OK, I was bragging recently about how much better this RV is than our last one. I said I wouldn’t need to revive my old “What Broke This Week” series because it is so good… Well, I’m rethinking that. Oh, this RV is definitely better than the last, but right after I wrote that, guess what? Something broke! Maybe I only need a monthly installment?
So, it’s the Friday before the big weekend at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum. Living History Days has tons of folks dressed up in 1790’s outfits and actually camping out in old-school canvas tents and everything all weekend. No power allowed, nothing from the “future” is used. Reenactors are showing up and starting to set up their tents. They’re splitting wood ( with old-school axes!) and digging fire pits to build their bonfires (so they don’t absolutely freeze to death out there – It was 38* overnight!). Our RV sits above the little valley below where they camp. So we were inside positioning our front seats for the best view of the “pioneers” out the big RV window to watch them freeze to death while we sipped hot cocoa and popped popcorn… in the microwave!
Well it was time to charge the batteries so the auto-gen-start tried to start the generator (which has been working PERFECTLY for over a month), it would not turn over. It tried to start then failed. I had to intervene manually (meaning I had to use my finger to push the gen start button! ugh!). Nothing happened. It wouldn’t prime the carburetor. It wouldn’t make the slightest clicking noise. It was dead! I spent several hours testing batteries, fuses and breakers (there are at least 3 banks of fuses in different parts of the coach and a breaker panel – that I know of ) and couldn’t find any obvious problems. I spent another hour on the phone with Newmar and Cummins representatives trying to get troubleshooting tips… Their tip? Take it to a shop. No! I’m living off-grid. I HAVE to have my generator this weekend. It’s gonna be cold! My batteries are dying. Please, somebody help me!
Nah, no one helps me. Of course it’s Friday. Too late to take into a shop. No one is coming out over the weekend or any other day. There was nothing I could do but move the RV to a nearby RV park for the weekend where we could plug in to electrical power. SOooo bummed. We would have been RV’ing right next to the 24th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment civil war reenactors. 
They were making some good vitals for dinner on their campfire. And after I towed their supply truck out of the mud with my tractor, they owed me some vitals!
The weekend was still a lot of fun, but instead of being in the middle of it all for the whole weekend, we had to drive down the road each morning and evening to our toasty RV. And when I forgot a USB cable for my drone I had to miss good shots because the RV was too far away to go grab it easily.
So what happened you ask? I called around looking for someone who would come to me. I thought I was in luck because when I called one shop and said, ” My RV has a generator problem and I was wondering if you provide a mobile generator service?”, the operator said, “Yes…” Oooh, my hopes are soaring, however, without missing a beat she continues, ” but you have to bring your 
RV in to our shop.” %-\ Wait. What? Brain lock… 🙂 Oh well, they were the best generator shop in town so I scheduled an appt for Monday morning.
Monday morning we got up early, packed the RV, zipped it up and headed across town to the generator specialists. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t resist, while I was driving to the shop I reached down and flipped the generator switch and guess what happened… it started right up! Aaaargh! I continued to the shop anyway and explained this as the tech. He suspected a loose wire would cause that problem so they checked it out and “found” a loose negative cable, cleaned it, tightened it, tested it and it has been working fine ever since…
We’ll see how soon it is until something else breaks before I decide whether this should be a weekly or monthly series!
Happy Travels!