Our RV Adventures

Just as soon as I told you how much I liked my PowerMax Power Converter that I got from Amazon, it cratered.

Well not completely. It’s still putting out 13.2 VDC and keeping the house batteries charged with no problems. But it’s no longer running through its 3 voltage level cycle.

When it’s first plugged in, the power converter starts up in ‘Boost’ mode at 14.4 volts to quickly bring a battery up to full charge. It then switches into ‘Standard’ mode at 13.6 VDC. This mode is where the converter stays when there is a steady drain during normal use.

When there is little or no drain, the converter drops back to ‘Trickle’ mode at 13.2 VDC, and then toggles back and forth between ‘Standard’ mode and ‘Trickle’ mode as needed. By itself that’s fine and dandy. But I need more.

Because the isolator between the house batteries and the engine batteries only pulls in above 14.0 VDC, that means that the engine batteries only get charged when the converter is first turned on and is in ‘Boost’ mode. And since the converter normally stays on all the time when we’re on shore power, that means that the engine batteries weren’t being kept charged.

But I had a plan. (I always have a plan. Often three or four of them) My idea was to just put the power converter on a heavy-duty timer. Initially I set the the timer to turn the converter off  for 30 minutes (the minimum the timer allows) every 8 hours. After a couple of weeks, I backed it off to powering off only twice a day. And that’s the way it’s been for the last two years. This keeps the engine batteries topped off with no problems.

Until a few days ago. Coming in the rig I noticed that the engine voltmeter was showing only about 12.4 volts, lower than it should be. Thinking maybe there was a timer problem, I restarted it manually. With no luck.

The power converter was stuck in ‘Trickle’ mode at 13.2 volts and would never run through its cycle. I even unplugged for a couple of hours, but that didn’t help either. So this morning I put in a call to PowerMax to see if there was any thing else I could check. Turns out, No.

Right now I’ve got my auto battery charger keeping the engine batteries charged, while I see about getting the converter replaced. When I purchased the converter from Amazon in December 2014, I did purchase an extra 2 year warranty for only $9.90. Seems like a really good deal now.

My next call this morning was to the McDonald’s in Cuero, TX to see if they were going to be open Thanksgiving morning. Finding out that they would be, we’ll stop there for a breakfast sandwich on our way to our daughter Brandi’s in Katy for Thanksgiving.

Then it was outside to install my new Sylvania SilverStar Ultra headlight bulbs. Unlike many vehicles where you can access the bulb sockets from under the hood, with our Dodge Dakota the entire headlight assembly has to be pulled by removing 3 bolts from around the outside of the lens.

One thing you need to watch with these halogen bulbs is that you don’t touch the glass with your fingers. The grease from your fingertips will burn black and create a hotspot, cracking the glass. If you do it accidentally, use an alcohol-soaked cloth to clean the glass.

I finished up by adding a quart of oil to the truck. Even at almost 250,000 miles it only uses about a quart every 1000 miles, pretty much the way it’s been since day one.

A little after 4pm Jan and I headed out to have dinner at Bella Sera once again. We’d always heard how good their pizza was, so this time we wanted to give it a try.

We got the large (16”) Meat Lover’s Pizza, adding mushrooms to the pepperoni, Canadian bacon, hamburger, and Italian sausage. We always get the large so we have leftovers.

Jan and I both agreed that this was probably the 2nd best pizza we’ve ever had, second only our number 1 favorite, Grimaldi’s. The only thing Bella Sera misses out on is the coal-fired brick oven that Grimaldi’s uses. You can taste the difference.

Before heading home, we made a Wal-Mart stop to pick up a prescription for Jan, gas for the trip, and finished up with a carwash to get all the dust and grime off before our trip on Thursday.

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ― Jack London

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It was really nice to sleep in this morning and not have to be up at 4am.

But I’m sure it won’t the last time I have to get up that early. Even this Thursday we’ll both need to be up by 6am to be on the road by 7 to make our trip back to our daughter Brandi’s house in Katy for Thanksgiving dinner.

But today was a little more laid back. After our morning coffee and some conversation, we headed out a little after noon, first for the lunch buffet at Barth’s once again. It’s hard to top soup, salad, chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, and veggies, all for $6.50. Then after a great meal, it was right up the road a short way to Great Clips so Jan could get her hair cut.

Next we drove out to the site where I’ve been working for the last three days. I wanted her to see it in case she ends up working there at some point so she’ll know where it is.

We ended talking to the guard on the gate, Joe Speed, for about 45 minutes, getting to know him, since we hadn’t met him before.

Next up was a trip to Wal-Mart for Thanksgiving dinner stuff, and a few other things. Then it was a last stop at HEB for the pumpkin pies we get there.

Tomorrow I’ve got a few things to do on the truck, install the new headlight bulbs, and then get it gassed up and washed down at the HEB.

Finally, what’s up with ‘Gender-Neutral Snow Plowing’ in Sweden?

Apparently last year the government of Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, declared that all of the city’s snow plowing should be done on a gender-neutral, or gender-equal basis.

Formerly Stockholm plowed the main roads and streets, and then construction sites first, before they then moved into side streets, sidewalks, public transport facilities and bicycle lanes.

But looking at it from the gender point of view, plowing the main roads and highways first benefits men, since men do more driving than women. But women, who supposedly use the sidewalks and bike lanes, were being ‘dissed’ because the side streets, sidewalks, etc., were left until later.

So this year it was decreed that the side streets, sidewalks, public transport facilities, and bicycle lanes first, before the highways. Can you see the problem here?

Anyone? Anyone?

So when the first major snowstorm hit Stockholm this year, the heaviest one in 111 years, chaos erupted. With the highways not plowed, nothing went anywhere. No one could even leave the now-plowed side streets because there was nowhere to go. Everything just ground to a halt.

Who could have seen that coming?

“There are no good girls gone wrong – just bad girls found out.” ― Mae West

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