MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *A* and Homemade Chicken Soup

I am going to start off the new year with posting three of our motorhome modifications at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes:

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER A 

Awning Lights and Clips:

Just about every RV in a campground has awning lights attached to the valance of their awning. Sometimes called Party Lights. Our motorhome has a fabric awning... without a thick hemmed edge on the valance. It is not the thicker plastic coated type of awnings you see on many RVs.  Thus it makes it more difficult to use regular clips or clothespins to hold on a string of awning lights.  They just slide off the edge with the slightest movement.

Over the years we have had various party light sets.... and we finally stumbled on a set of clips that worked with our awning. 

They are tiny double metal clasping types that are reminiscent of the kind our moms used to keep our mittens attached to our jacket cuffs so we didn't lose them! Made by Camco and sold in most RV stores, along with Walmart and Amazon too.  Called Camco Lantern Snaps. 

We also have some of the fabric with rubber glide tabs that slide into the groove of the awning roller, but using little S hooks was not practical either.  We do use a few if we are hanging a spinning doo dad or a little sign. 

I leave these Lantern Snaps attached permanently to the light sets (being careful to not snap through a wire) and just clamp them onto the awning when we put them up. Easy to take down in a rush for an oncoming storm, and you don't lose them on the ground because they are still snapped to the light wires yet. 

We gave away that light set shown in those previous pics, and just this past summer we found this pretty set at World Market on sale. It looks so cool and patriotic! They are glass, but we put them carefully in a tote when not in use. 

Alternator Woes:

Our motorhome with a 3126 Cat diesel engine has burned through FIVE alternators in the last 10 years since we have owned it. 

• Some motorhome folks believe it is the added strain on the alternator of leaving in the morning and having to charge up the camping (coach) batteries after being drained overnight. 
• Other motorhome owners say it is from not being used every day like a car alternator.  
• Some motorhome folks say we need a larger one than what originally came in our rig, and to stop replacing it with the same size. 

Whatever the reason, we have replaced alternators five times. It is NOT fun to be stranded. We have had to drive with holding down the ''boost'' button on the dash that connects our engine (chassis) batteries to the camping (coach) batteries and running the generator to keep up the charge level to get home. If too low of a battery charge, the transmission will not shift, its electronic.   Nope not fun.

After the third one went out while down in Florida last winter, Steve even tried to rebuild it, but that didn't solve the intermittent charging problem either.  It would fluctuate and not charge steady. Then he ordered a fourth alternator while in Florida to bolt up just so we could get home.  That burned out in just 100 miles on the road.

Obviously, that still didn't solve the problem so we ran jumpers from coach batteries to chassis batteries to get home. We ran the generator the whole way for 1,300 miles. Whew.... And I might want to mention also that the inverter which changes our coach battery power from 12 volt DC to 120volt AC was acting goofy too.... Hmmmm?

This leads us to a sub subject also starting with the letter A is
Access to Our Engine Compartment:
When Steve does this kind of work, we are fortunate that our whole king sized bed lifts up for access to the engine compartment.  Motorhomes with bedroom slides usually only have trap doors and acceess holes to reach things from above the engine. That is why many semi truck places do not want to work on motorhomes, or charge a higher labor rate per hour.  We do not have a bedroom slide out unit, so our entire king bed lifts up insead.

The compression struts have long ago given out, so he lifts up the bed and also supports it with an extra prop pole that is really a cargo retaining rod for delivery trucks (found at Harbor Freight around $15)

Okay.. back to the alternator and what we found out was REALLY the problem....

Once we got home, we chatted with a local guy who rebuilds alternators.  He said we should replace the alternator again with a brushless larger one, they run in the $300 range but he had one on the shelf for $160. He said all the semi trucks with Cat engines were going to this one. It cost more but we decided to try it.

Since the fourth alternator was a fairly newly rebuilt,  we were perplexed as to why it was not putting out enough amps. It was intermittent, sometimes 12 or 12.5... and other times 13 or higher. He said he would bench test that one for us.... and hooked it up.  I got to watch and learn.  It was not putting out a charge of course.  He took off the rotor section to test and the regulator was shot as well as some other parts inside.  All the diodes were burnt right off, like over fried from something back feeding! 


He said to go home and test our isolator.  That is an electrical unit that splits the power from the alternator and sends it either to the chassis batteries or the house batteries, but doesn't let them bleed over into each other. Well, Steve bypassed the isolator on the chassis battery post by putting all three wires onto one post just to hold them together.  

BINGO!   that was it!   The isolator must have been malfunctioning and back feeding into our alternators and burning them out. The rebuild guy said that is how the others got fried. It made sense.

Nobody locally carries isolators, so we had to place an order on Amazon to get one delivered in a few days. 

Here is the old isolator... it is mounted on the wall in the engine compartment which is open to the dusty road and dirty diesel engine.  That is probably 20 years of accumulated dirt on it. LOL...

NOCO IDG200HP   $55.27 from Amazon

 Steve hooked up the wires and double checked and triple checked each one....

•  2 wires on the left are to the chassis batteries and solenoid boost switch on the dash...
•  (next post is skipped)
•  the center post is the alternator and the engine clock. 
• The far right post is for the chassis (house) batteries.

Everything is working properly... even the inverter!  

Whatever was back-feeding with the old isolator is now corrected.

Whew....  and since then everything has been fine as frogs hair.

Here is my third A hint:
Awning Arm Trick for Cleaning: 

Cleaning an RV awning is not a fun job, but it needs to be done a couple times a year.  We found out this little trick for making it easier. Of course you can lower your awning like this to scrub the underside. 

But here is the trick to reach the topside.  Unhook your awning arms where they attach to the side of the rig.  Now carefully lower them down so they can slide underneath the body of your RV!

Now you can easily reach the topside surface, scrub it with a long handled broom or 

brush on an extension pole, and easy to spray off with a hose! 

P.S. We clean our fabric awning with mild car wash soap.
Some folks with the plastic coated awnings find that
Bleche-White automotive tire cleaner works well for them. 

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Now that those three Motorhome Modification posts are done, I will put in more of my regular blog stuff now below.  Did you know my first post of three A mods garnered 2424 views! 

and the one from last night is almost to 1,000!
Thank you for reading my blog!!!!!


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Today is kinda like a normal Monday but different because Steve is home now. We had a leisurely morning and then went out to remove our Christmas Decorations from the outside of the house. It was warm in the mid 30s to get them all down without cracking wires or busting lights from the cold. Tomorrow the temps will drop and we are going into subzero stuff later on in the week. 

Steve is feeling better from his cold, but it is starting to take me down. I was up most of the night feeling yucky.  I crawled into a warm bed this afternoon for a well-needed nap, and I woke up to the most heavenly smell.  Steve had simmered up a pot of homemade chicken soup with veggies and bow tie noodles! YUMMMMMM  

Maybe we will start to take apart the tree tonight. 

Maybe not. 

I am thinking I might sneak upstairs and do 

some more sewing on my next quilt. 

And because I have not posted any cute pics of the dogs recently,

here is one of where they are right now, at my feet. 

(this is Binney, Finney is laying behind her)

Alternator Woes on our Motorhome

By the time I finish writing this blog post, I hope it's all fixed!!!

It seems our Safari coaches have alternator loads that wear them out pretty fast. Other Safari owners of our vintage years in the mid 90's seem to say the same thing.  I believe it's strained not only the maintaining of two batteries needed to start the big diesel 3126 CAT engine, but also charging up the four 6volt batteries we have on the coach.   We do not run the inverter while in transit, so that helps lessen the draw on it.

We do have 500 watts of solar panels to recharge the coach batteries during the day, but when taking off early for travel days, the coach batteries are low too. Some suggest starting the generator for an hour or so before take-off to charge up the coach batteries and lessen the draw on the engine's alternator.  Hmmmmm sounds like a good idea too, but sometimes not feasible if it's an early driving day.  Many campgrounds have set hours for noise or generator operation. Or many campgrounds prohibit the running of generators altogether.

Anyhooooo   We have already replaced our alternator in 2006, 2008, 2013 and 2015.  Steve said it is strange because it seems to always be failing for different reasons, and different parts that go out in the alternator itself.  Perhaps it's just bad workmanship and manufacturing on the alternator components?  He usually replaces it with the cheapest alternator you can get.  It's a Delco 21 si 160 amp, J 180 mounting.  If he changes to a larger alternator, then he also has to change the isolator.  Arggghhhhh   It's like he is always throwing parts at this motorhome, but after all, being 20 years old, we need to do this no matter what.

Last week on our way back from Sun Coast Designers in Hudson, FL, Steve noticed that our alternator was not putting out enough charge.  It was only about 11-12 volts.  It should be reading between 13.5 to 14 on the gauge and the Silverleaf vmspec computer in our dash.

We had enough battery power to get back to mom's yard... and he pulled the alternator out to examine it. Inside there was grease from the bearing that appeared to get all over inside on the windings and the brushes.  ewwwwww  

So Steve ordered a rebuild kit and a new set of brushes to rebuild the unit himself.  In between all the other projects he has been doing, he installed the repaired alternator and hoped for the best. He also cleaned all the connections and wires. Fired up the engine, and sadly, nope.... no go.

Okay, now it was time to get serious here, because we have to leave in a week to head back to Wisconsin!    He ordered another alternator and it was to arrive by UPS yesterday.  Say what you will about bad UPS service, but we tracked that package and it said it was going to arrive yesterday.  We watched for the truck all day long.  Last night about 8 pm, there was a knock on the door. Sure enough, out in the darkness was mom's friendly UPS guy. He had a flashlight and made his way from the truck out on the road into her yard and set the package on the front porch.  He wanted to be sure we knew it was there, so he knocked and wished us a great evening.  What a nice guy!

Well, the coffee is done here, so I might be able to gulp down a cup before I have to help Steve install this new alternator first thing this morning.  Perhaps I will even get some pics .... it's not a hard install, just two bolts and three wires. He is getting so good at this, I think he can do it in his sleep!

ON EDIT

yup.. we got the old alternator out, swapped the pulley over onto the new one, and installed...  

yippeeeee  13.6 volts and not even driving it, 

just idling in the yard! 

This is our fourth week in Florida.  We are working on many projects for mom.  The details around her getting settled back into her home are too many to mention.  We are handling what we can to help her out.  Paperwork, accounts, billings, name changes and legal issues are daunting at times.  We are so glad we can be here to help.

In between all the other stuff, we have managed a few more shopping trips to Gainesville with Auntie Lois.  These two gals are a hoot to take to Walmart because they get going with those carts and there is NO stopping them!

They wear us out for sure... after an hour of Walmart shopping, 

Steve and I found a good spot out in the Garden Center to relax 

while those two were still zooming the aisles! 

While sitting there, Steve found a great deal on a clearance price of the Weber Q1000... with a stand!~  It was marked down from $199 to only $99!  He has been wanting one of these for quite a while, so I think it's his vacation souvenir! 

We also hit Trader Joes again... our friends Conny and Jack sent us a gift card, and we really put it to good use.  Yummmmmm   I sure wish there was a Trader Joes closer to our house.

On leap year day, Mom decided to surprise us with a full blown Thanksgiving Meal... turkey and all the trimmings!   She said it was because we didn't get to have Thanksgiving together in November, so on leap year day, we can make up for it and have the holiday we missed with our loved ones!  Like a make-up day! 

The dogs are enjoying the warm weather and we take evening walks as often as we can around the rural location of mom's place in Florida.  It's all sandy roads, and they come back pretty grubby.  Added to the humid conditions and damp fur, the sand and dirt just clings to them.  If you pet them, you get a puff of dust in the air!   I can see why most folks in Florida have short haired dogs....  LOL.  it was bath time, even if they didn't totally appreciate it.

Last night, Auntie Lois invited us out to Fish Fry at her church!  

She is part of the kitchen crew, 

and took a moment to come out to speak with us at our table... 

Ahhh the Master Chef!  How I love that smile! 

In between tasks and errands and things, I am also working on some quilt blocks.  I carry an extra sewing machine in our motorhome, and of course there are quilting shops all over to get more and more fabric.  I am working on a blue quilt to go on our front porch back home.

With so many details to work out here in Florida, we are also keeping an eye on things back home with our housesitter, snow plow man and neighbors.  The snow coming down right now in Chilton makes me kinda homesick, but the nice sunny 75 degree day here in Florida is enjoyable too.  Hmmm

We know about the big landslide in Jelico at the Tenn/Kentucky border on I-75.  We have heard the auto detour is bad enough with the twists and turns and grades, and we should avoid it with our motorhome and toad.  Also, the big truck detour route is about 140 miles around out of the way.  So we are making plans for a different route further to the west on our way home next week. That means missing a visit with our friends Linda and Mark in Tennessee.  Sigh.

Well, coffee is done and Steveio is raring to get to the alternator replacement.  I better get off this computer and get to work.  I am his "gopher assistant" and photographer/reporter to take photos and write the articles!

A Tale of Three Blogs - First one RV Stuff Motorhome parking pad

Oh my myyyy how the last few weeks flew by!  And I have neglected you, sad sorry blog readers.

So tonight I will write THREE blogs!   

One on RVing Motorhome Stuff, 

One on Fiber Stuff and new things I am creating

and if I get to it tonight...

One on Family stuff  around the house and of those adorable Grandtots of ours! 

Okay, first up on deck is the motorhome stuff.  Steve recently changed the oil and noticed a broken wire on the alternator.  It was completely broken off at the tab that the wire connects on to.  At one time Steve had soldered the tab back on, but it was broken free again.  Glad he noticed it before we went anywhere and didn't have any charging to the battery system!   We had purchased an extra alternator a while back to keep on hand, just in case this very thing happened! 

OLD ONE                                                       NEW ONE 

 OLD ONE BROKEN TAB                NEW ONE WITH TWO TABS

He will take the old one now to Green Bay Rebuilders to have it repaired and refurbished.... and hang onto it for the next time we need one I guess.

Next is kinda motorhome stuff and kinda home stuff... because it deals with making a parking pad for our motorhome.

Since we parked the motorhome here when we bought the house in January, it was mid-winter.  The backyard was plowed out for the motorhome to set on the snow covered grass.  Once the snow melted, we contacted a landscape contractor to come and give us an estimate on extending our driveway back further into the yard,  leveling off the ground, and spreading a layer of gravel.  (we first got permission from the city to do so)   The guy came, gave us an estimate and said it was such a small job, could he work it in between his bigger jobs?  Sure.....   well, each time we nailed him down on a date, he didn't show up!   SIX dates came and went--- with no apologies, just giving us another date and saying he will come again.  We are SO GLAD we didn't pay him anything down.  We were finished with him.

So then I contacted another contractor.  He was nice when he stopped by and said it was such a small job, that he really didn't think it would be worth his time, but he gave me the name of another guy to contact.  Well, that guy's wife handled the call and said he would stop by and give us an estimate that afternoon.  Never heard from him, never stopped by.  I called back and he said he would have to charge me more than he thought because he would have to haul his back hoe here twice.  Once to do the scraping and leveling and then back again to spread the gravel after it was delivered by the gravel company.  He said it's not worth his time to sit here waiting for the truck to arrive.  I agreed and said for him to come anyway. He didn't.   And he didn't call back.  Heck with him!

Soooo Steve and I took the bull by the horns.  We made some phone calls and lined up our own equipment and gravel delivery.  The only problem was it had to be during the workday, Monday through Friday to rent the skidster.  He had to use up a precious day of vacation to schedule renting a cute skidster from a local tractor supply place for 8 am.  We scheduled our own gravel delivery at 10 am.  And of course the weatherman lied about the rain stopping during the night.   It had to rain ALL morning while we did this.  But we GOT ER DUN!

Here he is, driving the skidster down the street, right to our house!  The place he rented it from is only a few blocks away, so he was able to drive it here instead of trailering it to the house.  How great to live in a small town!   Here he is making the first cut into the sod to scrape it level.

Of course, it was raining... and raining some more.  It made the ground very slippery and slick.  The tires didn't have the greatest tread, so he didn't dare scoop up the excess dirt and drive across the back yard to dump it to make my flower beds.  He would have torn up the rest of the lawn and possibly got stuck.  Oh well, I would just have to do a LOT of wheelbarrowing to take that excess dirt over to where I wanted it later.   In the meantime, he just kept scooping it up and shoving it back to the end of the parking pad near the back of our property.

Once he had all the dirt and turf scraped away, we had a scant 15 minutes for a coffee break.  Here I am hanging out in the garage out of the rain.  

Then we heard the rumble of the gravel truck-- ready to deliver our parking pad gravel!  The nice driver was only able to start spreading at about the halfway point forward because of overhead power lines.  But he spread it out as best he could down the first portion of the cleared sod.   Then he had the truck do that big RUMBLE to shake loose any excess gravel.  I swear it vibrated the entire neighborhood!  Our poor neighbors to the right in this photo were blocked in for a bit.  The driveway is ours but we allow them access to get to her garage and parking spot by her back door.  She doesn't drive, but her family comes and goes throughout the day.

From this point, now it was fun fun fun for Steveio!   Though it was still raining, he was inside the overhang roof of the skidster.  I was on the outside with a shovel, rake and can of spray paint to mark where the edges of the gravel drive should go.    I swear I could hear him going "VRROOMMMM VRROOOOMMMMM"  as he played with his Big Boy Sandbox Toy!  

Back and forth he went, moving the gravel ahead and leveling the hills and dales into a nice flat parking pad.  Oh yes, did I happen to mention, it was STILL raining???  See the raindrops in the mudpuddles?

By noon, our parking pad was all rolled out nicely and flat and level!   I hosed all the mud off the skidster, while Steve went in to change clothes and dry off.   We had to get it back by 12 noon as our agreement was for renting it for four hours.   See that big pile of dirt at the end???  That is going to get hauled a wheel barrow full at a time to my flower beds to the far right of the back yard.  Steve had cut down two big trees during the winter and ground out the stumps in the spring.  We wanted to cover that area with flower beds so that is where the dirt is going to go. More on that in the next blog.....

Once Steve returned the skidster, he went in to work for half of the day.  At least we were only losing a half day of vacation time instead of a full one.  By 4 pm the sun was out, the rain had stopped so we decided to drive back and forth and back and forth with the car on the parking pad.   Packing it down nicely, we figured it was firm enough to drive the motorhome onto it.  And it WAS!   Went on smooth and flat and didn't sink in the new gravel at all.  Guess we did a good job!


Soooo this is what we started with... the BEFORE with bumpy grass, unlevel, and not very nice to have grass growing under the motorhome that needed mowing.   And here is the AFTER.....

Then I started hauling the dirt... whew!   It was wet and heavy and needed to get moved before the pile got too firm and hard.  Plus I have a whole pile of bushes and plants waiting to get in the ground.  So here is what I did yesterday..... got about halfway done.

Today I finished hauling the rest of the dirt and got my plants in. 

I will take some pics in the morning and post them in the next blog. 

Stay tuned for A Tale of Three Blogs -- Second one Fiber Stuff