Auto-gen start testing

One of the tasks that we have had done on Carl's RV while it has been here at National Indoor RV Center (NIRVC) is to have an auto generator start module installed. This will allow us to cause the generator to start automatically in case of several conditions -- if the battery voltage or state of charge (SOC) gets too low, if it has been more than a given number of days since the generator has run, or if the temperature in the RV gets too warm -- so if we leave the rig on a warm day, and we don't have shore power for some reason (boondocking or the shore power fails) - the generator can cut on so the air conditioner will be able to run and we don't come home to a cooked kitty cat.

The gen start module had been installed, but we wanted to test it and make sure it was working the way we wanted it to... we had gone through all the settings a couple of days ago and had it configured the way we wanted it, but we hadn't made sure it was working according to our understanding. So, this morning, we decided that we'd test the temperature control.

We unplugged from shore power. Carl set up a space heater near the temperature probe so we could test it with the temperature we wanted programmed. We got the temperature up beyond the set point, and the generator came on... but it only ran a short time and then cut off. We tried it several times... we had it programmed that the generator should run for 2 hours if it started due to a temperature control, but the longest we were getting it to run was 5 minutes or less... and the temperature had not come down (since we were still heating the probe).

So, we called Magnum Energy to make sure that we were understanding the functionality correctly. The technician went through all of our settings with us, and then said that we needed to go to the gen start module and do some tests directly on it... well... it is installed within a bay that has a lot of stuff stored in it... so we said we'd call back when we were able to get to it.

We pulled the things out of the bay, Carl got in where he could see the module, and we called Magnum Energy back. A different technician got our call this time (there are 4 currently working), and he talked us through testing the gen start module. Carl did a lot of different tests... and ultimately, the technician indicated that the module was correctly installed. But... we were still having the same problem. It appeared that he was in consultation with another technician, and they came to the conclusion that we have a faulty gen start module... but they have never seen this specific type of error occur before. They suggested that we ask NIRVC to install a new module and see if that corrects the problem. From what he said, it appeared that they don't know whether this is a hardware problem or a software problem... if hardware, a new module should fix it, but if it is software, we'll have the same problem on a new module... and then, I got the idea, it will be more challenging.

So, we talked to the service advisor at NIRVC, and he is scheduling the installation of a new module (we aren't sure that they actually have another module here, so the part may have to be ordered).

All in all, we spent about 3-3.5 hours debugging with Magnum Energy and then time talking with the service advisor -- so that took up a good part of our day. More later on what took up the rest of the day!

Some pictures:

Auto Generator Start module installed on the side of the bay near the roof

Inverter Charger - also in the bay - installed near the ceiling of the bay

Documentation picture for future reference...

BMK Shunt - also installed while the RV has been here at NIRVC

During the debugging activity, Carl took the faceplate off the auto gen start module to check the dip-switch settings. It was in such a difficult place to see that he took a picture with his phone to be able to look at the switch settings more easily.

At least he could zoom in then and see that they were all "down" or to the right or OFF (which was evidently how they should have been set in our system).

So, we're glad to have found the issue while we're still here and hoping that it can get corrected. We are going to put pressure on to ensure that this issue does not cause us to have to stay any longer than the wait for the awning is already delaying us...

Some of Carl's views from the farm

Carl readily enjoys learning and participating in the tasks on the farm - throwing himself into the midst of them. These are pictures that he took during the week we were there on the farm...

Feeding the "teenagers" across the road...

 Jonquils were in bloom all over the farm...

Jimmy took Carl down to Edward's place to get corn to make more of the feed that he uses to feed the cattle. When they got back, Jimmy was telling Carl about his "recipe" for the grain mixture and showing him the process of grinding the grain.

Carl also took a video of the grain grinding... I don't know whether it will upload well to the blog, but I'll try to upload it here:

How wonderful to have family acceptance...

One of the things that we cherish so much now is acceptance from family -- we loved our time in Virginia with my brother and sister-by-love... some pictures from almost two weeks ago...

Carl asked if there were any tasks that he could help Jimmy with, and Jimmy suggested he help with pulling some locust trees that were coming up as volunteers:

Jimmy had a chain on the front end loader of the tractor - Jimmy would attach it to the small tree down near the root and Carl would bring it up to (hopefully) pull the tree up by its roots...

Carl would watch Jimmy's signals and do the appropriate action.

Normally Jimmy would do the whole task himself, requiring going back and forth to the tractor - with Carl's help, he only needed to go back to the tractor if there was a part of the task that Carl did not yet know how to make the tractor do.

It was just so good to see these brothers-by-love working together!

Does Carl look like a natural there?

 

Jimmy getting the chain attached...

 

Watching for signal of what to do next...

We're looking forward to the day that we can get back to the farm in Virginia!

Along a walk

A few days ago, when the city of Lewisville was still allowing people to use their parks, we visited a couple of parks...

On Monday, we visited Lewisville Lake Park. It has a campground where Dwayne and I have stayed in the past, and also has a "Disc Golf Course". We walked around part of it... a couple of the "holes" and/or tee boxes were underwater as the lake is very high right now.

A sign board about the guy who instigated the creation of the course here...

On Tuesday, Carl rode his bicycle to the Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park, so on Wednesday, we drove the car there and walked around it.

Along the way, we saw some "local residents" who were not observing appropriate social distancing...

There were quite a number of turtles in the water and up along the banks.

We aren't exactly sure why they have closed the parks. The restrooms were closed on the days that we visited earlier in the week. Maybe someone had observed people not keeping appropriate distance. It could be that even Carl and me walking together was not allowed, even though we are in the same household... I don't know. 

There were areas of Lake Park closed due to high water when we were there on Monday, and the playing fields were not being used. We actually have not been back up there to see if it is currently closed or not... but since the Railroad Park had its gates closed and law enforcement officers around when Carl tried going back there on Thursday, we figure that all the city parks have closed. Too bad as we enjoyed being able to get away from the RV service center to walk or bike...

Our current status

Our current status is that we are parked in the "campground" of National Indoor RV Center in Lewisville. It isn't really a "campground", but a parking lot with water and electric hookups and dump stations on the far side of the building -- available for use to customers while their rigs are being worked on.

During this past week, they have been taking the RV for at least part of each day, primarily working on the paint/body work required by the damage done when the awning was ripped off back in October when Carl was driving from Illinois to Arizona. We think that they have finished with all of that work today... *except* they still need to replace the awning. It has been ordered, and we are told it is currently expected to come in sometime April 6-10... we're a wee bit annoyed that they had the information about the needed awning for a long time, but it seems that they didn't order it until at least after the insurance adjuster came and agreed to the expenses. Oh well...

This picture was from yesterday... they were running some wires in the bay and needed 3(!) of the bays cleared out...

Let's just say that, as fulltime RVers, we have a LOT in the bays... the guy who came to talk to Carl on Wednesday evening to ask him to do the emptying said, "I can't believe how much you have in there!!!"

We looked rather like a yardsale couple... with our folding chairs, and we also had a table set up later in the day... we thought we might trade a lot of it for a couple of rolls of toilet paper...

Meanwhile, NIRVC, where we are getting service done, is adding on to their facilities...

They have all this wonderful large equipment doing all sorts of moving of dirt in the lot right in front of where we are parked...

As if there wasn't enough dirt there already, they are bringing some more of some types of dirt in... you can also see in this picture some of the vehicles of our fellow residents in the "campground" and one of the smaller class B RVs (van conversion) that had been brought out and parked in front of our space for a while.

This truck was getting loaded up with dirt that they no longer want... some dirt comes, some dirt goes...

Our "spot" in the campground - this was from today - Carl was in a chair at the table, but we didn't have the full "yardsale" look going today...

We actually have what we think is the best spot in the campground - it is at the very end, so we have no RV neighbors on that side (though we have a mobile home park on that side, so sometimes they are louder than the RV neighbors). We have a little grass (and sand) to the side of our space. The guys who came to get the RV today recommended that we park the car in the space while the RV was gone so no one else got the idea of parking a different RV here!

When we took a walk around the grounds (parking lot) this afternoon, we saw Carl's rig in the body shop area getting some buffing done by one of the technicians...

As we finished walking around the building - this is a look across the area where the new construction is going on - with the "campground" down there in the distance with a metal awning structure just behind it.

Another load of dirt delivered!

I told Carl that I thought it was awfully kind of the management to provide entertainment of something for us to watch during the time that our RVs were away and we couldn't go and do anything else because of virus concerns. In the past, when Dwayne and I had work done on Miss Doozie here, we could leave during the day and visit friends or the library or walk at the mall... but... those aren't available options at this point. Oh well... we can watch the construction work instead!

So... we're hoping that the awning will arrive early in the week of April 6 (or maybe even before) and that the shop will be able to complete the installation expeditiously and we'll be able to get back on the road to Virginia. But... we're trusting that God knows what we need and where we need to be and will arrange for things to happen when they need to happen to allow that to occur. In the meantime, we're trying to be patient and enjoy what we can enjoy (watching the big trucks and dirt-moving equipment) and patronizing local restaurants with take-out orders.

Terminology... Tires

With our enforced stop in Texas, we're looking into addressing a few more items that need to be addressed on Carl's RV -- right now, tires...

His tires may be original to the coach, which would mean that they are 8-9 years old at this point.

We looked up what we could get through the FMCA Michelin Advantage program - there is one tire for this size (305/70R22.5) that is identified for RV/motorcoach use (there is another one that is for motorcoach in-city usage). We were looking up the information and determined that tire information has a language all of its own:

• Wide, "see-through" grooves promote drainage efficiency to help improve traction on wet surfaces.

• Multi-siping helps deliver dependable grip and long, even wear.

• Enlarged sidewall characters make load/pressure information easier to read, facilitating proper use and maintenance.

• Stable tread with cool running compound helps generate reduced squirm and lower heat for improved handling and durability.

Specifically, "multi-siping" - is that the infinitive of "to sip"? No... that would be "multi-sipping".

The answer is, no... it is a term specific to tires! From Wikipedia:

Siping is a process of cutting thin slits across a rubber surface to improve traction in wet or icy conditions.
Siping was invented and patented in 1923 under the name of John F. Sipe. The story told on various websites is that, in the 1920s, Sipe worked in a slaughterhouse and grew tired of slipping on the wet floors. He found that cutting slits in the tread on the bottoms of his shoes provided better traction than the uncut tread. Another story is that he was a deckhand and wanted to avoid slipping on a wet deck.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siping_(rubber))

I'm sure my brother already knew this... but, if I have heard it before, I did not remember it!

Catching up - From March 14, 2020 - part 3 - Jamestown Island

From the glasshouse, we drove to the Visitor's Center, hoping to be able to see information about the excavations that were currently being done or the items that have been found, but, unfortunately, the Visitor's Center was closed (the signs indicated due to a lack of staff). The paths to the outside exhibits were also roped off as no entry (it looked more than it was more than just closed for the day).

So, we drove the 5 mile loop around Jamestown Island, stopping to read the signboards as we went.

We stopped at the easternmost end of the island and hiked to the end of the island...

A farm along the Colonial Parkway on the way towards Williamsburg

The James River, looking east...

Looking across the James, southwest

The sky was so beautiful...

So, even though we could not view the exhibits, we enjoyed our time on Jamestown Island!

Catching up - From March 14, 2020 - part 2 - Jamestown Glasshouse

Continuing with catching up from our trip to Jamestown a little over a week ago... we thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Jamestown Glasshouse.

This picture in the display of the excavation area reminded me of my family -- I know we visited when we were kids! It really wasn't a picture of us, but I thought it was cute...

I was wondering why glassmaking was outsourced to the colonies - this plaque explained it... (sorry - the quality of the sign finish was not good!).

I am including a lot of pictures that we took -- if you'd rather see a video, there is one available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0RkavoFv9Y (not created by us!).

Picking up the glass to start the process

"rounding" the glass -- the item that was being made is shown in a completed version on the right.

shaping...

flattening the bottom...

Making the globe (blowing)...

 As the glass cooled, it took on the finished color of the glass, which, on this day, was a cobalt blue.

The first craftsperson finishes by passing it off to the second - you can see the blue item in the air (at the end of his pole) - he takes it back to the oven to heat the spout...

Shaping the spout

The first craftsperson brought another part of glass that will make the decorative rim under the spout...

The second craftsperson directs the location of the decorative rim...

Examples of the final product available for purchase in the gift shop

Some of the wares in the gift shop...

Some more of the wares in the gift shop.

Each year there is a special product made and sold just that year. This is the design for 2020. Each design must be from an existing product that is in a museum and which was made during the 17th century.

Some of the unique items that they have...

And some others...

Another craftsperson came back from lunch and was making a "Jack-in-the-Pulpit" vase...

Shaping the top...

continuing shaping of the top...

The vases in the gift shop

If you get to the Williamsburg/Jamestown area, make sure to take the time to stop at the glasshouse and watch the demonstration of this craft!