We left New Green Acres RV Park today at 10:15AM EDT after quite a bit of troubleshooting on the power feed from the RV to the Equinox when towing. We gathered some good data and even talked to the installer for a bit. We encountered very heavy stop and go traffic all along I-26 and then when we finally got on I-77 we got stuck behind a HUGE oversized load which had a police escort and was taking up both northbound lanes of the interstate. It would reach about 60MPH going down hills and as little as 15 going up hills. When it finally pulled off the interstate near Rock Hill, SC we saw that it had at least 16 axles on the trailer. It took us 4 hours to go 150 miles. We stopped at the North Carolina Welcome Center long enough to stretch our legs, eat some lunch, and run the Equinox engine in order to lubricate the transmission and charge the battery (which was down to 12.1V). During lunch I decided to pull the connection from the RV off at the Equinox battery. It went from 12.1V to 13.3V when I disconnected. At that point I knew we had good connectivity from the RV and the issue was probably the connection point. It was on the other side of a 250A fuse which I’m guessing does not allow current to pass back to the battery because it does not look like a normal fuse. I then connected it on the battery post side of the fuse and our voltage jumped up to 12.8V with the RV running. So we’re optimistic that the problem may be solved. We made it to the campground with plenty of battery. We stopped for fuel at a Sheetz in Mount Airy, NC.
In the good news department, the little 2.0L Inline 4 Twin Turbo in the Sprinter towed the Equinox through the hills of North Carolina and up and over Fancy Gap in Virginia quite admirably. Going South to North on I-77 over Fancy Gap is the steeper climb and although our speed dropped from 63MPH to 53MPH, it locked in at 53MPH and 3,000RPMs and climbed right over the long 8 mile haul. No rise in temperature and oil pressure remained the same the entire haul. In addition, we averaged 15.2MPG through the hills and mountains.
We arrived at Fort Chiswell RV Park at 5:15PM EDT and a very comfortable 78 degrees. We stayed here one other time in 2019. It’s a beautiful setting in a little valley between two cow and sheep covered hills.
| Device | Download Mbps | Upload Mbps |
|---|---|---|
| Campground Wi-Fi | n/a | n/a |
| Starlink | 68 | 12 |
| AT&T Hotspot | n/a | n/a |
| US Mobile – Brian (AT&T) | 39 | 3 |
| US Mobile – Beth (Verizon) | 399 | 26 |
| TV | Quality |
|---|---|
| Antenna | No Reception |
| Campground Cable | TBD |
| DISH Satellite | n/a |