Recent content by Optimistic Paranoid

Warning!  New drone flying regulations in Canada with MASSIVE fines! https://www.diyphotography.net/you-could-be-fined-5000-for-flying-a-drone-anywhere-in-canada/

You need to be able to handle a fair amount of weight, which usually means a 3/4 or 1 ton tuck.  As far as backing up and parallel parking goes, I think the wheelbase is the biggest factor.  You can get a crew cab with an 8 foot bed, or a regular cab with a 6 foot bed, and pretty much everything...

By an odd coincidence of timing, the New York Daily News just ran a story about a guy who made a citizens arrest on the subway.  Details here: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/ny-metro-platano-2-121418-story.html As far as Miranda Warnings go, the cops can - but don't have to -...

Back in the day, broadcast television was "free" but we had to put up with the ads. Facebook etc. is also "free".  How do you think they pay for the servers, the electricity, the internet lines, the salaries, and Mark Z's obscene profits? Personally, I don't belong to ANY of the social media...

My landline has a physical call blocking machine plugged in between the phone and the wall box.  A CPR Call Blocker V5000, if anyone is interested.  I've not just blocked phone numbers, I've got a bunch of area codes totally blocked.  If I don't have family living in that area code, there's NO...

An RV's furnace draws OUTSIDE air into the combustion chamber to allow the fire to burn, and exhausts the hot gasses back outside.  Inside air circulates around the combustion chamber to be heated and returned to the interior.  So warm inside air is never exhausted outside by the furnace.

Another good reason to only buy a good USED rig, maybe 3 or 4 years old.  Whatever problems that needed factory correction were handled by the previous owner . . .

BTW, Bill & Jan Moeller's RV ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS: A BASIC GUIDE TO TROUBLESHOOTING, REPAIRING, AND IMPROVEMENT is an excellent book for people who want to really understand this stuff, though the sections on solar power is badly out of date...

There are a couple of different ways to wire inverters.  Some RVs come with LARGE inverters, integrated into the electrical system via the transfer switch.  We're talking 3 and 4 thousand watt units.  these don't have built in outlets, only a place to hook a 120 volt wire up to the output...

Since you want to look for a home in the Carolinas or Georgia, I would FLY down to Florida.  It's almost certain to be cheaper than driving across country.  I believe you will find far more used RVs in that area than you will in the Pacific Northwest.  Probably, thanks to supply and demand, be...

One of the problems with RV life is that there is not a lot of free wall space to display your photography. Here's a review of a LARGE digital frame that might be one solution to the problem...

Hard to say.  There are a number of different ways to do this. It might be a solenoid, it might be a diode box with heat sinks, it might be a more advanced solid state device.  If you go to Amazon and search on 'battery isolator' a bunch of them will come up and you can see what the different...

A fully charged battery will not freeze until it hits minus 80 Fahrenheit. A simple, dumb converter might well overcharge a battery, boiling the electrolyte off if left plugged in for many months.  The modern 'smart' converters, with bulk, absorption, and float cycles won't. Your basement is...

I would take voltage readings on the house battery(s) at the same time as I took them on the engine battery.  It's possible that whatever device is supposed to isolate the two systems has failed and they are not separated as they should be. As far as "everything" in the house being off, I...

This is one of those "Yes, But . . ." situations. Usually, you are correct.  However some of the LARGER inverters are combination inverter/chargers, with BOTH functions, and usually the transfer switch also, built in, and RVs that have those don't have a separate converter.  I'm guessing si...