Author: Rae

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Gremlins

When I got in the shower last night, I was surprised that the water was just a notch hotter than tepid. It was chilly in the rig, so I didn’t linger long. I checked the water temperature and it was just at 40C, my limit of tolerance for shower water on all but the very hottest days of the year.

I checked the water heater ignition button to make sure the water heater actually was on. I’ve had several incidents in the last few weeks where I’d turn the water heater on in the morning and it would get switched off during the day. I’m pretty sure that’s Neelix’s doing when he gets up on two paws by the kitchen sink.

Anyway, not only was the switch to on, it wasn’t doing anything. It was completely dead. I confirmed that there was 12V power going to it (stabbing myself well and good with a multimetre probe in the process, owwwwww) and that I didn’t have a blown fuse. The manual said that for these circumstances, I possibly had too high voltage, which I most absolutely did not. So I went to bed feeling rather put upon. Augh, I’ve officially reached the stage where living in a ’97 motorhome is WORK.

Even though I have more pressing things to do today, I decided to start with the water heater. I hit the on button just to see if the RV gremlins (or should I call them faery godmothers?) might have effected a repair overnight.

They did.

I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Well, at least I can get straight to work. That humongous contract I’ve been dreaming of all summer has finally landed and it’ll be nose to the grindstone for the rest of the month.

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Well, the New Converter Works!

I’m still having DC power issues. I tried to run a few things off the inverter this evening and got a critical voltage drop. Once again, the run of cable from my inverter to the batteries is NOT the issue. I’ve got a short or, more likely, undersized wiring between the batteries and the converter. Dealing with that once and for all is going to be the next project, although I’m not sure it’s one I can do myself since creating lugs for heavy gauge wiring will likely be beyond my ability.

At any rate, I’ve got the genny to turn to instead, so I did. GAH. I hate using that gas consumer when I’ve got all that beautiful sunshine to power stuff!

Anyway, I got the generator started and I had no 120V power at all. All my breakers were on. I went back outside and checked the power cord. It wasn’t sitting perfectly in the outlet.

One of the converter’s many added bonus features beyond smart charging is that it offers protection against brownouts and spikes. I imagine that a cord not being plugged in properly would act like one of those. The new converter caught that error and wouldn’t let me power the rig. Wow!

Other benefits of the new converter:

-reverse battery protection (in case I go crazy and decide to reverse the leads on the batteries)

-electronic current limiting (if I try to run too many amps at once, the converter will shut down rather than trip a breaker)

-the new DC board has red LEDs underneath the fuses. If a fuse blows, the LED will turn on. No more wrestling with the OHM setting on the multimetre to figure out which fuse needs to go!

There is also a button to override the converter’s choice of charging mode, which is not recommended except to test that the converter is working correctly. I used the button and confirmed that my new toy knows what it’s doing.

I’m really annoyed that the inverter only works during the day, when I get the added voltage boost from the sun. Then again, maybe that’s the point? Use the inverter then and run the genny a few hours during the evening? That does feel rather silly since the point of an effective solar charging setup is to start the evening with fully charged batteries so you DON’T need to use the generator. Anyway, I know that the inverter problems have absolutely nothing to do with me or the upgrades I’ve done, so they won’t stop me from getting a good night’s sleep. 🙂

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Praise For Cascades Designs

Tonight, I want to give a shout out to Cascades Designs, the folks who make the MSR MiniWorks EX Microfilter.

I had mentioned that the filter gave me grief on the wagon train.

I troubleshooted the problem with a service rep and we got to the point where I isolated the problem as being related to the umbrella valve. The rep asked me for my address and said he would send one out ASAP. That was July 16th. The package I got from them today, August 6th, was postmarked July 19th. So the length of time in getting the part is due to the postal service, not them.

I just installed the new umbrella valve and, SURPRISE, my pump works again! This was apparently one of those one in a billion fluke failures. But did I have to go back to Amazon to get a replacement pump? No, the manufacturer stood behind its product. Needless to say, I know where to go the next time I need outdoor gear!

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Tired of This Weather

One of the reasons I was eager to buy in this part of the country is the climate, which is supposed to be hot, dry, and sunny at this time of year. And it usually is. I have this uncanny knack for showing up somewhere that the weather is completely off kilter. We’ve averaged cool, overcast, and frequently thunderstorming since I got here in May. Oh, we’ve had some really nice days, but they have been the exception.

I woke up to grey weather, yet again, and got to work (I got a HUGE project for August, yay!). Around 2:00, the sky had cleared and I thought, great, let’s take a break and do some laundry! I got one load washed and hung and was just about to put out the awning when massive grey clouds rolled in. I just managed to squeeze in another two loads (hanging them in the rig) before the sky started to grumble. It is about to pour. Seriously?!