JuJuDeals

• 20May

  Ladies and Gentlemen: The Future

  Consumer Electronics News No Comments

  Anyone reading this blog likely knows that all of the electronics in their RV reside at some point on their rig’s 12 volt electrical system. Like markers on a circular racetrack, if you follow the circuit, you’ll pass by each one in turn. Anyone who is reading this blog and has had their RV for a while also knows that when something goes wrong in the 12 volt circuit or in a device that sits on the circuit, repairs can be a painstaking and laborious process of guessing games. It kinda makes you wonder why no one has taken advantage of the fact that your 12 volt electronics are all interconnected, perhaps devising some bit of diagnostic wizardry to let you know what part of which thing is misbehaving.

  Well, someone did. It’s called RC-V and it’s becoming increasingly popular in RV design. The RC-V standard allows your 12 volt devices to network or “multiplex” with each other and with a central diagnostic port. This has been a common convenience on most regular automobiles for a while now, but is only recently making its benefits known to the RV operator. Now, instead of having a repairman come check each part of the circuit and the many parts of each individual device to find malfunctions and miscalibrations, the technician can just come up to the diagnostic port, plug in their laptop, and get a specific message about what to fix.

  Another helpful faculty afforded by multiplexing is the ability to program controls for various devices and activities. The diagnostic port can allow you to set timers for lights and generators, inform you of structural elements of the RV you may have forgotten to retract, or even configure an array of modes for things like “dinner time” and “movie watching.” This convenience, coupled with the streamlining that comes from having all of your options presented clearly and in one place, are set to revolutionize RV design and use.

  So don’t be afraid of the RC-V standard. It is the future of RVs and it is your friend. Having your 12 volt technology cooperating and speaking the same language between each device can only make your life easier. If it starts going by “Hal” and calls you “Dave,” though, we’d suggest maybe spending the night in a motel.

  Tags: 12 volt, 12 volt electronics, multiplexing, networking, RC-V, RV, RVs

• 14May

  ‘Sup, dog?

  Tips and Tricks No Comments

  Dogs are great for a lot of reasons. They’re loyal, loving, and always glad to see you. You could be a total jerkwad, and your dog would still love you. We’ll bet you even money that when the Devil gets home from work, Cerberus runs up and licks him with all three heads. Your dog thinks you’re just the best person in the world. It’s like having a kid that will never turn into a teenager and shout “I hate you, you ruin everything!” before slamming their door and blogging furiously for hours. It makes perfect sense that you’d want to bring your four-legged pal with you on an RV trip, especially if the whole family’s going. If you’re planning on taking Fido, though, there are some considerations you’ll want to make to keep him safe and happy.

  

  Okay, maybe not quite THAT happy.

  Just as with you and the other bipedal members of your family, there are certain safety and common sense protocols to follow when travelling with a pet, lest you leave Rover open for discomfort, injury, and dog-forbid, death. With cats, it’s a different story. You have 8 more chances to get it right with cats. With dogs, BOOM, straight to doggy heaven. So what can you do to ensure the safety and happiness of your pup? Pssh, why’re you asking us? What would we know about it? Maybe you’ll get lucky and a bulleted list will happen to come by with all the answers.

  Oh, hey!

  • When you’re moving, your dog needs to be in some manner of safety harness, just like you are. There are several methods for this, ranging from dog carrier to specialized straps and harnesses. Consider your dog’s size and disposition to figure out what will best suit your needs. Do not use duct tape.
  • Pull over every three hours to give Lassie a chance to stretch her legs, run around, relieve herself, chase a squirrel, and drink some water. Dogs are not like people, and are not especially entertained by movies and TV during a road trip. They’re in it for the smelling of foreign trees and the chasing of critters.
  • Make sure his shots are up to date before you leave. You don’t want him catching some weird nature disease or getting infested with bugs that will certainly make themselves at home in your rig. When having him checked out, ask the vet if there’s anything other medical provisions you should consider.
  • Bring his favorite toys.
  • Think ahead! Don’t stay at RV camps that don’t allow dogs. Make sure that all the places you journey too will be okay with canine companionship.
  • If you’re going somewhere that could be dangerous for your dog to roam free, due to nearby traffic, wild animals, active volcanoes, or haunted Native American burial mounds, look into getting a doggy playpen. They’re usually large, easily constructible, mesh-tent-like structures. You can also go the old fashioned route and get a long leash tied to a sturdy tree.
  • Make sure your dog has a collar and tags! This is very important if he happens to run off and get lost. Adding a small, clear plastic luggage tag isn’t a bad idea either, as it lets you put down your campsite info at each new destination.
  • Bring your pets medical records, as well as directions for its care in case something happens to you.
  • Bring a dog pillow for Sparky to sleep on at night.
  • Bring lots of your dog’s usual food.
  • Don’t leave your dog’s droppings for other people to deal with. It’s gross and rude
  • Don’t give your dog water if you’ll be travelling in an hour or two.
  • Bring tick and flea repellent.
  • Train your dog not to run rampant over other people’s campgrounds, and definitely train it not to bark at every rodent running by. Nothing will get your RV egged faster than a dog barking all night long.

  Last, have fun with your dog. Play with it, run with it, show it all the fun new places you go. Brush it, pet it, cuddle with it, and give it a bone or treat from time to time. All the new surroundings will be both exciting and confusing for your dog, to say nothing of the incomprehensibility of travel, so giving your dog some stability and familiarity will help it adjust to enjoy RVing as much as you.

  Tags: dogs, RV travel, RVs, travelling with pets

• 05May

  Wind and sea

  Tips and Tricks No Comments

  We’ve already gone over some of the finer points of solar power generation in regards to 12 volt travel, but the sun’s rays aren’t the only free ride you can get off of nature’s hard work. If you’re captaining a sailing vessel, there are two more elements you’ll encounter in copious amounts: wind, and water. Just as the band Earth, Wind, & Fire gave you the energy to get sublimely funky, the elements of sun, wind, & water can give your rig the energy to power your stereo and 12 volt TV. Maybe you’ll even use it to watch or listen to Earth, Wind, & Fire, causing some kind of recursive irony loop!

  To get power from the wind, you need something that can catch it. This is the way a sail works, capturing wind and turning its kinetic energy into movement of your boat. Propellers are another way to do this. The idea is to use the wind to make something move, and take the energy from that movement. Look at a windmill, which uses wind power to turn a millstone, which then crushes grain, and you will see the principle behind a wind turbine. If you find the right one, they can be a useful way to keep your batteries fat and happy. Look for ones that produce at least a decent handful of amps under average wind speed conditions (usually between 10 to 20 knots). Keep in mind that they often make noise while spinning, so unless you never stay overnight at a marina where people might be sleeping, it may be in your best interest to install one that can be taken down when you aren’t using it (unless you don’t mind being greeted with abject scorn by all around you). Another very important consideration is that the blades on the unit are delicately balanced and can move quite fast. Inspect them regularly for missing bolts, chips, deformations, and the like. Over time, these imperfections will unbalance the blades and could cause one to snap off at high speed, and the “fan blade embedded in skull” look is a haircut few can pull off. It should go without saying, then, that you should install it in a spot that precludes human proximity, i.e. don’t put it anywhere near where your head and hands are gonna go.

  Water chargers work on pretty much the same factors as wind chargers, since water acts like wind, only much more dense. They often look like a large capsule with a propeller on the end, and are dragged behind the boat on a line. As you scoot around the ocean blue, this little submariner will catch water in its blades, causing it to spin like a fan and feed juice through the line and to your boat. The big thing to keep in mind here is that dragging things in water tends to create a lot of, well, drag. The faster you go, the more drag it will create, as water tends to feel a lot more solid at high speeds (as any belly flopper can attest). If you’re looking to get somewhere fast, reel in the water charger.

  Dragging a water charger behind your RV in an attempt to replicate its use on a boat is, for reasons we won’t be getting into here, obviously not advised.

  Tags: batteries, battery, boats, charging, energy, funk, green, power, RVs, solar, water, wind

• 27Apr

  Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night…

  How To Guides, Tips and Tricks No Comments

  …stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. But if the postal service can’t find you, they probably can’t deliver your mail to you, either. If you’re going to be RV travelling for a good stretch of time, or if you’re already a full timer, getting your mail can be a tougher prospect than one may initially think. If your solution at the moment involves having someone with a permanent address forward it to you, know that they secretly resent the crap out of it. Just sayin’. So what can you do to get a handle on your postage? The solution is actually fairly simple, and comprised of three main umbrellas that each cover a few smaller tasks.

  First, go automatic. Look at your bank website and see if you can get your monthly statements sent to you via email alert. Check to see if you can set up automatic bill pay for monthly expenses, so they won’t get shut off or go to collections because the mail hasn’t caught up to you yet. Have your paychecks go through direct deposit, if possible. Full timers will have fewer things they’ll need to keep track of online, as they likely won’t have a set of monthly utilities for a permanent residence the way that a vacationer will. If you’re simply leaving home for an extended RV trip, see if your utilities can forward any notices to your email, and use automatic payment methods to care for them.

  Second, minimize junk mail. Now that you’ve transferred some of your mail to the internet, it’s time to clean up the mail you don’t want. Go to the Direct Marketing Association, the Federal Trade Commission,  and the Federal Trade Commission junk mail site. At those sites, you can file to have your name, address, and cell phone numbers removed from junk mail and junk call lists, which will greatly reduce the amount of envelopes you’ll receive that tell you you’ve already won $1,000,000 on your Preapproved Ultimate-Super-Platinum Credit Card that is also a Brand New House.

  Third, sign up for a mail forwarding service. There are lots of these, and a bit of internet snooping should tell you which ones are worth the money and which aren’t. It will cost you money to ship out packages of your collected mail, so following the first two steps is highly advisable. No one needs to have grocery store coupon books and real estate agent flyers mailed to them at their own expense. That is pretty much the definition of adding insult to injury. Once you’re signed up, check ahead with camps and parks you’re planning on staying at, see if they allow mail delivery, and have your post forwarded to the next one you’re headed to. Let the office know they’ll be receiving your mail and that you’ll be by to pick it up shortly.

  Finally, as an extra step for those tenacious junk mailers that still manage to hassle you, there are a couple of things you can do. If you’re a full timer, don’t leave a forwarding address with the post office. This will kill a huge amount of the junk you’d get. Another trick, and this one is a lot of fun, is to take the prepaid return envelope that comes with most junk mail offers, stuff it full of other junk mail, and insert a note that you want to be taken off their list. Why is this so gratifying? Because they’ve pre-authorized the sending of that envelope, and will automatically have to pay shipping on it no matter how much it weighs. Suddenly, what would normally be a $.02 return jumps up to $.40 or more, depending on how much you get in there.

  Enough of those, and they should get the picture.

  Tags: mail, mail forwarding, RV, RV vacation, RVs

• 26Apr

  Wallet Hemorrhage

  Tips and Tricks No Comments

  Think fast! What are six ways to spend yourself broke?

  TIME’S UP!

  What’d you get? Think it real hard at us so we can pick it up with telepathy (or, y’know, leave it in our comments). Here’s what we came up with:

  1. Replace your table salt with ground up diamonds.
  2. Instead of toilet paper, use $100 bills.
  3. Restore a classic car.
  4. Have kids.
  5. Become a Wall Street executive. (Ooh, zing!)
  6. Do your vacation budget “on the fly.”

  Fortunately, those things can all be remedied, with varying levels of difficulty. Number one, maybe don’t garnish your food with precious stones. Try hot sauce! Two, use some of those bills to buy quilted toilet paper (or a bidet if you’re feeling sassy). Three, make sure you can tell the difference between “classic” and “money pit.” Four, find ways to stay warm that don’t produce a tax deduction after nine months. We suggest a space heater. Five, well, you don’t really have to worry about it, as you live in a magical world of no consequences. Someone will bail you out.

  Six, being a little closer to what this blog is about, we’ll delve into with greater detail. For the sake of illustration, let’s pretend you and your family (should’ve used that space heater!) are going to take the RV out for a two week vacation in a few months. Instead of just winging your finances, sit down for a minute and plan out what you and the others would like to do and how much you’re willing to spend to accomplish it. Among the group, we’ll say you find a nice balance of camping, site seeing, visiting a lake or river, hitting up an amusement park, and stopping in on some family. Check out the costs involved with buying tickets, passes, and lot rentals for the excursions that will need it. Add in what you think you’d spend on food and souvenirs. Double that, cause if you take your kids to an amusement park, there’s no way you’re getting out of there without spending more on cartoon character emblazoned merchandise than you spent on your first car.

  Now look at the distance you’ll be traversing to get to and from all these places using some kind of mapping website like GoogleMaps, YahooMaps, or MapQuest. Figure out your RV’s gas mileage, and you’ll have a good ballpark for fuel expenditure. You may even end up spending a little less if parts of your vacation involve hiking, biking, or taking free shuttles to get to some of the destinations.

  Plan out how often you’d like to cook in the RV, how often you’d like to eat out, and how often you want to do a “big dinner,” such as at the amusement park or if you visit a cousin and take their family out somewhere nice. Try to stick to that framework, with a little wiggle room on the side for when your family finds some fun stop on the way that they’d really like to try. Discovering hidden gems and awesome hole-in-the-wall eateries is one of the great parts of travelling, and builds strong memories. We recommend keeping your eyes out for any places that claim to have the biggest version of some kind of food, has a “world famous recipe” for something, fries things that aren’t usually fried (Twinkies, ice cream, burritos, etc.), or only sells one type of thing that it does really well.

  Factor in a few nights of attractions, activities, shopping, or entertainment that won’t make themselves evident until you stumble on them, and you’ll have all the ingredients of a well thought out budget. The trouble is, of course, sticking to it, so don’t beat yourselves up if you skirt it here and there. Vacations are about cutting loose, after all. Just make sure you don’t cut so loose that you have to sell the house and live in the RV.

  Tags: budget, RV, RV vacation, RVs, vacation

• 22Mar

  Home on the range.

  Tips and Tricks No Comments

  The cooking range, that is. If you’re intending on preparing a meal in your RV using the liquid propane stove, and it doesn’t seem to be working, what do you do? Well, the obvious answer is to check your tank make sure you actually have any propane. Intense, burning desire to have your food cook has been shown in scientific studies to produce next to no actual heat, so you’ll want a tank that actually has fuel. If you do have the gas, but you’re still getting no heat, your next step is probably to order a pizza.

  But wait!

  One of the most common and most easily eliminated problems when troubleshooting your stove top is the tendency for cooking gunk to gum up the works. All you need to do to fix it and get back on your way to boiling up a delicious pot of chili/cake frosting/whatever you’re cooking is to do the following:

  • First, completely shut off the liquid propane tank valve
  • Inspect the burners and valves of your stove top
  • If one looks like it’s become clogged, remove it from the system
  • Mix some detergent and warm water in a mild solution
  • Soak the part for several minutes
  • Gently scrub the part clean with a toothbrush or other soft bristled scouring device
  • Dry the part completely and reattach
  • Open the liquid propane tank valve

  There you go! That simple task should help surpass a lot of unnecessary troubleshooting. Granted, if it still doesn’t work, you’ll definitely want to have the system looked at by a professional. You should probably close the liquid propane tank valve again and leave it closed unless you need it for something else or have had your cooktop repaired.

  If your propane cooker is broken, it can definitely be a hassle. But look at the bright side. It gives you the moral high ground to order a pizza, guilt free!

  Tags: propane, RV, RV cooking, RVs

• 15Mar

  Chaaarge!

  Tips and Tricks No Comments

  Look out! They’re charging! Oh wait, they’re not actually moving at all, it was only some batteries that were charging. Never mind.

  Sorry to scare you like that.

  If you have something that uses 12 volt batteries to power numerous devices, like on a boat, a truck, RV, or maybe a really ghetto spaceship, then you have doubtlessly had to deal with charging the batteries back up. It is also pretty likely that you have a multiple battery set up, or perhaps a battery bank. You also probably know that, when your batteries are charging, you can use a “selector switch” to choose which one gets charged, Battery 1 or Battery 2. You can also select “Both,” which will,  not surprisingly, charge up both at the same time.

  Everything is hunky dory with this set up under normal use. However, an important thing to remember is to be sure of the appropriate settings for charge and for discharge. If you have “Both” selected when you’re charging, that’s fine. The charger will tend to power your lowest battery first until both batteries are even, then charges them equally. The problem arises when you leave the “both” setting active when you’re not charging. If you have a battery that is in good condition, and a battery that is dead, “both” will allow the dead battery to siphon off juice from the good battery until you’re in all likelihood stuck with a mostly dead battery and a severely drained battery. That does no good to anybody, especially if the battery that got drained is your starter. That’s a great way to get stranded real quick.

  It can be easy to forget about switching selections when going back and forth between checking on your battery and going about your other day to day errands. That’s why we recommend you invest in a Battery Isolator. This neat little machine will act like a gateway for your battery’s electricity, only letting it flow in one direction. Like a polite booth operator in front of a fancy gated community, this device stands guard between your charger and your batteries. Juice goes in, and the isolator manages the flow so that you don’t have to worry about one battery cannibalizing the other. At JuJuDeals, we frown on cannibalism of any variety, including battery-on-battery.

  Get yourself a battery isolator and you’ll be charging like a Beverly Hills socialite in no time.

  Tags: 12 volt, batteries, charging, RV, RVs

• 12Mar

  The Age of Adventure

  RV History No Comments

  … is pretty much dead. Sorry. :/

  It was sort of inevitable. By its very nature, adventure uncovers frontiers, and as the foggy edges of the map clear up, so too does the mysterious nature of the world that draws adventure out of us. The world gets bigger and bigger until the exact second we find all of it, at which point it gets smaller and smaller. The problem with this kind of thinking, though, is in its assumption that just because someone has discovered something, we don’t need to discover it, too.

  Well that’s just plain wrong.

  Back in the mid 1910s, when RVing was a new idea that few had heard of and fewer had tried, a group of guys got together to adventure. The line-up of this gang was so impressive, it sounds like something out of a comic book. They called themselves “The Four Vagabonds,” and you’ve probably heard their names before.

  VAGABONDS, ASSEMBLE!:

  • Henry Ford, captain of industry and insatiable drinker of life
  • Thomas Edison, genius inventor, futurist, and super-scientist extraordinaire
  • Harvey Firestone, industrialist and great friend of Ford
  • John Burroughs, famed naturalist, ahead-of-his-time conservationist, and writer

  These men gathered annually to pack up their gear in a few Ford cars to explore the splendors of the nation, breathe the fresh air of nature, and grow closer as friends. National attention followed them everywhere they went, and their highly-reported exploits inspired the foundation for hundreds, then thousands, and because of them, now millions of people to try the RV hobby and lifestyle.

  Sometimes the men would go to new places. Sometimes they would go to land that Ford already owned. What’s important to remember when you go adventuring in a shrinking world, and what the Four Vagabonds knew, is that it’s not whether the place you go is new. It’s whether you have the eyes to truly see it anew. To breathe it in, drink it in, and be ready for the adventure that could be waiting half a day’s drive away just as easily as it could be half a world away.

  When’s the last time you took a weekend and turned it into an adventure?

  Tags: adventure, Four Vagabonds, Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford, John Burroughs, RV, RVs, Thomas Edison

• 10Mar

  Travelling cafeteria

  Tips and Tricks No Comments

  Well, I certainly know describing RV food preparation that way doesn’t really make it very much more appetizing. Regardless, something you may not have considered too deeply before you started planning out that RV trip was what you wanted to do for food. Eating on an RV is similar to regular dining in some ways, and in some ways, it’s very different. Sort of like how your high school reunion is different from your time in high school. Yeah, all your old classmates are there. Even some of the teachers. Songs you remember rocking out to as a kid are being half-heartedly plucked out by a local garage band playing for beer money. The elements are there, but they don’t add up to the same thing. Fortunately for you, preparing food in your RV is vastly less depressing than seeing your high school crush has turned into a paunchy grouch that smells like wine coolers.

  

  What the heck? It's only our 10 year reunion!

  One major concern is space. No, not outer space (though that does concern us too. Anything could be out there! We don’t trust it),  but fridge space. You’re going to have to really consider what specific perishables you can’t do without, because your real estate for such endeavors is going to be a sixth of what it would normally be. You’ll also want to factor in how well it can handle periods of less-than-frigid temperatures, in case of a malfunction in the unit or a loss of battery power. Most veggies can survive pretty well, but that big ol’ tupperware full of lutefisk is going to go so bad, so hard, so quick, you’ll probably have Homeland Security on your tail. Take stock of where the farms and grocery stores will be on your trip, so you can get the perishables and incidentals on a more daily basis.

  Cooking space is also something to keep in mind. While we’re sure someone has found a way to cook an entire Thanksgiving bird in their RV, that person was probably Hercules, and that guy’s half god. Think smaller in everything but flavor. You want smaller ingredients, smaller cookware, and smaller portions, but the biggest flavor you can jam into your comparatively tinier meal. Also, find some canned and boxed ingredients that you like, and spring for the nicer ones when you can. It will make a difference, and will keep eating out of a can from feeling like eating out of a can.

  Now, of course you have the option of dining out. There are many fantastic places to eat on the way. Finding great diners and restaurants on the road is one of the best parts of the trip, so pick up a guide to travel eating, or check the internet for highly rated eateries before you get to each town.

  Lastly, by way of example, here’s a tiny size, big flavor meal you can easily make with only a few ingredients. If you’ve never had fried green tomatoes before, you don’t know what you’re missing.

  • Put 2 tablespoons of your favorite cooking oil (or butter) and heat it in a frying pan.
  • Slice up a few green tomatoes. One usually does this in about 1/2″ thickness, but you can vary to taste.
  • Mix some cornmeal up with some salt, pepper, some spicy stuff like cayenne or cumin, chili powder, and any other seasonings you think you’d like.
  • Toss the tomatoes in the cornmeal until they’ve got a decent coat.
  • Fry them ‘maters up in the pan for about 3 minutes each side on medium heat.
  • Serve ‘em hot, on a bed of couscous or rice pilaf if you like. They also go great on burgers, sandwiches, or with a steak fillet.

  Man, this is making me hungry! I wonder if the lunchlady has any more of that lutefisk.

  Tags: cooking, high school reunion, RV, RV cooking, RVs

• 11Feb

  Balancing your budget

  How To Guides No Comments

  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.

  Tags: 12 volt, batteries, boats, power consumption, power use, RV, RVs, semi-trucks

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