Air Conditioning, Weather Station, Towel & Tablet

The chassis air conditioner might be working, but for now, the it's A.C. outlets have quit. I might have a fuse out?  I don't know if the auxiliary house batteries are charging? Right now, they're holding at 11.8V. I'd s
Like to see them at 12.7V and im pretty sure that that the dual mode rocker switch that is used to charge them is broken?

- There's a ton of projects waiting to get done in the bin areas above one of the beds/ tables.

- I just installed new alkaline AA batteries into my outdoor weather station. I secure it to the back of the motorhome with stick on Velcro.

- I found my towel. For the past few days, I was drying off with the paper hand towels in the shower houses. I'm too tall for my motorhome`s shower and I just use it for storage.

- My tablet is very sensitive to direct sunlight. I'm sitting in my camp chair now that was over in the shade before, but it wanted to overheat in the sunlight.

Tablet Paid Off

My Samsung Galaxy Tab just got paid off.  It was the media player and navigation unit for the motorhome.

Log 2015060601

The app "Waze" was acquired by Google in June of 2013.  Users submit crowdsurfed information about the condition of roads that helps Google Maps and it's smartphone/ tablet turn by turn navigation route trips in addition to data collected from the locators/ GPS antennas on those devices using it's app.  Waze is standing by now to be installed on the tablet that I use for music and navigation in my motorhome.

2016060401

I took my 1988 Itasca Sundancer 25ft motorhome [with a 1988 Ford Econoline 350 (E - 350) cutaway] out for a drive on some some roads that had approximately 50 - 100ft elevation gains and after about 40 miles, it still had the same old problems accelerating and going up hill. It's definitely getting weaker. It almost barely made it back to storage.

About a mile from it, I barely made a turn on to a road on flat land and then into a parking lot.  I shut off the engine then realized that it cocked in the parking lot. Thinking that I was going to sit at the bar until the wrecker came, I turned the engine back over, but it in reverse and it started acting normal again.  At that point, I left, "made a run for it" and got back to the storage facility without a problem.

But out of curiosity, I put my hand on the hood and felt that it was hot. Now my temperature gauge in the cab has always read that it's been in the "normal" range. But there's two possible problems. One is that it's a 28 year old American auto. The other is that one of those dead mud dabble straw nests is insulating the sensor and fooling me into thinking everything is fine.

I can rule out the cooling fan because it's not electric. Instead it has a housing on the belt system that would have to run all the time.  Tomorrow, I plan on checking the levels and east color before I replace the fuel pump.

Lastly, with my new Insignia 6ft Coiled Car Charger MicroUSB, the Tablet held its charge. I couldn't measure the devices amperage because the battery was at 100%.  It runs on 12 watts and 2.4 ampres.

Log 2016060101

Every fuse in the cab and chassis power converter has been checked.  I bought spare fuses and an employee at Camping World told me that there's nothing different about them, that the specification on the converter's door was just the manufacturer wanting the motorhome owner to buy their fuses.  I decided that I'm not going to tar the seams on the roof.  Instead, I picked up something while I was there that uses a brush to apply it.  And I got some crank handles, one of which will replace the one for the antenna tower.

Every USB port and one lighter socket on the 4 way splitter, as well as the main socket on the expansion lighter power port was tested for amperage on my car and the motorhome.  I'm not happy to announce that the tablet has a miniUSB v2.0 port.  My smartphone has a v3.0 because it's power hungry.  But so is the tablet.  I'm getting 600 - 750mA going to it because of the bottle neck at the tablet's port and that's the best that I can do.  The phone gets about 1200mA in the car and cab.

I just did a test another amperage test with my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (the tablet), this time with it's USB cable connected to it's stock AC/ DC converter and it was charging at least 1000mA.  I'm not sure that USB 2.0 should be able to do that?  Whatever that means, it means that it needs something more powerful in the motorhome's cab.  I have a 200W inverter already that I could plug the AC/DC converter into if necessary.  Those Web pages that I was consulting about the tablet's USB version could have been wrong.  But I'm unable to find where on the device it's stated, or anything that could detect it.

I tested the 4 pin electrical connectors on my car and motorhome.  While I don't know how to use the push button "range" feature.  But I can confirm that there's some kind of signal coming through all 3 ports.  So if there's any problems, it's on the utility hauling trailer.  Well, since the deck splits when it folds for vertical stage, I learned my lesson with torquing the wires last time and used two pins on a three 4-flat connectors (to accommodate both sides and the trailer tongue).  They make excellent diagnostic ports because I'm better able to locate the problem when one occurs and only have to replace that section's wire.

Log 2016053001

I haven't inspected my library recently, but I carry a copy of every manual that comes with my equipment.  It's stored in the "Library" folder on my tablet.

Log 2016051501

I have Walmarts and truck stops in Ohio mapped out. I pulled data from various sources and compiled them into one file on Google Earth, then uploaded it to my tablet. But I'm certain that it's not comprehensive. I've been using the Locus Pro app on Android for a while because it has off-line maps and it helps when navigating to some places on the Buckeye Trail. The GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in a smartphone are separate components that are soldered into it's mainboard. It functions whether I have signal or not. The only thing that I need the Internet for is to download new maps.

Well, Locus lets me download them ahead of time (unlike Google Maps) and use them off-line as needed. From there, the GPS displays my position on them. It also stores and overlays any custom routes, or waypoints (such as the Walmart locations) that I create and also works off-line. With Verizon, this usually happens in remote areas of the state that are far from primary highways and interstates. Since the cell phone signal booster only works when the motorhome is stationary, I still need the off-line data.

Log 2016050601

The scenario is that years ago I purchased an Acer Iconia Tab A200 tablet with a 10 inch screen to test the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource on.  So far, that's really been all that it's done and it hasn't been used much.  It didn't come GPS capable or with a line of cellular service.  It could be a simple matter of getting a USB GPS and cell service.  But from what I'm told, Android has no natural way of reading a GPS position from a USB port.  Nor does my cellular carrier sell a USB stick that would work with an Android OS.

Rather than purchase a new tablet with Verizon, I'm attempting to see if my smartphones GPS signal could be transmitted over bluetooth to old tablet that I have.  And if so, I found a backup camera that transmits over Wi-Fi.  I'm considering installing that onto the rear bumper.  It's old fashioned metal.  If a cowboy was riding his bike and broke his chain, he could lasso around my bumper and get a ride :-)).  That's from a joke that I once heard.

Log 2014092403

Locus Free was installed on my smartphone. BT, map points and trail to transit points were imported on to it. I installed it on my tablet earlier and I was surprised that it let me keep the complimentary basemap on my smartphone without making an in app purchase. Well, it's nice to have it.

Log 2014012101

I merged the track segments for 3 of Buckeye's 26 sections.  It took 10 hours, but that was with errors and learning.  But also, these are northern sections.  There are a lot more track segments in the southern ones. I recorded this to help me plan my addenda for the next couple weeks.  Informs you/ keeps my records... one log does it all.

And I experimented with the pen tablet today.  It has some customizable controls that I should probably configure some more.  The pad's intensity should probably be decreased.  And I've been using my new wireless keyboard/ touchpad.  I discovered that the table that I'm using for the pen tablet puts me at considerable distance from the laptop.  The only problem is that the right shift key is small and is to the right of the up key.  When I go to type a file name in a "Save As" dialogue, I reach for the shift, but press the up.  And since I work with similar file names, one of the other files comes up and I have to stop myself from pressing "enter" and overtaking another file.  It's not my favorite keyboard.

Log 2013090601

Last night, I realized that my boots need new inner soles. So, I drove about 25mi from Thurston to Holland outside of Toledo and I'm having breakfast at Bob Evans now.  I haven't changed campsites yet and I'm still without power.  The smartphone, tablet and laptop are charging off of the car now.  portable battery charger was used starting with 67% and was completely exhausted this morning.
As far as I know, both spare cellphone batteries are charged.  But I'm not certain about my AA & AAA battery cells?  Today, my adventure begins in the Oak Openings Metropark, about 8 miles west of my present position.  I'll be hiking on the North Coast Inland/ North Country National Scenic/ Wabash Cannonball Trail from Oak Openings, through Wauseon to West Unity.