We are here in Kemah at least until Thursday, February 10, 2011.
The weather here is miserable!! Granted both Renne' and I have spent time north of Dallas, but this is bitter cold for us. Today is one of those days we are really glad we have a great heater on board. Prior to two years ago, just before moving aboard, heat was generated by small ceramic heaters. When our old air conditioner was rendered useless by an electrical surge caused by a nearby lightening strike, we replaced the A/C unit with a reverse cycle A/C - Heating unit. It keeps JonNe' at a toasty 75-76 degrees continuously during the day and 68 deg at night. Otherwise, the boat was a lot less comfortable and did not make a real cozy place to stay during the winter. So many thanks to all of our friends who have offered their homes as a refuge during this winter storm.
Several things have been accomplished since the last posting. The battery charger was returned to us on Wednesday. The little auto battery charger we have been using to assist the wind generator and solar panel has been getting pretty warm and for whatever reason, wasn't keeping the batteries up. Renne' and I had re-installed it yesterday afternoon but shortly after the installation, I noticed it wasn't putting out anything - I had to think about this - fresh back from the manufacturer and not working. We went to dinner last night with our great friends Steve and Judith Andriko at Don Julio's. Great muscians, excellent food, excellent companionship. That was enough to relax my mind enough to come up with the thought of blown fuses in the feed lines to the batteries. I had installed 50 Amp fuses on each of the House and Start battery banks, and I knew I had to put one in for the genset battery bank, but I had skipped that step when I re-installed the charger. So I pulled the bed apart AGAIN to get to the batteries, put a meter on the fuses to check for current flow, and discovered both of the 50 Amp fuses were blown. I think that happened prior to sending the charger in for repair (at least it makes sense). So I had to run to the storage unit (28 deg outside) twice, for fuses and then fuse carriers (they had both been blown out with the fuses), replacing them prior to going to bed. This morning, lights are running well, the batteries are reading 13.5 volts (hooray)!!
We also have finished installing our new amplified WiFi antenna. Wow, what a difference. In order to use the system wirelessly, I have to install a wireless router today, but that is only to get rid of the network wire stretching across the room.
We have new cell phones. These will allow us to use local sim cards in countries we are visiting. We understand the cell phones can be unlocked after 40 days of use - perfect for us. Renne's phone stays the same, mine will change. Oh well. We will alert you as soon as we know something.
Let's see, the companies used for this episode are:
Newmar Power, Inc (battery charger), Santa Ana, Ca (714-751-0488
L-Com, Inc., (amplified WiFi antenna, bullet, and Point of Entry) - 800-341-5266, ask for Tia Vaden
WalMart, (cell phones) WalMart FamilyMobile
Best to all of you!
Jon and Renne'
No comments:
Post a Comment