Monday, March 12, 2012

Silverleaf VMSpc Monitor

Zephyrhills, Florida  (high 82, low 58)

William and Rhonda

We had our friends Rhonda and William over yesterday for dinner.  Rhonda just got a new camera (traded for the one she got for Christmas that had a detachable lens).  She wanted one just like mine with the super (stalker) zoom.  She got the new and improved Canon SX 40 hs.  It looked exactly like my SX30, but I’m sure there was a difference somewhere.  We got it set up for her and a few Bluebirds came by for her to practice her new zoom.

It’s a pretty easy camera.  I’m trying to get her to use the eye piece instead of the screen to frame her shots….much better results for wildlife and close-ups.   A lot of people don’t realize you can adjust the eyepiece to your eyes.  If you look through the eye piece and its blurry…adjust it.  That is assuming you have an eye piece…a lot of the point and shoot cameras don’t.  The only time I use the screen it to view pictures.

I mentioned a few days ago about our new Silverleaf Electronics  motor home engine monitoring system.  You can actually download the software for free, and get an idea of what it is and how it works.  I encourage you to check it out.  I think it will turn out to be a good investment for us.

Of course, until you get the electronics and cables and hook it up to your coach, you can’t get any readings, but  you can get a good idea of everything it has to offer….which is pretty much anything and everything about about your engine. 

Once I got ours working, I found one of the gauges that told us the total amount of fuel that has ever been put into our  motor home,  the current  odometer reading,  and the average mph for the entire 65,000+ miles that is on this coach.  That total averaged out at 8.7 mph.  Good info to know.  I believe it can be set up to give you a running mpg….which might be helpful to find that sweet spot where you get the best fuel mileage.

We purchased ours from the  Rv Upgrades Store.  The cost is $306.  We were happy with the service we received from them.  I think it can be a useful tool for monitoring your expensive diesel engine.  I do not know if they make a product for a gas engine, but I think most vehicles have computers now so I would think there is something like this available for any type of vehicle.

Once I got to looking, I realized there was a lot of information available and you could get it the form of a graph, alarm lights, gauge or any number of ways. 

I then realized there were so many ways to set up the system I wish I could see how others have set their screens up.   Of course once I Googled it,  I found another blogger that had just what I was looking for.

Here is the link I found.  I am trying to copy his screen and get mine to show the same gauges and readings.  I can always tweak it later if I want to, but I think this is a great place to start.

The following picture is how I want to set ours up.

2

We will be using ours on my laptop.  A small 10 inch netbook would be great, but since we don’t have one, my laptop will do.  I’ll do the monitoring…and Al will keep his eyes on the road, so it can sit on the dash in front of me.

Has everyone adjusted to the time change?  Being retired makes the transition much smoother, doesn’t it?  Winking smile

9 comments:

  1. Being retired definitely makes the time change a non issue for us except when we are moving between states that have and don't have daylight savings (AZ & NM) then it just gets a little confusing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Had to chuckle - the men are in shorts and short sleeves and women in jackets. Same way out here. We didn't have to worry about any time change cause we're in AZ. Only when we travel does it become an issue and sometimes I totally forget what time zone we're in. Thank goodness for the cell phone.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sure wish I could trade my camera in for yours. But it's too old to trade but not old enough to replace darn it. Looks like the 30IS has 14.1MP while the 40HS has 12.1. Not sure why they would "downgrade" on a newer model.
    On Amazon your 30 is still more expensive than the 40.

    I find the time change to be the same issue as always even on the road. I hate that I feel like half my morning is over by the time the sun comes up. I just wish they would pick either DST or EST and stick with it. WHY do we do this switching around? I can't find anyone who has an answer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've started to suspect that my pictures are fine and my eyes are blurry.

    Roxanne
    The Good Luck Duck

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have the canon XS30IS too and love it... I also just got the new Nikon S9100. It is also nice just smaller in size... I have a thing for cameras and always looking at them ~ LOL LOL Love your header photo!!!
    Have fun & Travel safe
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  6. In AZ they don't honor daylight savings time. We are feeling just fine but now 3 hours behind our family in Ohio. ~wheresweaver

    ReplyDelete
  7. I do have some minor problems adjusting to time changes...but...looking forward to our really long summer evenings a little later on so it's all good.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the info and great price about the SilverLeaf. Eldy has been wanting one for some time. We really appreciate the link....

    ReplyDelete
  9. So have you bought the 10 inch notebook yet? I'd like you to show this system to Roger when you arrive if you have time.

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to leave comments. We love to read them! To contact me directly you can send e-mail to rvtravels2@yahoo.com