May 16, 2019
Welcome to another edition of RV Travel’s Daily Tips newsletter. Here you’ll find helpful RV-related, and small-space living, tips from the pros, travel advice, a handy website of the day, our favorite RVing-related products and, of course, a good laugh. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate your readership.
If you shop at Amazon, would you use one of the links below to do your shopping? The link in the blue bar above also works. Thanks.
U.S. shoppers: Shop at Amazon.com
Canadian shoppers: Shop at Amazon.ca
FEATURED TIP
Extend RV battery life
The life of RV batteries varies. Factors include how they’re used, maintained, discharged and recharged, and how they’re stored. A battery cycle is one complete discharge from 100 percent down to about 50 percent and then recharged back to 100 percent.
One important factor in battery life is how deep the battery is cycled each time. If the battery is discharged to 50 percent every day it will last twice as long as if it’s cycled to 80 percent. Keep this in mind when you consider a battery’s amp hour rating. The amp hour rating is really cut in half because you don’t want to completely discharge the battery before recharging it. The life expectancy depends on how soon a discharged battery is recharged. The sooner the better.
How this affects you depends on how you use your RV. If you’re plugged into an electrical source most of the time then your main concern is to properly maintain your deep cycle batteries. But if you are dry camping you’ll want the most amp hours.
Deep cycle batteries come in different sizes. Some are designated by group size, like Group 24, 27 and 31. Basically the larger the battery the more amp hours. There are several options. You can use one 12-volt Group 24 deep cycle battery that provides 70 to 85 amp hours or you can use two or more 12-volt batteries wired in parallel. Parallel wiring increases amp hours but not voltage.
If you have the storage space you can switch from standard 12-volt batteries to two of the larger 6-volt golf cart batteries. These pairs of 6-volt batteries need to be wired in series to produce the required 12-volts. Series wiring increases voltage but not amp hours. If this still doesn’t satisfy your requirements you can build larger battery banks using four 6-volt batteries wired in series/parallel that will give you 12-volts and double your AH capacity. —Tip from Mark Polk, RV Education 101.
Free games for the kiddos? Yes, please! Here’s a website with tons of free printable car games for kids. You can thank us later.
Keep your food cool with this RV fridge fan
Every RV refrigerator should have one of these!
This small refrigerator fan from Valterra Products will help keep the food in your RV fridge cool and from spoiling. It cuts down initial cool-down time by 50 percent. Runs for more than 30 days on 2 D batteries. Don’t leave home without this! Learn more or order here.
MORE QUICK TIPS
Glow in the dark tape helps at night
I use “glow-in-the-dark” tape on all my interior light switches and slide extension switches so they are easy to find at night. I also use the tape on my exterior door and compartment locks. I cut a thin rectangle of tape and put it parallel to the key slot so I know exactly where to put my key and not scratch the paint looking for the lock. —Joe Brignolo (Here’s where you can buy some of this amazing stuff.)
Do you REALLY want a bug screen on your radiator?
A reader recalls an incident he had when his tow vehicle overheated on a hot day. An honest mechanic made a quick diagnosis – without unnecessary parts! The mechanic advised, “Take a wood frame measuring two feet by four feet. Hold that frame up to the wind. Yup, virtually no wind resistance at all. Now put a bug screen over the frame and hold it up to the wind. Yup, lots of resistance.” Overheat solution? Remove that accessory bug screen from in front of the radiator!
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Scribble Maps
The easiest way to “draw on” and share maps. Draw out your upcoming trip route and share it with your family, so they always know where you’ll be. Circle campgrounds you’re interested in, restaurants you hope to visit, and more.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
These socks don’t stink!
If you don’t believe us when we say these compression socks really work, look at the overwhelmingly positive reviews and maybe you’ll change your mind. These socks provide instant relief to your arches and heels and work to increase blood and oxygen circulation, which helps reduce lactic acid buildup and aids muscle recovery in ankle and feet. Click here to learn more.
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
These hilarious dogs will surely crack a smile. Click here to see more funny photos.
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RV Daily Tips Staff
Editor and Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Managing editor: Diane McGovern. Contributing writers: Russ De Maris, Bob Difley, Gary Bunzer, Roger Marble, Mike Sokol, Greg Illes, J.M. Montigel and Andrew Robinson. Advertising director: Emily Woodbury. Marketing director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
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Everything in this newsletter is true to the best of our knowledge. But we occasionally get something wrong. We’re just human! So don’t go spending $10,000 on something we said was good simply because we said so, or fixing something according to what we suggested (check with your own technician first). Maybe we made a mistake. Tips and/or comments in this newsletter are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of RVtravel.com or this newsletter.
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This newsletter is copyright 2019 by RVtravel.com
I love my dark roast coffee and drink it black, changes my outlook on the day.
Don’t drink coffee!
I don’t drink coffee. I get my caffeine via Mountain Dew
Hot French roast with Creamora Hazelnut creamer (that already has sugar in it).
Bailies Irish Cream Creamer
I’m a tea drinker the caffeinated kind please! And I use flavored creamer or milk in it and rarely use sweetener.
Hot coffee – black. Hot tea – “black” (no additives in it at all). Iced tea – unsweetened.
Coffee, white chocolate powder, french vanilla creamer. Tastes like a white chocolate latte I would get from my favorite coffee cart, Jitter Bean, in Portland OR.
I love coffee but it always seems weak when we order it in The States. We have been told that it is because most Americans prefer to drink it black. I like strong coffee with milk.
Do not drink Coffee, begin my day with energy drink made w Zero Gatorade, provides energy & stamina till lunch time.
I drink my coffee with Bailey’s Irish Cream.
no caffeinated beverage for me at all, I have an occasional lemonade mainly just water for my beverage of choice.
Some of you guys are coffee snobs, saying if it’s not black, it’s not coffee. Reminds me of the folks who say, “If it’s not in a tent, it’s not camping.”
Black tea thank you very much
If you add anything to it, it is no longer coffee.
I bought that little fridge fan you mentioned today, and used it. It’s really a poorly designed and manufactured product. It’s made of plastic pieces that barely fit together and can hardly hold the battery in place (a D cell). Worse, it goes through batteries fast. I like the idea of having a fan inside the fridge but that product needs to be improved a lot. There a lots of videos on youtube showing higher quality fans that you wire into the fridge’s light. It looks like that’s a much better way to go.
We started with that square shaped fan years ago, and it didn’t last. Now we have a round shaped fan and it works flawlessly. I think it runs on a “D” battery too. I think this is it: https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Fridge-Airator-Off-Switch/dp/B01E5SNB5I/ref=sr_1_4?hvadid=78615133161404&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=rv+refrigerator+fan&qid=1558023513&s=gateway&sr=8-4
I thought one of the purposes of the fan was to help keep a RV fridge cool when there is no power… Wiring it into the fridges is great when you have power…
I purchased the ARP fridge defender and two small computer type fans that run off the RV system. Keeps it cool no batteries and fridge protected.
Don’t drink coffee or tea
I only drink tea, preferably darjeeling. Or jasmine for green tea. Kinda fussy, but do love tea. Coffee gives me a really bad headache.
Ardy: Try regular coffee not decaf. I had headaches a few years back and found out it was the chemical process used to make decaf. Friends suggested it was withdrawal from caffeine – Wrong!
Don’t drink coffee at all. Do drink tea.
Use commercial creamer – caramel macchiato.
Neither my wife or I drink coffee.