Our RV Adventures

Luckily the forecasted rain bypassed us this morning, so after coffee and a sampling of some of Jan’s freshly-made sausage balls, I went next door to Randy’s so we could finish up his electrical repair and rewiring.

But first I wanted to see how his batteries were doing after being discharged down to about 6 volts. We turned off shore power and check the voltages, and everything looked pretty good. Then I turned on the inverter and then the TV and the refrigerator, and voltage only dropped about a 10th of a volt, and didn’t budge after another 10 minutes or so. So far, so good.

Next I had him start up the coach to see how his engine batteries were doing. The first thing I noticed was that he just put the key in, tuned it on and started the engine. No waiting for the ‘Wait To Start” light to go out. In fact the ‘Wait To Start” light never went out, even after the engine was running.

Randy said that PPL (finally found out that’s where he bought the coach from) told him it didn’t work right, but it wasn’t important and not to worry about it. He said the engine runs just fine and he’s had no problems with it.

Suggested that he might want to wait 15 – 20 seconds before cranking up anyway, and that he should have it checked at some point. I suspect that a sensor is not returning the correct code to the computer that shuts the light off.

Oh well. Just another problem.

Now it was on to the rewiring. Or maybe I should say the re-rewiring, since the problem seems to have been caused by the rewiring that the solar guy did.

The other day, in trying to get the power converter working, I moved the end of the short red wire shown in the orange box from one side of the isolator, indicated by the orange arrow, over to the output side of the power converter. That meant that the power converter was now feeding the house batteries as it should.

But I was bothered by the fact that the hole in the wire lug was not big enough to fit down over the stud of the power converter fuse block. I was able to jam it on there so that it was working, but it wouldn’t stay on when the coach was moved. Circuitwise the wire should go there, so why didn’t it fit?

Then the other night I was thinking about it and realized that maybe the solar guy had removed the wire completely, and then put it back on backwards And when I took the wire off today and reversed the ends, it fit perfectly. Yeah!

Next I disconnected the wire that the solar guy had used to connect the engine batteries and the house batteries together, and rerouted it up the isolator terminal where it needed to go. And it too fit perfectly.

So now I had the power converter feeding into the house batteries as it should, and the engine battery and house battery banks connected together through the isolator as it should.

The only real question is the isolator circuit. I physically tested the isolator and it works, but I don’t know If the signal that controls the isolator is working, i.e. is it switching over to keep the engine batteries charged when it s supposed to. So I told Randy to keep an eye on his engine battery voltage to be sure it’s working.

Wrapping up,  the last thing that needed to be done was to move the output of the solar system from the engine batteries to the house batteries. That’s the smaller red wire with the black lump in it.

The black lump is an inline splice, so all I needed to do was to remove the short wire from the splice and connect a longer one with a lug on the end to reach into the next compartment and connect to the house battery banks. I had the right wire to do it, but no lugs of the right size so I told Randy to go into Columbus and check out the AutoZone for some.

In the meantime it was time for Jan and I to walk across the circle to have dinner with Janice and Dave Evans. They had invited us over for a Grilled Chicken and Sausage Dinner, and boy, was it good. Especially the Roasted Veggies that went with it.

We always have a great time with Janice and Dave, and this time is no exception, but unfortunately this will be our only chance to get together for now. We’re headed to Conroe tomorrow, and they’re heading on to San Antonio in a few days. But I sure we’ll connect back up soon. We always do.

Getting back to our rig a little after 6 I found that Randy had gotten the lugs so I went back over, crimped the new lug on the wire, connected it into the splice, and hooked it up to the house battery bank.

And after checking out all the voltages, the inverter, and everything else we could think of,  we declared it a job done. Whether it was ‘well’ done or not, will remain to be seen. I’ll keep you updated.

Tomorrow we’ll pull out of our site, get propane for the first time since September 18, 2011, then get diesel at Colorado County Oil for $2.58 a gallon (YEAH) and then make the two hour run back over to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails. And as soon as we’re parked and hooked up, we’ll head down to Clear Lake for our annual Christmas Eve Family Dinner at the King Food, something we’ve done every year for about 30 years.

Then it’s back up to Brandi’s to spend the night so we can be there with Landon on Christmas morning. And then of course Brandi’s big friends and family Christmas Party that afternoon.

No wonder everyone’s exhausted after the holidays.

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Thought for the Day:

I woke up to the delicious smells of Jan baking Christmas cookies, candy canes and chocolate chip, so the day was off to a good start.

And coffee and a few cookies (we did have to test-eat a few), I spent an hour on the phone going over some things with Chris Yust on her C and C RV Insurance website. And if you need RV or auto insurance, be sure and check them out. They did a great job with my windshield replacement earlier this year.

After working on a few other things, I drove into Columbus to pick up our prescriptions at Wal-Mart,, as well as a couple of other things. I stopped off at the hardware store to get a spray bottle to spray vinegar on the rig roof to help remove the drilling mud, and also three conduit rings for the case of my new transfer switch.

The case just has three 1-1/4” holes for the shore power input, generator input, and power out cables, so I need something to shield and cushion the wires.

It’s amazing how much smaller these units are now than in 1999.

After I got back from Columbus, I went next door to talk to Randy about his electrical problem. I have about come to the conclusion that this problem was almost certainly caused by whoever wired up the solar system, and possibly because he ran out of wire.

Here’s a photo of the engine battery bay.

The solar system output comes in from the upper left on the red wire which goes to the positive terminal on the engine battery. The black tape-wrapped bulge is an inline splice. The large red cable runs from engine battery positive terminal through the wall to the positive terminal of one of the house battery banks, thus tying the two systems together. So both battery sets are being charged by the solar output.

He then rewired the isolator system, so that rather than being between the engine batteries and the house batteries, the isolator is now between the two banks of the house batteries. But since the two house banks are connected together by another cable, the isolator does nothing.

The real mystery is why the power converter output was left unconnected. Did he think that it wasn’t needed anymore since the rig had solar? I don’t know.

Tomorrow Randy and I are going to disconnect the batteries and the shore power and try to get things rewired halfway right. We’ll see how it and the weather goes.

Later after supper, I changed over the hallway fluorescent fixture to LEDs. I can do the change out for little more than the cost of one new bulb, much less two. And the light is brighter and whiter.

2 ea Super Bright COB White Car LED Light 12v

It only took about 30 minutes, and that included taking a call from Nick Russell.

First thing I just pulled the plastic cover off the fixture, exposing the bulbs.

Next just remove the bulbs and discard them.

Then just squeeze and pull the ballast cover off, exposing the wiring.

Clip away all the wires except for the two black and wires coming into the fixture from one end. Cut these two off as close to their connecting points on the ballast (the circuit board), and strip the ends. I did not remove the ballast because it was riveted on and I would have had to break it to get it out. Too much trouble, and not necessary.

Peel off the backing on the self=adhesive strip on the LED’s and mount them in the fixture. Then connect the two red wires from the LED’s to the black wire in the fixture. Now connect the two black wires from the LED’s to the white wire in the fixture. You can use wire nuts, solder, crimp, whatever floats your boat to make the connections.

Now ty-wrap the excess wire together and tuck it away as you replace the metal ballast cover strip that you removed earlier.

Put the plastic cover back on and you’re done.

Quick, easy, and cheap. Three of my favorite things.

When the time comes, I’ll see how many sets it will take to replace the four 4ft fluorescents tubes in the two livingroom/kitchen fixtures.

Tomorrow Jan will be wrapping presents and making her famous sausage balls for Brandi’s Christmas party Christmas afternoon. So more good smells and maybe a couple of samples.

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Thought for the Day:

In order to train a dog you must be smarter than the dog.

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