So, on Assateague we had yet another power problem, and that was just not the place to fix it. Chincoteague got busy and I vowed that I would trace it down no matter what it took when we were in Delaware. There's a lot of technical stuff in here that I assume people know, yet I KNOW people don't, so skip to the end and just think - whew, that's fixed... if you're so inclined. :)/begin technical mumbojumbo
I tried a lot of things - starting with the generator, then thinking that it must be the charger - but the charger showed the proper voltages at the proper times where the wire connected (it has different modes depending on what its supposed to be doing, and each was exactly in line when tested with a meter). And the battery meter I put in was showing a positive flow of amps to the bank, just much smaller than I was accustomed to. So, I ruled the charger out.
I tested the batteries individually, and they were weak as can be, but none worse off than another. I check all the fuses that I can find, all test OK. At this point, I checked the wire running from the charger to the batteries - it showed to be connected - so I was stumped.
I spent that first afternoon running around to marine shops since we were in Ocean City, MD figuring that they would be pretty similar systems. Boats and RVs have a lot in common as to self-contained living spaces, but much to my surprise they either weren't willing, or weren't able to help. It was like the question I was asking was foreign - enough to have one of the guys at the boat ship tell me he just sells them, and had no idea how they actually worked. (*note: I must assume that he knew the V-shaped closed part of the boat went in the water and the open, softly-padded sitty-surfaced part went up, so maybe he just didn't understand all the systems). ;) I finally went to a boat repair shop, described to the mechanic on duty what I was seeing and we were in agreement - it had to be a bad battery bringing down the system (I have 3 total). Possibly even bad enough to the point that the plates got warped, therefore totally trashing the batteries.
Another day of running through tests and working through what it might be, with no results finally runs the batteries down to a point where the coach won't respond. So, still not knowing quite what the deal is, I go to Walmart and pickup a battery that I know is good, and wire it accordingly, and wait for (now Chincoteague) to continue troubleshooting.
In Chincoteague I tested, and ran, and retested, and figured out that I could charge the coach battery with the car & jumper cables, running a couple of hours at a time. SO temporary fix in place, we continue to enjoy our time on the island, and I run the car every night for a couple of hours. No big deal - I'll fix it when I can tear the belly out, since I've now got it down to a short in the wire that runs from the charger to the battery. See, now that wire isn't testing through with the ohm-meter, but in order to get to it I have to take out the walls they put in hiding all that stuff.
Anyway - after pulling everything apart I find out that the culprit in this whole mess is a fuse. A 50 AMP maxi-fuse that not only had I tested, but had traced as the likely problem early in this endeavor. See, it failed because of a surge, like it was supposed to do, when I was running the generator on Assateague. However, it didn't completely fail. It left enough of itself connected so that it tested ok when I used the meter, but wasn't thick enough to carry the electricity from the charger to the battery banks, therefore showing a small reading of power into the batteries, but not allowing them to really charge at all. See, I should have just replaced the fuse, but RVs aren't built like cars. The fuse in block A-1 on this unit isn't always your left taillight. Being built by hand you have to run everything down individually - they don't make diagrams.
/end technical stuff
Anyhow - mystery solved and not at too much expense, except for some sanity. Jill and I have figured out a few things and probably my most important from this problem is this: RVing is all about experience. I can't go to school to figure out all the little peccadillos I'm going to run into with this rig, and even if I went to school, what happens on my rig is different than what happens on yours. I can read until my eyes are blurry about every possible problem, except the next one I'm going to encounter, because that one is different than what anyone else will encounter. Now, sure - some things are always similar, just like with car problems, but there's something about throwing the whole house factor together with it that makes it ultra-unique.
Now that we've got that down we will just keep moving forward and experiencing whatever is thrown at us. As Jill said, we're starting to feel settled and like this is where we want to be. Yes, we both had moments in the last couple of weeks where we wanted to quit, walk away and not feel bad about it. Heat, humidity (multiplied by 5) on top of broken things and frayed nerves will do that. But we also vowed to stick through it, and now we are on the other side and happy about sticking around. Well, maybe until the next thing breaks... (just kidding).
