In late August we headed up to Rock Lake for a week. We were able to book a waterfront site, which is always a bonus. Camping in the non-electrical area, is far more civilized than the other electrical campground here, which is akin to being packed into a sardine can.
Our annual excursion to Sandbanks never disappoints. So much to do in The County, lots of visiting with friends, and of course, time on the fabulous beaches.
Back to a perennial favourite, having snagged a great waterfront site. Bonus this year, our friends Malcolm & Tanya are right beside us.
We were able to snag our favourite site at this park, right on the water in a quiet non serviced area.
During those stinking hot days when the Alto is at home in the driveway, I open the windows and turn on the fan to keep some airflow happening inside. I popped back out to check how hot it was, and discovered that the fan had stopped. Odd.
Checked the distribution panel fuse, all OK. Checked the little glass fuse on the fan, again all OK. Pulled off the screen to rotate the fan blades, seems fine, so motor not seized. Removed the roof vent cover opening knob, and unscrewed the bottom plate to expose the guts. Grabbed my trusty multi-meter and first checked that the roof vent cover switch was working properly, all OK.
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| kinda grubby... |
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| fan was overdue for a good cleaning |
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| fan removed by loosening set screw, 3/32" allen key |
Power was present at the various terminals, but still no fan operation. On the back of the speed control switch, I spied a resistor/fuse looking component bridging two terminals, so I tested its continuity, and it was NOT OK. A quick google determined that this was a single use thermal fuse. Given the age and dusty appearance, I was not able to exactly identify this little piece, so the next step was to see if an entire switch replacement was an option. Sure enough, Amazon soon had this very part on its way to me. The shiny new part arrived the next day, and installation was super simple. Moved the wire terminals from old to new, installed the switch and nut, pushed on the knob...done.
Turned the fan on and we were back baby!
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| thermal fuse is the little silver tube |
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| the part number |
What caused the thermal fuse failure remains unknown...perhaps the motor is on its last legs after 14 years of use, and some sort of overheat tripped the fuse, but it sure runs nice now. Changing out a $40 dollar part is a lot less cost and effort than buying a new fan, so it will be a cheap longevity experiment.
So if your Fan-Tastic Fan stops running and the usual suspects check out fine, be sure to check this tiny hidden thermal fuse. Always worth investigating.
After fourteen years of tinkering and modding our Alto, the well of new ideas can run a little dry. When we recently changed the fabric on the bench cushions, the roll of leftover fabric brought an old idea to the forefront again.
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| the existing cushion...lost space |
For the journey home had three more craft breweries lined up to stay at. We figured why not give this Harvest Hosts gig a good testing out.
Pulled into River’s End campground on Tybee Island on a beautiful sunny afternoon. We had stayed here on the way home on our 2019 South West trip and fell in love with Savannah and the whole area.
We decided to take a bit of a break from our non winter and head south for a little road trip. Tossed around a few locations, but Savannah and Tybee Island seemed perfect for our timelines.
Thought I would share some of the analysis that supported our lithium conversion mod. It’s a long read…really long, but if you tough it out to the end, I think you will step away with a pretty good understanding of the lithium battery environment.
