July 17th-19th - New Converter/Charger Install in Homer

On June 21st I ordered a new charger/converter for Homer from "Best Converter".  After replacing the batteries the converter was still acting flakey even though only six years old. I ordered one from "Best Converter", giving business to a small company rather than Amazon. I ordered an Iota brand, which is what has worked flawlessly in Marge since 2006. Several weeks went by and the charger did not arrive. I emailed the company, no response, I left a phone message, no call back. I finally got a live person on the phone about a week ago. He advised me that the Iota was back ordered and probably is being discontinued. Of course he didn't bother to let me know that was the case. (This would not have happened ordering from Amazon.)

He talked me into buying the identical converter/charger I was replacing, which he said was the best. While it cost $25.00 more it was in stock. It shipped out the next day and I received it last Friday. Hopefully this one will last more than six years. Believe it or not I have the original converter/charger out of Homer. It is 27 years old and still works fine. Unfortunately it is old technology and tends to overcharge the batteries, plus it hums very loudly. I now use it when I need a 12 volt DC power source.

Friday as soon as the new converter/charger arrived I installed it. It was a very easy install since it was identical to the one I just took out. Here is a picture of it installed.

It is about half the size of a shoe box. Where it is installed it has plenty of ventilation, which is important. Here is a picture of the charger/converter with the access panel in front of it installed.

The little black box above the access panel is the Remote Pendant for the charger/converter. It has a little LED that lets me know by flashes what charging mode the charger is in. It also has a button I can push to change the charge rate if I want to. I really like the LED that flashes different speeds to tell me how much charge is going into the batteries.  The writing on the remote describing the charge rates is very small so I printed out a label and installed it over the door so I can tell at a glance what the charger is doing. Here is a picture.

Homer is ready to roll. Now if we could only go somewhere with no Covid and where it is COOLER!

July 11, 2020 - Waxing Homer

Homer's body is all aluminum except for the front and back caps which are gelcoated fiberglass. The fiberglass really gives Homer some style and class but it oxidizes over time and is hard to keep "shiny". There are several "cleaner" waxes on the market, mostly used for boats, to remove the oxidation and wax the surface. I have had mixed success with these products over my years of waxing our first fiberglass motorhome, Marge (the fifth wheel), and now Homer. Fortunately Homer has spent most of his life under cover so the oxidation isn't "horrible". I waxed Homer from head to toe when we bought him in 2015 and haven't since. He's been to Alaska and back, California and back, and on several other trips. He's had a couple of baths but now he needs to be waxed.

It was so hot outside this week I could only work on waxing Homer for a couple of hours in the morning before the temperature got too hot and before he was in the sun. Here is a picture of the back cap after I finished putting on two coats of the "cleaner" wax product. It was hard to get a picture of the "shine" because of the sun but it came out nice overall.

The next day I tackled the front cap. It is lot smaller in size but is a pain to clean and wax because it extends partially over the hood and it is hard to reach from the ladder to do a good job. After two hours I was really hot and tired and quit for the day. The next morning I redid the second coat and it came out fine.  Here is a picture.  With the angle you can see the shine.

I also inspected the roof, which is also aluminum. It has one seam down the center which is covered with aluminum tape. The edges of the tape are beginning to curl up in a few places and the center rivets throughout are starting to wear through the tape. The aluminum tape on there is four inches wide so I ordered six inch Eternabond Tape to put over this tape to prevent any leaks. When the tape arrives I will wash the roof and apply it. It won't take long since there is just one seam. After that I will wash the sides and wax them as well. A complete outside cleaning is a slow project when I can only work a few days in the heat.

I'm still waiting for the new charger/converter to arrive. I currently have Homer hooked up to a battery charger to keep the new batteries up. Installing the new charger/converter will be a snap since it is the exact model I had that shot craps. It is still rated the best on the market so I bought it again. I hope I have better luck with the new one.

July 6th - A Little Homer Upgrade Today

Homer was built before car door pockets were a thing. I find them very handy for small items. There is very little dash area storage in Homer so I have been looking for some way to add door pockets. Most of the ones I came across were really small. I wanted something bigger and finally settled upon some nets that were designed to Velcro to carpet in the back of SUVs. I mounted thin pieces of hardboard on the sides and Velcroed them to the doors. The Velcro did not do well in the heat. So today I used automotive moulding tape to hold them in place. It is used to hold the moulding on the sides of cars so it can take extreme heat and cold. Here is a picture. I put one net on each door. Now we have a place for a bottle of water, flashlight, map, etc.

I am happy with they way they turned out. Only time will tell if they will stay affixed with the moulding tape. I really don't want to drill into the door panels if I don't have to.

Today I also was able to get in touch with the company I ordered a new converter/charger from on June 21st. I had heard nothing about it being shipped. He informed me the converter/charger I picked out was backordered and was being discontinued. You would think he would have called or emailed me and told me that. Anyway, he sold me the exact same charger/converter that just failed on me after five years. He said it is the best around. Maybe I just got a bad one the first time. In any event he should get it shipped out soon and I can put all that back together. As of now Homer is hooked up to the original 27 year old charger sitting on the floor to keep the batteries charged. I unplug it at night because it is not a smart charger and will overcharge the batteries, causing them to boil out battery acid if it is on all the time.

July 5th - A Minor Repair on Homer

It has been really hot here in Missouri. Today Kelly and I installed the new stair rails for the house deck upgrade. Now all that is left to finish up the project is some touch up paint and painting the surface of the deck. I will wait for cooler weather for that.

A little project on Homer today was fixing the entry door pull handle.  While it was still functional, it was loose due to the plastic breaking. It was not going to last much longer. Here is a picture.

You can see the plastic mounting bracket on the left was broken and a piece missing. We had pulls like this on the doors of a 1978 Cadillac we owned back in the day. I've learned that lots of RV parts come from the automotive industry. Our Cameo 5th wheel has Chevrolet truck tail light lenses.

Here is a close up of the two plastic brackets once taken off to be used for patterns.

Because the plastic was broken out on one side around the screw head that side would not tighten down.  I made new brackets out of scraps of oak in the shop.  Here is a picture of the new brackets with new stainless steel screws.

The brackets worked out fine and screwed down tight. Now when I pull the door shut I won't have to worry about it further breaking off or coming out in my hand.