Again today there were no early morning seminars that caught our eyes.  The indoor vendors opened at 9:00 AM, so we headed over to scope them out and buy a few small things we knew we needed.  Jirah LEDs appeared to have a bulb with an elongated neck that might work in our aircraft style swivel downlights, so I bought one to try for $15.  I also picked up some nylon straps from Coil-N-Wrap that are used to separate the shore power cord from an adapter or extension cord.  Linda picked up an onion keeper, tomato keeper, and a set of stacking measuring spoons held together with magnets from RV SpaceSavers.  Where would we be in this world without magnets?

We stopped at Lawrence RV Accessories and talked to Tom, the owner/president of Progressive Industries (PI).  We have a PI EMS-50 that I installed last year.  It works very well but has developed a buzz.  Tom suggested using the bypass switch to clean the contactor contacts by switching it on and off quickly several times before the 2-minute time delay expires.  If that doesn’t clear it up, he said they would replace it.  PI is well known for their excellent products and warranty policy; they basically stand behind their products for as long as you own them.  Our unit has a remote display that is installed in the bay near the unit.  I purchased a kit with a second remote and switch.  The switch will go in the bay and the 2nd remote will go in the house panel.

We stopped by the Zip Dee Awnings booth and had a good chat with the owner/president.  We got some personal instruction on how to deploy our patio awning in full and caravan (partial) positions and he also gave us printed instructions to take with us.  A stop at the nearby Magnum booth allowed me to clarify a few things about our inverter and they suggested dialing the charge rate back to 80% if it is currently set higher.

We also had a good chat with the guy from the Aqua-Hot factory.  He confirmed what Lloyd Degerald told us yesterday; fuel is the issue and annual maintenance is the key, especially the fuel filter, which needs to be 10 micron, and the nozzle replacement.  I described our Parker Fuel Polishing Module (FPM) installation, which caused him some concern; specifically that it not apply pressure to the pump or restrict the return flow.  I assured him that the FPM, as installed, doesn’t do either of those things.  He confirmed that our older model 100-S unit can use regular coolant and requires ~ 16 gallons, plus whatever is needed to fill all the lines and heat exchangers.  He also confirmed that on this unit there will be bleeder valves at the heat exchangers as these are usually high points, and that bleeding the loops is best done there if they are accessible.  (They often are not very accessible, and our coach is no exception).  The system can be bled by applying air pressure to the tank (through the radiator cap), but that is not the preferred method.  We learned in the seminar the day before that the unit has a mixing valve that should regulate the outlet temperature at ~110 degrees F.  The mixing valve is adjustable, but is under the unit and very difficult to access.  Finally, the expansion tank for our unit should be 5 quarts.  I do not know the exact size of ours, but I am sure it is much smaller than 5 quarts.  Making space for a larger one will require the water pump to be relocated, but that is something I am considering doing anyway.  We also found out that all of the manuals are available online at their website for no charge.

We stopped briefly at the WiFiRanger booth, but decided to come back as the owner (Kelly Hogan, Mr. WiFiRanger) was doing a seminar at 11:00 AM on RV Internet Connectivity.  We went to the seminar and it was excellent.  It was not specifically about WiFiRanger products, although they obviously sell products designed to address the topic.  We returned to the booth and chatted with one of the employees (Evan), but ended up going to Kelly’s trailer (man cave) later for a more personal consultation and demonstration.  He also had a variety of free beer.

At this point, we may just buy the WiFiRanger Mobile (WFR-M) and forego the WiFiRanger Go (WFR-GO).  The WFR-M mounts outside the coach with a cable going inside the rig for power (and data in some configurations).  It communicates with an external Wi-Fi station and regenerates a local/private WiFi network while providing router functionality.  The WFR-GO is also a wireless router but it also has wired ports, a special port for the WFR-M, and a USB port for tethering a cellular device, such as our Verizon 4G/LTE MiFi Jetpack 5510L.  The WRF-GO allows you to seamlessly integrate these devices, but effectively replaces the router functionality of both the WFR-M and the MiFi device.  This means you have paid for three routers but are only using one of them.  The penalty for not have the WFR-GO is that you have to switch your devices (phones, tablets, computers, etc.) to whichever WiFi network you are using.  We can probably live with that.

While wandering the CAM-PLEX grounds we found Jr. Showman’s bus conversion and had a nice, long chat with him.  We gave him a copy of the February 2013 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine, which features our coach.  We then walked over to check out the Windmill RV Park, where we will be staying between the rallies.

After dinner we headed over to the Morningside Park grandstand for the opening ceremonies and concert by The Birminghams.  I swore I had never heard of this group, but many of their songs were quite familiar to me from my youth, and they gave a very nice concert.  Three of the five musicians were original group members.  We finally made contact with Louise &Craig from our FMCA Freethinkers Associate Chapter.  They sat with us, and we had a nice long chat afterwards.  We agreed to meet for lunch the next day.

On the walk back to our coach we watched a thunderstorm develop off in the distance.  The storm to the southeast was particularly impressive; one of those iconic western thunderstorms that is isolated in an otherwise clear sky and thus completely visible.  The light really is different in the West, and the views are expansive.  The prevailing winds at our site suggested that it was moving southeast, away from us, and the overnight forecast was for a 20% chance of rain.