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RE: 12 volt or 120 volt televisions power draw
Are you suggesting that small switched mode power supplies, typically used for laptop AC to DC converters, may demand current from their AC source out of phase with the voltage peaks of that source, and some inverters are not able to deal with that demand?
Power factor is defined as power divided by the product of volts and amps.
Power factor can be less than unity if the voltage and current are not in phase. That is known as displacement power factor.
Power factor is also lowered if the current and / or voltage have harmonic distortion. Wikipedia has a good explanation here: Distortion_power_factor.
A switching power supply without a power factor correction front end draws considerable distortion, and has a power factor in the vicinity of .65 to .75.
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Matthew_B
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11/25/09 09:34am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Health Care
For the record.........
Canada's immigration plan uses a "points system " for each applicant, regadless of what country they are a citizen of.
Or you can marry in :B
I have quite a few relatives on both sides of the border. Moving to Canada has been no problem for those married to a Canadian. I think it was a matter of a few weeks for approval to come.
I wish I could say the same for the other direction. My mom's cousin is a dual citizen that has lived in both counties. He married in Canada, lived there for more than 20 years together and had three kids. It completely obvious that this wasn't a marriage where someone was doing it just for citizenship When he got a job states he and the kids were able to immediately move to the US, but it took almost a year for his wife to gain approval.
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Matthew_B
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11/24/09 11:31am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Alabama couple rescued from road where Kim family was stuck
I certainly don't know anything about that road, but it would seem as if it should be in the catagory of "closed for the winter".
There are a few roads that close for the winter. They are closed because they provide no recreational access off of them or the snow is so deep that the road becomes completely impassable all winter. We have many roads around here that do stay open even though going up them can place you at great risk if you're on them unprepared because so many use them for hunting, hiking and other recreation. This road is one example.
The public outcry if they tried to close this road would be massive. It provides the only access to an area that measures somewhere around 5,000 square miles. Only a fraction of the road at higher elevations are subject snowing in, and even then it's often intermittently snowed in. The road also provides access to homes and other private property along most of it's length.
The reason this road has so many problems is that people will get up in the snow, and then get lost because the route is unclear when you can no longer tell the difference between a 1.5 lane paved road and the lots of gravel side roads. They have locked gates on some of the side roads, but that has killed people too when they've locked people inside the gates.
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Matthew_B
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11/24/09 09:05am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Saturday College Football Discussions!
The BCS computer looks at hundreds of factors when making their rankings. They have SEC teams as #1 and #2 and that indicates to me that the conference is in fact a very tough coference. Saying that the SEC plays nobody indicates emotion over facts. Once again there will be an SEC team in the BCS finals and if you remember, they usually will.
Until there is a playoff, it should be called the BSCS not the BCS. We are very likely to have 5 undefeated teams prior to the championship game this year.
At the end of the year we'll probably have 3 or 4 undefeated teams. If you have two undefeated teams calling one of them a "champion" is pure BS.
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Matthew_B
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11/23/09 10:08pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Health Care
To answer the original question directly:
I have a Health Savings Account (HSA) high deductible plan.
Under the HSA, all medical expenses are tax deductible. Unlike the more common FSA, the HSA money is in a checking account in my and DW's name. We have debit cards and checks that we can use to draw on the account. To get an HSA, you must have a plan with a deductable of $3K or more. (We must pay the first $3K ourselves.) We can also use the account to pay dental or vision expenses.
My employer pays ballpark $300 a month for the insurance. On top of that, they put $180 in per month into the account. I then top it off with $400 a month, and so far we've got a growing balance. I'm not taxed on my employers or my input into the HSA account.
You can be certain that we carefully scrutinize any bill since I pay the bill, not some faceless insurance company. But at the same time, I don't worry about authorizing anything since I also control the payment directly.
A HSA / high deductible plan is a real deal for small companies. Regular health insurance isn't deductible for owners of a company. With a HSA, the regular insurance bill is lower, and the HSA contributions are tax deductible. This means a good chunk of the health cost becomes deductible for the owners. (This also is why the HSA has also been criticized as "a tax cut for the wealthy.")
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Matthew_B
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11/23/09 09:59pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: House AC?
My A/C is a 9000 btu, and it has no problem with the 2000 Honda. What is the difference between a RV A/C and a Residential A/C, in terms of AMP draw?
They are comparable for similar sized units. The window AC units can be bought clear down to 5,000 BTU, smaller than the smallest RV unit.
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Matthew_B
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11/23/09 09:42pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Alabama couple rescued from road where Kim family was stuck
Yes, proceeding past the signs puts the blame on those who continue.
But the GPS companies really should heed the requests to remove these roads as the primary route. The only reason someone should be given guidance to take these roads is if their destination is along them. After the Kim death, Google maps stepped up and made the changes. They now will have warnings if you take any of these roads.
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Matthew_B
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11/22/09 12:35pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Saturday College Football Discussions!
The previous comment sure doesn't apply to the PAC-10 this year. 5 teams appear to be really close to each other. They also have an excellent OOC performance so I don't think it's a powder puff conference this year.
Even then, the top teams never really rolled massive scores against the other teams in the conference.
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Matthew_B
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11/22/09 12:11pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Reply on Dodge 4500 & Ford 450 info.
I haven't been following this. Has Dodge announced they'd be making a 4500 pickup, or are they just doing a chassis cab?
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Matthew_B
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11/21/09 08:00pm |
Truck Campers
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Alabama couple rescued from road where Kim family was stuck
GRANTS PASS -- An Alabama couple following directions from a GPS device got stuck and were rescued from the snowy, mountainous back road where a San Francisco man got lost and died in 2006, authorities say.
LINK
The article also mentions that this is the second rescue this year alone.
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Matthew_B
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11/21/09 07:37pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: 12 volt Ground Location
Any 12v connections Ive added (except 1)use the 12v- ground lug at panle or use existing close ground wire(which is tied directly to panel lug/batt) but never thought about why-just seemed seperation was good, not using chassis as wiring. The one light I added there was no ground wire close so I grounded to chassis. Now Im wondering,having a hard time seeing a ground path, if I should run a wire to a 'wired ground.
It would ground back through your frame bond wire. For one light that's already wired I wouldn't sweat things too much, but if you're doing other work in the area I'd consider moving it.
Note that more and more vehicle manufacturers are moving away from using the frame as a ground return. On older cars so many of the electrical problems are traced back to corrosion on the frame grounds.
On the engine the block is used as the ground for the starter, alternator and ignition. Other than those grounds, everything else uses wires back to a single ground. All of the electronic sensors and actuators on the engine aren't grounded to the block to prevent interference; rather they go to a single point ground in the harness that is then connected to the frame and then the block or battery negative. Most manufacturers are now running all of the chassis negatives back to a single bolt on the body and then to the battery negative also.
Trailer manufacturers are starting to follow the trend, led by boat trailer manufacturers. They still bond the frame to ground, but the frame isn't a return for any of the lights.
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Matthew_B
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11/21/09 02:06pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: 12 volt Ground Location
I think Id also just add a bus thats hard wired to -12V. (if theres any confusion or there are white and green/bare wires tied together) youll prob be adding stuff down the road. (Or if you had a 12v chassis ground.)You may have a buss thats already there -12v and it may be shared with the AC "ground" (bare or green ac wire)
I'd suggest keeping the AC grounds and the DC negative separate save for the single common point at the camper tie down. If there are multiple connections between AC ground and DC negative, you'll have DC flowing through the AC ground and that can have problems.
The AC grounds all should tie together in the AC panel. From there a single 10 gauge wire should run to the tie down. From the DC negative common point there should also be a single wire to the tiedown.
IN theory if you connect the -12v ground from say a light to the AC nuetral buss, light shouldnt work. However as your camper has had previous owner(s) that have done some wiring there may be cross connection between AC nuetral & ground. But I would not add to it.
The cross connection will only exist when plugged in. Any DC in the neutral would go out the neutral wire to the house panel, through the bond there and back through the cord ground wire.
If there is ever an open neutral the AC current will instead flow out through your 12V load you've added. Since it's certainly not rated for 120V, it will likely burst into flames.
An open neutral will happen in a camper; for example due to a worn out campground receptacle has a bad neutral connection this will happen.
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Matthew_B
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11/21/09 11:06am |
Truck Campers
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RE: This time the Maersk Alabama was armed!!!
Good for the American Ships!!! Bet they'll have plenty of target practice.
I suspect they won't. Both times the Maersk Alabama has been attacked, pirates have died. They'll learn that it's better to just go after passive targets and leave the American ships alone.
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Matthew_B
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11/20/09 09:40pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: 12 volt Ground Location
This tells me that the DC negative lead IS connected to the AC neutral buss (the buss with white wires).
You're treating neutral and ground on the AC system as the same. They're not.
The only place the neutral buss is connected to ground is back at your house service panel. If you disconnect the camper you shouldn't have any continuity between the neutral buss and ground. If you do you've got a ground fault that needs to be connected.
There should be continuity between the ground (green or bare wires) and DC negative. But this shouldn't be used for 12V returns since the purpose of those wires is solely for the safety bonding of the 120V system.
Interconnecting 120V grounds and 12V negative returns is how Norcold ended up with a whole bunch of burned up refrigerators.
So, am I right that I have two choices? 1) run a separate 12v negative lead from the battery or 2) connect to the AC neutral buss.
Don't do #2. Connecting anything to neutral other than the returns of 120V circuits sets you up to a bunch of scenarios that can result in fire or electrocution.
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Matthew_B
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11/20/09 09:35pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: 12 volt Ground Location
On my Northern Lite there is a sticker on the forward passenger side tie down bracket on the camper that says "acts as ground" or something like that... So there is a DC ground path provided by tie downs, etc.
There is also a ground line in the connector from the truck.
jeff
RIVA requires the "frame" to be connected to the AC ground and DC negative. Since there is no camper frame, many camper manufacturers run an AC ground wire and a DC negative lead to one of the tie down mounts. Most often this is the left front tie down that is grounded.
This ensures there is no way for an AC short to energize the frame of the truck.
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Matthew_B
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11/20/09 06:24pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: 12 volt Ground Location
You should be able to find a 12V negative common. Do not rely on the AC safety ground and certainly do not rely on the AC neutral as the return for DC circuits. The neutral should be fully isolated in an RV.
In my camper the DC common was originally a giant wire nut tying the circuits together. I've replaced it with a busbar for a connection I'm more confident of.
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Matthew_B
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11/20/09 06:21pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Climatologists baffled by Global warming stall
More great news regarding "Climate Change formerly known as Global Warming".
Hackers broke into the servers at a prominent British climate research center and leaked years worth of e-mail messages onto the Web, including one with a mysterious reference to a plan to "hide the decline" in data about temperatures.
Link To News Article
For those that don't like a link to Fox,
UK Telegraph
This is really big. There appears to be some very damaging info in the leaked files.
Not only do the researchers talk about how to "hide the decline" they also talk about the problem of the middle ages warming period.
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Matthew_B
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11/20/09 02:48pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: lost my cell phone - somebody found it
THis happened to my daughter while she was walking with GD at the park, but she was lucky..the lady that found it found "mom" in her address book & called me. I told her where she lived about 2 blocks away & she was going to take it to her house, but they found each other before she had to do that.
A buddy of mine has a funny story about calling "Mom."
He found a phone sitting on a bench, so he picked it up and called "Mom" on the list. He told her "Hi, I have found your son's cell phone. Get in contact with him and then tell him to call his own cell phone. I'll keep the phone on and then when he calls I'll make arrangements to meet him and give him his phone."
As soon as he hung up, the phone rang. Mom was there and told him "Hey Allen, some guy has your cell phone, give him a call and he'll give it back."
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Matthew_B
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11/19/09 10:08pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Debt Collection Calls
Just say you are tired and want to pay the bill ,ask were to send the checks. Get their information and turn it over to the feds. Then you will be done with it.
X2, that's exactly what I have done.
Due to number portability, I've had the same cell number since '97. Even with that, I still got put on a list; I'd assume someone just made up the number and I was the unlucky recipient. I'd play along enough to get a company name... then I'd tell them thanks and that I wasn't the person I said I was, and if I were called again they would get a repeat treatment followed by legal action.
The calls went away quickly.
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Matthew_B
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11/19/09 10:00pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Looked at a TT yesterday!!!
AWWW, you like us so much that when you want to talk TT's, you talk to us instead of going over to the TT forum :B
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Matthew_B
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11/19/09 09:48pm |
Truck Campers
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