A valiant sacrifice, my Hughes autoformer dies...

I am in Rock Springs, Wyoming, at my friends place, the one with the shop and all. If you remember, I blogged about the voltage problems last year while staying here. At the time it was low voltage, and the electric company changed a tap on the pole transformer to make things better.

My line voltage alarm went off while sitting in my trailer today, I was taking a rest, from a small welding project I did. I checked the alarm and it showed 137 volts, my inverter circuit had kicked in protecting my TV and computer, but the Norcold fridge is on the circuit and a few other things. I heard a pop and a hiss, and white smoke started filling the trailer, I have heard the pop hiss before working in electronics, and the smell was reminiscent of fried capacitors and/or transformers, I ran around flipping off circuit breakers and the main battery switch, the smoke continued filling the trailer and forcing me outside. I unplugged the trailer and waited for the smoke to disperse, rushing in to open my electric area, and rushing back out when throat and eyes started burning. My fans wouldn't work (I had turned off the 12v power.) Since I could not see flames nor smell burning wood, I waited a bit with extinguisher in hand. The smoke cleared and I could see my autoformer was smoking and had left some goo splattered around. I pulled the autoformer out, still hot and smoking and took it outside.


I pulled the autoformer apart, and checked the wiring and circuitry, I am unhappy, there were no MOV's in the unit, it appears they were not installed. MOV's are small self sacrificing components to protect from over-voltage and voltage spikes. Instead the autoformer sacrificed itself to protect the trailer. The goo is the transformer potting material that was heated into liquid goo and smoke.


The autoformer got hot enough to melt the vinyl flooring making it stick to the autoformer, the wood underneath is not burnt but has some goo on it.


If I had a Surge-guard inline this would not have happened, or if the autoformer had overvoltage/undervoltage protection. I have been very happy with my Hughes Autoformer and undervoltage problems up till this point, it seems it was an older unit that did not have the MOV surge/overvoltage protection. After my research it seems that Franks RV voltage booster has under/over voltage protection built in.

Also see I'm tired of RV resort excuses for Voltage

You know..

I started this blog to chronicle my journey in retirement, to express myself, to inform, to teach. I always have something to write about, I'm afraid it just won't interest people, because it's everyday life for me.

Then I read about other people's lives and they fascinate me, like Nick Russell, Bob Parker and Donna Huffer, Diana Tolerico, Karen Minard, even Jim Twamley at times. I follow a lot of blogs and the people are so interesting.

The hits on my blog mostly show up around my Hughes Autoformer (rv voltage regulator) discussion, my 454 Casull and Raging Bull blog, and the Delta Shores blog, so I can see what people are searching for.

Very few people visit the Natalie Anderson blogs, even though she's a fascinating person, she has not been discovered yet. One of these days, I will say "I knew her when..." or "I was in a serious relationship with..."

Ahh, memories..., soon I will have some more, I plan on attending the All Class Reunion in Greybull Wyoming, I graduated high school way-back when. I've been in Idaho, doing the yearly thing on my mothers yard, setting up watering, killing/chopping weeds and various "getting ready for summer" things to the house.

I did take a 3 day trip up to Lewiston, Id. to pick up a single ATV rack, all aluminum, even though I don't have an ATV yet, I'd like to be prepared when I find that perfect bargain. The first night(60AH) we (I took Mom) stayed by the road side on Hwy 95 near Mesa, Id., the second night(112AH) we "wallydocked" in Clarkston, Wa. and the third night I found a cute little RV park near Huntington/Farewell Bend, Or. (Oasis RV) $13 for full hookups. This allowed me to recharge the batteries(down 80 AH), get a shower and dump the black water tanks before getting back to Mom's home in Idaho. We even spent the day in Nampa/Boise going from Treasure Shop to Treasure Shop.

On recharging the house batteries while driving.. since I listed the AH (Total Amp Hours used) each night. Whether this will be of interest to anyone will be seen in the hit counters.

I've found driving on the road will recharge the batteries about 10 AH for every hour of driving with my diode setup, I suspect if I used a solenoid, I would get better recharging since I would not have the voltage drop of the diodes. I have a Trace 500 amp-hour meter and battery monitor, to go along with the Tripp-Lite 3000 watt inverter.

I am HERE among you.

And you never knew..

Of course I'm in Las Vegas at the moment, (Vegas baby) What goes on here stays here.. Unless they have photo's...

It's getting rather warm during the day, so it's time to head north, chasing that 70 degree weather. Then I find out it's still snowing up north. I'll just run the A/C a few more days.



Went down to Fremont Street to enjoy the FREE shows, wandered around and was introduced to the "Shark Tank", a swimming pool with shark tank in the middle, a thin piece of glass separating you from the sharks. What fun, like swimming with the sharks....

Fruity Ideas

Most people have heard about the new Apple I-pad that was just introduced, some people like it some don't. You know Apple has the I-pod with I-tunes, I-phone, I-touch, besides the I-pad.

All of Apples' technology is geared towards the younger generations, that's not to say that I can't use it, it's just not geared toward me. One of the complaints I've heard is that the fonts are too small, hard to see with "older eyes," the movements, flicks, taps, pinches and drags need to be quick, and we often don't feel like being "quick."




I'm marketing technology called "Prune" for obvious reasons. It's geared toward the large "retired" generation, using familiar movements and ideas, I'll have Prune (P) technology, I already have several items ready, there is the P-ad, which can be written on with the P-encil, the P-en or the Shar-P. I also have a cellular P-hone, which will take P-hotos, and my P-pods are nutritious and good to eat. I also have a P-touch, but I'm not going to elaborate on that function.

(c) Prune-Tech/Ron King/P-tech