Beginner RV? No problem. Learn as we learn!

June 2011Monthly Archives

eReader for the RV : Ditch the Books but Never Quit Reading

What RV52.com uses for book ereaders and why we made our choices.

Books are a terrible thing to have in your RV.

They are HEAVY and RV’s have weight limitations. They take up space and RV’s have no space.

My number one priority is to get rid of the books wherever possible. Here is what I’ve done and what I know so far on my mission to eliminate books in an RV. Warning – links are to Amazon in case you want to check out and maybe get the things I have.

Eliminate and Electronify (my new word) your RV Manuals

I’ve eliminated all manuals to everything – including every appliance, device, and thingy on the RV. You can find my manuals for the 399BHS Open Range by clicking on this link. I’ve put them on my master RV storage device and home server – a Macmini. You should not pay over $700 for a Macmini so check the price when you click.

To do this, I found online at the manufacturer the copies of the manuals. For example, I would go to Atwood to get the manuals for the furnace. This was not always possible. Where it was not possible, I scanned the documents and put them into my own PDF. You need a really good scanner for this. I’ve had many scanners and by far the BEST HOME SCANNER I’VE EVER HAD is this little Epson Workforce 600. I think any scanner in the series would work, so I referred the Epson 630 in the series. I love it. It is important that I use the WiFi copiously for access to this printer.

A good printer/scanner for your RV makes a difference

I’m going to put a reference here to make it easy to get ink cartridges for the Epson. Here is the link for the color cartridges for the 630 (which are different from my 600 cartridges). Here is the link for the black ink cartridges.

I then placed all of these manuals on my Apple MacBook Pro laptop and my Barnes and Noble Color Nook. These manuals are with me all the time and I can look them up whenever I want.

Good networking is important to eliminating books/papers in your RV

Maintain good networking to help in moving documents around. I for one don’t like wasting my time. I’m VERY technical, and I’m pretty sure I run a more secure network with less problems and less maintenance than the Windows gearheads. We use the Apple Airport Express for our networking with stellar results. Go ahead and buy the cheap routers if you want. Its your time not mine.

Get yourself an eReader

I thought I would NOT like eReaders.

My advice. Try it. They are GREAT. I LOVE mine. I’d testify in a court of law that I love it and my wife will tell you as much. I’ll put some pictures to the eReaders here so you can be your own judge. But I would rather read off the eReader than a book now.

Barnes & Noble NOOK Color eBook TabletThis is the Barnes and Noble color eReader. I’ve found the device to be very, very good. It hooks into the Barnes and Noble web site. When my wife gave me her Nook (what they are called), we simply “reset” the device and put in my Barnes and Noble ID and it was as-if she never owned it.

What did my wife do when she got an iPad as an upgrade to a color nook

Apple iPad 2 MC916LL/A Tablet (64GB, Wifi, Black) NEWEST MODELWe got her an Apple iPad 2. Then she installed her Barnes and Noble Nook App and every book she bought was automatically transferred to her iPad. The iPad is incredibly fast. It is WAY better than the Nook. But for just reading books, the Nook is pretty good.

Do NOT buy books from Apple

The Apple books LOOK great. But here is the scoop. You can ONLY read them on your Apple products. If you use Amazon Kindle, or B&N Nook, then you can use Kindles and Nooks to read the respective eBook types, but you can also use them on PC’s, Android devices, and iPads as well. That seems to me to be more safe for protecting your investment in books than being held hostage to Apple.

What about the kids and family reading your books

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook Reader (WiFi only) [ Black & White ]We bought the kids black and white Nooks. We didn’t want to spend as much money on their eReaders since the still lose things. Often. Easily.

What about the Kindle?

 I like the Kindle eReaders. They are much lighter than the Barnes and Noble ereaders. I chose Nook since Nook would read more formats and had “book borrowing”. But the Kindle looks fantastic so I would recommend it as well. I’ll list some Kindle links here as well :

 The BIG Daddy Unit. With built in (FREE) cellular so you never have to know anything about WiFi.

 The smaller unit with cellular.

 The smaller unit, WiFi only. A really stellar price.

Marlan "Living Frugal and Tiny" RV Guy
June 30, 2011
Recommended, RV Basics, RV Lifestyle
1 comment

Replacing RV Incandescent Light Fixture with LED Light Fixture

It’s EASY to modify your RV to reduce your lighting power consumption by UP to 75-85% over your current lighting.

It’s EASY to do.

Background articles on RV Lighting

Before going further, read my starting article on all of the different types of RV lighting that exist – it’s quite amazing at all the lighting apps there are for an RV.

You don’t have to change an entire fixture, you can change the RV bulbs from incandescent to led by simply swapping out the bulbs with an LED made to fit in the fixture.

Changing an entire RV Light Fixture

I wanted to swap out an entire RV light fixture.

Why?

  1. Because I have never changed a fixture.
  2. Because the LED lights I was examining required a custom fixture.
  3. Because the current fixtures were too hot with standard 921 incandescent lights.

Tools you will need to replace your RV Light Fixture

Steps to change your RV Light Fixture

Replacement RV Light Fixture w/ Bezel

On the left, you’ll see the fixture I bought. This fixture has a custom fit to the LED light that is in it. Therefore a straight LED replacement won’t make sense for this fixture. I wanted to try this different size LED light so I just ordered the fixture. Replacement RV lighting fixtures are about $10 or so. The link is an Amazon link to purchase a fixture so you can see what I’m saying.

Here I’m showing the same light fixture with the Bezel attached. Don’t get this without the Bezel. I bought this from LED Trailer lights DOT com.

It is a little bit hard to see, but there are 25 white LED’s in their light. This allows them to user CHEAPER individual LED’s instead of more expensive LED’s with higher light output. Since a good benchmark for LED’s is that 10-15 will replace a standard 921, you can see that they doubled the amount of LED’s to get about the same light. This means that the LED’s they used are less than 1/2 as bright as the industry standard led light (as of this writing). That might be a good trade-off – If you have control of the plastic FIXTURE – like this project does have.

If you pop off the plastic diffuser (the plastic thing that helps spread the light everywhere) you’ll see there are screws you can unscrew.

Go ahead and unscrew them!

Old RV light fixture held on only by wires

Here the screws are unfastened.

My “wire nuts” – the things holding the fixture to the RV wires – did not come unscrewed – they were crimped.

So I simply clipped the wires on this OLD fixture (not the RV wires – the ones going into the fixture) and then stripped the insulation back about 1/2 inch.
I went ahead and wired in the new RV light fixture.

New RV LED based light fixture almost installed

Now you can connect your new RV light fixture.

In case you are wondering … you fasten black wires to black wires and white to white.

Now I simply screwed in the four screws which I “borrowed” from the old fixture. These don’t need to be long or strong as the fixture is very light weight and the RV wall/ceiling materials are not very thick.

RV Lighting : LED lights on the left – Incandescent on the right

Here is the final project.

The LED lights put out a much cleaner light. Since this is above the headboard on the bedroom, the area is NOTICEABLY cooler using the LED’s.

You can see the Incandescent light on the right.

My wife loves her new LED light fixture.

Conclusions on swapping your RV Light Fixtures

  • Swapping light fixtures is easy.
  • Anyone can do it with a screwdriver and wire stripper/wire cap
  • Get the fixtures you want.
  • the LED lights are awesome – we love them.
  • The new fixture has a better button placement.
  • What are you waiting for!!!

If you are nervous tearing into your RV’s electrical, here is a highly ranked book on Amazon you can get :

Marlan "Living Frugal and Tiny" RV Guy
June 23, 2011
RV Electrical
0 comments

Texas RV Parks and RV Park Video Reviews

This is a REALLY good list of Central Texas (and some coastal) Texas RV Parks.

Texas RV Park with Video Review MAP
Texas RV Parks with Video Reviews

I thought I would list the RV Parks in which we either reviewed (because we stayed there) or created a video drive through review – where you can get an idea of what the park actually looks like. I am a BIG believer in the drive throughs – even though the video is very shaky. You just can’t get the same idea by statically looking at a park.

Before I went too far, I’ve noticed that Amazon has some books that you may find helpful in learning more about Texas and its RV Parks and state parks. You can click on each one to learn more and each provides a different set of idea.

Official Guide to Texas State Parks and Historic Sites: Revised EditionFrommer's Exploring America by RVTrailer Life RV Parks, Campgrounds, and Services Directory 2011Moon Texas (Moon Handbooks)

Before you get too rough on me as to what deserves special mention or what Sheri and I liked about a park, you’ve got to remember that each place has a personal appeal to each visitor. If you like hustle-bustle, then you might not agree with our picks. But maybe, just maybe this will help you get some ideas for your travels.

Texas RV Parks that deserve Special Mention

Texas RV Parks that are the rest (sometimes we’ll make special mention)

[ This is a post that will be updated occasionally ]

Marlan "Living Frugal and Tiny" RV Guy
June 22, 2011
RV Park Review Articles
0 comments