Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Grumpy Guy - Part Two

Wesley Chapel, Florida

We arrived back in the Tampa area early afternoon yesterday.  It was really, really hot.  In the summer, we travel with the generator and air conditioner on, but once we get to a site and ready to plug in, I turn them off while Al plugs in the EMS and coach.   It takes a few minutes for the Progressive Energy Management System to check the circuits and give you the okay,  then a little longer for the a/c to  start running again.



Al got the ok from the EMS and plugged in the coach.

I was inside with no air and patiently waiting for it to start.  The a/c never came on and it was getting really hot inside.   It's amazing how fast an Rv can heat up when it's over 90 degrees.    It's something I worry about in the hot months with the cats inside.  If a circuit should be tripped, or the power goes out while we're away, we may come home to some dead cats inside a very hot motor home.  Something to consider, even if it's not 90 degrees, Rv's heat up quickly in the sun.

Al checked the EMS box and it showed two fault codes.  One was high voltage and the other was for an open ground.

Remember, this is the same site we just left 3 weeks ago.  We certainly didn't expect to have a problem there.  Looking back, we did remember having brief power outages  since we moved to this site.  In the future, that will tell me we need to have the pedestal checked.

I called the office and they sent  handyman Herbie to come check it out.  I was outside when he came up and I greeted him.  No reply.  He fiddled with some other things for a few minutes before he finally walked back to our pedestal. He completely ignored me.   By this time Al was there and told him what the problem was.  Herbie immediately told us he hated those EMS boxes because they were "unreliable."   Okay.  We told him that this system had saved us before (at a state park) and that we wouldn't plug in unless it told us it was okay.  The next thing we knew, he was back in his golf cart and driving away.   Was he coming back?   We didn't have a clue.

A few minutes later he came back.  I asked him if he found the problem. He ignored me (or didn't hear me). I asked louder so that he surely could hear me.  I'm not sure if I had to ask again, but he finally told me he was changing out the box.    Now, how hard was that?  

All we needed to know was if we should continue to set up, or plan to move to another site.

It only took him a few minutes to change out the part.  Al was a little aggravated by this time, after also getting ignored, and decided to ask him if we had offended him in some way.  Herbie apologized and said he was real busy and didn't mean to be grouchy.   We certainly understood that he was working outside in this oppressive heat  and it would be easy to be irritable, but we needed to know if we would be moving to a new site or what.  

I guess it's the heat that's bringing out the bad tempers.


For all of you out there that don't use any kind of energy management system, this is a good example of what can happen.  We had a problem at a site that was only a few years old with all new equipment.  We had stayed there before.   I don't know what would have happened if we had plugged directly into the circuit, and I don't want to try.   These systems are not cheap. I believe ours is now $431.   We have the portable one and we prefer it because if we do get a bad pedestal, we can take the portable unit to another site to check before we go to the trouble of moving the coach.

Anyway.....just  my two cents.


After we got set up, we took the truck in to see about fixing the broken bolts on the bracket for our Blue Ox tow bar.   The guys there were extremely helpful (and not grouchy) and we made an appointment for next Tuesday.  Unfortunately, that was the soonest they could get us in.  Hopefully it won't be an expensive fix. Yeah, right.  :)


My other continuing problem is Live Writer.   I changed my Gmail password and ever since, I can't get LW to post to my blog.   when I try to publish it the Blogger Log In box says that "Windows Live Writer is unable to log into the remote server using the user name and password.  Please check that the information is correct and try again." 

I'm able to log into my blog, so I don't think it's a Blogger issue--is it?  or is it a Windows Live Writer issue? 

I was going to un-install Live Writer and re-install it but it's now bundled with Essentials and I was afraid I would cob up something else.

I Googled this and someone else was also having this problem.  In fact I cut and pasted it here because it's exactly what happened to me.  Unfortunately, that person didn't get any good answers, so I'm back to square one.  

In the meantime, I guess I'll have to continue to use Blogger to post, but it's definitely not my first choice.


We have some business to take care of here and Al has developed a tooth ache, so we will need to be here a little while.   We're anxious to get back up to the mountains and away from this oppressive heat.





14 comments:

  1. Did you e-mail Rick with your live writer problem? I am absolutely no help with computers. I hate them. We have the same surge guard and would not be without it ever. It has saved our rig more than a couple of times. Our old one died on our way up to Montana this year so we got the one that gives you all the codes. It's great.

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  2. You know I think about power outs too (dogs), and there are a couple choices we are considering (on our next rig for when we full-time in about 2 years). You can get an auto system to cause the generator to turn on when the power is out for so long, or could set an alarm tied to a phone (think a pay as you go phone- so there would not be a charge unless used) that could call you if a power outage, or any alarm fire, Carbon dioxide, heat, flood.. anything you wanted. Wouldn't be hard to set up... just a thought for the kitties.

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  3. We really relied on our EMS system when he had the motorhome. We need to purchase one for our 5th wheel.

    Having a busy day is not an excuse for being rude. I am glad to read that he at least apologized.

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  4. Amazing how people can be ignorant. Life is too short to be grumpy! Glad your EMS caught a problem. They are great!

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  5. Kinda sucks that you're having issues with Live Writer. I've been lucky I guess (knock on wood). I only ever had issues with photo uploads a couple years ago, and had to sign up for something or other. You might have gathered that I'm not a real "whiz" at this?

    What I was GOING to say was, if you're working around people, you DO NOT GET to be "grumpy". End of story. Gah!

    I'm pretty sure I would have been a little more than "annoyed". You're very patient.
    I had some other words, but I'll stop now.

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  6. Can say since we started fulltiming 3 years ago, we do NOT miss the heat and humidity of Florida at all. People wonder how it can be much better up here in the NE GA mountains cause it isn't very far away from GA. We just tell them it is, come try it. You understand that too now I would think. Hurry back up!

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  7. Yep, I've had people try to tell me my surge protector was broken when it was the power pedestal all along.

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  8. We're just like you, love our surge protector and refuse to plug in if it says not to no matter what the folks say. I feel sorry for your guy out working in the oppressive heat and humidity but even that is no excuse to take it out on you. Hope you get the sale sewed up quickly and don't have to use all the money to fix your broken bolts so you can skedaddle right back to those Georgia Mountains. Maybe we should come back down south it sure isn't cool in New England. Rainy and humid so even if it isn't in the 90's yet, it's YUCKY.

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  9. We have the Progressive Surge Guard too and it has prevented damage on two occasions. I want to upgrade one of these days to the installed one instead of the outside plug in one I now have (Please Santa!).

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  10. A surge guard is #1 on my list of things to get next for rv'ing - I just hope I'm not too late.

    I'm curious - are you using 2 Step Verification for your Google signon? This is when a code is sent to your phone or mobile device as extra protection against hacking?

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  11. Yes Rick, I am using the 2 step verification. I got the codes sent to my phone. Am I missing something with LW?

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  12. That might be the problem ... i would imagine you would have to login to Blogger via LW using the new code sent to your phone; or perhaps LW and the 2-step verification aren't compatible. Have you tried turning off the 2-step verification and logging in that way. (I was going to suggest that you change your password to whatever it was before you changed it and try logging in that way.)

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    1. Karen, search the web for "live writer and google two step verification" ... there are several references to having to create an application specific password and instructions on how to go about doing it. Perhaps this solve your problem.

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  13. We have has the EMS for quite a few years and has saved us quite a few times, sure worth the investment, especially when we travel all over Canada, USA and Mexico every few weeks.

    I can't use Live writer but do find Blogger work very good with Google Chrome as a browser.

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