Power Problems

As far as the weekend itself went, it was mostly uneventful . . . mostly.

The most troubling thing was the fact that on Friday afternoon, I could not get my generator started.

Due to the fact that I had not run it since before Christmas, combined with the deep freeze, this meant that not only was the generator cold but the oil was as well. 

As a result, I could not pull the cord hard enough to turn the motor over fast enough to get it to start. So, the only choice was to warm it up. 

This was an issue because late Thursday night the last “warning” that I really and truly need to run my generator went off at about one in the morning.

You see there are a few things which let me know that the power level in Wanda’s batteries is getting low.

1. The fridge shuts off and restarts constantly. (the logic circuits “brown out” due to lack of power and start to misbehave.) (So I have to shut my fridge off)

2. My radio starts to cut in and out in that staccato “digital distortion” thing. (again this is its logic circuits browning out.) 

3. If I don’t turn the radio off it will shut down and restart and will keep doing that until there is not enough power for it to even do this.

4. The display on the front of the radio will go completely dark.

5. Last but not least (and certainly the most fun) is that my propane sensor will beep every ten seconds or so, and will not stop until there is not enough power to do so.

The propane sensor is a small box that is near the floor and there as a safety device to detect a propane leak within the trailer itself. 

This thing is hardwired in and a safety device so there is no easy way to bypass it. I have yet to find the master fuse, or “main off switch” for Wanda’s systems.

So, this means that I have to disconnect the two batteries up front in order to shut it the hell up . . . or run my generator for a few hours in the dead of night.

So there I was and things were still cold and I had no power. I waited until midday and had the back of the truck open for an hour or so in hopes of warming the generator up.

Thankfully by midday, I was able to get the generator warm enough that I could pull start it to sputtering life. It was not pretty, but it was able to start and run well after that.

If the weather didn’t cooperate, I would have taken it to work and let it sit in the warmth of the shop for the day to let it warm up enough to start.

In retrospect I should have run the generator at least once over the course of my Christmas break, just to ensure that it would easily start when I needed it.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!