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{ Category Archives } RV Restoration

Batteries, ignorance, dreams

Roadtreking waxes eloquent about the amazing lithium battery system in his RV. It is, perhaps, a better lesson on why snake oils sales so well rather than anything useful about RV battery systems. First problem is that he is amazed at the kind of power draw you can get from Li batteries rather than the […]

What glue to use?

Adhesives are becoming every more important in fastening things together. They are often stronger than mechanical fasteners like screws, nails, bolts, or rivets. The problem is in choosing the right adhesive for the job at hand. Karl Chwe found that construction adhesive has been the best shoe repair he’s found. He discusses the options in […]

electrolytic rust removal

Some recommend electrolysis to remove surface rust. You feed the rusted part electrons so the rusty iron can get its electrons from that rather than oxygen and turn the iron oxides back to plain iron. “Is it safe? The solutions used are not hazardous; the voltages and currents are low, so there is no electrical […]

Lithium batteries basics

Gigaom describes Why lithium-ion batteries die so young and provides a good rundown on how these batteries work. A lot of the ideas apply to most rechargeable batteries such as the lead acid batteries used in RV’s. One common problem I see a lot is about the difference between energy and power. When we talk […]

Chemistry in service: refrigeration

On Zephyrs, I described the operating principles of The RV ammonia based refrigerator. The key to understanding this is getting a handle on partial pressure in gases. It is this behavior of gases that is being manipulated to provide cooling. Compressor driven refrigeration uses physical pressure differences with an valve on one side and a […]

Josephine, a 76 Airstream Overlander

Vaughn’s brother was upgrading from 27′ trailer to a class A and the price was right so Jo was added to the yard as a better place to invest a few bucks. It was a bit well used but had a number of features to examine for ideas. The Onan Microlite was a nice idea […]