I've installed LED lights in my '02 RoadTrek to replace all of the interior 1156/1157 bulbs I could get at. I also replaced the porch light with an LED and bought a blade style LED for the over the cooktop range light. All work well, and draw very little.
Pricey though (about $12-14 each), but they're supposed to last a long time.
I've got all 3 detectors (CO, propane, smoke) factory installed. The s/d runs off batteries so it's on all the time
and the other 2 run off coach power, so they run when needed (when you're actually using propane or potentially
generating CO).
I've got a handheld voltage meter, and the 2 pressure gauges (water/tire) you mentioned as well.
I also carry a crank style flashlight which works well, in case we need to exit the van after dark in a campground,
as we use their facilities when we stay at a State/Provincial Park or National Park/Forest/Shoreline/Rec Area.
If you're planning to travel in the US at all, you might consider purchasing a NPS annual pass for your rig.
They're US $85 and are good for all the NPS and most LMB run parks and locations for one year.We've used ours
to get into a lot of the places we've been. Many of these places charge as much as $25 per day to get in. We figure ours
has reduced our costs per entry to around $3-4/day.
For US State Parks we just pay as we play.
Another useful tip for US travel. If you like to check email and surf while on the road, get a Starbucks card.
We were always looking for free wifi hotspots on the road our first 2 times out last year. You could find them, but many
were actually pay per use, and you either needed an account with the ISP, like AT&T, or a loyalty card at the business, like
McDonalds. Starbucks has a 2 hours/day wifi usage with their cards. The card has a minimum load of $5 and you only have to buy a coffee with it or add funds once a month. We gave in and got one in Texas last month and used it after the halfway point of our trip. When we got back to Canada, we found out it does work up here as well. So that's our mobile internet ISP when we're on the road now, for $5/month. Not free, but we think it's as good as it gets.
While not absolutely necessary, we also carry a small pair of binoculars (they're handy for reading signage from a ways
back, like if you're approaching a toll booth and they don't post how much it is before you get there). They're also handy
for other signage issues, or just for being nosey (just joking
).
I added a CB radio last year for emergencies (you're not always near a cell tower out there, but you can almost always talk to a trucker), and traffic jam info (again, usually from trucks that are in it or just passing it), and just for listening to the idle banter between truckers.
We don't have a built in inverter, so I added a cig lighter plug in model from Canadian Tire C$35, to recharge our cell phones and other 110VAC devices from the coach batteries while we're driving. It has built in low battery shut off and fault sensing, so it shouldn't drain us if we forget to unplug it (we hope). I also keep our battery cables in the back of the RV, just in case.
I also carry a small assortment of tools including vice grips, needle nose pliers, hammer, screw drivers, sockets/ratchet drive, and spare odds and ends including glass and blade style fuses, and of course, duct tape. Again, just in case.
Assuming you have a TV, you'll need a digital converter if you plan to use it anywhere in the US. They're available at
a few places now. Best Buy has one for C$99 and Tiger Direct has the one I got (Artec T3AP) for C$49. There's a thread
on this forum describing my trials and tribs getting it (and the LEDs) in, as well as a step by step on how to install one.
We also carry an assortment of cleaning supplies including paper towels, baby wipes (great for dusting or just to clean your hands), Windex, and a small vacuum cleaner to suck up dirt and sand and anything else that winds up on the carpet. Ours isn't the best one available, but it runs off 12V and it works reasonably well. I'm still looking for a better option. I also have a small bucket, a long handled soft wash brush, and a long handled squeegee with scrub webbing on the sponge. For hard to reach places. After a long drive, I try to get the bugs off asap, but I'm not always successful. There's a thread on here about what folks use to get their bugs off. I'll need to visit it later as my van still has some insect debris on it from our last trip.
That's about all I can think of right now, that we take with us to make life easier.
Mike.
New to a "B"!
but it is a wise thing to do.
)
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