RVIA Show, Louisville KY, Tiffin Energy Management System

One of the questions I received before the show was regarding details on the Tiffin EMS or energy management system.  I tracked down Mr. Bob Tiffin at the show who very cleverly shunted me off to Mr. George Cepynsky of Precision Circuits Inc. for the detailed information.  The Tiffin energy management system is a very cleverly designed and implemented collection of components which work together to benefit the motorhome owner.  It does more than your run-of-the-mill EMS because it connects all the potential energy sources together and uses all sources in an intelligent manner to operate your motorhome’s electrical devices.  A typical EMS will at the least, monitor energy usage and will shed loads if the programmed current limit is reached.  As an example, if a 50 amp rated motorhome is plugged into a 30 amp source, and if you are using your microwave while the air conditioner is on, you may overload the 30 amp circuit.  If you have an EMS, the EMS may shut off the A/C temporarily until the microwave is finished, then reconnect the A/C.  This same concept can be extended to several loads and the system can operate in a way that you, the user, may not even know it is happening, thus disrupting your life in the RV as little as possible.  The EMS in Tiffin motorhomes takes this concept several steps further by using an intelligent connection to the available Magnum inverter/charger installed in the coach.  Synergy simply defined, means that the whole is greater than the... Read more

RVIA Show, Louisville KY, Winnebago Via and View

Last week, I posted about our trip to the RVIA show in Kentucky and asked for suggestions on what to check out or investigate.  I will be posting a series of articles responding to some of those ideas over the next several days.  One of the questions I was able to track down was posted by Wendy Bell, on Nov. 26 and went as follows: Read more  Read More →

RVIA Show, Louisville Ky, Salem Ice Cabin

Well, the show is over, the booths are closed and the weary sales reps are packing their roll on bags and preparing for the trip home.  All in all, the prevailing attitude seemed to be that the worst is over the long climb back to a vibrant RV industry has begun.  Most vendors and manufacturers are willing to acknowledge unticks in sales and production.  Several new RV models were unveiled from the likes of Fleetwood and Tiffin, along with a couple of new chassis models from Spartan and Freightliner.  Attendance at the show was respectable and RV industry economists are forecasting modest sales growth next year assuming there are no major shakeups in the economy. One thing we will be seeing in the near future will be new ads from the RVIA in the “go RVing” model.  There was one very unique RV model featured at the show the likes of which I had never seen.  Not being an ice fisherman I was not aware of this, or it is new, I’m not certain which.  I thought this was worth looking at to show the range of options open to RVers. Salem Ice Cabin   This is the Salem Ice Cabin.  As you can see from the next photo, the plan is to tow this RV onto the frozen lake, and then lower it down onto the ice to facilitate a comfortable winter fishing trip. Lower the tires   The tires stow safely out of the way. stowed tires   As does the two hitch. the hitch is stowed   Let the fishing fun begin! ready for fishing   This is a closeup of the holes in the RV floor which... Read more

RVIA Show, Louisville Ky Opening Day

Well, the first full day of activities has now concluded here at the RVIA show and Linda and I are worn out from walking and talking.  We are somewhat overwhelmed with the size of the show and amazed that this show is less than half the normal size.  I told Linda there is no way we will be able to see and absorb all that is here. Today started out at 6:30 AM with the opening breakfast and associated ceremonies including entertainment and several speeches by industry dignitaries including Jim Sheldon RVIA Chairman, pictured below: Chairman Jim Sheldon This activity was very upbeat and positive, with information about the current state of the RV industry and predictions regarding future sales.  I will be devoting more time to the opening activities in a later post. The show actually opened at 9am, following the breakfast and we began to explore the many RVs and vendor booths at the show.  There were three events scheduled for this day that we didn’t want to miss.  First one was at 11am where the new Fleetwood RV was to unveil their first new product, a “crossover” motorhome known as the Encounter.  Here is a brief video of the Encounter. This RV was introduced by John Draheim COO of Fleetwood RV, and then a tour followed.  I will have more on this RV in a later column. Next we visited the Tiffin area to see Bob Tiffin unveil his “BIG” surprise.  This was certainly the most clever event we will see at this show.  Tiffin had the new RV covered... Read more

RVIA Show Louisville Ky, Ready for Opening Day

Registration Entrance Well, our first full day in Louisville is drawing to a close with the only thing left to do being watching New Orleans and New England play football tonight.  We managed to get a bit of exploring done today, and yes, we did make it to Walmart to do our part to keep the local economy going here in Louisville.  I have also noticed that as the day has gone by, the RV park here at the Expo Center has started to fill up.  I was concerned that I would be the only “dedicated” RVer at the show, but that is not to be the case. Read more  Read More →

Do you Facebook?

You’ve heard of the snowball effect right? Well, when it comes to Facebook, we have an avalanche. Facebook started in 2005, but it hit a point somewhere in 2008 I think, where the avalanche started consuming even the most casual Internet user. Read more  Read More →

Geotag your photos with Picasa 3.5

Maps and photos.  I can’t think of two things more near and dear to a traveler’s heart than maps and photos.  Being able to combine the two is the ultimate.  But, being able to do it *easily*??  Well, that’s not possible is it? It is now. Picasa (the free-from-Google digital photo management program) released a new version last month.  And one of the major improvements is in the ‘Geotagging’ feature.  Instead of requiring that you use Google Earth, they have embedded a full Google Maps ‘Places’ pane right into Picasa.  Placing a photo at a place on the map is as simple as clicking on the photo and clicking at the place on the map.  I show you how to do this in the video below. Note: You can make it play in full-screen by clicking the icon in the lower right of the playback window that looks like an X . If you’re new to Picasa, or want to learn more, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be co-hosting a webinar (seminar delivered over the web) with Google on November 13.  Register for the free Picasa Webinar here. Geotagging Video: by Chris Guld of Geeks on Tour  Read More →

Sebastian Inlet – Florida State Park

by Chris Guld, www.GeeksOnTour.com Florida has a lot of great State Parks and, in this one you can walk to the beach from your RV site.  We highly recommend it.   We took a little walk to toast the sunset last night.  This is our last night with my Mom traveling with us.  It’s been a great 3 1/2 weeks. There was a distant thunderstorm turning the sky all sorts of ominous colors. Mom got all snug in her ‘room’ where she could watch the action. Then, this morning was beautiful.  I made everyone go for an early morning walk. Florida is so much more than Miami Beach and Disney World!  And, it doesn’t get any better for Winter weather!  Florida was our home before becoming fulltime RVers, and it’s still a favorite destination.  The post above was originally written for our personal travel blog.  I looked through my archives and found a few other posts about Florida that I thought you may enjoy. Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi Paddle the Peace River Paddle to Caladesi Island Wakulla Springs State Park I know I’m supposed to write about computer stuff, so here’s a little behind-the-scenes information.  Blogging Tools: I use Microsoft Live Writer to do all my blogging.  It is a fabulous, free application where you can write your blog posts and add your pictures, links, and maps, all offline.  Then, when you’re ready, just... Read more

Streets and Trips 2010

by Chris Guld, Geeks on Tour We’ve been wanting this new feature!! And now, with Streets and Trips 2010 – we have it. We can now plan our trip on the laptop with Streets and Trips, then transfer the locations to our Garmin Nuvi 255W.  As I wrote in a previous post, we like to use both the laptop and the Garmin Nuvi to navigate while we travel.  We recently attended the Hershey RV Show and were thrilled to meet Larry Petersen at the Microsoft booth.  We attended his seminar to learn about the new features in the 2010 version.  He demonstrated several methods of sharing data.  You can import and export .gpx files, you can use a USB cable and ‘Send to GPS’, or you can use the MSN Direct service.  I researched our device – the Garmin Nuvi 255W and decided the USB method was the best.  For more information directly from Larry – check out the Streets and Trips Blog. Here is a short video on the process to send Locations from a Streets and Trips 2010 route to a Garmin Nuvi 255W.  All you need is a USB cable (with a mini ‘B’ connector that fits the Nuvi) and an Internet connection: (You can view the video full screen by clicking on the icon in the lower right corner that looks like an X.)  Read More →

Using Live Writer for Blogging

by Chris Guld, www.GeeksonTour.com I’ve written about Live Writer a couple of times: Article 1, Article 2. It is a free program downloadable from Microsoft, and the exceptional feature is that it resides locally on your computer and it will upload your blog posts to several different blogging systems.  I now use it almost exclusively for all my blog posts – both Blogger and Wordpress. I’m using it to create this post on RV.net’s blog and I use it to create blog posts for my personal blog on Blogger. It’s single-click easy to add a map to your blog post using Live Writer. I especially like the plugin that links directly to my Picasa Web Album for photos.  I also like that it reminds me to add labels or categories to each post.  To understand the importance of labels and categories, see last week’s post. Let me show you exactly what I’m talking about: View more tutorial videos on blogging.  Read More →

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