Welcome to my J.A.M. (Just Ask Mike) Session, a weekly column where I answer your basic electrical questions. If you’re a newbie who’s never plugged in a shore power cord (or ask – what’s a shore power cord?), or wonder why your daughter’s hair dryer keeps tripping the circuit breaker, this column is for you. Send your questions to Mike Sokol at mike (at) noshockzone.org with the subject line – JAM. Today I briefly discuss “The Mike and Tony Quartzsite Show.”
Dear Mike,
Did I see you at the Quartzsite show last week? I saw you online with Tony Barthel, but I couldn’t find you anywhere on site. And what were you two geeks talking about? —Sam the Sham
Dear Sam,
Well, through the miracle of cellular data and the very efficient codec in Zoom, I was able to enjoy a crab cake sandwich at my FunkWorks Lab in Maryland at 11 a.m. on Friday.
And within the hour I sat down in my office/studio, turned on the lights and cameras, hit the Zoom button, and was instantly transported to the Quartzsite show on a stream of electrons (literally). I love this technology!!!
Beam me up, Tony…
Of course I needed a Transporter Pad to arrive there in one piece, which Tony Barthel was able to provide at the show. Actually, it was just a laptop with a video screen linked to his cellular phone, but “Transporter Pad” sounds much more high-tech, doesn’t it?
On Wednesday Tony and I talked for about an hour about surge protector types and how they work. And on Friday for 40 minutes we discussed lithium battery upgrades and changes to your RV electrical system that might be needed for best performance.
Where’s the video?
Tony has already hit his cellular data cap for the month, so it will take until later in the week before he can upload both of these full length videos with all the extra Q&A discussion to YouTube, which we’ll link to in the next Saturday newsletter.
Once that happens you’ll be able to rewatch these videos as many times as you want. But in the meantime, I’ll post of few of my PowerPoint slides from the seminar below so you can get an idea of what we discussed.
The following ad was auto-inserted by Google
Do I really need to upgrade to lithium batteries?
Do lithium batteries have more power, or is that just a sales gimmick?
Do I have to buy a new battery charger, or can I use my existing charger/converter?
The following ad was auto-inserted by Google
What about lithium battery voltage… Can I just hook it up to my old lead-acid battery?
Can I use a lithium battery to power my RV in the cold? And can they be recharged when it gets below freezing?
That’s it for now. Watch the full video this Saturday.
OK, everyone. Remember that electricity is a useful and powerful force, so we all need to pay attention to safety precautions while using it.
Let’s play safe out there….
Send your questions to me at my new RVelectricity forum here.
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.
You don’t want to miss Mike’s webcasts on his YouTube channel.
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I’ll have them posted potentially by the end of today – stopping at a Starbucks on the road to burn up their WiFi and upload three hours of videos including these two.
Here’s the YouTube channel where folks will be able to find this: https://www.youtube.com/c/StressLessCamping
Excellent… Beaming down to a transporter pad near you soon!
If you have a WFCO charger/converter in your rv (many have them)
they now make an auto change module that can be swapped in your existing unit.
https://wfcoelectronics.com/auto-detect/
Great! I’m contacting WFCO to get more information…