Daily Archives: November 14, 2015
Chores Again . . .
With the weather still holding, though it’s supposed to rain a little tonight, I thought I’d take care of some more chores.
Although I had already put my leveler pads away, when I packing some other stuff away, I came across some heavy rope and decide it would make great handles for my pads. Originally I had used 3/16” nylon rope when I put the pads together, but I quickly found that with the weight of the pads, the rope would cut into my hands when I carried them. They worked great for their other function though, which is for me to hook them with the awning hook and drag them out from under the rig.
Since this was going to be a heavy duty drilling job, I got out my Black & Decker Corded Drill, one of three different ones I own.
Besides the WORX Power Screw Driver I used yesterday, I also have this Coleman 18v Cordless Drill.
I’ve had it for about 10 years or more, and though it came with two batteries, neither one will hold a charge very long any more. So I always have to plan ahead to charge the batteries before I use it.
But since I was going to be drilling six holes in six layers of 3/8” marine plywood, I figured I needed a little more long-lasting power.
I built these pads several years ago after a spur-of-the-moment purchase of several big pieces of 3/8” marine plywood that I found in the scrap sale area of a Home Depot. Enough for them to cut me out eighteen 18” squares, and it only cost me $5. What a deal!
I then glued and screwed them together into 3 six layer pads, and fastened two of these Camping World Jack Pads to each one for added protection from moisture on the ground. Here they are with the new larger rope handles installed.
You can see the smaller, pinkish cords too.
Although they are heavy, they’re definitely strong enough to support the 12,000 pound weight on my front jack without breaking.
About this time, Billy dropped off my replacement transfer switch. Pretty fast service since it didn’t go out until this past Tuesday. Here’s what it looks like inside.
It’s really pretty simple, with two heavy duty 50amp contactors and a control board. (BTW a contactor is just another name for a relay, but generally means a heavy duty, high power one.)
When no power is coming in from the generator, nothing is happening. The contactor for the generator is open, and the contactor for the shore power is closed, feeding shore power to the rig. But when power comes in from the generator, the control board senses it and tells the shore power relay to open, and then after about a half second delay, the generator contactor pulls in, putting generator power to the coach. The delay is to be sure that if you’re still hooked up to shore power, then you don’t end up with shore power AND generator power coming into the coach at the same time, and feeding back into each other.
In my case there is some kind of problem with the control board, and it will only switch over WHEN we’re still hooked up to shore power. Which was a problem if we’re driving down the road and decided we want to run the AC’s. Then I have to start the generator, stop the coach, go back to the bedroom, and then lift the bed and push the contractor down with a big screwdriver until it locks in. I did this often enough that l just left the cover off the transfer switch.
I’ll ahead and install this new one in the next couple of days, probably Monday or Tuesday since it’s supposed to rain and I won’t be able to do a lot outside.
Right now our weather still looks nice for next weekend, so hopefully we won’t have to pack up in the rain. It’s not fun, and as soon as we get to the park I have to unpack everything and let it dry so it won’t mildew.
So we’re keeping our fingers crossed on the weather.
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Thought for the Day:
A generation which ignores history has no past – and no future. — Lazarus Long
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