North America

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Another Way of Finding a Motorhome Propane Refill Location

I thought I had found a place to fill the on board propane tank tomorrow, but they weren’t sure I’d be able to get in there with my rig without having to unhook. Then, I had a flash of genius.

I went to Google and did a search for “Emporia VA rv park propane” as I knew the Suffolk RV parks would not be on my route, but just about anywhere in Emporia would be. If I hadn’t had a hit with them, I would have tried another city.

Anyway, I found an RV park that has propane. I called to confirm that they sell propane to anyone, that they would be open on a Sunday afternoon, and that their pumps would allow me to pull through. Yes, yes, and yes. Done. Propane found.

And that’s how I found propane in the spring, too!

Finding propane can be a real pain, but I would not be without it. I can’t imagine relying on just electricity for everything. As long as I have propane I can cook and heat up water. Add a smidgen of electricity, and I can run my fridge and heat my home economically. To me, propane is magic.

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A Vision Coming To Pass

I’m still planning to leave Hampton Roads tomorrow even though the weather isn’t going to be super great. I’m finishing up a couple of projects today and will be doing laundry this afternoon. I’ve got maybe 15 minutes of packing to do in here, if that.

Tomorrow, I need to put the propane tank in the truck, fill the fresh water tank, unplug, and back out of here without impeding traffic too badly. That’s really going to be the hardest part since traffic here is crazy. My friend is going to stand in the road and give me the all clear signal and then I need to be quick and decisive. Next time I come, I am definitely going to arrive later in the day and back in.

I’m looking forward to getting to a drier climate. It has been mostly sunny here, but still quite humid and I’m seeing a little bit of mould starting in the cab along the window frames and the loft windows have been condensating really badly.

I took the giant sheet of styrofoam and cut it down to fit snugly inside the big window and the passenger side window against which my pillow rest with the hope that that will cut down on some of the condensation. Plus, it gives me a bit of a barrier between the wall and my head and means not waking up with soggy pillows in the morning.

While I plan to set off at a leisurely place, I am going to be choosy about the places I will be exploring in the next few weeks. It would be tempting to stop to visit Charlotte and Atlanta for a day, for example, but those cities just don’t interest me.

I learned during my month in Scotland that you really can’t see everything and if you try to, you could end up seeing things you would have gladly missed (glaring at you Aviemore) and missing things on your list (Aberdeen). So I’ve got a pretty good idea of the route I’ll be taking to the Texas gulf coast and have decided that I probably won’t be doing more than one night in a place until I get to the New Orleans area, and there I might spend a few days and do road trips. New Orleans! Finally!

I already know where I’ll be landing near New Orleans as well as in Texas and have a good idea of where I’ll be overnighting in between. I’m starting to find that a more structured route plan is better than my old method of setting off and seeing where the day will take me. I can make educated choices about where to overnight and get an idea of the sights I might want to see along the way.

Tomorrow, my RVing life as I first dreamed of it is finally going to start, nearly four and a half years after I conceived it. I’ve kept a quote on my desktop all this time and today rather than inspiring me, it makes me want to whoop at the top of my lungs!

Those kinds of dreams cannot be found, brave [one]. You have to build them. And I promise you, your hands are still strong and there is plenty of time.

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So… The Battery Monitor

This afternoon, I took my battery bank apart piece by piece and made sure all my lugs were securely attached and that all nuts were tight. I then triple checked all the connections with the multimeter and got readings of 13 volts and change. I then checked all the fuses and they were fine.

I didn’t feel that I really did anything and I decided to just give up already and call Xantrex and see if they had any ideas about what could be wrong with the battery monitor.

I came in, turned the solar control monitor back on, then I turned to the battery monitor and in my best Samantha Carter voice, I screamed, “WHY WON’T YOU WORK?!”

At which point I noticed this:

IMGP4960

I fixed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I doubt it will be super useful in my first week or so off the grid while I figure out how exactly it works and get it calibrated, etc., but this is worthy of a victory dance!

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Fuses Alone Are Not the Answer

I drove into Suffolk today to see if the NAPA store might have the right fuses for the battery monitor. They are tiny 250V 5A fuses. Nope. The salesman pondered the situation for a bit and gave me instructions to get to an RV parts place outside of town. I was doubtful they would have the fuses, but I made a note of the driving instructions just in case. Then, he gave me the name of a bigger auto parts store in Portsmouth. And then, the light bulb came on over his head!

Radio Shack.

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, I knew that would be the answer. I asked where the nearest one was, and it turned out to be right next to the big Dollar Tree! Why I never noticed that is beyond me.

I spent some time going through the well organized fuse drawers at Radio Shack and found one bag containing four of the fuses. Yes! I also picked up a 50% off set of two 12V outlets for the bedroom.

I got in and installed two new fuses, but the monitor did not turn on. 🙁

It’s been bitter cold today (just a couple of degrees below freezing and overcast), but the weather should be nice tomorrow. So the plan is to remove the battery monitor connections, make sure that all the lugs are properly attached to the wires, and then reassemble the whole thing. If that doesn’t work, I guess the next step is to contact Xantrex and ask them how I can verify that I irreparably screwed up a very expensive piece of equipment. 🙁

I am also going to run some tests as suggested by Croft in a comment made on my last post.

Even though my system is not running at 100%, I feel comfortable leaving on Sunday. Worse case scenario, I can attach the little inverter directly to the battery and run an extension cord from it to the computer. Otherwise, everything else is running nicely. The kinks will work themselves out, I am confident of it!

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Found an Energy Sucker

I was working at my computer without any incident for several hours since unplugging. The minute I plugged my laptop charger in, my system went hay wire! The solar control monitor reading dropped from 14 volts and change to 11.5 volts and my inverter started shrieking!

This is not good! I really need to get that battery monitor working to figure out what is going on. I also got a Kill-a-Watt metre to figure out what I’m drawing on the 120V side of things.

FYI, the maximum wattage for a 17″ Macbook Pro is 85, with average draw running 35 to 60 watts. On 12V power, that translates to a maximum of 7 to an average of 3 to 5 amps. I really can’t figure out why my system can’t handle, but maybe I’m running more than I thought I was. I’m going to go get some fuses to hopefully get that battery monitor working again.