Jump to content

Jim Gell

Validated Members
  • Posts

    513
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Optional Fields

  • SKP#
    114428
  • Lifetime Member
    No

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Interests
    We began full timing on December 1st 2014.

Recent Profile Visitors

12,983 profile views

Jim Gell's Achievements

  1. Thanks to everyone who responded. Apparently, I was wrong about Progressive not letting us use the truck bobtail. I was told today that I can. So one of the following three people were wrong. 1) The Progressive agent I spoke to last time I asked. 2) The Progressive agent I spoke to today. Or more likely, it was myself. Maybe it was National General Insurance (?) that we had previously that didn't want us bobtailing. I have not read the policy yet, but Erika Neil of McGriff Insurance, who I spoke to today, seemed to know what she was talking about. Thanks again, Jim
  2. Our 2001 Volvo is titled as a Motorhome. Progressive, who we are currently insured with, said they would only cover the truck in combination with the policy on the trailer. They also said it was not covered when driving bobtail except for taking it for repairs or fueling locally. I know some HDT'rs have taken their trucks bobtail on excursions such as to parks their full rig would not fit, etc. What insurance companies is anyone using that does not require the trailer be attached when traveling? Has anyone insured their trucks without a trailer on the same policy? TIA Jim
  3. Has anyone learned how Netflix's password crackdown, that is coming to the US this year, will affect those of us who travel with it? According to Forbes: "In countries where the password sharing crackdown is active, Netflix is tracking who shares their accounts via the devices used to connect to the platform. It will enforce the end of password sharing by asking devices to “check in” periodically in your home location around once a month. If you have kids at college, they could check their devices in when they are home, if they can get back every 31 days." I am not very tech savvy but hoping that that they might recognize my equipment which includes 3 hotspots and 2 smart TVs that travel with us to know we are RVrs rather than just our physical location such as the towers we are getting our internet through. Does anyone think they know how this will work? Is there any advice such as should we start streaming through a VPN? Jim
  4. Dr. C, I think I might be able to help with whatever you want to know but you need to put a little more effort into your question before I would be willing to put my effort into an answer that may or may not be on target to help you. Are you looking for the quickest route? Least traffic? Least grades? Or do you have a month and are looking for really interesting places to stop along the way?
  5. travelinbob, I am curious what you bought and where? The depth of our rear most area is limited due to the slides as it sounds like yours was.
  6. Like Kirk, I too was a tent camper most of my life, until I bought a Trail Manor hard top pop up & pull out trailer that I used on vacations for a few years before I retired. I had a desire to RV fulltime after retirement so I joined this forum and researched that while still working and while I waited 4 more years for my wife to retire too. By then I had purchased a used high quality 9 year old 40' fifth wheel, a great used HDT with Auto Shift, and nice but used smart car. I wanted comfort, safety, and conveniences like washer and dryer, residential fridge, king bed, etc. but did not want to put a lot of money into it because I was not positive the full time RVing would suit us. I had the truck modified to carry the smart car and did some upgrades to the trailer so we were ready to drive off into the sunset the day my wife retired in 2014. Since then we have appreciated the choices we made. A few years ago, after Mercedes announced discontinuation of selling gas versions of the smart in the US, I traded in the 2011 smart car for the newer redesigned model which we like much better. We still enjoy and appreciate the now 17 year old 5vr and 21 year old HDT. When we look at newer RV's, for the most part, I feel like we would be downgrading quality for perhaps some newer technology and that new RV smell and shine. We will probably only change RV's if/when we decide to get something smaller and easier to handle in our old age.
  7. We too are SD residents and the phone's 646 area code is from where I originally signed up for my Verizon account before we started full time RVing 8 years ago. I typically get spam that uses my 646 area code and often also the next 3 numbers of my phone number. I have had a drizzle of SD 605 area code spam calls in the past, but this is a tsunami by comparison.
  8. I didn't notice any boxes I needed to uncheck to opt out, but it wouldn't be the first time I missed one when submitting a form online.
  9. It's possible that it is not the SD DMV that is responsible. I am trying to think who else I may have recently given my phone number to.
  10. I recently renewed my SD registration online and gave them my phone number. I don't have a very good spam filter on my phone, so I typically get some spam. But today it exploded. I received 33 calls from the 605 (South Dakota) area code in 6 hours. During that time, I reported the calls to Hiya, which I think is Samsung's proprietary screening service. I Googled this and only saw one hit, a SD based local newspaper article that could be read by subscription only. Not willing to subscribe, I could still read the headline which was "SD Sells DMV Database for $70,000". I post this for a few reasons. First, to make others aware. I think I was required to submit my phone number to re-register my vehicle, but if it is optional, I suggest you not. You may get into trouble putting in the phone number of your SD State Legislator or such, so I don't suggest that. Second, I am looking for a good Android app to block spam calls on my Samsung S8. I have heard of something called Call Screen that I thought was part of the Android system, but can't find that on my phone as a feature, or in the Android Play Store as an app. And third, I am curious if anyone else on here has had the same experience. Thanks in advance for your comments. Jim
  11. Lou, I have a meter but don't know how I would use it. My first thought is, I could unplug from shore power and turn off everything except the freezer and measure the amps coming across the positive battery cable while running off 120V through my RV's inverter, and compare it with running off the 12V directly. I should remove the frozen food and let it warm up inside a bit to make sure the compressor runs during each test. All that seems like too much of an effort. My second thought, and perhaps what you were thinking, is that there is probably a easier way to figure it out using a meter. If I knew the efficiency of my RV's inverter, a formula might be applied to compare the power consumed at the freezer itself when running on 120 V supplied by battery power through the RV's large inverter vs 12V directly off the battery. That might tell us which is more efficient. I missed that day in electrics class though. Someone would have to tell me the formulas to use. Ray, if I plug our freezer into both 12V and 120V it will default to operate on 120V. When the 120V is interrupted it will automatically switch over to 12V. Then when 12V is restored it switches back. That makes sense for most applications. When we are running off 120V, the cord is on a circuit connected to the big RV inverter. When shore power goes off, the inverter kicks in fast enough that our clocks don't reset. If we had both cords plugged in, it would run off the 120V even after the shore power was interrupted. In those RV Parks that I am paying by the watt for shore power, I prefer to operate the freezer off the battery when it can be recharged with our solar panels. My question about what voltage the compressor runs on has to with wanting to be able to get more days to run the freezer, residential fridge, and other things like the TV, off my battery when it's cloudy or rains for several days and we don't have shore power.
  12. Thanks for the input bigjim and oldjohn. My subject line sums up my dilemma. I don't know if the compressor is 12 or 120 volt. Perhaps the most efficient use of my battery power is to power it with 12V. If it's a 12V compressor, there will be no inversion. And if the compressor is 120 volt and the freezer has to invert the 12V, maybe it's still more efficient than my big Magnum inverter. The Magnum will be running to power my residential fridge anyhow though. If anyone can confirm that the compressor is 12 volt as I am guessing, or that it's not, please chime in. Thanks. Jim
  13. I sacrificed a couple small drawers and tip out laundry hamper and put our lithium battery in our bedroom where it normally stays warm in winter and cool in summer. Used the maple drawer and hamper fronts to create a removable door. In place it looks just like it did before the battery was installed.
  14. I have the option of plugging our 63 QT Base Camp fridge/freezer into 12V or 120V while driving. I read the manual and could not find a wiring diagram there or any info on line, other than it has a "Kohld Polar Hermetic" compressor. I assume AC power (inverted from my 12V battery) would be converted to 12V inside the freezer to run the compressor. That would be a less efficient use of my RV's battery. Is my assumption correct that plugging the freezer into 12V would be a more efficient use of my 12V battery power? Thanks in advance! Jim
×
×
  • Create New...