Our RV Adventures

Well, the Reflectix foil sheets made a lot of difference on the windshield today. It went up to 106 degrees, but it never got over 79 in the coach. Still very comfortable.

I spent a good bit of time over the weekend reading the two different manuals I have on my Cummins Onan 7500 Quiet Diesel Generator, trying to get a handle on my recent problem. This was about all I could do over the weekend until I could make some phone calls today. But I woke up about 4:30am this morning with an epiphany, and it didn’t hurt as much as you might think. Something had been nagging me, but it took a while to register.

Somewhere during the last 8 years, I had gotten the idea that my genset had a separate !2v DC circuit that would charge the rig’s battery sets. But a footnote that came back to me made me rethink the whole problem.

My generator only has 120VAC output. Any battery charging comes from the generator AC powering the power converter just like it does on shore power. So now my focus was back on the transfer switch.

As I said the other day, the genset/transfer switch et. all. was working at the time of the blowout. In fact the only reason I turned it off was that I discovered diesel running out on the ground from the torn off filler pipe. So I was looking for something relating to the blowout to be causing the problem.

I called American Coach about noon and was told that there was nothing in the shredded wheel well wire harness concerning the genset, so that was off the table for now.

I now decided that around 5pm, when things were cooler, I would shut off shore power, crank up the genset, and then do some more checks. To prepare ahead of time I removed the AC connection access cover on the genset to let me check the voltage output right at the unit. Next I lifted up the bed, removed the cover on the transfer switch, and carefully checked all the wiring.

At 5pm I shut everything down in the coach, i.e. AC’s, TV, DirecTV receiver, computer, etc. and shut off the shore power at the breaker. Coming back inside I used a screwdriver to cycle the two big contactors in the transfer switch. Neither one seemed to be stuck or have a problem in any way.

So then it was back outside to crank up the genset. When it was running smoothly, I used my voltmeter to check the voltage output.

And I had 120 VAC.

And coming into the coach, I now had 120 VAC inside too.

Checking out the transfer switch, I now also had the Green LED that says the transfer switch is in Generator mode, just as it should.

With no AC’s running it was starting to heat up inside the rig, so I shut everything down and put us back on shore power.

And the transfer switch worked just fine.

So why did it work now, but not the 6 or 7 times I tried it last Friday, both at the tire shop and on the way here? The only thing I really did was to toggle the two contactors in the transfer switch. Neither one acted like they were stuck or hung up in any way.

I’ll wait a couple of days and try it again, just by shutting off shore power and cranking up the genset, and see what happens.

I hate it when a problem like this fixes itself without me understanding the cause.

A problem that can fix itself, can also unfix itself, usually at the most inconvenient time.

Words to live by.

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Thought for the Day:

Don’t be stupid. We have politicians for that.

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Catching up with Saturday, the 20th.

We knew it was going to be about 10 degrees hotter here in Camp Verde/Cottonwood area, but it was still a shock. The temps here are running in the low to mid 100’s and it’s hard for the rig AC’s to keep up.

After hunkering down and trying to stay cool all day, we headed out about 4:00 for dinner at La Fonda, our favorite local Mexican place. Although it was Saturday, we were surprised at how busy they were at this time of the afternoon. Obviously a lot of other people know good food when they find it. Or maybe it was just cool inside.

Coming back to the rig, I decided to take another look at the genset problem. I ran it back out and pressed the STOP button. This gave me a 3 flash error code. But since it was getting dark I didn’t go any further

Except for not being very front to back level, we’ve got a really nice site here at the Verde Valley Thousand Trails. We’re in site 149 in section 8, which they call a Premium 50 amp site, i.e. $5 a day extra.

But at least we’re not jammed right up against our neighbors like we were last time.

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Catching up with today, Sunday the 21st.

And now for my confession.

This is my 2nd Father’s Day this year. Actually it’s my 2nd Father’s Day in the last two weeks. We all know how easy it is for RV’ers to lose track of what day it is. That’s why we have clocks like this.

And although it helps for days of the week, it doesn’t help keeping track of holidays, especially 2nd tier ones like Father’s Day, which I think ranks right up there with Flag Day, or Arbor Day.

So when I got up last Sunday, I found a Father’s Day card from my beautiful bride waiting for me. And even better, I got a big kiss.

And as I mentioned in last Sunday’s blog, about 2:30 we drove over to the Texas Roadhouse to have ‘linner’. We figured that by getting there in the middle of the afternoon we would be in between the heavy Father’s Day lunch and dinner crowds.

And as we pulled into the parking lot, we were happy to find the parking lot half empty. Thinking we’d picked the perfect time and avoided the large Father’s Day’s crowds, we should have notice the hostess’ confusion. As the young lady was seating us, she ask, “Are you celebrating anything special today?” So Jan said, “Well, Father’s Day.”

We should have paid more attention to the strange look she gave us, but she didn’t say anything. Probably just wanted to get away from these crazy, confused people as quickly as possible.

Getting back home after our really good steaks,  without saying anything to each other, we both began to wonder why I hadn’t got Happy Father’s Day calls from the kids.

It was only later in the afternoon when Jan was entering the day’s events into her calendar, that she noticed that NEXT Sunday was Father’s Day.

Oops!

Well, that explains the funny look the hostess gave us.

So today we get to do it all over again.

And this time I got calls from both Chris and Brandi wishing me a Happy Father’s Day. so I’m pretty sure I’ve got the day right this time.

About 3:30 Jan and I headed in to Old Town Cottonwood to have dinner at The Tavern Grille. Not only was it highly recommended on Yelp, it was also open. In fact it seemed like most of the non-chain restaurants aren’t open on Sundays here in Cottonwood.

The Tavern Grill has a storied history in Cottonwood. It opened in 1923 as the Rialto Theater and reigned as the longest operating single screen theater in the U.S. until it burned in 1998. Reopening as the The Tavern Grille in 2005, it’s been going strong ever since. And their food certainly shows why.

We started out with salads. Jan’s was the House Salad with their homemade Dill Ranch dressing,

while I had the Bleu Cheese Wedge.

Like Jan’s, this Bleu Cheese was also home-made and really good.

For our entrees, we both went with steak. It was Father’s Day, after all . . . again.

Jan had the 8oz Sirloin with a mushroom demi-glaze, veggies, and cheddar redskin mashed potatoes,

while I splurged and had the Cajun Prime Rib and Shrimp, along with veggies, and the cheddar redskin mashed potatoes.

It’s been a while since I’ve had prime rib, but if they’re all as good as this one, I may have to rethink my ‘all ribeye, all the time’ motto.

Coming home, we made a quick Wal-Mart stop for a few things before getting back to the rig about 6pm. The first thing I did was to put up the Reflectix foil screens on the front windshield to help keep out the heat. With temps of 107 degrees tomorrow and the rest of the week, I decide that my magnetic screens weren’t going to cut it.

After I finished with that. I ran the genset back out to further check the error codes. After I got the 3 flash code yesterday, I checked the Onan manual and found that code indicates a further code is available.

So I pressed the STOP button which gave me the 3 flashes. Then I pressed the STOP button again and got a two digit code. In this case, 3 flashes and 6 flashes, or a 36 error code.

But checking the manual again didn’t tell me much. An error 36 code corresponds to an Engine Stopped Fault, i.e. the engine stopped for some reason without begin told to. Since my genset runs just fine, it doesn’t seem like it applies to my situation.

So I’ll be making calls to American Coach and Cummins Onan tomorrow to see if I can get a handle on this.

Stay Tuned.

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Thought for the Day:

Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on. – Bob Newhart

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