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!  :)

Our batteries aren't working, any suggestions?

I am having some real issues with heating and electricity.  I think this is first time I have had to use my lights for such a long time in the evening, and I've had the heater on more than usual.  It's cold in The Palms, and I've had to use the heat from the truck/cab heater to keep us warm today.

My batteries keep going down to zero on my panel, the lights flicker, the fridge is twittering, and I'm not sure what's going on.  I'm connected to the electric here, and my TV, microwave and elect. outlets are working, so the park electricity seems to be okay.

I just ran the generator for a few minutes, and the battery lights went to 3/4 full.  I turned off the generator, turned on the heater and within a few minutes the fridge was alerting me with twittering, and my CCI Controls - LPG Gas Leak Detector was going from Operating to Fault-low voltage.  The manual says the orange Fault light goes on if the battery voltage goes below 8.5. 

When I'm in a park with electricity, shouldn't that be what the rig uses for heat, lights, fridge, etc.?  Or are my coach batteries ALWAYS used for those things, the same as when I'm dry camping?

When I start my engine, in a few minutes the panel shows the batteries are full, but they quickly go back to zero if I turn on a light or the heat.  Something is really draining them quickly.

This morning I checked the breakers and all the fuses in my Power Converter, and everything looked good.

My batteries are Interstate, I had them put in in August, so they are virtually brand new, and I've been in a park with electricity almost every night.  I went out in the rain today for about an hour to check my generator and  battery cells.  (When the batteries are so low, my generator won't start, and if I have any truck engine issues, I won't be able to start the truck with the generator under the current conditions.)  I added a little oil to the generator, and added a little distilled water to all the cells.  I'm not sure how full they should be, but I could see water in the front cells, and added a little to each one just in case. 

I can't find anything specific on the forums about this, and the books that came with the rig don't say anything specific that I understand.  Can you guys help with comments?  Or direct me to a website that has this information?

When I'm in a park with electricity, what should the coach batteries be doing?  Do you think the batteries are just bad?  Connected wrong?

As you can see from the weather gadget on the left panel, the temperature right now is 40 degrees, feels like 24 degrees.  And it's 6:20.  It's going to be a COLD night.  (Last night I had Katie up in the bunk with me, and with my down comforter and a quilt, were were toasty, so we'll be warm once we go to bed.  Which might be soon...) 

If you are able to help, thank you!!

Another thing, I was thinking of going into town tomorrow to get an electric heater.  One of the forums said Vornado at Target is a good one.  If I get one, then I can plug it in and use it with my electricity, right?  Then I won't have to use the coach heater?

PS - In reading my manuals and more forum reading, I found my refrigerator Climate Control Switch was ON, and I turned it OFF.   If it is ON, it is a constant drain on the battery, and is mostly for warm humid weather.  So, that was one thing...

From Me and Katie, have a great Thursday evening, everyone!  :)

It's raining, it's pouring...

Finally, we have rain, rain, rain.   Katie is pretty mellow about it now.  I think the wind bothers her more, because it rocks The Palms a little.  When there's a big gust she looks up, waits, then snuggles back into her bed again.

Around 12:30 am last night I woke up and heard a little soft whining, and looked down at the couch where Katie sleeps now, and she was sitting up looking at me, whining.  I realized she went out for a late afternoon walk, but not her night time walk, so I climbed down, dressed in warm clothes, and took her outside where it was windy and rainy.  She went potty right away, and we came right back in.   She already had a sweater on, which I'm using for a sleep shirt to keep her warm, and I covered her up with her blanket so she had a nice cave, and she went back to sleep.  She is so cute.

Of course, at that point, I wanted to stay up for a while and enjoy the storm, so I turned on my computer, answered some e-mails and read some blogs. After about an hour I climbed back up to the bunk and went back to sleep. 

We went out this morning in the rain, and I took some photos:

The creek, picking out the green

Close up of same area with yellow/orange

More yellow/orange colors

Tree, highlighting its autumn colors

Katie in her raincoat this morning

 And all snuggled up in her pink jacket

It's rained pretty much all day, but they still had some sort of after school sporting event on the large lawn area across the creek.  Lots of cars came, everyone got out with their umbrellas, kids were running around, lots of cheering, and everyone got back in their cars and drove away.  

It's been in the 60s in The Palms all day,  and the heater has been going on and off.  I think this is the first day I've worn my jeans, sweatshirt and running shoes.  And I've had a blanket over my legs.  Usually it's shorts, tank top or tee-shirt and sandals.  This weekend its supposed to go back up to sunny and in the 70s.

It's getting dark now, but we're warm and dry and very comfortable.  

By the way, last week when I was at Walmart, they were giving flu shots, so I got one.  They are $20 if you pay for it yourself.  There are lots of places up here offering the shots, I don't know if they are doing that everywhere, but it was nice to have it so convenient.  And it didn't hurt a bit.  I get one every year, and so far I've haven't gotten the flu.  I've gotten sick - colds and allergies - things like that, but I don't think I've gotten the flu for years.   It was nice to get it done and out of the way for another year.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Wednesday night, everyone!  :)

Another week at Rock Creek and new camera

I decided to stay here for another week at Rock Creek RV Park in Twin Falls, ID.  I was in the lower site area of the campground, and when I woke up this morning, there was no one at all in my row, and only two RVs in the row behind me.  I knew one family was going to leave, and I don't like to be that "alone" in a campground.  Since today was my last day paid, I decided to move to the upper area where the camp host is.  We were the only two RVs in this area, but a couple just came in for a one-night stay and parked a few sites from me. 

When we moved from our campsite, I decided to run into town and see if Costco had the camera I wanted.  I filled up the gas tank at Costco, and then went to the camera department.  As it turned out, they had only one left of the Nikon model I wanted, and it was the floor model.  It's a Nikon Coolpix S9100, and it was on sale for $120 off.  It retails for $339, but this was $220.  Even though it's the floor model, it has the same warranty as a new camera and seems to work just fine, so I'm pretty happy.

I took a few photos this afternoon.  This is of a small tree outside my window using a setting where you can highlight just one color:

Black and white tree with red berries

This is a small branch of the same tree in full color

 Nikon Coolpix S9100

Here are Katie's toys on her quilt:

 This one picked up the orange and the red

I love that feature.  It also does panoramic photos, and has lots of other features, including an 18x zoom lens, which I'm really going to love. 

Here's another one with the green tree enhanced - the trees behind it were more of a grey-green, and the green wasn't picked up.  I put it in a little frame:

That's the start of a good Christmas Card!

View of the hill across the creek

 

Katie on our walk - ahead is a storage room made of rock

 

 Our new site-it's actually prettier in this area

And finally, some great clouds from this afternoon.  We had intermittent showers.  I love it; Katie isn't sure about the rain, but we're working on it.

 

From Me and My Dog, have a great Tuesday night, everyone!  :)

Rock Creek RV Park, Twin Falls, ID

WELCOME to our new Followers, Debbie and Duane!  I've been following your blog, too, and enjoy your beautiful photos.  I especially loved the animal shots in your blog of September 26, the moose pictures were amazing!  Thanks for following along with us, we're happy to have you along. :)

We 're still in Idaho.  We are staying at a County Park in Twin Falls, ID named Rock Creek RV Park.   It had really good reviews on-line, so I decided to check it out. For $15 a night (no discounts) it's a pretty nice place to hang out for a while.  It's bare bones as far as RV Park amenities.  It does have water and electricity, covered picnic tables, BBQs and vault toilets, and that's about it.  Although the view to the rear of The Palms is a stone wall with a rock quarry above, not very pretty, the view in front of us is lawns, the covered picnic tables, and a wide, rushing creek.

Clouds at Rock Creek RV Park

Creek at Rock Creek RV Park, ID

That's The Palms looking through the picnic table

There are easy walking trails, a nice day park with a play area, a Frisbee golf course, etc.

This RV Park is in the city of Twin Falls, which has everything close by, Costco, Best Buy, Target, all the large and small shopping stores and restaurants.

The weather here has been good, but it has been windy today.   The Palms has been rocking in the wind, which is fun.  Rain was in the forecast, but we've only had a little so far. 

Coming into the city from the freeway, you go over the I.B. Perrine Memorial Bridge which is 1,500 feet long, the longest span bridge in the west.  It's 486 feet above the river.  After leaving the bridge, if you turn right on the first street, there is an Information building where we pulled in and parked.  I couldn't believe the river and surrounding areas below us when we crossed the bridge, and I had to get a closer look.

I.B. Perrine Memorial Bridge

There is a scenic overlook at the Information area and we went there to take some photos.  The Snake River Canyon has some pretty cool history, how it was carved out by one of the world's worst floods, the Bonneville Flood.  That was 14,000 years ago.  I won't put it all down here, but it's pretty interesting.  If you want to know more, you can Google it.  :)

There are two golf courses down in the canyon, both 18 holes.  One is privately owned, but open to the public, and the other is part of a private country club.  Click on the photo to see it better, it's an amazing view in person.  You really have to be there to fully appreciate the depth of this canyon, or the fact that the floor of the canyon is used for different things.  Besides the golf  courses, there is a trout farm.  There are fresh water springs that come out of the north side of the Canyon walls, which furnish the trout farms.  Blue Lakes Trout Farm grows and sells 16,000,000 trout per year. The Snake River Canyon is home to many animals and birds.

Floor of Snake River Canyon - two golf courses

Snake River Canyon

 On-line photo of the floor of the Canon.
It's like a small city down there.

Down the canyon on the right and past the curve, there is a mound of dirt, which is where Evel Kneivel's jump ramp was when he attempted his jump across the Snake River in 1974.  I remember that.  His motorcycle was rocket propelled, but unfortunately there was a malfunction after he took off, and he ended up parachuting down into the canyon 485 feet, landing safely just on the south edge of the water below.

The mound from which Evel Kneivel attempted

his jump across the Snake River Canyon 

Lots of people "base jump" off the bridge.  There were 5 or 6 young people preparing their chutes to jump when we were there.  They had already jumped and were going again in about 45 minutes, but I didn't want to wait to see them jump.

 

Getting ready for base jumps

The Information Center volunteer suggested going to see the Shoshone Falls, which is only five miles outside town.  I don't know if we will or not.  It's called the Niagara of the West because it's 212 feet tall, higher than Niagara Falls.  Usually there isn't water at this time of year, but apparently it's flowing now.

 Shoshone Falls (on-line photo)

I think we might stay here for a bit.  They are supposed to have a storm coming in, and I want to be here for it.   Also, I want to pick up my General Delivery mail at the post office, and it will take a few days for my daughter to pack it up, mail it, and have it reach me here.  Apparently I can stay until October 31 when the park closes.  The Camp Host is leaving on the 15th, though, so I may leave before then.

Katie is doing well here. She didn't have any motion sickness on the drive down, but we weren't on the road for long.  I'm going to try to drive shorter distances from now on.

Sleep tight, little Katie

From Me and Katie, have a good night, everyone!  :)