JdFinley.com

Fulltime RV Living Adventures

Electrical System Design

This post is likely to bore everyone except that one fella who may someday stumble onto it looking for tips for doing something similar. Sorry everyone… My house electrical system is not too different than what you will find on larger motorhomes. There is 50 amp shore power, 50 amp generator power (no generator yet… [Read More]

Home Power Planning

As most of you know – I LOVE SOLAR POWER!! However; my new home – Aria – does not currently have any solar panels onboard. I know…. GASP!!! Clearly I need to rectify that very quickly! 🙂 To that end, I’ve done some research to find out what is available on St. Lucia. One would… [Read More]

Working Full Time while Living On The Road in an RV

Working full-time while living in an RV on the road is a recurring topic on various RV forums. Rather than continue to type up the same response over and over, I’m going to type it up one final time, and refer people here. Pretty smart cookie, eh?!? We all know that every case/situation is different… [Read More]

Lithium Batteries for RV’s

Update from JD:  I have now installed a 10kWh Lithium (LFMP) battery bank in Missy. Details are here. Lithium batteries offer some pretty great capabilities! Used in an RV, they can be really incredible! The RV world seems to be divided into those that depend on their battery bank and those that don’t even know… [Read More]

Payback of a Solar Charging System

Solar charging system cost vs. payback is a constant topic for some folks. I really do not understand why but that does not matter – there are many things I do not understand. I am providing my system information and cost to give the folks that are curious about this another data point and possibly… [Read More]

Diesel Pusher Motorhome Fuel Mileage

I recently purchased and installed a ScanGaugeD (here).  This past week I did a bit of driving and had a chance to play with my new toy.  I find it very interested to see the data being reported. One of the really interesting items is fuel mileage.  I’m not sure yet how accurate it is… [Read More]

Battery Temperature Sensor

This past week I finally got around to installing the battery temperature sensor that I have for my house battery bank and solar charge controller. I purchased the sensor months ago and I have just been waiting for the arm surgeon to give me the ok to return to normal life. Batteries require a slightly different… [Read More]

New Juice – New Batteries – Happy Camper

The age of the house batteries in my RV/home (JBAM) was unknown. They were in the coach when I purchased it and there was no indication of when they went into service.  They have served me very well for about a year and a half. However; they have some swelling and use a lot of water…. [Read More]

Diesel Pusher Engine Scanner – ScanGaugeD

The engine instrumentation is most diesel pusher RV/Motorhomes is pretty sparse.  About like an automobile – speedometer, tachometer, oil pressure, coolant temperature, voltage, and fuel level.  There are a couple of other items – front and rear air pressure gauges.  All analog (in my case) – not a lot of detail. I’m not sure if… [Read More]

Bad Memory??

I suppose there are several cliches when it comes to memory… “Nothing lasts forever” comes immediately to mind. I wasn’t sure that was true when it came to computer memory but recent experience tells me that it may be true! My “handheld computer” – it’s not really a phone cause I hate talking on it… [Read More]