Morelo Palace 2019 (5 Viewers)

[OurMoreloLife]

It's a worthwhile critique, I am sure the op did not recognize the owner was a member on here, compounded by my identification. There are many times on this forum and others where indiscreet references are posted, sometimes by the owners themselves telling the world that they are absent from their house. Unfortunately it's the downside of today's social media. Your point however is a timely reminder to all on here to be, shall we say more reverent.

So sorry if I didn't help that situation

Reverence it is from now on

 

[Margaritaman]

Sincere apologies to the owners of the Morelo seen at Seaburn. I posted my comments in innocence, out of admiration and knowing that there was an interest in this type of motorhome on this site.
I have reported my post.
Hope this helps.

They have not contacted me or discussed a change. Email on its way to them. Being honest I don’t really know enough about them to appreciate the difference. I am however impressed with the current mastervolt system. I shall let you know what they get back with.
Just as well we were not trying to be discreet, not just our reg posted but photographic evidence as well.

 

[OurMoreloLife]

It is Peter, in their generic form yes they both charge and they both invert at similar levels thats where it ends, battery wise their Lithium offering is much smaller and when you price up like for like there is no difference in price, and I do not know what the basis is for the guts but Mastervolt use Winston which are supposed to be one of the most bombproof. The sophistication of operation is a backward step; as far as I can see no digital programming of functions, limited remote displays, power assist is limited to 3 settings:- 3 amp, 6 amp and 10 amp. Only switchable from the inverter charger in the garage. No remote diagnostics and thats all I can glean from the web site, oh except no servicing dealers Europe wide! I am at the factory next week agreeing the final stuff and will see it but I am not hopeful. Even on the German Liner forum they are saying don't have it and force Morelo to install Mastervolt!

I had power problems during the summer; it stemmed mainly from behaving like you're at home when you're actually off-grid. It's so easy to just carry on like you have mains power when you don't. Anyway, the Mastervolt system dropped rapidly to 23% (screen backlight went red too which I hadn't seen before) overnight and then putting the electric kettle on in the morning made it crash to zero. We didn't notice much not working and were about to leave anyway so we set off.

We quickly saw that the radio and sat-nav wouldn't come on and thought that was strange but carried on a way. Arriving at a Peage to take a ticket, I quickly found that my drivers window wouldn't open. My partner went to get out of the main door and found the electric door lock wouldn't operate. She used the manual over-ride and then found the steps wouldn't work. Anyway, she reached out of a driver's side window and just about managed to recover the ticket so we could move away from the queue behind us (most embarrassing). After a short while we pulled into an Aire and I went to the electric locker to see what was going on and found the main surge protector had operated. I reset it and all systems started working - take note in case this happens to you. You would think that the windows and door/steps would have a back-up and be fed from the chassis battery in case that happened wouldn't you?

I have now purchased a small Honda EU-2200i dual fuel 2.2Kw generator and it fits perfectly into the gas bottles locker. It is surprisingly quiet - not that I would try to sleep with it running of course. We should have no more problems making a cuppa and charging the battery when off-grid in future!

Here it is; I have adapted it to run from the BBQ gas connector.
I bought this one from GearGB
rob@geargb.co.uk

01429 269757

www.geargb.co.uk

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[OurMoreloLife]

Here are some photos of my installation; the original grey one can be seen at the back (they even slope towards the front so that they drain and water out)

 

[sallylillian]

Here are some photos of my installation; the original grey one can be seen at the back (they even slope towards the front so that they drain and water out)
View attachment 254872 View attachment 254874

They look great, I shall come back to these.

 

[sallylillian]

Here it is; I have adapted it to run from the BBQ gas connector.
I bought this one from GearGB
rob@geargb.co.uk

01429 269757

www.geargb.co.uk

View attachment 254869

I did a similar thing to a Yamaha couple of years back, only used 2 or 3 times, but I always have it for those important occasions!

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[OurMoreloLife]

Lovely photo (proper bokeh too)

 

[OurMoreloLife]

we're like bloody twins aren't we?

 

[sallylillian]

we're like bloody twins aren't we?

I'm going to save my brain in future I'll just send you the problem and you can send me the solution.

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[OurMoreloLife]

Well I actually think we're about evens now buddy. I must admit to prefer to develop a solution than ask someone else to do it for me but I don't always get it right

 

[Southdowners]

We had a similar situation as you Peter. We got up one morning only to find the door, windows, etc wouldn't open. It turned out to be was a Mastervolt problem and we visited Concorde to get it reconfigured (we were in Germany at the time). Electrically controlled things are great until they fail!

We too have a Honda gas powered generator. We weren't too sure whether we'd need it - however, 2e've used it a number of times on our current trip to Norway - in fact it's on now. If you don't stay on sites (which we don't) in the autumn/winter I think its wise to have one.

 

[OurMoreloLife]

Thanks. It's so nice to know other people have the same issues that I have (so I can tell her "it's not me")!

Do you have it running at night? Suppose not right?

Have you any idea how much gas it uses per hour (I know it depends on the load but generally speaking)?

And how do you secure it? I have bought a 5m Abus 10mm thick plastic covered steel chord (pass one loop through the other and thought to secure it to a tree or so well away from the MH and thought to use a strong cycle D lock to lock it down.

And finally, when wild camping, how do you know where you are allowed to stay? or do you just stop somewhere nice and hope you don't get moved on?

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[Southdowners]

We only have it running when we're at the vehicle - so no need to secure it. Once finished charging we put it back in it's locker. We wouldn't have it running at night or if anyone was nearby. We generate about 10% in one hour. The gas usage is tiny - I don't know the figures but it is very, very little.

As for wild camping - it depends on the country. We're in Norway at the moment and its fine to park anywhere within reason. So, not near any dwelling place.. must be 150 yds away. I often use google maps satellite view to see any possible places as we're travelling (not if I'm driving of course!) - its surprising how detailed it can be. You start to get a sixth sense as to which look likely to be good stops. We've never yet been asked to move on but are always considerate and wouldn't stop near houses, etc. Of course you can never plan where you're going to stop and sometimes it may feel like you're not going to find anywhere suitable but we always find somewhere that we like. We never just park alongside a road or in a carpark, we like picturesque quiet places. We have found the most amazing s tops with a little patience.

We head for forests, waterside areas, wilderness areas, etc. We've also found unused jetties alongside fjords - it appears that quite a few fish processing plants have been abandoned here - they often have big jetties with good access and brilliant fishing opportunities as the water's always deep there.

We've been away more than eight weeks and only used sites twice, both times because we had to see a doctor because of injury - by the time we sorted ourselves out we had no other choice.

 

[Southdowners]

For ideas on wild camping in Spain take a look at Tam's blog.

 

[OurMoreloLife]

Wow, that sounds amazing and I get what you mean about a 6th sense, we have done that a little too. We found a great little place on Google maps near to a village called Cote in Oxfordshire and stayed there on a night away last winter. We always try to seek somewhere remote; what's the point of Asda's car park!!

Norway sounds amazing; I'd love to try it there but you do need a long time away I suppose.

Tam's blog is unknown to me. Would you have a link, please?

How powerful is your genny as 10% per hour seems quite slow (although I have no idea how long it would take to recharge my battery from it) Our's is 2.2Kw

Hope you're recovered from your injury and well rested

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[Southdowners]

Perhaps 'blog' is incorrect... its a thread titled 'Tam, Jade and Franky's Europen Adventure' that Tam began months ago in which he posts photos and documents his travels. Its very interesting - just go to recent and it will come up.

You do need a long time to travel to Norway. We're both retired now - my husband retired this April but still does consultancy work. As long as he has an internet connection he can work from the motorhome. I have to say that even in deepest, darkest Norway we've had a brilliant internet connection.

We have open ended travel plans. We'll probably stay in Norway until the snows come and then head to Finland then Sweden. Neither of us fancies driving on Norwegian roads in the snow... they're bad enough when you can see the potholes, missing bits, gullies and rocks! The snow will obviously get very deep as there's poles to mark the edges of the road so you don't go over the edge - which could be fatal given the location of some of the roads. Apparently the roads in Finland and Sweden are better... covered in snow but better - which is fine.

Our generator is a Honda EU22i low noise 2.2kw LPG suitcase one. I don't know how other generators compare. Have you not used yours yet? I'd be interested to know how quickly yours charges. It was perhaps a bit of a crude estimation on my part - when I said 10% I meant that to charge from 70% to 80% it took one hour (we don't let ours go down much below 70%). If the starting position was down at 35% the input in percentage terms would be far greater.

My ankle is getting better now thanks - I went out on my bike for the first time yesterday and have done a bit of walking with the aid of a stick. Its been 7 weeks today since I had my close cow encounter! Thanks to folk on here I was given exercise advice and as a consequence I'm quite adept at writing the alphabet with my foot now!

 

[OurMoreloLife]

Ha, ha! That's funny. At least if you can't get out because of the snow, you could do foot art paintings!

We have an online business and plan to operate from our MH too so very similar. I would have thought you'd head south to the warmer weather for the winter (like the birds do). We plan to go full time next year sometime and certainly love the idea of heading to Scandinavia; I've never been that way but did Iceland 2 years ago (with a car) which I loved.

I haven't used our genny for real; tested it on petrol and gas and was impressed how low the noise levels are, it's the same one as you have. Seems like our setup is very similar too. Do you know if your MH engine alternator charges your Mastervolt system? I don't think ours is doing so at the moment and need to find out why that might be. We have 480W of solar but that's next to useless unless its really sunny and takes ages to charge the lithium battery.

Good to hear your ankle is getting better. I'll check out Tam's thread too, many thanks

 

[sallylillian]

Ha, ha! That's funny. At least if you can't get out because of the snow, you could do foot art paintings!

We have an online business and plan to operate from our MH too so very similar. I would have thought you'd head south to the warmer weather for the winter (like the birds do). We plan to go full time next year sometime and certainly love the idea of heading to Scandinavia; I've never been that way but did Iceland 2 years ago (with a car) which I loved.

I haven't used our genny for real; tested it on petrol and gas and was impressed how low the noise levels are, it's the same one as you have. Seems like our setup is very similar too. Do you know if your MH engine alternator charges your Mastervolt system? I don't think ours is doing so at the moment and need to find out why that might be. We have 480W of solar but that's next to useless unless its really sunny and takes ages to charge the lithium battery.

Good to hear your ankle is getting better. I'll check out Tam's thread too, many thanks

It will be the smart alternator, go to Iveco and ask them to switch it off, it will cost about £100. Covered on here a few years back, @funflair Martin will have all the links I am sure.

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[Southdowners]

Yes, foot-art or foo-tart... could be a winner! I'll have to get my paints out and give it a try

We're not full-timers in the sense that we still have our home in the UK and will return there for Christmas but may possibly think of renting it out if we want to travel further afield. Its nice to have choices. I think its very brave of people to sell up and go full-time. We knew of a couple who did just that and bought a massive American RV. I'm not sure I'd like to burn my bridges to that extent. Will you still have your home or will you sell up?

I know a lot of folk go south for the winter and it maybe something we'll try. We went to Portugal last year and really enjoyed our time there so that may be a possibility.

As to your question - as far as I know, the alternator charges the leisure batteries after it has charged the vehicle battery. The Mastervolt system is the control unit.

 

[funflair]

It will be the smart alternator, go to Iveco and ask them to switch it off, it will cost about £100. Covered on here a few years back, @funflair Martin will have all the links I am sure.

I like your confidence Michael, I believe that somebody asked the question at Concorde and the answer was that the Smart features of the alternator had been turned off, Oops sorry its @OurMoreloLife so of course not a Concorde, if there is some doubt as to wether the alternator is smart or not it might be worth sending somebody to look at the control panel when the vehicle is being driven and see if power/amps are going into the leisure batteries from the alternator, the smart alternator would charge on overrun/off throttle phase but not during the power or on throttle phase, this "smart feature" can be disabled to make it work like a standard alternator. Our friends with a Morelo loft say that they are OK but always worth the check.

Martin

 

[OurMoreloLife]

I agree, choices are nice to have. We plan to rent the house out (we have another already rented out). We will retain at least one property in the UK until we find a dream home abroad at which point we will sell up in the UK and move out most likely.

My friend was in Portugal (not in a MH) for his holiday and loved it; he said you should go there in your bus!

As for the alternator charing, I did run the engine and saw it showed power on the main panel but it either isn't the correct indicator or is so slow it's useless (but I paid for a larger alternator to be able to charge the lithium battery) so it should be fine. I spoke to my man here about checking the status of the Smart Alternator as advised by Michael however he doesn't have the software to be able to do it, so a trip to Iveco is on the cards. We're off to France next week so will look again at what's happening whilst driving along rather than sat still.

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[Southdowners]

Checking out properties abroad whilst travelling sounds like a good plan. There's nothing like actually living in a place for a while, even for a relatively short time, before buying a property and a motorhome gives you that opportunity.

Hope your French trip goes well!

 

[OurMoreloLife]

Ah, thank you.

Loading up last night, I went to open the freezer (Dometic 8555) and the catch won't release the damned door! Looked for a fix on here and although others have had this problem there isn't enough clarity on the solution for me to give it a go. I have used the frame heater for 4 hours abut I know it isn't frozen as I can feel the door stuck on the latch. The guidance says remove the front door panel but doesn't say how. I'll take it into a service centre on Monday I think.

I also have a strange sounding "beeper" that comes on when I stop (say at traffic lights) and then pull away. It is the VB air suspension for sure but no idea why it's doing it. I'll have them check this out too I think

 

[sallylillian]

Ah, thank you.

Loading up last night, I went to open the freezer (Dometic 8555) and the catch won't release the damned door! Looked for a fix on here and although others have had this problem there isn't enough clarity on the solution for me to give it a go. I have used the frame heater for 4 hours abut I know it isn't frozen as I can feel the door stuck on the latch. The guidance says remove the front door panel but doesn't say how. I'll take it into a service centre on Monday I think.

I also have a strange sounding "beeper" that comes on when I stop (say at traffic lights) and then pull away. It is the VB air suspension for sure but no idea why it's doing it. I'll have them check this out too I think

You sort of squeeze the plastic panel from the 2 vertical sides and it pops out. We have had this and I managed to get it open and then got a hairdryer on it, loads of water then melts out!

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[jongood]

I wonder if the mirrorless option will make it to Motorhomes? What do you think Michael @sallylillian

 

[Southdowners]

I also have a strange sounding "beeper" that comes on when I stop (say at traffic lights) and then pull away. It is the VB air suspension for sure but no idea why it's doing it. I'll have them check this out too I think

Is it a series of beeps?

When we raise ours, say to get on/off ferries, then drive off the suspension lowers itself as we drive and when doing so emits a series of beeps.

Is it possible that your air suspension is raising or lowering when you stop and then when you drive off beeping as it gets back to level position?

 

[sallylillian]

I wonder if the mirrorless option will make it to Motorhomes? What do you think Michael @sallylillian

View attachment 255637

An option has been around for some time in the US RV market, Velvac had a couple, they were monitors in side mirrors displaying rear view camera if I remember correctly, so the best of both worlds personally no mirrors would do my head in!

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[OurMoreloLife]

You sort of squeeze the plastic panel from the 2 vertical sides and it pops out. We have had this and I managed to get it open and then got a hairdryer on it, loads of water then melts out!

Thanks for that; I'll give it try now

 

[OurMoreloLife]

Is it a series of beeps?

When we raise ours, say to get on/off ferries, then drive off the suspension lowers itself as we drive and when doing so emits a series of beeps.

Is it possible that your air suspension is raising or lowering when you stop and then when you drive off beeping as it gets back to level position?

It is possible this is what's happening but why would it do that? It is one continuous beep lasting about a minute and all the lights on the hand-held remote were off (well they were yesterday when I looked when it was beeping). I tried to see if there was a light or something showing a fault on the remote, but none were visible. When I take it in tomorrow to have the freezer door looked at I'll ask them about it.

Thanks for assisting, I really appreciate it. That's why I really like this forum as there's always someone knowledgeable prepared to help others

 

[stewartwebr]

We have the same issue Peter. Seems to come on when stopping at lights or on moving away at roundabouts. The handheld gives no visual indication of fault by means of any lights. We did have a situation where it alarmed but it did not silence. It stayed on continuesly. I rang Mick at SAP and he was happy nothing serious had happened because no lights were on on the hand unit. Luckily we were only 70 miles from Doncaster so we drove direct to SAP.
Mick identified the issue was with the front left limit switch. If you look at your front wheels you will see the switch with a piece of 8mm screwed rod attached to it (think it’s 8mm) dependant on the level of the wheel in relation to the switch the screwed rod pushes the switch through an axes.
Mick found our switch had flipped 180 degrees. He thought it may be down to the E&P raising the van high enough for it to flip over. He put it back into the correct position and the fault cleared. I have not raised the intermittent issue with him as in my mind I assumed it was perhaps the compressor was not quick enough to maintain the level.
I shall drop Mick an email to see what he can advise.

Seems a few of us are having the same issue.

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