford it one with voltage protection. Next dog bones I have s 50 to 30 and a 30 to 20. I also bought a trailer 50 amp that goes to a stubby120 Male that I use when plugged in at home. I have since added a 50 amp at the house. I do overkill but I carry the 50 amp line that came with pur unit but I also carry a 30 amp line. Next water hoses you need at least 2 one for fresh water, typically a white line and one for gray/black water clean out. I ask carry a spare white which I have had to use myself and once have one to another rver whose line blew. A pressure reducer and some extra washers. Buy a good black hose. I use gorilla but there are several different types out there just as good. Make sure you have the kit that keeps the hose off the ground, required at many campgrounds. I could go on, but I hjink you get the point we've been driving for 15+ years and always learn something on every travel. I going to mention that I store almost everything in my basement in those black and yellow contractor boxes. I bought 3 sizes at Costco and labeled them. In addition to the crap we carry I have one just for fresh water, one for black/gray water. One for electrical and one for small electrical i.e. cables, small cords, zip ties, etc. All on the convenience center side.

[Gubs]

Welcome and great info covered above, but most of all enjoy and be safe out there!! Have fun, enjoy your rig, if you don't know...ask, be careful and meet some really nice people on this forum and out there camping!!

[Buster and Sandra]

One thing I've seen asked over the years is about hooking up to and draining into septic systems. Do NOT leave your valves open while connected to the sewer systems! You will end up with the a poop pyramid in the black tank.

[steiny93]

Originally Posted by Buster and Sandra

One thing I've seen asked over the years is about hooking up to and draining into septic systems. Do NOT leave your valves open while connected to the sewer systems! You will end up with the a poop pyramid in the black tank.

yep,
Also, after dumping the black tank(s) we always add say 4 gallons of water to the tank, then when we are in transit the water sloshes around and keeps the black tank clean. Once in awhile I'll dump a bag of ice into the black tank, the ice add to the cleaning ability and melt to water before the next dump.


On the electrical topic, getting a 50amp service is really nice for extended stays. Operating off of a pair of 20 amps is a drag. If you have to run off of lower amperage use as much of the 50amp cord as possible (bigger cord less voltage loss due to distance). If you need to go 100ft, do 100ft of 50amp cord and just the dogbone of 20amp if possible as example.

[jeririgged223]

There really is no "right" order. It's all about making sure you get it all done.

Here's what I did when I first starting RVing.

Once your RV is set up, walk around it and in your head go thru ,the motions of dumping tanks, getting it disconnected from water, sewer and power, getting hooked up, jacks retracted, and driving away. Write it all down on paper, then tweak the order. Use that as a guide until it becomes habit.

Most important thing to remember, never drive off until you've double checked every step and then inspect your rig with a walk around at every stop.

[DebNJim B]

Originally Posted by jeririgged223

There really is no "right" order. It's all about making sure you get it all done.

Here's what I did when I first starting RVing.

Once your RV is set up, walk around it and in your head go thru ,the motions of dumping tanks, getting it disconnected from water, sewer and power, getting hooked up, jacks retracted, and driving away. Write it all down on paper, then tweak the order. Use that as a guide until it becomes habit.

Most important thing to remember, never drive off until you've double checked every step and then inspect your rig with a walk around at every stop.

Maybe the most important step. And always look up as you do this. I can't tell you how many times I have been ready to go only to see that an awning window is still open.
Also, with our first 5er, we literally "lived" in it for two weeks in the driveway even though we had been weekend pop up campers for years. This time we were going half time for a long period so we were essentially newbies. You currently have that same opportunity.