Larry & Marj Miller (21257)
Arizona Sun Catchers – Presidents
Greetings and Happy Holidays to All! As you read this, several months have passed since our interesting/challenging summer trip. We learned a great deal so thought it would be worth sharing. We were in the 3rd week of our 4 ½ month trip, enjoying West Glacier National Park. Returning to the campground one afternoon, we discovered our coach had lost power. After a day of troubleshooting, calls to near and far Newmar dealers, and Silverleaf, we confirmed our inverter / charger was dead.
Holy cow and horse flies! We were scheduled to join the Newmar Carvan at the Calgary Stampede in two days as well as numerous other stops that were already reserved in Canada. It was time to decide if we could go ahead with our all electric 2020 New Aire or if we needed to cancel the trip and head for home.
Hoorah! The macerator toilet flushed! Lighting also worked on house batteries but not the refrigerator. Ice might keep it cool but that was not a long-term solution. We discovered the electrical outlets did not have power (one exception) without a working inverter and the extended window awning would not retract.
What to do? A call to Girard confirmed that the awning did not have a mechanical bypass. Solution, remove the cover, roll up the awning and fasten with extra-long zip ties. Now, where do you store an 11 ft awning cover? After trying several positions in various bays, we finally found a place on the roof where it could be fastened with our long zip ties. It was still there when we arrived home!
So, we continued our trip into Canada and didn’t really suffer the rest of our journey. A mobile tech in Calgary moved the refrigerator power cord from the inverter sub-panel to the shore power panel. The frig was back in business when plugged into shore power or with the generator. The solar panels we added a couple years ago kept our house batteries adequately charged. And we discovered one outlet in the back closet had shore power. A trip to the local hardware store for extension cords put us (mostly) back in business. We ran one short extension cord (with multiple sockets) behind the washer & dryer and then connected two longer cords that ran along the top of the cabinets to the dinette. Our induction cooktop worked with shore power but one of the extension cords was needed to connect the microwave. The other cord connected to a multiple outlet box used to charge phones, watches, computers, hearing aids, etc. We became efficient at storing and replacing cords each time we moved to a new RV park.
We arrived home months later with a better understanding of our coach’s power system. Our favorite Newmar dealer replaced the inverter, returned wiring to the proper location, and re-installed the awning cover. All is good again.
We are now actively planning our chapter rally coming up in April. It will be at the Voyager RV Resort in Tucson. Please look for the details on the Klub Calendar.
Until next time, be safe and have fun! We can be reached at email larrymarj1969@gmail.com, or cell 480-710-1726.
