St-Jean-sur-Richelieu

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The Importance of Cleaning RV Battery Terminals

Today, I began my battery upgrade project by cleaning all my battery posts and existing wire connections.

I started by making a paste of three tablespoons of baking soda and about one tablespoon of water. This was too much for my project, so next time I’ll halve the amount.

Before I touched anything, I cut off 12V power to the rig using The Infamous Yellow Button.

The terminals on one of my batteries were pristine while the other battery was in terrible shape!

I used a tooth brush to apply the paste to the terminals and scrub everything clean, then I wiped away the residue with a soft cloth.

Then, I used some electrical tape to clearly identify my positive and negative wires, red for positive, white for negative:

This will come in handy when I go to reassemble everything!

I bought a multipack with several colours of electrical tape and I will be colour coding everything as I put my battery bank back together. Solar will be yellow (a self-explanatory choice), inverter wiring will be green (because it’ll feed my study, which is green!), and the battery monitor will be blue (because I’ll turn blue (and feel blue) in bad weather if my batteries are running low).

The cable running between my batteries to connect them in series was the shock of the day. The positive end had essentially dissolved and fused to the battery terminal.

The negative end was in perfect condition:

I was able to completely remove the residue from the battery terminal, but the cable obviously had to be replaced. I thought to use one of my new 12″ cables, but discovered that the clamp-type connector wouldn’t work with my setup.

So I hopped in the truck and drove all the way to Canadian Tire and back to exchange the cables and get an extra one. The closest match to my old cable that they have now has a shortest length of 18″, which will be good for going from the terminals to the shunt and fuse, but is a bit long to go between the batteries.

Now that my terminal cables are clean, I can starting thinking about bringing in the new wiring. I don’t want to start something I can’t finish, so first, I need to decide just where I’ll be placing my battery monitor. If it’s going in the living room, the wiring will have to come through the floor above the battery bank and I can start getting it connect. But if it’s going to the study, the wiring will have to be run under the rig and for that, I’ll need a helper and might as well not start yet. Decisions, decisions!

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A Wasted Month and Back to Square One

I went to VR Expert today to check on the status of the repair work. NOTHING had been done. It has been HOT the last few weeks and the guys felt that there was an ‘odour’ in the rig so they couldn’t work in it. I went in, opened windows and air hatches, and 10 minutes later, the ‘odour’ was gone. Gang of idiots who couldn’t call me right away to come and take care of the problem!

I asked why the outdoor work covered by the insurance wasn’t done. Because they do all the work at the same time, never mind that I told them that I need the insurance work done first to get the cheque for it by the time my work was done.

The service tech really doesn’t care if he gets my money or not. The work on the motorhome, including the part covered by the insurance, is $4,000 and the tow package installation would have been another $2,000. I wish my business was running so smoothly that I could afford to give up $6,000!

I told him that I would be checking back on Thursday and that if nothing was started that they could do just the insurance portion and forget the rest. The guy said that would suit him just fine! I have until now been very polite and patient and haven’t called every two days for updates. This was the first time I got angry with him, so where this attitude is coming from, I have no idea.

So Miranda has been in the shop for a month for nothing. I am convinced at this point that I am going to end up picking her up Friday with absolutely no work done on her. That means I have to start all over again to find a shop to do the insurance portion, have to get the insurance company to cancel the cheque to VR Expert waiting to be mailed out, have to get a new estimate, have to get a new insurance approval, have to wait again for a shop to have time to take me…

Needless to say, forget the overhang repair at this point. It’s too late for that. I’m just going to take a cooler day, remove the trim and existing Eternabond, apply new tape, and the seal it in by reapplying the trim over top.

I am so angry and I just want to cry.

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I Wouldn’t Call This Progress

This afternoon, I went out to VR Expert to check up on Miranda. No work has been done. One of the techs is sick and vacationers waiting for their RVs have top priority. They are hoping to start Tuesday. I don’t feel angry so much as defeated and homesick.

There is one bit of ‘progress’ in that rather than coming back to me with a price on having the front over cab window removed, they decided to go ahead with the project and order a piece of fiberglass to cover the hole. I cannot wait for that window to be gone and I am probably going to use something I rescued from my old toad to make the newly acquired wall space more functional.

When I do get Miranda back, I won’t be able to move back in fully since I will have interior work to do on the loft. As long as they don’t mess the space up too badly, I should be able to insulate, panel, prime, and paint in a couple of days.

Speaking of paint, I stopped at Canadian Tire after to pick up some automotive primer and flat black spray paint. This weekend, my mother and I are going to figure out the best way to get the vinyl off the topper trim on the truck. I will then sand the aluminum, prime it, and paint it. After this, Moya is going to look really good even with the few rust spots I need to deal with.

This photo from the dealer clearly shows how the vinyl covering the aluminum trim is peeling and making my toad look less than lovely:

I find driving my truck in Quebec is harder than it was out west. It feels like roads in the west where most folks have trucks are built and proportioned for larger vehicles. Here, I feel like I am driving a behemoth! I know I will get use to Moya and that she isn’t that big. If I don’t have any transcription next weekend, I’m hoping to take her out for a few days of camping so I can remind myself of why I bought my lovely green beast. 🙂

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Waiting On the Estimates

I was at VR Expert on time this morning for the estimate portion of the Fix Miranda saga. I’d been told we’d have plenty of uninterrupted time to go over what I wanted done. Ha. I felt like I was impeding on their time so badly I completely minimized the work I want done on the cab overhang since I don’t want to give them any more money than the strict minimum. I just hope their technical work is better than their customer service.

The guy gave me the impression that the cab overhang is a disaster. He says that, based on a visual inspection only, he needs to pull the passenger-side window, remove the entire fiberglass panel, and let the area dry before he can even think about how to repair it.

He didn’t seem too impressed by the damage done to Miranda’s hitch and frame, so that doesn’t sound like a major job. Neither are the propane regulator and house door window switcharoos, or making the house door square and plumb.

As for setting up the Ranger for towing, he can only do it if I want Blue Ox and/or Ready Brute products and have an uncomplicated vehicle to set up for towing. Shame since I want Blue Ox and Ready Brute products and a 2WD manual Ranger is one of the easiest vehicles to set up for towing. 🙂

They cannot do the windshield.

So the big question mark at this time is how much is the overhang repair going to cost? If it’s less than $2,000, I’ll go ahead and do the Ranger later. If it’s more, I will probably opt to do a ‘good enough’ repair on my own because I know how the overhang is constructed and am not concerned about it falling apart down the road since the frame is aluminum. If they do the work, I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot of interior work to redo. 🙁 I will also need to go to Miranda with a helper and get the loft emptied out so they can get that window out. What a pain in the ass, but it should have been done ages ago. I should never have trusted the Eternabond. I am confident there are no leaks inside the loft at this point in time and that any water he is feeling is between the styrofoam and the fiberglass. But knowing my history of minimizing problems, I am bracing myself for bad, bad news. And for being homeless for at least two weeks. 🙁

 

 

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Harder Than Expected

I dropped Miranda off at VR Expert tonight. I had to hand over keys so the service tech could park her where he wanted. This is only the second time I’ve seen someone drive my home and the first time I have left her overnight for a reason other than travel. I really feel homeless and out of sorts tonight. I’m heading back there in the morning, then who knows when I will next see my home. I can’t wait to have an idea of when the work will be completed.

Going into the shop, I noticed a sign for Blue Ox products, so that pretty much confirms that they could convert the truck, too. I also got a hint that they might do windshields, too, so I’ll add that to the list. I know I can’t afford to do everything at once, but I might as well get numbers on everything.