Walt's Corner

Had my first troubleshooting experience in the Airstream and it went pretty well. At least a happy ending.

TLDR

A distribution bar holding 3 heavy duty (I’m talking about cable thick enough to handle 300 DC amps) cables worked loose and was bouncing around on top of the Inverter, right where the power button is. This button being “on,” overrides the power button located on the remote-control panel. The inverter was always on. A vampiric draw of current while in storage that would eventually drain the battery in a matter of days. I mounted that bar over and away from the inverter. Turned the power button off on the inverter. Now it will turn off at the remote-control panel. Both problems solved. Both? But I haven’t talked about the other quirk here in this Too Long Didn’t Read paragraph.  

The Problem(s)

After sitting in the undercover storage for a week, the battery would be very low. Did I turn off the main 12-volt switch? Check. Something is wrong. Not a problem while camping since the battery stays charged via solar/generator/DC-to-DC converter/truck alternator. In fact, while camping I didn’t even notice this was a problem. I had an energy vampire!

Side problem? Energy-wise, I can afford keeping the inverter on while camping. Not a big enough power drain to make a difference one way or another. Driving down the road, I would hear the microwave turn-on beep. You know. That beep the microwave makes once power is applied to it, just prior to having to set the clock on it. Only experienced this while hitting bumps on the road. I figured it must be a loose connection somewhere. Perhaps even in the inverter itself.

Touch Screens

The problem with adapting to new technology is that common tasks such as turning on the bathroom light is software driven. There is no physical switch to turn a light on. Have to piss real bad? Rush into the bathroom, close the door, and realize that you can’t turn on the light in there. GODDAMNIT! I’ve got to run to the touch panel and turn it on first! I’m getting used to this change of practice. All lights are controlled through the Firefly Multiplex System. Starting the generator? Touch the panel. Turn on/off the water pump? Panel. There is a 7-inch touchscreen in the front of the coach and a smaller 5-inch panel in the bedroom. The only physical switch is the bathroom fan. Therefore, if there is a light that won’t turn on, the problem could be a traditional power problem, or it could be a software glitch. Controlling the Timberline 2.0 furnace and water heater is essentially the same – a touchscreen panel.

Inverter Panel

Nestled between the Firefly and Timberline touchscreen display panels, sits the remote panel for the Xantrex Freedom XC 3000 watt (6000 watt surge) inverter. Kudos to Airstream for selecting this premium piece of equipment. High. Quality. Shit. The more I dig into the guts of what makes this RV tick, the more impressed I am.

This panel is not a touchscreen. A standard LED display with push buttons. During my troubleshooting I learned that the panel appears to be the same panel that is flush mounted on top of the inverter. Being hidden as the inverter is, this panel up front is just an extension, or remote-control. Also, as I would eventually learn, the power button on the actual inverter takes precedence over the remote panel. In other words, if the button on the inverter is off, you can then turn the unit on or off via the remote panel. However, if the inverter power button is on, then one cannot turn the inverter off via the remote panel. And this was the crux of my problems. Both the battery drain and the random cycling of the microwave circuit.

After our last camping trip, I noticed that the inverter would not shut off. The display dims after a certain amount of time, so it’s not like I’d notice the display on and say, “hey, why isn’t that turning off?” Nope. I just assumed it was off. But I noticed my microwave clock still on after I thought I had turned off the inverter. I googled reasons why my Xantrex Freedom XC would not turn off and it came back with an answer. The one I described in the above paragraph. I then googled where my inverter was located and google provided that info as well. I had to remove the rear access panel under the bed on the driver’s side, as well as the shelf of that same area. That is when I saw the inverter and the problem. A distribution bar that connects 3 large cables, about an inch thick each, was just laying there on top of the inverter, directly on that power button. You can see this in the picture above. I could not locate where this bus bar should’ve been mounted. I did find a nice location to mount it to the frame of that area. You can see my mounting job in the picture below.

Recently joined Harvest Host for a year. With the new rig and how easy it is to just get in and leave, if even for 1 night, Harvest Host just might make that easier. This weekend was our first time using the service – Rio Grande Winery. No relation to our Airstream Rio Grande.

But first we wanted to get a hike in. It has been a while since we’ve gone to Dripping Springs so that was our first choice. Wrong move. BLM was celebrating 80 years and picked that place for its Jubilee. Vendors. Live bands. Food truck. Guided tours. No parking in the park. Had to park at the Farm and Ranch Museum down the road and catch a bus service into the park. We were welcomed to do that. NO thanks.

We did notice this other trailhead on the way that seemed to offer some parking. Turned around and headed back to investigate. Score. Sierra Vista Trailhead with dispersed camping and some designated pull-throughs. Perfect. We parked and hiked 5.5 miles. From there we headed into Old Mesilla, found a parking spot in the square and walked around there.

By 4PM we were parked in the gravel parking area designated for Harvest Host. Purchased our gratuitous bottle of wine (Cabernet Sauvignon) and ordered dinner. I had a pepperoni/shroom pizza while Carol enjoyed pasta Alfredo.

Dinner was followed by the season one finale of A 3 Body Problem. Our second watch in prep for the upcoming season 2. Shower. Finally, our nightly game of Cribbage (I won).

Imagine my surprise when I woke up one morning and saw I was getting a raise! Upon further inspection, it was for all my employees at BasilWeb. Oh. Wait. I have no employees. Boo.

Nice try, Satan. Not today.

Camping trip 259, or the 2nd real camping trip in Rio Grande, was at Cathy Canyon. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. The weekend weather looked pretty darned good for in-between 2 rain events.

We weren’t even sure about where we would be, but given the size of our RV, we could fit into a parking space at a trailhead if necessary. Either way, we planned on a hike and an overnight stay up in the Lincoln National Forest near Sunspot, NM. The low was 53 and topped out at 65.

So we loaded up Rio Grande Saturday morning, threw in the girls, and headed up into the mountains. We pulled into the Cathy Canyon parking lot, where the Rim Trail goes through, and less than a 1/4 mile north we found our spot – right along the trail. Was still a little juicy from the week’s rain, but manageable.

We parked and were totally set up within 15 minutes. Setup now involves throwing down our patio-mat, setting up the lawn chairs and aluminum table, and taking the grill and charcoal out of the cargo hold. 5 minutes later we took the girls out for a 3-mile hike up Rim Trail, then the Cathy Canyon Vista Trail, about a total of 1.5 miles then turned around. We managed about 650 feet of elevation during that time. After all that rain, the forest smelled magnificent.

Back at camp I showered (using our new Teakwood shower mat), grilled some wieners, had a campfire and enjoyed some Jack Barrel Proof and a Cohiba. Following that we played a couple games of cribbage (she beat me – twice). Finally, it was time to settle down and read (current book: Dungeon Crawler Carl) before sleeping in to about 7AM.

That’s about it as far camping excitement goes. If you’re interested in the performance of the battery/solar/etc while boondocking, read on, Garth. Let’s see what this “Emerald Off-Grid Status,” the highest tier of eco-friendliest and sustainability certification award can do.

When we arrived at campsite, around 11AM or so, the battery was fully charged, obviously, but I thought this would be a great time to test it out. Nothing but battery and solar for the rest of the day, what would the battery look like tomorrow morning after running the furnace all night, AND brewing a couple cups of coffee through the Keurig, using the on-board battery inverter.

I turned the furnace on around 3PM. Kept it on overnight. The furnace runs off the fuel in the gas tank of the Airstream and provides both coach heat and hot water. If you’ve been following along with me on here, you’ll note that this RV does not use any propane. I set the temp to eventually 72 for both the front and rear areas, which translated to an actual 63-64 degrees in the coach. Excellent temps for sleeping with a good set of covers. We describe this level of great sleep amongst ourselves as “RV Sleep.” As in, “Oh man, I got some good RV Sleep in last night,” even when describing a good night’s sleep at home. I heating system consists of two areas, each with its own variable temperature and fan that can be set to manual if wanted. I kept it on auto.

By sunset, battery was still at 100%. 7:30AM the next day and 2 cups of coffee, the battery was down to 65%. A quick check of the fuel gauge showed no visible drain of gas. Running the generator (which also sucks gas from the tank) for nearly an hour brought it back up to 96% and it quickly charged back up to 100% on the way home. Still no discernible fuel loss from the gauge’s point of view.

One quick note on the fridge. It’s amazing. I’ve had these small refrigerators in the past where the “freezer” is a little box in the top of the fridge and they have never been able to properly freeze a tray of ice. This one actually works. I was able to find a small set of 4 trays that produce regular size ice cubes and a storage tray for cubes already made that fit in the little freezer. Impressive.

I am confident this setup will get us through our annual Big Bend Ranch State Park pilgrimage this winter.

A very cool part of swapping my truck out for Rio Grande the day or two prior to camping is that it becomes my vehicle! Meaning, I have to drive it to work. Unless I use my motorcycle, which ain’t happening during all this rainy weather. No sir.

Which also means I got a little house to retreat to during lunch. To eat. To write. To plan this weekend’s activities. How cool is that?

Couple of little mods you can see in this picture. For starters, the Howard Miller wall clock. What RV doesn’t come with a clock? I guess one could argue that everyone has a watch or a phone that tells them the time, but I appreciate time pieces. So yeah. I mounted a standard RV wall clock.

Next up is the Thermometer. We’ve always had a weather station mounted with outside sensors in our RVs. This one will be no exception. Top left, attached to the wooden cabinet.

Directly underneath the wall clock is a magnetic ring. Rio Grande came with mounting and hookup options for a TV, but no TV. The mount for it is in the sleeping area. I don’t want a TV in my sleeping area. If we want to watch a movie or something the iPad will snap into place on the wall, and our captain chairs both face it when turned inward. Perfect! iPad will play the sound over the included JBL Flip6 Bluetooth speaker. And man does that speaker sound good!

To the right above the table window, attached under the cabinet is the paper towel holder.

Finally, in this shot, is a small sponge holder above the sink mounted to the wall.

Slowly but surely we are making this bitch ours! Next up – custom curtains!