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By Andy, on March 11th, 2010
I know there has been post after post on the blog concerning the problems and challenges
 Messin' with the Boondocking Batteries I have had with my house battery set up. It is hard to convey the absolute dependence you have on a set of batteries when you have no access whatsoever to shore power. I can’t pick up and go to an RV park or even get access to a common wall socket. I can’t say I just have to make it through a weekend or a few days until I can get to some electricity. I have nothing but the batteries and the Generac generator.
Some posts back, I talked about the slow charge of the batteries from the Progressive Dynamics PD9260 converter/charger. With the generator running, the most I ever saw was 7 amps going into the battery bank and let me tell ya, it took a mighty long time to charge batteries at that rate! With all the other problems I was facing, I didn’t address the slow charge one until today. It is raining out which means no work. I have the battery bank set the way I want it; the Trimetric is working correctly so it was high time to solve the slow charge problem.
 Working on the PD9260 converter/charger and the DC distribution panel Two years ago I replaced the old Magnetek single stage charger with the PD9260 3 stage smart charger. It was a drop in replacement. I clipped the wires on the Magnetek and spliced the PD9260 in. This morning I got out the wiring diagram for the Old Girl and pulled the converter/charger and the DC distribution panel out in the floor of the hall.
Through research I had learned that wire gauge might be a problem with my lack of amperage going into the batteries. Well, I had #6 wire going from the DC distribution panel the the battery bank. That was adequate. I would rather have #4 wire but I do not think it is worth the trouble. The connection from the converter/charger to the DC distribution panel in my RV was #10 wire. That is the way the old Magnetek had been wired. I thought maybe, just maybe, this might be a problem. I had no #4 or even any #6 wire to beef up the connection. I did have some #10 wire so I just ran a second piece from terminal to terminal. I figured what could it hurt, right?
I put everything back together and crossed my fingers as I fired up the generator on the Fish Bus. Eureka! The Trimetric 2020 battery gauge showed 42.4 amps flowing into the house battery bank!
So I guess the Saga of the Fish Bus batteries is closed. I feel certain I am at fault for the failure of the Universal 8D batteries because of general battery ignorance. If you are going to depend on your house battery bank in your recreational vehicle for more than the occasional overnight Wal Mart stay, you need to invest some time to learn about proper maintenance and use. The other imperative would be to invest in a good battery bank monitor like the Trimetric 2020.
End Note: Time Goes By by Buckwheat Zydeco from the Lay Your Burden Down album. Some times you just feel like some Cajun music.
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By Andy, on March 10th, 2010
I would never allude to being a gourmet cook. Not even close. However, I do have a gal friend in Atlanta who is a great Southern Cook. Ceil regales me with menus like smothered pork chops with scalloped potatoes and gravy or hand cut rib eyes and baked sweet potatoes. Yum!
 Uh Huh! Wolf Brand Chili One day last year she asked me what was for supper and I said “Wolf Brand Chili” and she said “What is that?” I was again reminded how great it is to be a resident of the Republic of Texas.
From Wiki: ( and I swear I don’t make this stuff up)
In 1895 Lyman T. Davis of Corsicana developed the original recipe for Wolf Brand Chili, which he sold for five cents a bowl from the back of a wagon parked on the streets in downtown Corsicana. He later opened a meat market in Corsicana where he sold his chili in brick form, using the brand name of Lyman’s Famous Home Made Chili. In 1921, using the simplest machinery, he began canning his chili and marketing it in the immediate area. It was about that time that he adopted the brand name “Wolf Brand,” in honor of his pet wolf, Kaiser Bill. By 1923, with improved equipment, Davis had increased production to 2,000 cans of chili per day. Because of the discovery of oil on his farm, he had neither the time nor the interest to devote to his chili business, and in 1924 he sold his operations to J. C. West and Fred Slauson, two Corsicana businessmen. The new owners modernized production and introduced new marketing techniques. Among the most successful innovations introduced by West and Slauson were Model T Ford trucks with cabs shaped like cans and painted to resemble the Wolf Brand label. A live wolf was caged in the back of each truck. The vehicles not only provided practical transportation for company salesmen but also were effective traveling advertisements for their products. In 1954 the company expanded into interstate markets, having previously distributed its products only in Texas.
Ok, I am not OCD about many things but I am always certain that I have at least 3 cans of Wolf Brand Chili on hand. ( BTW, it is never referred to as “Wolf Chili” – always “Wolf Brand Chili”. Don’t ask me why.) Being as how we are in a hurricane prone area and the Tornado belt, my disaster preparedness pack includes a few batteries, a six pack of diet Pepsi and the Wolf Brand Chili. Worst comes to worst, I could open a can with a screwdriver and hammer and eat it cold. Guzzle down a cold Diet Pepsi and look around and say “Hurricane, What hurricane?”
On Sunday, I was getting ready to watch the Nascar race and I thought to myself some Wolf Brand Chili, chips and Pace Picante would be tasty along with an ice cold Diet Pepsi. It was too early in the day and too cloudy to be drinking beer. I am funny like that.
 A tasty meal for Mel I never open a can of Wolf Brand Chili that I don’t think about Mad Max eating that can of Dinki-Di dog food. You see, the Wolf Brand Chili does not pour out of the can. Heck, it won’t come out of the can at all. You could turn it upside down and shake it for two days and it ain’t coming out. You have to get a spoon and spoon it out just like ol’ Mad Max did wih the Dinki-Di. So even though it reminds me of dog food and even though it is the consistency of swamp mud when cold and even though it isn’t sold in gourmet food stores in New Yawk City , it is still tasty eatin’. Sure hits the spot for me. Oh, NO BEANS! Real chili doesn’t have beans silly!
End Note: Jesus Was a Capricorn By Darrell Scott from the album Modern Hymns. One of the least heralded American artists ever. Worth a listen to any day.
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By Andy, on March 9th, 2010
Sun exposure is something we never worried about growing up. Who knew? Nowadays, it is an every day process to avoid the harmful rays as much as possible. Long sleeves and Wranglers year ’round. Every spring, when it starts to get hot, my brother and I wear our straw cowboy hats daily to ward off the rays. I have already dealt with 4 occurrences of basal cell carcinoma on my arms.
In the winter, I wear a ball cap just so I don’t have to comb my hair – or whats’ left of it. We call them “gimme” caps because they are usually imprinted with some company’s logo and you get ‘em for free. I had to go to Hearne the other day to get an oil filter for the Generac generator on the Old Girl. There is a Carquest auto parts place in town
 A dirty old gimme cap which has a hardware store in it as well. Don’t think I have ever seen that. Anyway, I walk in and up the the counter and an older gentleman said “Not THAT Lee Roy Jordan?”
I had to think for a minute – then it dawned on me that I was wearing a Lee Roy Jordan Lumber Company cap. “Yep, same guy.” The counter guy began to tell me what a huge fan he was of the Cowboys – probably their biggest fan he said. He had a whole room at his house dedicated to America’s Team. As he was processing my credit card he said “I guess I will have to make a trip to Dallas to get me one of them caps.” I told him I would be back in a second and walked out to the Suburban.
When I had left the stick house the previous week, I had thought to get a new cap to replace the dirty one I had on my head. My GF had gotten several Lee Roy Jordan caps since he was one of her vendors and I had one still wrapped in plastic. I retrieved it and walked back up to the counter and laid it on top. I have never seen such a look on a man’s face. You would’ve thought I had laid a million dollars cash in front of him. He just looked up at me and grinned. “You enjoy wearing that cap!” I said as I grabbed my filter to leave.
“Oh, I’ll never wear it, it is going on the shelf in my room.” I waved a hand and heard him say ” Hey Jimmy, LOOK AT THIS!” as the door closed behind.
End Note: Woodstock Nation by Big House from the album of the same name. I wish these guys were still around.
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By Andy, on March 8th, 2010
This is one of my opinionated soapbox rants – SO -
Home Sweet Home for the next few months
if you don’t care for the opinions of a 50 something, conservative, out spoken Texan it may be best to move on to the next blog and read about the huge problem of cats that freak out in your RV if you go over 45mph or writing your congressman about making cutting through your RV site a
Continue reading Fear and Loathing in RV Land
By Andy, on March 7th, 2010
My Daughter
My daughter did a radio show on AFN this past Saturday. Her theme was Classic Rock songs that you don’t hear on typical Top 40 rock stations.
She is gaining an appreciation of the music that shaped a generation and changed the world. Though it is not part and parcel of her very fiber like my fellow baby boomers, she is starting to get it. Not bad for one that has not
Continue reading A Shot of Classic Rock
By Andy, on March 7th, 2010
Interstate 100ah and Universal 8D 250ah boondocking batteries
This battery saga has just about run its’ course. The new Interstate AGM batteries are performing fine. At 100ah each, they are not going to power up an aircraft carrier but they do as well or better than expected in my RV.
I tried desulphation and equalizing to salvage the 2 8D 250ah monsters. One of them is deader than a hammer. The other one did respond and
Continue reading Batteries and Boondocking – The Final Installment
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