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If the electrical system on your boat were to suddenly (bear with us here) rise in the night, thirsting for your blood, where would you bury the wooden stake to end its abominable unlife? The storage battery, that’s where! It acts like the beating heart of your boat’s power structure, feeding juice through the various circuits that wind through your vessel. This battery is comprised of several “secondary batteries,” which are recharged by the mechanical action of the motor, solar panels, wind, or water turbines, depending on your set-up. “Primary batteries” are the kind you put in a stereo or remote control, and can’t be recharged. So don’t try. Because they will explode.

Seriously.

Now, the battery that’s powering the vampire boat in the confusing and poorly thought out analogy above is a 12 volt battery. Astute and loyal readers may remember 12 volt batteries mentioned in, well, nearly every entry posted before this one, and often in reference to cars, trucks, or RVs. While it’s true that they all use 12 volt batteries, it is not true that all 12 volt batteries are created equal. This is why 12 volt batteries do not have a Declaration of Independence. Well, one of the reasons. No, different 12 volts have different intended purposes, and while you certainly can use a car battery in a boat, you might not be getting the most life or value out of your battery if you do. If you don’t get a marine-specific battery, there are a few tips to keep in mind to make using a car battery worth your while.

First, get the heaviest one you can. This usually indicates a greater density of the metal plates and acid which help the battery do its thing. It can also indicate a sturdier casing. Next, get one with a long warranty. Many stores don’t differentiate pricing between heavier and lighter batteries, nor with batteries that have differing warranty lengths. Go ahead and get the best one you can. Finally, when you’re not using the battery in your sailing vessel, put it in your car, or some other vehicle you use frequently. Long periods of stagnation do no good for a battery, so keeping it active is advisable.

And again, apologies for the nonsensical vampire analogy. Don’t blame us just because vampires are totally “in” right now. That’s Twilight’s fault.

Or Party Emperor, Party Czar… Party Pharaoh? Whatever. We at JuJuDeals don’t discriminate, especially when it comes to people who know how to Bring The Party. The important thing is that you, yes YOU, could be that person. I know it sounds like an awful lot of responsibility, and it is. You may not know it yet, but in your hands you hold the power to turn an ordinary gathering of bored individuals into an formidable force of frosty, funkadelic fun-seekers. All alliteration aside (heh), with the right tools, a little preparation, and some positive energy, anyone can get a party started.

Now, we can’t supply you with the attendees, prime location, or the refreshing adult beverages, nor can we impart upon you good taste in party music. There are other blogs for that. What we can do is supply you with what is likely the single most important part of any party: a way to make music happen to a crowd of unsuspecting soon-to-be partiers.

Examine, if you will, Exhibit A. If you’ve got an mp3 player with a rockin’ party mix, but don’t want to be “that guy” or “that girl” that everyone avoids because they’re constantly carrying an oversized boom box on their shoulder, this is the solution to your problem. It’s like a boom box, except it folds up and fits in a pocket. Now, anywhere you go has the potential to become awesome.

The real question is, with Spring Break around the corner, can you afford not to be prepared to start parties like some kind of party starting machine? Trick question. You can only answer “Yes” if you are completely lame.

The camera swoops down from above the tree line. The tall evergreens loom ominously, blocking much of the moon’s dim light. A man and a woman, muddy and bruised, frantically sprint headlong towards their RV. With a slam and a click, they throw the door closed and lock it behind them. Somewhere out in the murky wilderness, the maniac in the hockey mask is still following them. The couple breathes a tentative sigh of relief, though, in the comparative safety of their motor home. They have a CB radio hooked up to their auxiliary battery. They can call for help. The young man sits in front of the desk, flicks up the “on” switch, and…

Nothing.

It’s going to be a long night.

Don’t let this horrible fate befall you and those you love! Armed with a few easy tips, you too can prevent the battery drains that inevitably lead to a ghastly dismemberment at the hands of some ghoulish slasher film villain. Simply get yourself a copy of the manufacturer’s wiring guide for your vehicle (you can call them and request one if you don’t already have it) and a voltage meter. They’re super cheap, and you’ll be glad you invested in one when the bogeymen come a-scratchin’.

• Unplug your system from any external power source.
• Disconnect the negative cable from the battery’s negative terminal.
• Attach the negative cable to the voltage meter’s red wire.
• Attach the voltage meter’s black wire to the battery’s negative lead.
• Turn off every lava lamp, cartoon character shaped clock-radio, and 12 volt appliance on the rig.
• If there’s still a drain, go to the fuse panel.
• Remove each fuse, one by one, until the drain disappears. That’s the circuit with the fault.
• Note what the label states that circuit is protecting (right side, left side, front, etc).
• Go to that section of the RV.
• From front to back, check each individual item.

Following that simple guide, you should easily find whatever device you left on, or whatever item is malfunctioning, causing power to slowly trickle out of your battery. Either turn it off or fix/replace it, and you’re all set! Now the only thing that can cause you to end up in the clutches of a bloodthirsty monster is if you fall for absolutely no reason while you’re running. If horror movies are any indication, this happens to normal people all the time, so make sure you wear some good running shoes, and lace ‘em up tight!

circuit components

In the event that we at JuJuDeals post some helpful guides on fixing or troubleshooting your 12 volt system, it would be ideal if you, you know, could tell what we were talking about. To that effect, here’s a quick rundown of the different pieces that go into an electrical circuit, and the symbols used to represent them when describing one or mapping it out. (Note: not everything listed will have a visual depiction on our chart)

• Cell, Battery, Generator, Alternator, or AC Plug: any of these can be the source or power for your circuit.
• Conductor: A solid, unbroken wire for the electrical charge to follow. Sometimes called a “line,” and is represented by one.
• Junction: Where conductors meet and mingle. The dot at the intersection represents a drop of solder, or some other method of joining the two conductors.
• No-Junction: This is when two conductors cross paths without touching.
• Resistor: Often accompanied by a letter “R” nearby. The resistor slows or limits some of the electrical power that is fed through the line.
• Switch: Often accompanied by a letter “S” nearby. Think of it like a lightswitch. It represents something that completes the circuit when you want it on, and breaks the circuit when you want it off.
• Fuse: Often accompanied by a letter “F” nearby. This is a safety feature, often a piece of low-melting-point wire that will destroy itself if too much energy attempts to pass through it. This keeps your circuit board from frying itself.
• Circuit Breaker: Another kind of auto-safety feature. This kind acts like a switch that will magnetically or thermally shut itself off rather than melt. This way, it can be reset just by flicking the switch as opposed to completely replacing it.
• Coil: A length of wire that has been repeatedly wound. They are often used in gasoline ignition systems or as part of another system, such as a relay or a transformer.
• Transformer: This consists of two coils; a primary and a secondary. They share an iron core and are coupled magnetically. Transformers can perform many duties based upon their configuration (how much power is fed through which side, how tightly the coils are wound and on which side, etc.), but we’ll get into that later.
• Ground : A connection to the actual ground, or if you’re on a boat, to the seawater. It is generally used as a method of bleeding off excess power.
• Transducer: A device that turns one type of energy into another. A toaster turns electrical energy into thermal (heat) energy. A light bulb turns electrical energy into light. A buzz-kill turns fun party energy into boredom. You get the idea.
• Inverter: A device that changes a car/boat/semi/RV’s 12 volt DC power into 120 volt AC power. The conversion rate is not perfectly efficient, so depending on the quality of your inverter, you may lose a little or a lot. The AC power it creates is not exactly the same as regular AC power, so some devices (like a refrigerator or an air conditioner) won’t work when using it.

Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Love is in the air. Unless you thought you could get away with giving your significant other another teddy bear this year. Honestly, it’s cute the first time, but when they get a gift like that for the third consecutive year, they’re going to start to wonder if you actually know anything about them. If you gave another thoughtless gift this year, you deserve that night you spent on the couch! Don’t make the same mistake next year. Show you’re paying attention by giving a gift that means something to the both of you. Here’s our totally awesome, sure-fire recommendation for next year (or that impending anniversary):

• Get a digital picture frame like this one. Notice how it plays audio. This will be important.
• Upload every sweet picture of the two of you that you can find. If you don’t have any, take some! Go on a picnic or to the beach and snag a whole bunch.
• Upload “your song.” If you don’t have one, shame on you! Rectify that immediately. You can’t go wrong with old school Motown, like Marvin Gaye or Al Green. Pop in a mix CD and dance in the kitchen with your sweetie while the two of you make a romantic dinner, just because. You’ll have “your song” in no time.
• When the moment comes, wrap the picture frame up in some nice paper, put a big bow on it, and sneak it somewhere cute and surprising, like their desk at work, in their briefcase, or under their pillow.

• Get ready for all the hugs and smooches you can handle as they melt all over themselves at the most thoughtful gift ever. Seeing all those sweet memories glide by on the screen, accompanied by the touching melody of “Let’s Stay Together” (or maybe some Prince, if your love is a bit more funky-freaky), well they just might forgive you for forgetting their birthday again. Just make sure to include the batteries!

Imagine yourself sitting in front of your luscious new HDTV. You’re reclining in a comfortable chair. The lights have been appropriately dimmed, and you have a bevy of snacks and drinks within arm’s reach. You can almost feel your surround sound speakers itching with anxious excitement, waiting for the moment you allow them to blast you with glorious, depth-of-field creating sound. You pick up the remote, press play, and are greeted with…

A low-fidelity, bootleg copy of Earnest Goes to Jail.

Seriously? What were you thinking? If you needed to know some great movies to watch in High Definition, you could have just asked. We’re full of recommendations. Here are 10 awesome Action/Adventure movies to enjoy on your HDTV:

• The Fifth Element- This gorgeously filmed movie is just begging to be watched in HD. There is so much detail in nearly every frame, with vibrant colors and vivid backgrounds. Plus, it’s just an all around fun movie. Every character is memorable, with special nods going to Gary Oldman as the sinister Jeanbaptiste Emanuel Zorg and Chris Tucker as the completely over the top TV personality, Ruby Rhod. With Tucker’s so-weird-it’s-awesome turn as the ultimate conclusion of the garish TV host, it’s hard to believe that this movie came out well before reality TV had become a part of the everyday entertainment spectrum. Just make sure you get the Remastered version, as the original HD cut has some errors. Look for “Experience High Definition” on the front-bottom of the cover to be framed in silver, not grey. Also, among the sound options on the back, look for “Dolby TrueHD.”
• The Incredibles- One of our all time favorites. The art direction, inspiration, casting, and execution of this film are near-perfect, showing once again that Pixar can do no wrong. The super-stylized characters and fantastic art deco set pieces are shown off to excellent effect with some of the most interesting cinematography a CG film has ever seen. Take particular note of the Dash whizzing around the island, as you really get a feel for the speed when you can see every tree in the jungle flash by in High Definition.
• Blade Runner- A movie so good, we’d watch it in standard def, projected onto a garbage bag. In HD, forget about it. This movie was criminally under-appreciated when it was first released in theaters, only to develop an enormous cult following on VHS and DVD. It practically wrote the book on the way the future looks in film. If you’ve ever seen a bustling megalopolis or decrepit, lived-in future in a film, know that Blade Runner did it first.
• Star Trek Reboot- We know you saw this in theaters. Everybody saw this in theaters. Twice. Whether you’re new to the franchise or a die-hard Trekkie, everyone loved this movie, and with good reason. It’s a loving reimagining that hits all the right notes; nostalgic when it should be, reverent when it should be, and completely different when it should be. The only problem with this movie is that it ends.
• Iron Man- Watching this movie in High Def is like walking through a hot rod convention in the future. Every glossy, high tech piece of cherry red equipment pops off the screen. Robert Downey Jr. remade his entire career on the strength of his performance as the sarcastic industrialist genius Tony Stark. Couple that with the fact that it’s one of the funnest movies of the last few years, and you have a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
• The Dark Knight- This movie may lack the bright colors and shiny chromes of its comic book film cousin Iron Man, but don’t let that fool you. Gotham City is captured in all its grit and desperation, with the Batman sinking into the inky blacks with appropriate stealthiness. Some scenes were even filmed in IMAX, so if you have reeeeeally wide screen, you’re in for a treat. Heath Ledger’s role as maniacal madman The Joker absolutely shocked audiences who had been scratching their head at the casting choice, and left millions mourning the loss of an actor who many didn’t fully appreciate until too late. Whether you love comic book adaptations, hate them, or are completely indifferent, this film rises above any easy labels and tells a deeply human story of nobility, vengeance, and loss. Do not, under any circumstances, miss this movie.
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy- Okay, yeah, I know we’re cheating here. It’s three movies. So what. They’re all great entertainment, and benefit wonderfully from viewing in HD. The grand, epic landscapes give a breathtaking sense of scale, and the battle scenes are truly dizzying in their detail. This movie raised the bar for fantasy films, as well as for scenes of enormous armies clashing into each other. If you have a day to kill, we recommend watching all of the extended editions back to back. Just fight the urge to go outside in your elf ears and forest green cloak.
• Dawn of the Dead- So this movie is a little more on the Action/Horror side than Action/Adventure, but it’s still a great movie to watch in HD. The subdued hues of the movie give a great feeling of the oppressive, claustrophobic, and decomposing atmosphere of the zombie apocalypse, and the bursts of scarlet viscera show up admirably as well. The blacks are deep and inky, giving the shadows a truly threatening presence. Things really get kicking in the final scenes, when hundreds of hungry undead are clawing for the unlucky survivors, and HD does a great job of showing off every grizzly, gory ghoul.
• Sin City- Another movie that nearly everyone has seen. Sin City blew people away with its two-fisted take on noir and its astonishing stylistic choices. The entire film is in ultra-high-contrast black and white, with occasional splashes of color to draw attention to specific cinematic elements. The story follows several protagonists in an interwoven tapestry of individual noir tales, but each odyssey has some story and thematic ties to the others. If you like film noir, you’ll love this jet-black and ivory-white love letter to the genre.
• Watchmen- While this movie does have its share of action, it is not exactly an action movie. The film is a sight to behold in HD, showing off nearly everything good about the medium; pitch blacks, ever present urban grit, grand, sweeping cityscapes, and fantastical elements truly unique to this movie. We can’t imagine watching Dr. Manhattan’s crystal clockwork rising from the red dust of Mars in anything but High Def. Jackie Earle Hailey turns in a fan-favorite performance as Rhorschach, the monotone, broken-souled vigilante with the ever-shifting ink blot mask, and the ensemble cast does a wonderful job of conveying just what kind of damaged person would actually try to put on a mask and do battle with something so undefinable as “evil.” This movie may have superheroes, but it is truly a human drama.

We’re not talking about your financial budget. The only financial tip we can offer is to buy your electronics from JuJuDeals.com, unless you actually like spending unnecessary gobs of cash for the same products elsewhere. That, and be really nice to that wealthy aunt with the bum ticker. Otherwise you’re on your own. No, the budget we’re talking about is your watt budget.

If you have a vehicle that uses its battery to power TVs, microwaves, blenders, vibrating beds, and the like, it would behoove you to compare how much juice you think you might use with how much juice you have. Assuming you have an inverter, which converts your 12 volt battery systems DC power to 110 volt AC power, you can plug in and use all kinds of fun and useful things. Some use only a little power, like a stereo or a satellite receiver, which ballpark around 50 and 20 watts an hour, respectively. Some use a little more, like a 22″ LCD Widescreen TV (60 watts/hr) or a computer and monitor (125 watts/hr together). Some use an ungodly amount of power, like a microwave. Those bad boys draw down up to 1000 watts, with an initial surge of up to 1500! Perhaps that’s just the universe’s way of telling you not to microwave that truckstop burrito, and maybe go for a chicken salad instead.

In any case, whether you ate that delicious burrito or not, it’s a good idea to calculate how much your appliances use versus how much power you actually have. Even the best of inverters tend to lose about 10% of the charge they convert, as well, so keep that in mind when calculating. Depending on your power supply and the efficiency of your inverter, you may want to double-check the owner’s manual for the power consumption of that massage chair you were thinking of installing in your RV.

Watts = Volts x Amps

Inversely, Amps = Watts / Volts

Take your 1000 watt microwave as an example:

1000 (your microwave) / 12 (the voltage of your battery) x 1.11 (your 90% efficiency inverter) = 92.5

That’s 92.5 amps getting gobbled up for an hour of use! A microwave can easily be on for an hour throughout the day if you have more than one person cooking more than one meal in it. Or if you really, really like Hot Pockets.

Lest we get too far off track into the power usage of microwaves and the tempting tastiness of their fare, allow us to bring this back to the point. Before you go on any extended trip or camp, wisely budget the power your devices will consume. The TV in your RV won’t do you much good if your battery flies away to battery heaven. Or battery hell, depending on how much trouble it’s given you.

No, it’s not a bizarre reworking of the beloved Tom Selleck crime-busting show Magnum: P.I., though we at JuJuDeals certainly appreciate the heroic efforts of the fantastically mustachioed champion of justice. You may have noticed one of those two letters (”p” and “i”) following a set of numbers like “1080″ or “720″ on an HDTV you were eyeballing, and taking a cue from the brilliant, deductive mind of Magnum P.I., you just had to know what they mean.

Well wonder no more, detective.

In this case, the P’s and I’s we’re referring to stand not for “Private” and “Investigator,” but instead for “Progressive scan” and “Interlace.” Interlace was, until recently, the standard way to broadcast and view television images. See, unlike the flipbooks you used to make in elementary school by drawing in the corners of your textbooks, standard definition TV didn’t just show a series of complete, unadulterated frames in rapid succession. It used a method called “interlacing,” where it cut out every other row of pixels and replaced them with the rows that would have appeared in the next frame.

Imagine a set of horizontal window blinds with an image projected on them. Now imagine that behind the blinds was an accompanying image that would have followed the original in sequence. What interlacing did, essentially, was open the blinds halfway, slicing the two pictures so that you saw half of the first image and half of the second. This was to smooth the illusion of motion that TVs trick your brain into perceiving. It was a good idea, but you did lose quite a bit of image clarity.

Then came all these newfangled HDTVs and High Def computer monitors and what-have-you, which can show you things in Progressive scan mode. This is a lot more like the flipbooks you got sent to the principal’s office for making. Progressive scan TVs show you the complete, individual frames at high speeds. Pause the picture, and the image will be complete, perfect, and still, like looking out a window at someone else’s way more interesting and action-packed life.

Simply put, “i” is okay-but-outdated, and “p” is as true-to-life as we can make it…

For now.

Taking a decked-out living space with you wherever you go is an awesome idea no matter how you slice it. Crabs were way ahead of the game on that one. In fact, why do we even call them crabs? How could you be crabby when you have all the comforts of home with you at all times? Maybe we should call them “brilliant idea spiders from the beneath the waves,” or “Poseidon’s little red advice vagabonds.” Right now, you’re probably thinking something like “Because both of those names are completely terrible,” but at least they recognize what a great idea it is to take your house with you when you go on vacation.

An important factor to keep in mind, though, is that you’ll need some way to power all the microwaves, refrigerators, blenders, HDTVs, AC units, massage chairs, strobe lights, aquariums, back-up aquariums, and similar amenities that any normal person will have installed into their RV. Lucky for you, most campsites will provide a place to plug in your mobile-living-environment. Unlucky for you, they often provide only 30 (or sometimes even 20) amp hookups, while many modern motorhomes require a 50 amp hookup.

So before you emulate the stately crab and go adventuring into the great blue yonder, make sure you have a set of adapters. You’ll want one that converts from 50 amp to 30 amp, as well as one that converts from 30 amp to 20 amp. You can find ones that go directly from 50 to 20 (and if you know that’s all you’ll need, go ahead and grab one), but if you want all your bases covered, we recommend you go for the aforementioned set of two.

When you get to your campsite, you can plug your motorhome’s 50 amp hookup to the 30 amp adapter, and if necessary, daisy chain the 30 amp to the 20 amp adapter, finally plugging the appropriately converted hookup into the site’s power box. Voila! Now you can watch nature documentaries in the glorious majesty of nature itself.

Just make sure to avoid the poison ivy when nature calls.