Tsk2 - RV Books

CMB

The Caravan & Motorhome Book was first published in 2002. It was updated seven times and totally rewritten in 2012. The book covers every conceivable aspect of campervan and motorhome usage.

It was initially conceived during the author's epic trans-Africa trip that included two Sahara crossings. It takes in experience gained during author (Collyn Rivers) plus twelve return trips across the centre of Australia from Broome to the east coast and back (24 journeys - each of 7000 km plus) in his converted OKA ex-mining truck. He and his wife (Maarit) did three more (return) in their 4.2 litre Nissan Patrol and Tvan.

The author's caravanning experience includes towing a 40 year old travel trailer from Helsinki (Finland) to the 700 km north of the Arctic Circle.

The Caravan & Motorhome Book is also aided by the author being an ex motor industry research engineer. He later switched careers to become a technical author and publisher.

Paperback version

The book retailers set their own prices which can vary substantially. We'll aim to keep a selection of the better prices below.

Any bookshop, whether online or bricks and mortar, can order copies of The Caravan & Motorhome Book. Just ask, ISBN: 978‑0‑6487945‑5‑4.

Electronic versions:

The Caravan & Motorhome Book is currently available for Kindle. Members of Kindle Unlimited can read the Kindle version for free. If you would like this book to be available for other readers please contact RV Books.

Please send feedback about the book. And please review the book once you've read it.

CME

Caravan and Motorhome Electrics, in its fourth edition, is intended primarily for buyers, owners, designers and builders of camper trailers, holiday and other cabins, fifth wheel and conventional travel trailers, camper vans, and motorhomes. It also bridges the still existing gap between the auto-electrical and alternative energy disciplines.

It provides an insight into major components such as alternators, regulators, batteries and their charging and monitoring, solar energy and motor-generators. It explains why solar modules are rated as they are - and what they really produce. It warns of unrealistic expectations, such as using electric stoves and air-conditioning away from mains power and/or power from large motor-generators. It shows how to dramatically improve charging performance, successfully install solar, and reduce energy draw of electric (especially) three-way fridges.

In essence Caravan and Motorhome Electrics shows how to design affordable systems that really do work, how to install them and how to identify, understand and (often) fix anything that does not work as it should.

While RV electrical systems are not overly complex, competent installation and service, particularly for the increasing number of RVs with solar, can still be hard to find. Caravan and Motorhome Electrics’ content therefore includes the installation and rectification of solar systems: this is increasingly necessary, not least as solar technician training does not include vehicle charging systems. Nor do auto-electrical courses cover RV electrics, let alone solar. In most recreational vehicles these systems interact and the general lack of such training leads to many RVs having system problems reported by many owners as being hard to identify and repair.

As with all Collyn’s books, the content is thoroughly researched, technically accurate, yet in plain English, plus explanatory illustrations, many of the author’s own vehicles.

The author’s background includes automobile research, electronics and large scale magazine publishing (including founding the world’s largest electronics magazine). He was technical editor of Australia’s The Bulletin magazine in the 1980s – and has supplied Tech Notes to The Wanderer for over 15 years.

Paperback version

The book retailers set their own prices which can vary substantially. We'll aim to keep a selection of the better prices below.

Any bookshop, whether online or bricks and mortar, can order copies of Caravan and Motorhome Electrics. Just ask, ISBN: 978-0-6483190-8-5

Fishpond

Amazon Australia

Blackwells (UK)

Electronic versions:

Caravan & Motorhome Electrics is available in a variety of formats to suite a wide variety of eReaders. Clicking on the option that suits your device will take you away from this site to the appropriate bookseller.

Please send feedback about the book. And please review the book once you've read it.

SRW

RV Solar is a subject that increasingly interests, yet one about which competent independent advice is difficult to obtain.

Collyn Rivers totally revised new edition of his earlier and separate travel trailer and motorhome editions of Solar That Really Works! fills a previously all but unexplored need. In one tightly written book, Collyn covers all that is needed to design and install RV solar electrical systems in anything from a tiny travel trailer or campervan to a large fishing lodge. Along the way it takes in the specialised needs of big converted coaches and the increasingly accepted fifth-wheeler travel trailers.

Solar That Really Works! covers just what can and cannot realistically be run from a typical RV solar installation. It shows how to calculate the energy required, shows simple ways of finding out the most probable solar energy available anywhere and anytime in Australia and New Zealand. It shows also how much solar panels really do produce.

The book also includes full and often illustrated instructions on how to install systems and their various components.

As with Collyn’s books generally, the writer leaves nothing that the reader is expected to take on trust. He not only explains, in simple English, the ‘how’ of things, he also explains the ‘whys’. Here, for the first time for many people (including equipment vendors) is why a solar panel typically produces only 70% of what it says on the box. And why this one especially catches out even science teachers.

Solar That Really Works! also introduces the author’s totally new approach to choosing the correct cable size without the need for often misleading and complex wire tables.

Paperback version

The book retailers set their own prices which can vary substantially. We'll aim to keep a selection of the better prices below.

Any bookshop, whether online or bricks and mortar, can order copies of Solar That Really Works! Just ask, ISBN: 978-0-6483190-3-0

Amazon Australia

Fishpond

Blackwells (UK)

Electronic versions:

Solar That Really Works! is available in a variety of formats to suite a wide variety of eReaders. Clicking on the option that suits your device will take you away from this site to the appropriate bookseller.

Kindle

Nook

Please send feedback about the book. And please review the book once you've read it.

Roll

Travel trailers and their tow vehicles rarely jack-knife and roll over – but when they do the results are catastrophic. The cause, and how to prevent it, is explained here in plain English.

The issue is not how your rig behaves in normal driving. It is what it will do in a strong emergency swerve, or hit by strong high side wind at speed.

What happens is this. All motor vehicles are designed to automatically turn slightly away from disturbing forces. This also keeps them straight on cambered roads. This effect, called understeer, is totally vital for any vehicle towing a trailer via a tow hitch that is behind that tow vehicle’s rear axle.

When a tow vehicle yaws (sways) hitch overhang causes the trailer to yaw in the opposite direction. This causes (not just permits) the tow vehicle to yaw in the opposite direction. Minimising that overhang assists but the issue is inherent. If that rig yaws strongly at speed that vital margin of understeer is lost. The rig is then all-but certain to jack-knife and likely overturn.

Totally known and long understood causes of reduced understeer include overloading, incorrect tyre pressures, overly-corrected weight distributing hitches, too-heavy tow loads etc.

Also important is the ratio of laden tow vehicle weight to laden trailer weight, and how that trailer is designed and laden. Tow ball mass too is vital – 10% of laden travel trailer weight is really needed and must stay reasonably constant. Overturning rarely has one single cause, but several minor ones that interact.

Why Caravans Roll Over – and how to prevent it explains all in truly plain English. It even includes a simple way of assessing the likely stability of your own – and what you can do to make it very much safer.

Paperback version

The book retailers set their own prices which can vary substantially. We'll aim to keep a selection of the better prices below.

Any bookshop, whether online or bricks and mortar, can order copies of Why Caravans Roll Over. Just ask, ISBN: 978-0-6483190-6-1

Fishpond

Amazon Australia

Blackwells (UK)

Electronic versions:

Why Caravans Roll Over – and how to prevent it is currently available for Kindle. Members of Kindle Unlimited can read the Kindle version for free. If you would like this book to be available for other readers please contact RV Books.

Other eReaders (Booktopia)

Please send feedback about the book. And please review the book once you've read it.

CBRV

cbrv

This book explains how to design and build solar powered home and property systems that ensure affordable solar success first and every time.

Solar Success stresses the need to reduce what one uses unnecessarily. This should be done before thinking about generating more. This can be achieved by three associated and cheap approaches:

Reducing energy usage by doing things differently
Reducing energy by using more energy-efficient appliances
Change the supply of energy to non-fossil fuels through appropriate technology

The solar power required is there. It is 7000 times more energy than the world currently uses. It makes every sense to use it. Countries worldwide increasingly do.

Solar power from solar modules

Solar power is also affordable. Australia’s solar take-up is high in rural areas that lack grid-connection. Sales of grid-connect systems are now booming as electricity cost escalates. This is despite low rebates for energy fed back.

Solar Power – minimise usage first

Solar Success highlights that your planned solar capacity should be based on what electricity usage should be. Not what it is right now. It shows how to reduce that usage easily and at little cost. The book has many examples of savings of 50% or more. You need to do this yourself. Suppliers may advise replacing light globes by LEDs. Few, however, do more than this, it is not their role. Where rebates apply, they must base recommendations on current usage. Not what it might be later on. This can result in systems larger and costlier than necessary. Knowing what is practicable solar-wise enables readers to evaluate that offered. And to have an educated say in the decisions. If you plan to design and install a (stand-alone) system yourself, Solar Success shows how. And also to avoid traps. However you finance it, and no matter where/how you live, follow the guidelines. By doing so, you will have an economic system. It will supply clean and reliable power for years to come.

Solar Power – a guide to follow

Solar Success is intended as a guide to follow. It is not a mass of things to remember. As with Solar That Really Works! (for cabins and RVs) and Caravan & Motorhome Electrics it is widely used as a trade text. Nevertheless, that is not its main intent. The first part of the book is about slashing existing usage. It shows how, without prejudicing convenience. Most topics are first covered generally. Then as hands-on installation. I use mostly plain English, but sometimes need technical terms to avoid confusion. All such terms are thus defined. Where possible I avoid using conventional electrical symbols. They are meaningless to most readers. I refer to mains (grid) power as 230 volts because that is the norm in most of Australia. Many other parts of the world use 220/230 volts. North America uses 110 and 220 volts.

Walking the walk

We really do walk the walk! Our original self-designed and self-installed system on our 10-acre property in the Kimberley exemplifies what is set out in this book. The entire home and property are 100% solar. Furthermore, that solar power has worked superbly for the better part of a now 17 years. Even the 31,000-litre swimming pool runs from solar power. Our current all solar house overlooking Pittwater (Sydney) uses less than half that typical for its size. We retain grid power (as a ‘virtual battery’) but use next to none. Our previously owned vehicles: a 1971 WVW Kombi, an OKA, a Nissan 4.2 litre TD Patrol Tvan camper trailer – all likewise had solar powered appliances. Solar Success and Solar That Really Works! sell worldwide. They save buyers many times their cost.

Electronic versions:

Solar Success is currently only available for Kindle. It will become available for other readers in the future. If you would like a particular version to be available please let us know on the Contact Us page.

Other eReaders (Booktopia)

Paperback version:

Any bookshop, whether online or bricks and mortar, can order copies of Solar Success. Just ask and quote ISBN: 978-0-6487945-4-7.