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RE: Video Editing Software
Another vote for iMovie on a Mac. Been using it for many years and it id free. Not real fancy but it is great for simple editing. Glad it worked for the OP and it is free if you have a Mac.
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JimBollman
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09/22/23 06:34pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Drain the bowl save the Honda
I have run 100LL Av Gas in my Honda for years probably close to 20 years. It is our house backup generator so it doesn't get the hours an RV generator would get but it runs fine and AvGas has a shelf life of 10+ years without additives. I still drain the bowl but after giving a few light pulls to prime every thing it starts on a couple more pulls after sitting for a year sometimes. Been thinking I should test start it because I put 4KW of Lithium as a backup in the house that I can charge with the Honda if power is out more than a few hours and it has been awhile since I have need it. AvGas is expensive but so is generators repair and additives.
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JimBollman
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09/22/23 06:04pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Propane Refills
Before I switched to an all electric B, I had four 20lb tanks that I used one at a time in my camper. I kept a chart of the 4 tanks and how much they weighted when full and after each outing and notes on the trip. So I knew were I was for the next trip. Repeat trips that I did every year I knew about how much LP I would probably used. Some trips I used partial tanks others I started full. I tried to get close to empty before refilling and more than one tank before I made a trip for refilling at a location that filled by meter. I stoped using one supplier when my records showed they consistently under filled for what they charged. I like several above only used the prefilled tanks to get better expiration dates. Using the above record keeping, I only ran out on the road once.
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JimBollman
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09/14/23 07:57pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Best spam blocker app
I use my own variation of blocking calls that are not in my contact list. From day one I only gave out my number to selected people, I put them in a group in my contacts and assign them a special ring all other calls get just a vibration and a silent ring tone. If I'm not busy and a feel a vibration I look at the screen, if they are in my contact list their name shows up and must have gotten my number from one of the people on my accepted list and I'll answer. Unknown go to voice mail. I almost never get a legit call from someone not in my list of people I gave my number to. My method doesn't work if you number is already everywhere, but you can make a list of who you want to really talk to. I consider my phone is for my convince not other people. I get very few spam calls since my number has never been sold by all kinds of companies that ask for my cell number since they don't get it. I also add all spam calls I get to the blocked list built into the phone.
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JimBollman
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09/08/23 07:24pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: electric RV appliances
My current B is all electric. I was skeptical when we bought it but it is a fairly minimal B to begin with and it has worked out well. I wish I had more battery and some solar but we only are in no power camping situations once sometimes twice a year. We bought a small butane/propane 1 burner to cook on when we are off the grid and use a cooler. We enjoy a refrigerator that doesn't have to be perfectly level and works well and gets cold fast.
I'm thinking of adding more battery power, not sure of the solar because of the shape of my roof. I never use the generator just too noisy. If I can find a shop that does fabrication work I may have the generator removed an a large storage/battery box installed.
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JimBollman
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09/08/23 06:54pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Wifi a long way away from RV site.
I made one years ago with one of those add on WiFi thumb drive WiFi adapters and an old collapsable colander for a reflector.
https://jebs-stuff.com/Misc/WiFi_Ready-sm.jpg
https://jebs-stuff.com/Misc/WiFi_Travel-sm.jpg
Jim...
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JimBollman
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09/06/23 06:04pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Sources for a new/used Jack-knife couch
Can't help on a replacement, ours our 24 years old and were not comfortable so we went a different way. We bought two of these from Amazon, self inflating sleeping pads. I put some tie down loops on the wall and keep them rolled up and Velcro strapped to the back corners of the seat. They are very comfortable and if we don't need the space we just leave one bed down and stack them for day storage and only roll them up at the end of the trip.
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JimBollman
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08/30/23 05:15pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: AA and AAA Rechargeable Batteries
I use Panasonic Eneloop batteries, I have a bunch of them in AA and AAA. They don't seem to go bad. some I have are 15+ years old. I fairly recently bought a set of lithium AA that were rated 50% more power than the Eneloops and don't last as long, I would guess 70% as long, at least in low current draw applications. All were bought from Amazon just because it was easy. I have had several chargers, by a good one that can charge at least 4 cells individually because some times you only need to charge 1 or 3.
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JimBollman
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08/23/23 06:14pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Printer
Looks like Brother laser printers have plenty of love already but count me in. I bough the first 17 years ago when I retired from Xerox and didn't have free printing anymore. decided I wanted an auto duplex machine with bigger paper tray so sold/gave the first one to a friend that still uses it and its replacement is going strong. I tried cheap generic cartridges but the quality was not as good and didn't last as long so now I only use OEM cartridges. My current one got to the the number of copies it thought I needed to change the drum, did some magic stuff off the internet and it reset the drum to zero copies an is still going strong. I went with separate scanner printer because I wanted a better quality scanner.
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JimBollman
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04/05/23 06:59pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Walmart overnight parking
Never stayed at Walmart a lot but the last time the manager told us to park out by the no parking sign, said it was a town thing that was not enforced. By the way when we do stay at Walmart it is because we are pulling in late and leaving early, no campgrounds or to far away. Last time the campgrounds was 30 miles roundtrip from where we wanted to be the next morning.
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JimBollman
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04/03/23 06:03pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Stove cover
I made my own out of some scraps of plastic like wood left over from a deck project and a plastic cutting board the right size (cheap with assorted colors and sizes on Amazon). not heat proof but if that is important you could add a metal sheet under the cutting board.
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JimBollman
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03/25/23 05:10pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Verizon or T-Mobile
Depending on your needs you may want to look into US Mobile. I switched from Verizon almost a year ago and have been happy with the move. They are a reseller using Verizon and T Mobile towers depending on your location and your choice. They have lots of plans and they are different between the two carriers. I have 5 devices two iPads and 3 iPhones and went with Verizon towers since it has better coverage. Two iPhones don't get used much for data, so I put them in a shared pool with unlimited text/phone and 1GB of data cost $21 for the pair, more data can be bought for $2/GB. One iPhone and 2 iPads are on a plan that gives me unlimited text/phone and 75GB of data then they may drop to a slower rate depending on traffic. Because I have 3 on that plan they cost $25 ea. So $96/month. Same number of devices but limited to a shared 2GB across them cost me $130 with Verizon. Never had a compliant about Verizon but wanted more data and lower monthly costs. Prices/plans are always changing but they have locked me in at the rates I have now so look them over and see if they have a plan for you. US Mobile does every thing by phone and chat. I find chat works best because of language barrier. I sometimes have to ask a couple of ways in a chat before they answer me but they have always answered the question or fixed the problem.
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JimBollman
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02/18/23 05:46pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: A spare wheel might be harder to source than you think!
And real important, IMHO, is how sure are you the guy that can't mount a tire on the side of road will be equipped both on the service truck and between his ears, to safely change the larger/heavier than normal wheel on the larger/heavier than normal vehicle?
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics there is some 13 MILLION transport trucks in the US. That’s north of 230 MILLION heavy truck tires.
Any reputable tire service doing roadside service calls will know how to dismount / mount a tire correctly.
Your call will NOT be their first rodeo.
I think you missed my point; I have no doubt that if I call for tire service truck, unless it is for antique with split rims, the guy that shows up will know what he is doing.
OTOH, I would not place a bet, if cripple A or some other service that declares they can't mount a tire on wheel could safely jack up the RV, or deal with a tire larger than a car. Will he have wrench to fit the larger nuts? Or one to handle the torque to remove?
I would not bet on that. I called AAA to change a tire on the side of an interstate in PA, I had a spare but didn't want to try and change on such a busy highway and a narrow berm. I warned them the spare may be low on air. After about 3 hours he showed up with a light weight jack that could not lift my F250 with an 8' popup camper. I finally told them to jack up the frame and I used my Ford jack to jack up the axle. They got the spare out from underneath and it was low. He took an inflater like you might buy for $50 at Harbor Freight and started inflating, every 10 minutes or so it would stop and need to cool down. Finally at about 35lbs he said that's good. I said it was suppose to have 75lbs and he said that was probably why the other tired failed. It had a 1" hole in the tread like a ran over a hole saw. I limped off the interstate and found a gas station and paid 25 cents per so many minutes to fill it.
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JimBollman
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12/28/22 06:59pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: A spare wheel might be harder to source than you think!
I assumed a rim failure which reminded me of a story a friend told me years ago. He use to do cross country trips in a 1956 Ford Sedan Delivery picking on the back roads. This was in the late 70s and early 80s, don't remember the year it happened but he had a rim failure in the middle of nowhere out West. The rim was enough different he wasn't sure where he was going to find a replacement in this little town. He started walking around town thinking about who he might call that could ship him a rim and noticed a house trailer that had a familiar looking car rim holding up the tunge and took a closer look. Sure enough it was just what he needed. He made a quick deal to trade a failed rim for the useable rim and a few hours later he was on his way again. He had a way of falling into things like that.
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JimBollman
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12/27/22 03:07pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Shore power question
My Class B is 1999 and as far as I know has the original charger, so I don't think it is particularly smart. I'm leaving it plugged in under the carport to run some anti-mouse deterrents so I disconnect the charger and monitor the battery voltage and when it drops down a little I plug the charger back in over night. Luckily they just have the charger plugged into an outlet under the jackknife couch.
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JimBollman
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12/26/22 05:18pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Shadow Cruiser Truck Campers
I had a 2005 Shadow Cruiser Popup and was very happy with it. Used it till 4 years ago when My wife was having trouble getting in the upper bunk because of bad knees so I switched to a class B. I never had any problems with leaks. I did do some mods to it to make it more like I wanted it.
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JimBollman
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12/24/22 04:13pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Portable Solar Generators
Well ... I paid ~$400 for the Bluetti on a Black Friday sale:
1) Instead, I would have to have installed/wired a 12V DC recepable back by the rear bed, which would have been a real pain (I have higher payback things to do with my time).
2) In addition to 1) above, I would have needed to buy a 12V DC to 20V DC upconversion adapter (medical grade - for failure-proofness at ~$130) to power the CPAP machine.
3) Sometimes our family group campouts have their outside evening camp fires too far away from our rig to run the long extension cords from our rig necessary for powering heated throw-blankets for us.
4) The DW and myself didn't know what other Christmas gift(s) to buy for ourselves, anyway. :B
P.S. #1: So far during my in-home testing of the 537 Wh Blueitti it has powered a CPAP machine for 4 nights - while consuming only around 35% of it's LiFeO4's stored energy.
P.S. #2: It's ultra-safe LiFeO4 lithium battery electrochemistry is way safer than me trying to make my own more dangerous-to-use-in-confined-spaces Lithium-ion, or LA, or AGM portable concoction.
What you're saying is, sometimes it easer to just to buy what works. I agree. I did a similar thing but bought an EcoFLo 2KW unit and when I saw a good sale but a second 2KW add on battery. I can use them in our B or as backup for short power outages for our house so I don't have to get the Honda out. Sometimes spending the money and having a well engineered and packaged product is better than saying I could build it cheaper by piecing it together.
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JimBollman
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12/10/22 04:33pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Ants in the RV a good thing for once
A friend bought one of these Leak Detector and I have it in my maybe list. Went fully electric with my latest B but do have LP running to the house.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/6144YZjV8ML._AC_SL1408_.jpg width=600
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JimBollman
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12/10/22 04:11pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Suggestions for using "wasted" solar power?
This is an expensive idea but might fit your uses. Buy a few so called solar batteries and swap them out to be used other places on a regular bases. I have 4kw of those batteries for use during short power outages at home. I just charge them from the wall but if I had a motor home with a bunch of solar sitting in the back yard I would store them there and swap them into the shop to use the power. My process now for longer power outages is to charge them with a generator so I don't have the generator running all the time. I have thought abut picking up some solar panels to recharge them but they are still on the maybe list.
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JimBollman
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12/07/22 04:33pm |
Tech Issues
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