Electrical Fix, Next Trip Is…

I have showed this picture above before…it is the heart of my electrical problems…this is he place where the Florida Rat had made a nest, but the rat is unrelated to our problem.

    

To recap what I previously posted, this gizmo to the left is the Intellitec Battery Disconnect Relay, while the one on the right is a 12 Volt Continuous Duty Solenoid, which allows for the interaction between the house batteries and the engine battery.

I replaced the solenoid today with this Cole Hersee 12V Insulated SPST Continuous Duty Solenoid that Amazon delivered Thursday.  Temps were still over 100 on Friday, but a comfortable mid-80’s today…so today was a much better day to do the work in.  Here are my steps:

1)  Disconnect Engine Battery.  Got a voltage meter read on it before and after the disconnect, and after.  Battery was reading 12.6 either way.

2)  Disconnect House Batteries.  Got a voltage reading on them combined and separated…one at 12.86, the other at 12.91.  Combined they were at 12.89.

3)  Did a reading of the Solenoid and there was no juice coming to it.  So I disconnected the wires, making a mental note of what goes where…knowing I ALREADY had a picture just in case…and then removed the old Solenoid.

4)  Installed the new Solenoid, hooked up wires, made sure all wires were tight.   Then hooked up the house batteries.  Then hooked up the engine batteries.  Then tested…..AND…..

Ever have one of those days….everything just seems to be going along just fine, and CRASH!   Well, that’s how my day felt when I tested it…and it still did not work.  Engine running, no charge on house batteries.  Engine off, electricty plugged in, no charge to engine battery.  Time to bring in the big guns….HEY ARNY!!!!!

To make a long story shorter….Arny wants me to look for connection problems, ground wires especially.  While I look, I decide to wiggle the various fuses along the right side.  See those ones in the middle of this fuse bank…the ones which look metallic?  Well, I wiggle the one on top and I hear the Solenoid engage with a very loud CLICK  CLICK  CLICK.  I push it in further, it clicks, and run my tests….all works.

So I run over to the nearest Napa store, and I pick up two, a 5 amp and a 10 amp, Circuit Breaker Fuse.  WHY 2?  Because what I take out is a 10 amp, but it calls for a 5 amp.  The one right below it is a 20 amp, but it calls for a 10 amp. 

If you look at the picture above, along the bottom it says 15A Max, and it has a blue fuse in it, which is a 15 amp fuse.  The next one is a bit hidden, but it says 10A Max, but the gold metallic thing says 20A when I take it out.  The Silver one is hidden, but it says 5A Max, and it had a 10 amp in it…it was the loose one, the one which I needed to replace.

Looking again at the replacements you can see that the metal attachment legs have three parts to it.  The “Universal” to them is that you break off the length to fit what you need.  On the one that we replaced, the person who “broke off the legs” was not careful, and it broke off below the mark…making it too short…so it wiggled (vibrated) out real easy.  Hopefully this will end our problem.  And just to be sure….I have a 5 amp and a 10 amp coming in from Amazon as spares, and I saved the 20 amp that I replaced with the 10 amp because there is a 20 amp in this fuse box at the very top…and it is in a 25 amp max location, so it is definitely good.  These Circuit Breaker Fuses act like a fuse in that they will break the circuit if to much of a load (amps) are put on them.  The difference is, with a fuse, you have to replace it.  With a Circuit Breaker Fuse, it will reset itself once it cools down and will allow for the circuit to connect again.

So now we are ready to test it out on our next little trip….which will be to the Santa Cruz, Pinnacles National Park, and PROBABLY Big Sur areas.  I have reservations at Sunset Beach for Monday-Thursday, September 21st-24th.  Then we will go to the less crowded Pinnacles National Park for the weekend, then PROBABLY go to Big Sur for the Monday-Thursday of the following week.  These popular State Parks are busy on the weekends, but you can get into them on the weekdays this time of year.  Pinnacles National Park is just not busy at all…being one of our new National Parks, they will struggle to get people there for awhile…but the plus is that they have ELECTRICITY at many of their RV sites for under $30 per night (half that for seniors with the senior card).  Another draw….they have California Condors there!   These rare birds nearly went extinct (down to around 20 birds), but now boast a population of nearly 500 birds.  As ugly as they might look, I want to get a picture of them.  Also, this time of year is good whale watching time…and we can’t pass up a visit to the Monterey Aquarium, which I have been to a number of times, but Marcia has never seen yet.  We also hope to find time to visit a cousin or two that live in the area.  And why “PROBABLY” with Big Sur?  Well, we might just want to go back to Sunset Beach again…or try one of the other beach camps in the area.

But first thing first…and on Monday, mom has her surgery.  Mucinous Carcinoma represents approximately 1% to 2% of all breast cancers. The main differentiating features are mucus production and cells that are poorly defined. It also has a favorable prognosis in most cases.  This is the type of Breast Cancer mom has.  So of all the breast cancers out there, she has the one which is the better one to have…not that anyone is standing in lines hoping to catch it.  All Breast Cancers are bad…all Cancers are bad…there are just some which are better to have than others.  This is the case with mom’s.  My next post will probably be “post surgery”, so prayers and precious thoughts for mom from here on out would be appreciated.

The Triple Whammy

Can you even imagine what it is like to be sitting along the beach, 72 degree weather…and two weeks later be sitting in the Sacramento Valley with temps up in the 100’s?  Well, that is our triple whammy…temps in the 3 digits.  But alas, things are looking better…

…two more hot days, then the possibility of tens days with temps under 90.

I mentioned that we had two small issues to fix…first, the lower part of tis mirror had become loose.  I took it off before the wind while driving blew it off.  That was an easy fix, Arny said he used a tape that would not come off.

Second, we had the electrical problem that we had before.  It worked fine until we left Port Angeles…then I noticed that we were not getting a charge from the engine when we were driving.  So today I did some research into these two gizmos, because one of them is most likely the culprit. 

    

The bottom one had the words “Ignition Proof Coach Chasis”, with a label which read, “01-00055-010 / 17704 /  BD Relay”. Quickly I found that this is part of the Intellitec Battery Disconnect Relay, which is what normally is called, “Storage Shut Off Switch” for when you want to kill the drain on the batteries when you go into storage. (Which gives you more time, but let’s face it, you store it for more than a few weeks and you batteries are going to be DEAD)

Which leaves this little thing….no writing on it, but a little research and found out that this is a “12 Volt Continuous Duty Solenoid”, which are easy to find, and found one on Amazon for under $20 which will be here Friday.  I am 90+% sure this is the culprit.  I figure that when we had loose wires eight weeks ago when this first went out, that the sparking and arching which took place as the loose wires did make contact just sore this thing out.  If I tap on it, it will make the recharge light flicker…so the solenoid is probably just wore out.

Yesterday I spent the day grooming the dogs. With this hot weather, I think they will both enjoy the loss of fur.  I can tell that Bubba is already feeling better, but so is Skruffy.

   

The hummingbird is still protecting “his” bird feeder…only letting his mate use it, chasing away all the others.

This blue Scrub Jay is a bit younger than the others.  The older ones are very mean, chasing away the doves, even going after the squirrels sometimes.  This younger one is also picked on…but that is how it will learn the trade I reckon.  Since Saturday we have seen two non-native birds which I have not gotten my camera lens on yet.  One is a Parakeet…the other looks like a small Parrot, perhaps a type of Love Bird. They don’t come around very often, and seem to hang out with the finches…but I hope to get a picture of them soon.

We have a number of birthdays in our family in August.  My brother Roger, Sisters Sandy and Patti, and brother-in-law Arny…the only Patti having celebrated hers already, and the other three take place in the next four days.  So HAPPY BIRTHDAY all of you!

HHR Gets New Tires

Home in Holiday / Tarpon Springs area, FL

We put tires on our motorhome back in 2015…lucky a Michelin Tires recall paid for six out of the seven tires at Discount Tire Store near El Paso.  Since then, we have had to stop at Discount Tire a few times due to stem problems because of our Tire Sensors…I have since gone to metal stems, and although I paid for the metal stems through Napa Auto, Discount Tire put them on for free.  So with our HHR needing new tires, I sure wanted to find a Discount Tire (called America’s Tire Store out on the West Coast).  Our nearest one is in Lakeland Florida, a LONG 60-65 mile distance from where we live.  LONG because it is not all Interstate, and can take two hours to get there depending on traffic.

I made an appointment for 11:30, and left the condo just about 9:30.  I have gone to Lakeland taking highway 54 to I-275 south to I-4 east and over to Lakeland…but Discount Tire was on the extreme north side of Lakeland, so I opted to stay on highway 54 through to highway 98…and that was a mistake.  Once you get onto the other side of I-275, highway 54 becomes county road 54, and things slow down a bunch until you get to highway 98.  I pulled in right at 11:29…I hate to be late, and that was too close.

 

The Discount Tire Store website says that the HHR takes a 215/50-R17 tire, and I picked out one for about $60…which after installation and 3 year replacement, came to $400.  Once I got there, and they pulled me in as soon as I was done at the register, we found out that what I really needed was a 16” tire due to the wheel size I have on the HHR.  So the new tire size, with what they had on hand, cost about $6 more per tire…so I went with that.  I should have looked at the tires I had on it and not relying on their website...lesson learned.

For the past year we have been having problems with the HHR’s internal tire sensor system.  While I was getting the tires replaced, I decided to replace all four sensors since three of the four were bad or acting up.  This problem was detected because the yellow tire deflated icon would light up every time the car is started, and the notification window would say “low tire” and/or “tire sensor”.  Well, I provided the four sensors (from Amazon), and Discount Tire put them in for free as part of the installation process.  By 12:31 I was back on the road and called Marcia to let her know I had lost a good friend.  “WHO????” she asks.  “My yellow tire sensor light…it is gone…all gone!”  It is nice being able to see what each tire is inflated to again, that's for sure!  By the way, I took I-4 to I-275 to highway 54 to get home…it only took a bit over 90 minutes including getting gas and a diet Pepsi.  I told them that I can't wait until they open a Discount Tire Store in our area.

Back in August 2015, I had to replace this little Solenoid, a 12 Volt Continuous Duty Solenoid which allows the motorhome engine to charge up the house batteries.  In real cold weather, like in the 40’s or below, it has not been working very well…so I replaced this $20 solenoid again.  Since I wrote a detail about it back in August 2015, it was easy to know what I needed to order, and how to replace it.  Click this link if you want to know more about replacing this solenoid.

Speaking of weather…the next seven days are going to have cold nights, and daytime temps under 70 each day…for Florida that is cold…to me it is WONDERFUL!  Looks like another good reason to make more soup!

NOTE:  My last post was about problems with Open Live Writer, and those problems still exist.  This post was written using the method talked about in that last post, and I have heard from a few people who used my method and it worked for them too.

Generator - Easy Fix

I called McColloch’s RV repair and found out that they do not do generator work…but they do have a fantastic referral. Nick McColloch told me that they recommend everyone who needs generator work to Holley Generator & Equipment,  7945 14th Ave in Sacramento.  A call to Holley and I talked to Lanie Nizuk, and told him my problem.  He said, “Bring it on down.”  So we loaded up and arrived at Holley shortly after 10 am.  Not knowing what all this would entail, I towed the car, and unhooked the car at a park nearby, Granite Park, which is a no-leash dog park too, and Marcia followed me the less than a quarter of a mile to Holley’s. 

Brian, who is looking at the Generator in the picture above, quickly diagnosed our problem, taught me more about the generator, and showed me how to fix it if it does it again.

Holley Generator & Equipment is located in this building, and there is ample parking in the rear after you check in.  You can see the white “Snap on Tools” truck, we were parked right behind it.  In my phone conversation with Lanie I told him how we lived in the motorhome while we travel, and asked him if the generator repair was going to take a long time, could they remove it and let us drive away until they got it fixed.  He said, “Certainly.”   

Thank goodness our repair did not take very long, and was not real serious.  While I was in the office checking in and describing our problem, Brian grabs a starter and explains to me that when you activate it, the solenoid provides power to push this gear up against the flywheel and turn it, providing the “oomph” to get the engine running.  However, if the batteries are drained a bit, if they are old, etc., the solenoid sometimes does not have the power to pull the gear back away from the flywheel.  But when I told him the batteries were less than a year old, and in good condition, he looked a bit perplexed.

I left to quickly get us some breakfast, and by the time I came back Brian had pulled our motorhome, with Marcia and Skruffy inside, behind the "Snap Tool Van", and had already got the generator running.  He said that he was right in a sense…it was a battery problem.  One of my red cable connectors to one of our two house batteries had become very loose…he said it took three full turns and then some to lock it down tight.  He was able to giggle the generator real hard and that loosened the gear, along with having more power from the batteries.  He also showed me how one could do a “reverse polarity” on the solenoid as a last resort.  I feel more confident that I will know how to fix it “if” this happens again…but our fingers are crossed that we won’t face it again.

A little over an hour after we pulled in, and $130 shorter, our generator was fixed, including new oil, and Brian made a few adjustments which has it starting easier and quicker.  He told me that he felt the generator was in pretty good condition for having around 550 hours on it and being ten years old.  He assured me that using it at least once per month is ample to keep the generator going.

It is nice to know that we now have a good reliable place to work and look at the generator if we ever need it.  I wish it was closer to our home in Florida, but we come to the Sacramento area so often that it like our second home.  I called McColloch’s RV repair as I was returning to the park, Marcia following, in order to hook up the HHR again, and thanked Kerry for the good referral to Holley Generator. 

Last night we decided we needed one more item, and did a 2 day order with Amazon.  Once it comes on Wednesday, we will drive away again.  Depending upon what time of the day it comes, we might go a long ways, or just a short trip.  A two day set-back is not anything to worry about, after all, Alaska awaits the mighty squirrel hunters!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

A nice sunset last night, a boring night of local TV running off of a small inverter, along with our computers all running on 12v, no need for the generator even though our neighbors were a long way away from us.  Went to bed before 11 pm, which is early for us.  I actually fell asleep around 10:15 on the chair.  Only awoke once during the night, got up to turn on heater around 5:30, up at 6:15 and first thing I need is coffee…which for us, takes a generator.  Us RV’ers know the procedure…push down button until it lights up, push the other way to crank the starter.  If it does not start within eight seconds or so you stop, and then start the procedure again.  Ours typically starts during the second procedure.  It has taken three shots at it before, and it has started during the first if it had been going sometime early that day…but normally it takes two.  Today the first attempt went normal…but the second one results in no crank, and the light flashes and flashes during the attempt.  I have to wonder, “Did we use too much electricity?” I don’t think so, but what else could it be?   Oh, I need coffee…and in case you did not hear about it, last week a study gives men a good, let’s say a “real good reason” to enjoy not one, but two cups of coffee each day.  (Caution, that link is rated “R”….oh, what am I thinking, it isn’t anything more than what is on TV commercials each and every day, all day long.)

So thinking it still might be, just a slight chance be, a low battery, I head north towards coffee…which we find in Wheatland about 12 miles north.  Coffee in hand, I take a few sips, and go back out and open the door to the battery compartment, and put my trusty little OHM meter on it, and NOTHING.  That cannot be.  So I open the engine hood, engine running, and put OHM meter to the battery and NOTHING!  Ok, perhaps I need new batteries for the OHM meter.  So next I open the door to the generator, and open the access panel exposing the on/off button connected to the generator…looks and acts just like the one inside.  I try it, and after the light comes on and move it the other way, I hear a CLICK.  Try that three times, same CLICK.  Ok, looks like we lost the starter or the solenoid to the starter.  I think it is time to take two steps back to my sister’s house and call this attempt a “False Start”…which is why there is a new picture of us sitting in the backyard at Arny and Sandy’s house.  Arny too thinks it is a starter or the solenoid…but his money is on the solenoid…my money is one just getting it fixed.  And that OHM meter, well, new batter did not do the trick, and it is now history…to-do-list: get new OHM meter.

NOTE:  To Karen and Tony who responded to last nights blog said that they might be able to hook up in Oregon, well, it does not look good…perhaps when we get into Washington, depends on how long this fix takes.  

To Cheryl who quoted Lao Tzu:  "The journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step." My personal quote is, “Sometimes a long journey requires one step forward, two steps back before one gets anywhere.”    

To Nancy:  I think I read your entire Alaska blog posts, and I did remember you talking about that, and it is on our “must be aware of” list as we travel.  As Floridians, our glass coverage, by law, is non-deductible…hoping we don’t have to use it, but if we do, we are covered. 

And to John:  I know this is not your first time in Alaska, as for now, we just hope we make it up there!!!!

P.S.:  Better to breakdown now, than in the middle of the Yukon!  

Update: Mom, Hummingbird and Travels

Lots of response to my Facebook posting last Sunday about mom being in the hospital.  Family and friends from all over gave “likes” and made “comments” about mom.  I am sure the “likes” were that they ‘liked the fact she was ok’, and not that they ‘liked the idea of her going to the hospital’.  It’s that “facebook” thing you know….  However, one set of comments seemed to be a bit amusing, and I will share that with you in a bit.

But just so everyone could see mom in her normal condition, the two pictures above were snapped this afternoon when mom came over to read to Euleda, who is Arny’s mom. 

My brother Bob has two children, Jennifer and Jared.  I have talked about the story when I took both of them, along with my oldest brother Jim’s daughter to the park here in Sacramento around 1978 and Jennifer pushed Jared into a duck pond….anyway, I did not realize that the effects of not being able to breath air for those few seconds would have such a devastating effect on little Jared who made this comment in Facebook about his grandmother who was taken to the hospital with chest pains, just to find out it was Gastritis.

Don’t know what got into his head thinking that someone died, let alone his Gma, but his response to my response is just darn funny!

    

The resident Hummingbird, the one which rules the feeder, likes to perch himself up on a twig where he can watch for intruders.  A couple of days ago I saw him up there grooming himself, and got these shots…the last of which included a rare picture of his tongue. 

A couple of weeks ago while in Oregon we realized we were not charging the house batteries (the ones that all the 12v lights and other electrical items run off of in the motorhome).  Took it to a shop and we could not figure out where the battery isolator was located.  Well, there it is, right there in the main cargo bin by the front door.

A bit easier to see now that I removed a few things.

When I removed the door guess what I found?   It was the biggest RATS NEST that I had ever seen.  That entire compartment behind that pull-off door was full of leaves, tissue paper, droppings, AND, the most important thing, NOT ONE CHEWED UP WIRE!!!!

But this one red wire, the one with the white arrow pointing to it above, was very loose.  The rat was long gone, the nest is long gone and I filled the hole where he easily got in from the frame at the top, marked by a blue arrow.  Now this was definitely a Florida mouse because all the leafs were Florida trees and not California trees…and they were very, very dry and thank goodness there had not been a spark in there!

As I said before, we have only had the motorhome for under a year, just at a year now…and we are still learning about all the little hiding places.  YES, I had looked behind that door once last year, made a mental note about which quickly got lost in the quicksand of my mind  (Jared is thinking that my brain didn’t get oxygen when I jumped in to save him, but it only came up to my knees, so I can’t use that excuse).  Never gave it a thought when we had it in the shop up in Oregon even though I kept running through my brain all the places I had seen “large wires” at during the previous year.

So after Father’s Day, we are going to do our first minor trip up to the Sierras, to get out of the heat down here in the valley.  I have a few National Forest Campgrounds and a few Full-hookup Campgrounds which I want to visit over a ten day period.  Overall it is a little over 300 miles, but at any given time we will be no more than 100 miles away, and it will give us some non-hookup time to try out the solar panel and the generator, and some full-hookup time too. If all goes well, than after the 4th of July we will expand a larger loop further north.