Our RV Adventures

But No.

It was really nice to sleep in this morning for the first time in months, or maybe it was just since last week, but anyway, it was nice.

After goofing off most of the morning and early afternoon, I went out to the truck to take a further look at my AC / Condenser Fan problem. But before I did anything else, I thought I’d take a minute to check out the relays and fuses in the Power Distribution Center under the hood.

And for a few minutes I thought I’d found the problem, and a quick, easy, and no cost fix. The perfect kind of fix.

When I started checking the relays, this is what I first saw.

This relay, labeled ‘AC’ was just sitting there, only barely plugging into its socket. Could it be this easy?

Well . . .  No!

I plugged it back in, started the car, and still had no AC. Bummer.

Note that all these relays are identical, so as a further test, I unplugged the one labeled “Fog Lamps” (it wasn’t foggy) and plugged that one into the AC spot. And again, no luck.

So next I started trying to track down where the condenser fan gets its power. I can see it coming out of the bottom of the fan and going back under the radiator, but can’t  find where it comes out. It may be that I’ll have to put power into the output contacts on the fan control relay socket, but I’ll need more time with the schematics before I can be sure.

I’ve got both the Chilton and Haynes manuals, so between the two I should be able to trace it out.

Sign up for Passport America before 4/30 and get 4 extra FREE Months!

Back after Christmas I was complaining about the cost of the refills for the Touch Free Soap Dispenser our daughter Brandi gave us for Christmas.

The refills run anywhere from $8 to $15 so I was looking for a cheaper solution. We finished our first one up a while back and so I saved the empty one to play with later.

The first thing I discovered is the plastic lid just pops off, and was not press-fitted on like I figured, so I got a bottle of SoftSoap to refill it with.

Overall the refill works pretty well, but it doesn’t foam up like the original stuff. So I may experiment with different brands. But $1.98 is a better price than $8 to $15.

I noted several of you bought the book I recommended, The Toaster Oven Mocks Me, and wondered if you enjoyed it as much as Jan and I did.

Let me know.

Thought for the Day:

sdfgsdfgsdfg

We were heading down to Brandi’s this morning, so I got up a little early to see if I could kludge up something to get the truck AC going.

The AC is not working because of the problem with the condenser fan that supplies extra cooling for the radiator when the AC is on. But in most cases, it’s really only needed when you’re driving slow or idling. Otherwise at highway speeds there is enough airflow to keep things cool.

So my idea is to temporarily hard-wire 12 volts directly to the AC compressor coil, bypassing the problem with the fan that is shutting down the AC. But by the time I  figured out how I was going to wire it up, and found some wire that was heavy enough, it was time to get ready to drive down to Katy.

But luckily for us, it stayed pretty overcast the whole trip, so we were pretty comfortable the entire time. But the noise of the windows down at 70mph gets kind of tiring.

We headed out about 11:30, and after a smooth, fast trip, got to Brandi’s in Katy about 1:00pm. Then after looking over movie times, I went online and bought us all tickets for the 2:45 showing of Zootopia, the latest Disney offering. So we had some time to kill until we needed to be at Katy Mills Mall.

The first thing Landon had to show us was his new missing tooth, but this time it wasn’t Miss Kitty’s fault. Back last November, Landon and Miss Kitty, their 120# Black Lab, bumped heads and Landon lost two teeth.

Well, this time Landon hit his mouth on his daddy’s knee and another tooth hit the floor. So this is what he looks like now, showing off with Grammy Sonja.

Looks like corn on the cob is off the menu now.

Sign up for Passport America before 4/30 and get 4 extra FREE Months!

Later Landon was showing off on his new trampoline out in the backyard.

Looks like it could be another lost tooth situation.

About 2pm we all drove over to Katy Mills Mall to see Zootopia. I was afraid that the theater would be really crowded due to Spring Break, but we had no problems getting prime seats.

As far as the movie goes, it was really good and everyone enjoyed it. Like the best movies, it’s written on several different levels, and had something for everyone, including enough action  so that no one fell asleep, unlike when Jan, Landon, and I went to see SpongeBob Square Pants, and we ALL fell asleep.

A really good movie, and well recommended.

Getting back to the house about 5, we found Brandi and Lowell already home, and with everyone hungry, we did a quick turnaround and were off to Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro right down the road.

We try to eat here as often as possible, just because it’s so darn good. And Tuygen, the owner knows us all by name, and always takes really good care of us.

From left to right, Lindel and Sonja, Lowell’s parents, my Jan, Sherry, Lowell’s sister, and Brandi and Lowell. Master Landon is on the floor under the table, using the chair bottom as a stand for playing games on his iPad. He says we’re too noisy and he can’t concentrate.

Finally a little before 7, after getting our hugs, Jan and I headed back to Conroe, making a “too much iced tea with dinner” stop at the Flying J in north Houston, before we arrived home about 8:15.

Tomorrow if the weather holds, I’ll take a closer look at my truck condenser fan problem. Besides hotwiring the AC itself, I’ll start doing some troubleshooting on the problem, with the first thing I check being the fan itself.

I’ll disconnect power going to it from the truck and then put 12 volts to it directly. This will tell me whether the problem is with the fan, which I suspect it is, or somewhere in the control circuitry.

But since the fan was making a lot of racket before it quit completely, that’s the best way to start.

Thought for the Day:

Another Epic Cake Fail –

asdfadfas