By Mike Sokol
Dear Readers,
I get tons of questions every week about troubleshooting electrical problems, and I’m always asking them if they have a digital meter. Sometimes it’s a Yes, and other times it’s a No. And even if they do have a meter, they may not know how to use it. Well, troubleshooting without a meter is like trying to box Sugar Ray Leonard with your eyes closed. It won’t be pretty and it’s unlikely you’ll win (or figure out the problem).
So I’m going to do something about it. I’ve asked my friends at Southwire to come up with a decent prize, and they’ve supplied me with half a dozen of their really nice 3-meter kits. One of my group moderators has come up with a 10-question quiz about RV electricity topics, and all you have to do to know the answers is watch the 20- to 30-minute videos I posted on YouTube as Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Basic Electricity seminars I live streamed last week. Watch this announcement video (above) and see the links below for more information.
Watch Part 1 HERE
Watch Part 2 HERE
Watch Part 3 HERE
Then we’ll post each quiz on YouTube this Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can rewatch the videos if you like, and simply take the quiz. Everyone with a perfect score gets entered into a random drawing the following week, and one winner is picked for each section, so that’s 3 winners in total who will win these meter kits.
I’ll begin short videos in a few weeks that will show you how to use one of these basic meters to measure AC volts, DC volts and Resistance. In the meantime, click HERE to watch a video I published last year on basic AC meter measurement fundamentals.
Let’s keep safe and sane out there….
Mike Sokol is an electrical and professional sound expert with 50+ years in the industry. His excellent book RV Electrical Safety is available at Amazon.com. For more info on Mike’s qualifications as an electrical expert, click here.
For information on how to support RVelectricity and No~Shock~Zone articles, seminars and videos, please click the I Like Mike Campaign.
##RVT943
After watching the videos, WHERE is the link to the tests?
Hi, John. Go to Mike’s RVelectricity YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVcjUsmn1d1g4uwWeaqdHNg and then click on the current Quiz video, where Mike explains it. Underneath the video itself is a link to the actual quiz. Good luck! And stay healthy. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I don’t know where this should be directed but at least it is an electrical question: I have a single battery for my RV and want to have two. I don’t want to burn up anything so do I connect them in parallel or series?
Thanks.
Parallel will give you 12 volts, more AmpHours. Series will give you 24 Volts, NOT GOOD for the average RV, most DC systems are 12 volts.
Hook them up in parallel )+ to + and – to -.
Great stuff! Help us keep safe, Mike’s passion.
Hi Mike.
Love your prizes. I will definitely watch your informational videos.
However I have each of these devices.
In fact i have given a few away to help those that know how to use them but did not own one.
Thank you for making the RV life safer out there.
Hoping against hope to attend your sessions again in Goshen in August
Be safe out there.
Mike,
Your thoughts on Snap-Pads and doing some testing on their ability to shield or protect a unit from an Electrical Storm ground wave discharge is interesting. I have done some work on this in my career with High Voltage / High Current and Static Discharging. I have found that any trace of dirt and or moisture will allow a fast moving current ground surge to find a metal object and bring it up to the same potential that is traveling in the surge current wave. So, the Snap-Pads may help, depending on the conditions / environment that it(they) are in during the Lightening Strike. Just like an arc across a Jennings Switch when a potential voltage wants to discharge some current as it closes….
Can wait to see what you come up with in your testing….. Great Teaching Presentations….
I don’t know if you’ve given instructions on using a dvm but if not there would be an excellent idea. Most people blow up their meter because they have it on ohms when checking volts. Result: junk
Just a thought.
Keep up the good work.
For those that don’t win a meter, Harbor Freight has a really nice meter, sometime FREE or buy it for around $5.
Then learn how to use it.
Im going to watch anyway, but, can Canadians enter and win. There have been other contests here on RVtravel that Canadians couldn’t participate in.
Thank you for all the work you do.
If you win, I’ll figure out a way to get a meter kit to you. So please participate….
I won’t be entering this contest, since I have multiples of all these meters, let someone win these that needs them,
Loren, but you could take the quiz… We have a box on the form you can check disqualifying you from the prize if you have too many meters already.
so nice!
Wonderful people.
win win