A BIG thank you - I think we're back in business

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and comments and e-mails about our heating/electrical/battery issues.   I've taken them to heart and I think the problem is solved.  I've been reading my manuals and searching the forums for the past two days and nights, intermittently starting my engine to get some heat.  I knew that was not a good thing to do, but we were COLD, and that's about all I could do to keep us warm.

I called my son to ask him some battery questions, I didn't want to mess with them, but he said it was safe to just pull off the cover on the cells and check them.  Be careful, don't let any acid splash on me.  I was glad he told me about the cover, I wouldn't have known where the cells were from just looking.  Note to self:  they are under the cover .  Yesterday morning I didn't know what a battery cell was, and now I know how to find them and fill them. Every day a new adventure. :)

Unfortunately that didn't solve my problem, so I wrote the blog post asking for your help.

After reading your comments, I made notes and planned to do something today.  I was happy to see you all thought my batteries were probably okay, that it was possibly the connection to the batteries that was faulty. 

I went through all my manuals again, and the one thing that kept catching my eye was my Battery Disconnect.

I do have one, but have never had a problem with it.  It is either ON or OFF.  Then I thought, Battery ON or OFF or Disconnect ON or OFF?  I think I was misunderstanding what the ON and OFF meant.  It appears to be a double negative type thing.  I thought when it was ON, that meant the Battery Disconnect was ON.

The camp host woman came over this morning to see if I was okay - she probably saw me out in the rain yesterday trying to fill my battery cells. I showed her the Battery Disconnect and asked her if it should be on or off, and she wasn't sure, but she gave me the name and address of an RV sales and service shop down the road.  I was already packed up and ready to go to Walmart to get our heaters, so we went to the RV place first.  The service guy there scratched his head, turned it on then off, muttered something to himself like, "let's see, circuit open... mmmmm mmmm, Okay, it should be ON."  He also said if the Battery Disconnect was off, the battery might work for a short time, which is what it was doing.

So... the ON or OFF pertains to the battery, but I was taking it literally.  If the battery disconnect is on, wouldn't that mean the battery is disconnected?  I think that should be clearer on the switch plate, don't you?  Anyway, apparently I have had the battery disconnected all this time.  I think.  No wonder it didn't work!  Thank goodness it was such an easy fix, although it did take me two cold days to figure it out, with help from my followers.  I'm glad I posted about it, because your comments made me think in a different direction, which finally got me the answer.  I was blaming the batteries.

So again, thank you!!!  You don't know how nice this afternoon is, sitting here in the warmth of The Palms.
 
Yesterday Katie had on her sweater, her quilted coat and two blankets, and I had on a turtleneck sweater, fleece top, down vest and wool coat, jeans, and two blankets.  And my legs were still not warm.  I'd open a cupboard and cold air would come out at me.  Wow.  Today is so much nicer.

After the RV place, we went to Walmart.  They didn't have any Holmes heaters, in fact the shelves in that section had lots of bare spots so they are really selling heaters right now, but I got two of these heaters:

 Pelonis Space Heater, Walmart, $14.74

They are small and light weight, and have safety features that turn them off if tipped or too hot.  They have a fan option as well as three settings on the right side, 1 - 2-  3, and a Minimum to Maxiumum setting on the left side.  I got two and put one in the kitchen on the first setting on the right, medium setting on the left, and put the other one right before you enter the cab.  Same settings.  So we have heat in the front and the rear of The Palms, and we are really comfortable now.  (Thanks, Andy, for your heater comments, as well as all the troubleshooting tips.)

This fulltiming life is challenging at times, but I have to admit I feel really good when a problem is solved.  Every time something goes wrong, I don't have any choice - I have to find a solution.  And there is always a solution.  Usually I just read my manuals and find the answer there.  If that doesn't work, I check out the forums on-line and the answer is usually there.  If that fails, I blog about it, and you guys usually bail me out.  I guess the last option would be to pay an RV service center to trouble shoot and fix it, but I haven't had to do that yet. 

And now I know that my generator has a full oil tank, because I topped it off when I filled my batteries, my batteries have full cells, all my breakers and fuses are working, and today I also had my propane filled. I have two space heaters - what more could a girl wish for?  LOL.

On another subject, yesterday this bird was walking and flying around my site, and I grabbed the camera and got a photo through the window before he flew away.  Isn't he pretty?  He looks really pretty flying, too.  I don't know what kind of bird he is.  Judy?  I'm sure you recognize him with his distinctive markings. :)

No other photos, it's just too cold and windy outside to spend any time out there.  The weekend is supposed to be warm up a bit, so I'm giong to go on a "photo shoot" this weekend.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Friday evening, everyone!  :)