I have not been able to post for a couple of weeks due to a major disaster. My laptop quit working and with it all my files, passwords, etc. I sent it off to a company in California to be fixed and it came back today, safely packed in a cardboard box. When I opened it and plugged it in, YAHOO!! My laptop is back and I am back in business.
I will try to get back in sequence next week, but this week I am going to write about two subjects:
1. What happened to my laptop
2. A major change in the National Electrical Code which may affect some RVers
The problems with my laptop began when I noticed the battery was going down even though the power supply was plugged in. Looking at the power pack label, the output is supposed to be 16 volts DC. I got out my multimeter, set it to read DC volts on a low range and read the output voltage of the power supply with the test leads. The output was the listed 16 volts DC. Apparently the problem was inside the case and beyond my ability to fix it so I packed it up and sent it off to the repair shop. Turned out the problem was a bad motherboard. All better now and all it took was money and time.
The point here was that I was able to verify the battery charging problem was not caused by my battery charger. If that had been the problem I would have fixed or replaced the charger and saved myself the time and money.
2. Electrical systems in the U.S. and many places around the world are governed by what is known as “The National Electrical Code”. This is a thick book with fine print that tells people in the electrical industry a lot about how to do their job of installing electrical systems. The NEC is revised every three years, with the most recent being 2008, our current version. The 2008 NEC has revised how electrical systems can be installed in RV parks and this revision may have an affect on how some RVs are designed. In addition we need to be aware of this change in order to understand the electricity that is being supplied to our RVs while staying in a campground.
In our next episode I will talk a little more about this change. In the meantime it is good to be back and hopefully I won’t disappear again.
Larry