Power Wagon Registry

The Forest River RPod 178 HRE we just purchased has an exterior plug for solar panels. It's set up for Zamp Solar, and is shown as a proprietary plug. After closer inspection, it's a standard SAE two pin flat connector - with one exception. It's reversed. The simple solution was to swap leads on the battery. Now any standard two pin connector works fine. Plugged in the 100W Renogy suitcase system and all is good.

Mark

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Picture of said connectors?

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This is the connector:

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Trailer connector:

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Thats the very same one we use to bypass the winch thermal protection switch. I have quite a few different connectors and was going to see if I had one to fit but it seems it was a simple fix for you.

Yup, works like a charm. The panel is putting out 5.1A as I type this from our campsite.

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Cool, I also bought an RPod last fall, and was wondering where to find the zamp connector. Thanks! I think my solar panel is 123 watts, I'm hoping it will keep the trailer going for a few days.

The wiring was labeled on ours, so that made it easy to figure it out. Even if it isn't, the Zamp leads are much small gage wire than the trailer wiring.

I also added a knife switch to the trailer negative to kill the power so the inverter is off when stored between uses. That should keep the batteries charged.

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Can I be allowed the indiscretion to ask what the price was for you guys> I just have to know what price these are really going for. I see them on line for anywhere from $20,995 to as low as $13,995 for a new 178 or 179. I'm leaning in the direction of the 179 but just can't justify new @ $15,995 ... the current sale price here in Tucson. Seems too high a price to me but possibly I have been out of the retail loop so long I'm just dealing with sticker shock. Been dealing with my home project and quite literally buying nothing but food, labor and building materials.

Just curious as to why you both chose the 178 over the 179 floor plan. The salesman said you can't put a regular awning on these due to the curved shape and nothing to attach one to.

PS: I'm really leaning to an AR One 18 QB or an R Pod 179 but just can't justify the coin at the moment. We really want a trailer to stay in on our property for weekends we work up there and it would double for getaways too.


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Cactus Red I am curious on what you think of the LED interior lighting, My Rpod is a 2011 and it came with incandescent lights , I switched the incandescent for led bulbs . I stopped by the dealer and looked at a 2015 and the LED lighting appears to have 9 led's per light , they never had any power to their trailers so I couldn't see how the lights performed. I have contacted Forest River to see if I can purchase the new style for my trailer.
We may need to set up a get together for PW with RPOD's since their are quite a few of us who run that combo.

TheDirtRoad wrote:Cactus Red I am curious on what you think of the LED interior lighting, My Rpod is a 2011 and it came with incandescent lights , I switched the incandescent for led bulbs . I stopped by the dealer and looked at a 2015 and the LED lighting appears to have 9 led's per light , they never had any power to their trailers so I couldn't see how the lights performed. I have contacted Forest River to see if I can purchase the new style for my trailer.
We may need to set up a get together for PW with RPOD's since their are quite a few of us who run that combo.

The ones I checked had power and they were bright enough that I could tell when they were on or off in the noon day sun. They are not warm color they are an intense bright white (no warm glow). I want to try to find a 2010 or 11 to see if i can get it to where i can justify the cost. However depending on length of the loan and credit rating the new one gets either 1.9% or 2.9% interest incentives. My Credit Union is 3.9%.


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Yup, the lights are awesome. Way superior to the LED's I retrofitted to the previous trailer.

KP we settled at $19.5 with a 30lb propane tank vs the stock 20. List was $22,930.00. The dealer had a total of 2 RPods - both 178's. So, that made the choice easy...

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Cactus Red wrote:Yup, the lights are awesome. Way superior to the LED's I retrofitted to the previous trailer.

KP we settled at $19.5 with a 30lb propane tank vs the stock 20. List was $22,930.00. The dealer had a total of 2 RPods - both 178's. So, that made the choice easy...

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

30lb tank is good.

Wow, I've been under a proverbial rock LOL
The one on sale down here is bare bones (no AC even)

What options did your have?

1) R-dome awning with screen room 20 lb
2) Convection microwave 51 lb
3) 13.5 K BTU low profile air conditioner 95 lb
4) Axle riser 20 lb
5) Bike carrier (2 bikes) 13 lb
6) 19″ LCD flat screen TV (STD. RP-181G, RP-182G) 15 lb

AC, microwave, TV, lift and 235/75-15 MT tires (Hood River Edition). It needs a rear bumper big time. Should be a fun project to fab up one. The spare tire is carried via a mini receiver hitch, and that has to be redone as well. Too sloppy for my tastes.

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

I paid right at $20,000 including tax and license for my 179 Hood River Edition. The price included a second battery, a 120 watt Zamp Solar Panel, they plumbed a quick connect gas line on the exterior for my Camp Chef stove and added an exterior 12v outlet for my Engel fridge. The trailer had all the options, roof AC, TV, microwave, etc. We went with the 179 because we liked the layout with the kitchen near the rear door and the couch slide out. We took the table out of the trailer. If you want a nice awning, look at Pahque's website. Tom's Camperland was great to work with and has a lot of inventory. They specialize in small trailers and truck campers.

I'm looking to find either a R Pod 179 or a AR One 18QB but used. I just can't do that much at the moment, so I will keep a lookout for one. But I sure am tempted to just go for new

We averaged 6.4 mpg from here to William's on Saturday. Pulled it at 65 to 70 mph on Hwy 89 and I-40, mostly in 3rd gear, some in second at 5500 rpm. The elevation gain is from 4600' to 7200' in 60 miles or so, but the Ashfork to William's grade is the majority of it. That poor a figure surprised me ...

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Cactus Red wrote:We averaged 6.4 mpg from here to William's on Saturday. Pulled it at 65 to 70 mph on Hwy 89 and I-40, mostly in 3rd gear, some in second at 5500 rpm. The elevation gain is from 4600' to 7200' in 60 miles or so, but the Ashfork to William's grade is the majority of it. That poor a figure surprised me ...

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Wow 6.4 is brutal! I would have expected better with the teardrop shape.

azracer wrote:I'm looking to find either a R Pod 179 or a AR One 18QB but used. I just can't do that much at the moment, so I will keep a lookout for one. But I sure am tempted to just go for new

You may also want to check out Jayco's Baja line. They have the Baja line in a pop up, but also in a hard sided..... I think the hard sided is the Jayco Baja Swift. I was seeing them advertised new at around $14K. Here is a link: http://www.affinityrv.com/rv/prescott+a ... wift+185rb This dealer is up by Cactus Red

I live in Saskatchewan, had a buddy forward me to Jeff couch's RV nation in Columbus, Ohio, I bought a 21g(I think, will have to check later) it has bunk beds for the kids and the "garage" in the back with the sink/bbq/tv/etc. I Special ordered it last August with every option available, they couldn't do the hood river edition because it is a western continent only option. It is the new green color, and was supposedly the first new style R pod in Canada, haha. I think I only paid about 15k? I will have to confirm that though. I thought they were awesome to deal with, I can find the guys name if u want. I know that my cost was under 20k(canadian) after the exchange, tax, delivery, importation etc.

cell4soul wrote:You may also want to check out Jayco's Baja line. They have the Baja line in a pop up, but also in a hard sided..... I think the hard sided is the Jayco Baja Swift. I was seeing them advertised new at around $14K. Here is a link: http://www.affinityrv.com/rv/prescott+a ... wift+185rb This dealer is up by Cactus Red

We found the build quality of the JayCo 195RB Baja we looked at to be very poor. Huge gaps in cabinetry was the major problem - if they don't take pride on the interior build, what's it like where you can't see it?

Cactus Red wrote:

cell4soul wrote:You may also want to check out Jayco's Baja line. They have the Baja line in a pop up, but also in a hard sided..... I think the hard sided is the Jayco Baja Swift. I was seeing them advertised new at around $14K. Here is a link: http://www.affinityrv.com/rv/prescott+a ... wift+185rb This dealer is up by Cactus Red

We found the build quality of the JayCo 195RB Baja we looked at to be very poor. Huge gaps in cabinetry was the major problem - if they don't take pride on the interior build, what's it like where you can't see it?

X2 I was very put off by the fit and finish on the one we looked at (195RB). The Lance 1895 however impressed me but so did the price.

I'm going to suspend our search for now, as we just can't justify the coin while we are trying so hard to save for the next phase of our home @$45,000. We are pinching pennies and thought I could justify $160 a month for something we will use 3 nights a week to avoid the multiple 65 mile round trip drive in the PW to and from the home site. We may look at doing a trailer later but I'm just not ready to drop that kind of coin when we are this close to our goals. We really want/need a break, we just have to figure out the best way to do that without disrupting the overall plan. We may just take a week and do the tent thing for a getaway. We shall see.

I think this forum is a bad influence on us. We were toying with the trailer idea but only really got serious when we looked at what you guys are up to

Cactus Red wrote:

cell4soul wrote:You may also want to check out Jayco's Baja line. They have the Baja line in a pop up, but also in a hard sided..... I think the hard sided is the Jayco Baja Swift. I was seeing them advertised new at around $14K. Here is a link: http://www.affinityrv.com/rv/prescott+a ... wift+185rb This dealer is up by Cactus Red

We found the build quality of the JayCo 195RB Baja we looked at to be very poor. Huge gaps in cabinetry was the major problem - if they don't take pride on the interior build, what's it like where you can't see it?

Good to know. We never actually looked at the Jayco because we really liked the R-Pod, so sounds like we made the right choice.

Kind of off topic but since we are talking campers. Anyone ever seen one of these in action? lifted with 15" AT tires and black diamond plate front got my attention. It's called the StarCraft AR-One 15RB Extreme for around 18k. Nice!

Twinstick just ordered one, but an 18.