Power Problems

Over the years we have done many long journeys across North America. There has always been one or the other problem. Either it was exploding tires or a broken transmission (back in 2005). 

This time, there hasn't been anything of major concern so far. 

But today, Murphy's law hit us again. It wasn't completely debilitating, but all-of-a-sudden our converter wasn't charging the batteries anymore. We had the genny running for a while and that made me aware of the malfunction. So I called a mobile RV technician (A-Z RV REPAIR) a local one-man-show business with excellent reviews.

He showed up within 15 minutes, which was a thumbs-up.

When he got busy in the rig he checked 120V power supply first, which was no problem, except that the converter wouldn't run on it. So the final act was to tear out the converter and replace it with a new one. Amazingly, he had one with him in his truck.

The replacement was done fast enough, but then he added a "jumper-wire", which aroused my suspicion.

After paying his hefty bill, we were happy enough - that is until we shut down the genny and started the inverter for providing 120V. Unfortunately, that one didn't work as it always showed the yellow light. The yellow light at power equipment means the same as the yellow card in a soccer game. FOUL PLAY!

Something was drawing power in the rig. And for the longest time, I couldn't figure out where. When I finally connected a toaster directly to the power cord coming from the inverter, the thing worked and no more yellow light. Consequently, the mistake would have to be in the electrical setup of the trailer. And now my memory recalled the "jumper-wire". 

When I had it removed for testing our power from the inverter, power was restored immediately.

:-(((

So much for using "Certified RV Technicians".

But we don't fret over it. After all, we got a new converter and we got it fast. 

I didn't take any pics of the ongoing repairs.

And then we had the still ongoing storm. Being that close to the edge of the water we were concerned about how far the waves would reach. High tide around here is only about a foot difference, but the waves seemed huge.

The trailer rocked under storm casts and Dixie got really afraid. After we went to bed we all calmed down and we actually had a good nights sleep despite the wind.

This morning it was still blowing hard and the Matagorda Bay was filled with white caps. The storm lasted about until 3pm after which the wind subsided. From yesterday afternoon until early evening the temperature fell from 28C to 8C (82F - 46.4F). So yes, we needed winter-style clothing this morning.

Meanwhile, this afternoon it went back up again to 17C (62.6F)