Seneca Modifications

[Rustynuts]

Today I cut an 8” access hole so I could get in behind the water heater to insulate the pipes for winter camping. Insulted all the other exposed pipes last year and had the cold feed line to the HW heater freeze but with no damage and just running the genny in the next compartment thawed it. Mow I can get in there and finish the job.

A mod I did a while back and forgot to post about is the conduit that supplies the min slide and moves in and out with the slide. Mine were very loose and dropped as the slide went in and if anything was in the way it would catch it and push it.....Very poor design IMO. I made a bracket and welded on one half of a split collar to it, then the bracket was secured to an Accuride linear motion track bearin and track system and secured to the bottom of the floor. Now the conduits ride on the rail all the way in and out keeping them tight to the ceiling. I had more pics of the bracket and assembly but can’t find them but here are a couple installed pics.

[RVermont]

Here is what happens if the conduits moves and get jammed against something. In this case it hit my air dryer. When I replaced the conduit I shortened the conduit by almost a foot to reduce the weight on the end and made a bracket to keep both of the conduits moving together. I also secured and stabilized the wire looms so they stopped getting tangled in and around the batteries. I was going to use a rod and attach the cabling to the ceiling with several hangers but i think I will look at the system you used.

My water pump started to fail last week so when I tore the bay apart I took the opportunity to relocate the pump and the water filter. The pump was in a location that was virtually impossible to get to without removing the manifold.

Now the filter and the pump are easily serviced. I still have to add a plate behind the filter and clean up the wiring with wire ties but it is.much easier access now.

[Roundtowner]

Can share your modification on the rear window screen? I want add a screen to mine. Any hints and photos would be a great help. Thanks, Larry.

[matthewphilippe]

On our Seneca HJ I installed an interior screen over the emergency exit window in the bedroom. This allows us to prop the lower edge of the emergency exit window open for cross ventilation with a 5"piece of 1"x1" wood and still keep bugs out. I ordered the screen from Shade Pro. It is attached at the top with three snap connectors and a velcro tab at the two lower corners. I had to remove the vinyl covered window frame to install it, five square drive screws, which took two extra minutes. I hope the photos explain it all.

[Rustynuts]

Well I'm in the middle of SeeLevel gauge install but waiting for the gauges and sensors so I decided to Install the Carefree BT12 Wireless Awning Control System. I had a double switch for the steps and awning light and a single switch for the awning so I just enlarged the opening on the single switch to accommodate the new double switch. Then using the wiring diagrams from the awning installation manual, I mapped out and tested the wires from the original switches and matched them up to the wiring diagram for the BT control and went to work. Two wires that were left were left on the control box was the Green ignition lockout which after testing is not used because Jayco already has the awning main power wire going though an ignition lockout so I just folded the green wire over and taped it off. The other wire was the ground for the LED lights, again Jayco already has them grounded elsewhere as the system worked without it connected but I still connected it into the existing ground from the original awning switch. The movement sensor easily installs in the pod up by the motor by removing the cover and double sided tape holds it in. The movement sensor is powered by 2 AA batteries, I saw the sensor had a 2017 date on it so I opened it up and found it had cheap Kirkland (Costco) batteries in it from the factory which lately I have had many things destroyed by Kirkland Batteries leaking acid so I swapped them out for Duracells. Got everything wired up and tested before tucking the wiring back in the holes and screwing the switches in. Everything works great and the nice thing is it can be controlled using the downloadable App from you phone. Once you run it out to the position you want manually and then on the first retraction, it remembers the position and when you hit extend it goes out to that position so no holding the button in till its out. You can also turn the LED lights off and on with the App and also has the feature to dim the LEDS. I tested the motion sensor on the default setting of 3 for sensitivity and bumping one of the arms up and down a couple times, the awning self retracted. All in all I feel it was worth the $90 and the 1/2 hour install.

[hammer55]

Has anyone removed the seat behind the passenger seat on the FS and installed a cabinet for more storage space for the kitchen, wife thinks it is a waisted space, we have never sit or has anyone else used this chair

thanks, hammer

[kdeeble]

Has anyone changed out their tankless water heater for a regular one? I have a 2016 Seneca that I'm very happy with except for the water heater.

Thanks

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by kdeeble

Has anyone changed out their tankless water heater for a regular one? I have a 2016 Seneca that I'm very happy with except for the water heater.

Thanks

Robbbyr changed his out so he will probably reply. I do have these 2 drawings of the outer water heater panel that I can share.

[Rustynuts]

Did the SeeLevel tank gauge upgrade a couple weeks ago. Being we have a 37RB, we had 2 gray and 2 black tanks along with LPG and Fresh Water. We originally had the gauges on the main panel Nd then a second panel in the rear bath with just black and gray. SeeLevel doesn’t make a panel with just black/gray so I chose to use the 709-P3 in the rear and the 709 up front. Install was pretty simple after getting to all the tanks, being I have 2 panels with fresh on them and I had 2 sensors, I went ahead and put both sensors on the fresh tank. I wired the sensors to the original factory wires and then just tied them together at the panel harness/plug as the new system only needs 2 wires for all sensors. Rear panel installed in the same opening as the old one and up front, I was able to cut the factory gauges out Nd the new panel for perfectly. Got everything hooked up and using a flow meter on a hose added a gallon to each tank one at a time and noted the percentage reading per gallon and every tank was pretty spot on and I learned how much I could get in the tanks once I hit 100%. Nice having a percentage number instead of 4 lights. While I had the wheel well open, I added a 1.5” piece of pvc pipe as a chase tube in case I ever wanted to run anything through that section I wouldn’t have to open up the wheel well again. On the other side I did the same with a piece of 1/2” pex for a future hot water circulation system

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by kdeeble

Has anyone changed out their tankless water heater for a regular one? I have a 2016 Seneca that I'm very happy with except for the water heater.

Thanks

Sorry for the delay, I've been camping!
I did swap my O.E. Girard, neither Jayco nor Girard had any luck making mine reliable. I installed a 10-gallon Atwood XT model. It did require enlarging the compartment opening, I used my reciprocating saw to open it up. I then had to "reframe" the opening with 1" x 1" aluminum square tubing. I TIG welded the corners and used automotive panel adhesive to adhere it to the inner and outer skins. You need to have that inner frame since the lip of the new heater screws into it.

Some minor piping mods are also needed, I have PEX tools but commonly available "Sharkbite" push-on fittings would also work fine. The XT model I installed has a built-in winterizing bypass valve which required installing an access portal in the rear of the compartment the heater resides in.

I also installed a new 120-volt circuit into the rear of that compartment for the electrical heating function. I installed a new circuit breaker into my load center putting it on the Line 2 side of my system. I ran the needed 12-volt control wires up to where the original Girard control knob was located.

The picture of the opening is before enlargement, you can compare it to the finished heater. I do have the cover painted to match now!

[matthewphilippe]

I have a 2016 HJ and had problems with the tankless water heater originally, no help from dealer. Called the manufacture and complained. They asked me to test the water flow at the shower and faucet, 1 gallon/minute required. Only had 3/4 gallon per minute. Installed a new 5 gpm pump and the tankless water heater works just fine, had to turn the temperature dial down because it was too hot.

[Fishman417]

We also have a 2016 HJ and had the issue with no hot water out of the bathroom sink. Knew it was a water flow issue so I drilled some bigger holes in the flow restricter/screen to allow more water flow and that solved the hot water issue at the sink.

[phuggit]

The soundjunk dash stereo crapped the bed on the first day of a recent week long trip. The navigation never worked, the sound was low volume and horrible and the radio reception was almost non-existent.

Upgraded to a Pioneer AVIC w8400nex. This cured all of the issues that came with the OEM junk.

[RanWal]

how compatible were the wiring harnesses on the Pioneer unit?

[phuggit]

Surprisingly very good. The speaker wires were color coded the same between the chassis and the radio. The power leads on the chassis side and radio side were all labeled so all I needed to do was splice everything together.

[RanWal]

thanks - good to known. I have a 2019 and have already decided to upgrade the Chinese Junk that came with the unit,

[phuggit]

Cool. Save the OEM trim bezel. It fits the Pioneer unit.

[matthewphilippe]

I changed the three camera displays from the audio unit to a screen from Tadi Brothers, that I found at the Quartize show. The screen mounts on the dash and all three cameras show at the same time which I find very helpful when changing lanes and in town when people tend to sneak in on me. The video cables required an adapter for each of the three leads, which Tadi had in stock. Removed the old video input plug from the back of the audio. See the attached photos for details.

[Rustynuts]

Made these a while back, gotta add some bling once in a while..

https://youtu.be/DfQ8ipNbjs8

[phuggit]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

Made these a while back, gotta add some bling once in a while..



https://youtu.be/DfQ8ipNbjs8

Very nice!