Dave225 Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 How to be an idiot without really trying. We have all done it, things which turned out to be so obvious you wonder how you missed it for so long. In my case it was fitting an airconditioner under the fixed bed. Bought the thing, tested it on the kitchen table and all worked fine. Installed it under the bed and looked for a power supply. Noted the water heater was in the same area and thought smugly, I will just use that power line as it is 10 amp/230 volt. AC only takes 2 amps. Fitted up the Wago connectors as that is what my van has and waited until the 1st trip of the season to a very cold and wet Melrose to try things out. Just the sort of conditions to test and air conditioner, or not. Unfortunately on the same trip the fridge packed up so we spent most of the time getting that sorted so testing the air conditioner was an after thought. Switched it on and......nothing. By then tired and p....d off with the fridge so went home. Travelled to Spain 2 days later and after setting up on site decided to have another look at the air conditioner. Meanwhile I had made a jump lead straight to a 13 amp socket so switched on...all worked fine. Swopped back to the water heater line and......nothing. Re-checked the water heater and it worked fine. Sitting scratching head, grovelling under the bed trying to figure out what was wrong. Eventually gave up and just ran the AC straight from the 13 amp socket and boy, did we need it. Absolutely lovely to cool the van from 31 down to a comfortable 23 degrees. Now we are home for ‘half term’ before going back for September and while wallowing in the bath had an ‘eureka’ moment as to why the AC would not work. The water heater circuit is switched of course and yes, I switched it on to test the water heater but switched it off again before swopping to the AC. Talk about feeling a total idiot. Of course it would not work if the circuit was not switched on. So simple but did I see it?? Did I heck. Now all have to do is check the power requirements of the water heater switch and if ok, just use that. We spend 99% of our time in the sun where there is unlimited hot water on site so we never use the water heater, but in 30 plus degrees we will sure as heck use the AC. So I spent a full afternoon grovelling under the fixed bed in 28 degrees of heat, undid all the connectors I had made up to see any faults and now realise the problem was a simple one. OK, now I know. Why did I wish to use the heater line? Mainly because it was already in situ and putting a new line behind the fridge was not the easiest of tasks, and I thought...Why not. I will blame it all on age, but on the other hand I could blame it all on the wife..................thought not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 It's a brave man who would deny ever doing something similar Dave - and an even braver one who publicises it on here! As to have I ever felt an idiot - well yes - every time I scratch my head I do!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 I have tried telling my wife I am perfect, but she just laughs and pats me on the head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Much safer than telling your wife that she is not perfect methinks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 I blame the heat. Similar thing yesterday afternoon - wanted to use a power tool on the drive just outside the garage. Plugged it in in the garage - worked fine. Plugged in an extension lead and went out and plugged it into the other end - or so I thought. But power tool did not work. Much cursing and checking for 20 min and then I realised i had plugged in my extension lead but was using my sons that was plugged into nothing at all. We all do it - and I am sure heat makes it worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 Glad others do it as well. Can we blame it on old age perhaps? My other blip was our digital camera must have been sat on as the lCD screen cracked. Being a mean b....r I thought I will just replace the screen so looked on Youtube and saw a video on how to do it. They managed it all in 8 minutes. Ordered new screen for £20 and did the needful. However now the backlight does not work although the screen and camera does, so b.....d again. OK, bite the bullet and buy a new camera. Win some, lose some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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