...

In the early 1970's I trained to fix televisions, admittedly a losing career. At any rate, I set up shop and to my way of thinking, a repaired appliance was what the customer was paying for.

My losing motto to myself was, if I don't fix it, you don't pay. After all, I was calling myself a repair technician and that's what I did. I made something work the way it was designed. I kept a good supply of parts and manuals. If I needed something, I'd order it at no extra charge to the customer. These days, if they don't have it, there's a hefty price added for shipping.

A percentage of the stuff people brought me I found no problem with and marked it NPF, or "no problem found". I returned the unit to the customer without charge. Then, there were what we called "dogs" or difficult to repair appliances. In the old days there were shops where the big boys would tackle these. I had my share, the intent was instructive. I'd bring in a set I couldn't fix and I'd troubleshoot it with someone who knew more about televisions than me. These mentor arrangements didn't last long, fading into the past just like the repair shops.

Regarding NPF's and units I couldn't fix, I saw the current policy come into play at "Custom Hi Fi", El Paso, Texas where I had set up one of my electronic repair shops. Much to management's chagrin, I'd hand these units back to the customer with a smile. The manager instructed me to charge the customer for units I couldn't fix and NPF's. To management's way of thing, a customer is a mark. Nothing more. Regardless of service, the customer would be charged. Didn't seem logical to me, but to management's way of thinking, if you bring something to be fixed, you're requesting a service and a contract must be made. Managers are lock step to policy. That's all they know, and all managers want to know. You're forced to enter a contract when you give your name, address, and sign on the line. Managers are salivating over the money simply by the contract you signed and ready to employ any and all means to enforce the "agreement". Geesh. That's one of the reasons I don't want any part of repair work.

.:.

My Latest TriPac Fiasco:

Paid Incompetence. That's what it is alright and you better not imply anything to the obvious fact, or they'll think you're saying something to the effect that they don't know what their doing! God forbid!

My APU's broke again. Saturday I was in Fairfield, Maine where it's cooler and a truck stop with showers is located. I needed to re-arrange the batteries in a utility box because a weld had broken. The weight of the batteries were stressing the box, and I needed to strap them away from the weak area. Soon I'll get to a weld shop and repair the broken weld. To do what I needed, I disconnected the batteries, however when I hooked everything back up the APU's computer wasn't booting up properly. I stressed over it all day Saturday, got dehydrated and made myself sick over it. If I'm going to live in a truck I want my APU! I checked all the connection's over and over, all the fuses. Everything was hooked up right and I didn't do anything to cause the problem.

Monday morning at 7am I was at the front stoop of Thermo King Portland, Maine. I'd parked in their back 40 the night before. I had called Saturday from Fairfield, Maine. They told me their TriPac tech wasn't in, but he'd be there Monday and he'd get my APU running. Sunday afternoon I went to Portland.

After an hour or so, they handed me a bill for $92. My APU was still not working, but they'd gladly overnight a wiring harness they seemed to think would fix it. Being a tech myself and having spent the weekend troubleshooting, I questioned the their diagnosis of a failed wiring harness as I was paying the bill and inquiring where I might find a Thermo King that had parts for the TriPac. The manager gave me a Thermo King book with the Boston, Massachusetts location and told me to get the hell off the property. Apparently he had the impression I felt they didn't know what they were doing. Thermo King of Portland expelled me with prejudice and would not allow me to park my trailer there a few days while I bobtailed. Luckily there's a Fleetguard yard 200 yards away. The Fleetguard people had no problem with me parking my trailer in their yard so I could bobtail to Thermo King in Boston.

.:.

Paid Incompetence. It doesn't matter if they fix it, or f**k it. They'll get their money or see you in court. They don't have to hire competent tech's, train them, or keep a parts inventory. The real problem is management. They'll get paid if all they do is drool in their shoe. They have the contract to prove in a court of law they have fulfilled their end of the agreement.

For lack of a better description, I'd call it PAID INCOMPETENCE, upheld in a court of law.

The problem was not a failed wiring harness, but exactly the component I felt was, and shuttered to think about it. The TriPac's main computer board, costing $1,500 to troubleshoot and replace. November should be my last $382 payment, ending my 2 year lease to own agreement. This month my TriPac cost me $1,974 to own.

...

Here's a list of some of the expense I've encountered since the beginning of July:

July 12, 2008 a bump in some construction in Colorado pulled the engine and transmission bell housings apart. The repair included a clutch, rear main engine seal, both bell housings, hardware, oil change, etc. $3,495

August 5, 2008 replaced U joint. $428

August 14, 2008 replaced steer tires. $1,058

August 18, 2008 missed diagnosis of TriPac's wiring harness. $92

August 19, 2008 TriPac's main computer board. $1,500

August 22, 2008 truck alternator and trailer tire. $681

Total: $7,245

On the morning of March 9, 1916, Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa and a band of 500 guerillas crossed the Mexican border riding toward Columbus, New Mexico. The surprise attack on this sleepy town and it's military outpost would be the last major invasion of the Continental United States by a foreign armed force, prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center. The Villiestas took the residents of Columbus and 350 troopers of the 13th Calvary by surprise. The bewildered soldiers were defenseless and had to break into the locked armory to get their weapons. After 2 hours of heavy fighting the raiders withdrew. It is not known what inspired the raid, or if Pancho Villa was even there. The army killed 90 of the Mexican raiders. 8 American soldiers were killed and 10 residents of Columbus. The hotel was burned to the ground, many houses and business were damaged.

One week after Villa's attack, 10,000 American solders led by General John Pershing who would soon command the American force in France during World War I, arrived in Columbus, New Mexico. They began a campaign which would track the Villiestas 500 miles into Mexico. The campaign lasted 11 months while Columbus held base camp and supply line to Pershing's forces. This was the last true Calvary action mounted by the U.S. Army and the first military action to employ motorized vehicles. For the first time, airplanes were used for reconnaissance. Columbus became the first U.S. Army air base for airplanes used in combat conditions.

Sometimes I travel through Columbus from El Paso, Texas to Deming, New Mexico, or I'll cruise along New Mexico State Road 9 to Hachita then north to Interstate 10, or south from I-10 to Hwy 9 then east to El Paso. I lived in El Paso from 1976 thru 1981. I'd ride my motorcycle into the desert west of El Paso, and in those days, the old railroad bed which is now State Road 9 from El Paso, Texas to Columbus, New Mexico was not paved.

The history of this raid on Columbus has been immortalized by the song "Pancho and Lefty", written by Townes van Zandt and popularized by the duet sung by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. As I'm crusing this lonely road, I'm dreaming the romance of this song playing in my head. Incidentally, there is no Lefty.

I've always had an interest in the sciences. There are things I could have, would have, should have done, but the way it worked out I was repairing televisions in the 1970's. In those days there were exposed hazards such as lethal voltages and X-Ray emissions. I recall a few of the numerous times I was shocked. I found that something around 700 volts was the worst, because higher voltages would jump to you before you could grasp the voltage point, causing your reflex to get away. However I'd get a hold of something I couldn't let go of, because after all, your muscles are controlled by electrical impulses from your brain! The effect was, that I'd be thrown against the wall or across the room and for several minutes things were quite dark. X-Rays were emitted from the high voltage rectifier, which was in most cases, shielded. However there were tests where the shielding had to be removed. I have suffered no lasting ill effects from working on televisions.

Time and technology marches on, and what were considered high frequencies can hardly compare to the mix of emissions we live in today. Cell phones are akin to magic with their spectrum (now called broadband) abilities, needed to emiminate cross talk and interference from other phones in close proximity, while reaching distant towers. Cell phones use burst technology; energetic fast rise time pulses of energy that can hardly be called frequency at all. WiFi is similar.

An interesting point in physics says that as you double the distance from an energy source, the amount of energy you absorb from that source is decreased 4 times. Good protection from these potentially hazardous emissions is to distance yourself from the source.

I've had a WiFi router in my truck several years now, living within a few feet of these energetic sources. It's said, the risks are not yet fully understood. As of the beginning of 2008 I've wired my network, using the Ethernet capabilities of my router and turned WiFi off. I've moved a Wilson outdoor cellular antenna, amplified to 3 watts and designed to be mounted to a mirror, to the highest location on the rear of my cab. The point, to move all sources of continuous radiation as far as possible.

So, toward the end of January this year, a strange thing was happening to me. I haven't blogged on this until now, because I wanted to see if possibly removing the WiFi from my truck would cure my illness and now the evidence makes a blog seem worthwhile. I thought I had head lice. I've never had head lice, but I thought I might have picked them up somewhere, perhaps a truck stop, shower, who knows? I did a GOOGLE search, the indications were only similar, so I called a hairdresser friend. She said I should search CRADLE CAP. That was what I had, or the indications were so similar as to be indistinguishable. I'd scratch my scalp to expose wet oily pockets, oil on my fingers, running through my hair, drying, crusting, flaking, almost dusty with a peculiar odor. These indications have vanished from the time I've wired my network.

I suppose I've always been that way, a bit of a wildcatter. On the fringe. Knowing the risks, the hazards, pushing the limits to the point of diminishing returns. It was time to do something different, but what? I decided to Ethernet my network. Turn WiFi off and see if this cured my cradle cap and indeed it went away.

Update regarding my Thermo King TriPac APU...

The bottom shroud has been removed. The muffler's swung around, the new alternator is large and mounted upside down.

I have 8 Ever Start MAXX series 29 deep cycle RV/marine batteries I bought at Wal Mart, four on each side of the truck. I've added a 4 gauge wire from the alternator, to buffer the existing charging wires.

It seems the APU's 7.5 hp Yanmar engine is pushing for all it's worth, if the air conditioning compressor requires about 5 hp and 160 amps at 14 volts is 2.5 hp. The solution seems to be, to run the air conditioner when the batteries are charged, or the engine tends to lug down.

Now I can run the APU and watch a movie on my 33 inch HD wide screen from my XBOX 360. I also have a couple fans on, to circulate air in the cab. Fans are running to cool the engine, a condenser and evaporator when the APU's air conditioner is on. A heavy load for any charging system, I've mounted a volt meter from a power inverter on the dash, reading the battery condition at the main buss. Previously, I've watched the voltage decrease as the APU is running under these conditions. The Thermo King 65 amp alternator cannot handle this load. Last summer I fried so many alternators, the Thermo King people refused to continue replacing them and could offer no solution. With this 160 amp alternator I'm running all this stuff and looking for more, while the batteries charge. I'll see how well this works when summer sets in and the heat will de-rate things somewhat.

When my APU was installed, I asked the technicians to decrease the sense voltage from 12 volts, to 11 volts. My APU will not start and run to charge the batteries until they are discharged. I found the sense wire where it connects at the control board. If this wire is removed, the APU will start and run continuously. I've changed the sense wire connection from the output of the alternator, to the input of my 3,000 watt inverter. I've also connected it thru a toggle switch so I can run the APU regardless of battery condition.

Alright, so it seems that at times, I'm loading up my little Yanmar engine for all it's worth. I hear it chugging along at 1800 RPM's, but as the batteries charge the chugging decreases. Because the pipe from the output of the muffler has been cut off, my APU is a little louder than others. Perhaps I'll find a larger muffler. I'm sure the Yanmar people wouldn't have a problem with what I've described here, we just won't tell anyone over there at Thermo King. Their eyes will just glaze over anyway.