Today is the Canadian Thanksgiving. Okay, really it is tomorrow, but l celebrated it today with some friends and a big dead bird. It was delicious! Poor bird.
It was a very nice time visiting the friends, unfortunately l had to leave early to head to work. Ah, the life of the working class.
You can certainly feel the change of seasons now. Much colder in the nights, and never warming up enough in the day. I've turned on the heater in the van, sparingly. In the morning to get out of bed, and a bit at night as l relax after work. I'm afraid the battery might die, so l use it occasionally.
I need to buy that battery monitor, but can't seem to find one that plugs in the lighter/12V socket. I will need to order one on Amazon l think. I'm also contemplating buying a catalytic heater so l won't have the problem of running down the battery.
There is an RV show this weekend coming up in Toronto, so l will see if l can buy either of the above mentioned on the weekend.
I'm also experiencing some guilt for leaving the cats in the van all day when l am not around with them, especially if it gets colder. I know they have those nice fur coats but the babies haven't been subjected to cold weather outdoors before.
I have a cat outside that is house feral. He is sweet as can be but won't come in. Coming winter he gets a beautiful winter coat. So soft!! I would think the same would happen to your babies.
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant to say was that they get a SECOND coat. As long as they are out of the direct wind they should be OK. Some sort of an igloo type home for them maybe?
ReplyDeleteMichelle, they will be inside out of the wind in the van - except for the drafts - lol And they do snuggle in a laundry basket full of blankets.
DeleteI agree, as long as they have someplace they can snuggle under(and each other!) they will be fine.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you would be amazed at the heat one pillar candle can put out. Heat an inverted flower pot on your stove and it will give out heat for ages.
Suz
Suz, thanks for the tip. I also thought of the candle - probably about the same time you wrote this response. Must have been in the air. :-)
DeleteI just bought a lovely candle at walmart...so see how it goes.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
ReplyDeleteYour idea of the catalytic is better for sitting in one place over your forced air furnace...but it still produces moisture AND you need a fresh air vent. No easy solutions there as I am finding out myself.
:) Stay warm and keep up your great posts!
Are you running one or two house batteries? I run two good quality deep cycle 12 volts and my battery (when not charging my beast of a laptop) will last about 5 days with the furnace fan running (and regular light usage etc). Are you planning on holding out for as long as you can in the van on it's systems or do you have an option to attach to a 110v line? I dread the idea of firing up the van to charge the batteries just to have juice. Do you have a small generator?
TravellingMan, I don't plan on hooking up to 110v, all battery power baby!!!!
DeleteI only have one house battery, and l move one to 4 times a day, just short jaunts, but battery will charge a bit, which is good.
Thanks for telling me how long your two batteries last, gives me an idea on my single one. As for a generator, $1000 can buy a lot of gas to run my engine!!!!!
Hi Tammy:
DeleteI have a 1300 Watt generator from Canadian Tire (CTC) on sale for $150. It is noisy but if you had one of those carry racks that attach to the trailer hitch you could bolt it there and leave it outside.
This generator runs everything that I need including my apartment size 110 Volt fridge when I am not driving.
A 1000 Watt Honda 'Inverter' generator; new they are around $700, is a lot quieter and easier to start. Also more likely to be stolen.
When I am using the generator to live and to work in my off-the-grid shop I spend $8 to $10 per day for gas, no such thing as a free lunch (does that date me?) or free power.
OffRoadCruiser
I just checked the CTC web flyer.....generator is no longer on sale. Sitting at $300 right now. I might keep my eye open for the future.
DeleteFree lunch, dinner, breakfast is good, and no it doesn't date you (flip side though, is maybe it is dating us both!!!!)
sold on Amazon and Walmart, 10 to 15.00...
ReplyDeleteif you " google images " you'll see what it looks like....
Equus 3721 Battery and Charging System Monitor
Anon, thanks for the name. I have searched high and low on Canadian websites for the monitor and have come up with zilch. Looks like l will have to get it from Amazon.com as opposed to Amazon.ca (now l will have to pay duty and it takes longer to get it), but at least l will have one.
DeleteHi Tammy:
DeleteRae on 'Travels with Miranda' installed a very good battery monitor that is much better than anything that plugs into a cigarette lighter, also we can assume more expensive.
This may already be obvious to you but the cigarette lighter in the dash will give you a reading on the engine battery, you have to find a cigarette lighter socket in the RV to check the RV batteries.
A $20 multimeter from CTC is all you need, we already talked about the battery isolator under the hood, no need to run the engine to check the battery voltage.
OffRoadCruiser
OffRoadCruiser, l happen to have a cigarette lighter attached to the rear house battery. The battery itself is a bit of a problem to get to (there-by the ones that attach to the terminals would be a pain in the ass - that being said.....l might have just come up with an idea!!!)
Delete