Chinese Generator Shopping?

With the huge influx of Asian made generators, there's plenty of questions about acquisition, care, and feeding of these little guys. Check out a good source pointed to in our sister blog, RV Boondocking

Wire Connectors--We'll Pass on the Nuts

If you have an RV and 'fix it yourself,' then you know electrical fixes are a part of life. And of electrical work, putting wires together--making connections--is probably the most common of activities. How do you join your wires?

Unacquainted with the stresses that work on RVs, some unknowingly twist wires together, slap a little electrical tape over the connection and blissfully head off down the road. A little vibration, a little moisture, and that "fix" will soon come apart--possibly with disastrous consequences. Others take a step farther: After twisting the connection together they add a "wire nut," which technically is a trademark name for a "twist on wire connector," although across the pond you'll find such connectors sold under the name "Scru-It." Hey, I don't make the names up, I just report 'em.

In any event, personal experience and advice from professional techs often points up that 'twist on wire connectors' often don't hold up to the rigors of the shaking and baking that an RV puts them to. We've had them fall off, burn out, or otherwise give up the ghost.

What's to be done? Our vote goes to crimp connectors. These are dandy devices, made to join solid or stranded wire to itself, or set up to connect to screws via various forms. In our illustration here, they're refereed to as solderless insulated lugs. In practice, you simply strip the insulation back to the proper length, insert it up into the connector, and crimp the connector tight over the wire. These are virtually flawless connectors, and resist the usual problems in RV wiring systems of vibration, and extremes in temperature.

The problem is when users try to crimp with something other than the proper crimp tool. A pair of pliers, a linesman's tool, a hammer, vice grips--these tools aren't designed to properly crimp a crimp connector, and they will often "part ways" after being connected. Even a cheap crimp tool is better than using an "alternative" tool. But if you really want to splurge, then check out fancy ratcheting crimp tool. Easy on the hands, these characters crimp with uniformity each and every time. They aren't cheap--here's a set that runs almost $80. I'll be sticking with my $5.00 pair for a long time, but whatever fits your pocketbook will go a long way to making solid, dependable electrical connections.

By the way, here's an excellent book on RV electrical work, Managing 12 Volts available through the RV bookstore. Learn all about your RVs 12-volt electrical system including how to upgrade and operate it and troubleshoot problems.

Lug" illustration, courtesy svconline.com

Emergency Repairs: Go a Step Beyond Duct Tape

We know we may be stepping onto hallowed ground: RVers love their duct tape. It's the greatest thing for on the fly repairs of all kinds. But we found something that you may want to add to your tape deck, if you'll allow it: It's called Waterproofing Repair Tape, made by Nashua, one of the big duct tape producers.

This stuff claims it's so good that it'll stick to almost anything, and it'll do it even underwater. Well, we haven't tried the underwater claim yet, but it is pretty sticky, and it is certainly durable. It goes beyond duct tape in that it's outside cover isn't the venerable gray stuff, but rather silvery metallic, reminiscent of "silver tape" used on fiberglass ducts. There's a backing strip to protect the "business end" of the matter, a butyl sealing adhesive.

We found our "visiting" travel trailer was oozing a bit of a leak through a sidewall. The weather was typically Northwest Winter: Cold, miserable rain, compounded with high winds. No time (or tools) to remove the suspect water heater or the alternative villain, a kaput marker light. Instead, we removed the marker light, tucked the connecting wires back in the sidewall, and cut off a chunk of the Nashua stuff. After rubbing it down well, we'll let it sit out the winter until the weather clears and we can do a "real" repair.

To work around the suspected dried out putty tape around the heater, we cut appropriate lengths of repair tape, pulled the backing off, and wrapped a shield around the outer edges of the water heater. Here some clown had apparently used a silicon containing caulk, which admittedly made the tape have much harder time sticking. We did a double row of repair tape here, and we'll see how it all holds up.

While the repair areas were wet, we decided to take no chances and cautiously wiped the areas down with a dry rag to clear dirt and excess moisture. Time will tell, but we suspect the outer shell of this tape will hold up much better than plain old duct tape.

One are we found the new tape wouldn't stick? Up on the metal roof, around a roof vent. Too much moss, perhaps, but the tape just wouldn't cut it. We opted for a special sealant to chase away the rain.

You'll find Nashua Waterproofing Repair Tape at most of the big box hardware stores in the duct tape row.