Product Review: Schumacher SP-200

So what is a Schumacher SP-200?  It’s a solar 12 volt DC battery maintainer.  John set me up with one of these since my batteries were getting dragged down by a number of small parasitic drains that are always on even when my engine is off.  These drains pulled the voltage in my batteries down enough John was having difficulties starting me after resting for more than four days.  The SP-200 will solve that low voltage problem.

Per the instructions, John made sure my batteries were fully charged using an standard trickle charger since he had no plans to drive me for a while.  He then disconnected that charger, placed the Schumacher SP-200 panel in the center of my dashboard and plugged it into 12 volt accessory outlet in the console.  The SP-200 comes with both an accessory outlet plug and battery clamps.  Although it is weather tight it really needs to be kept out of the elements for best charging performance.

John let me rest facing the sun for 9 days without starting me.  He then unplugged the SP-200, turned the engine key and I fired up immediately. Before getting the SP-200 my starter was turning slowly and pulling so much power that my radio lost the station presets and the clock would reset.  John is quite happy with the results.  He is no longer afraid to park me on the other side of the road from the coach.  Had I been parked across the road before the SP-200 I would have had two drained/dead batteries which would have required a long extension cord and a larger battery charger.

He purchased the Schumacher SP-200 from Amazon.com for under $30 which with free delivery was a good deal.  Schumacher has been making battery chargers for many years and John already had two other Schumacher chargers that are used for various reasons.  Not once have they failed him so the SP-200 was a no-brainer for him.

Surprise in the Park Today

Today was a very nice day weather wise; warm, sunny and no wind.  The only reason John was not outside the whole day working on something is that we are still drying out from all the rain we got on Friday night and Saturday morning.  It’s mud city here.  Anyways, the surprise was what pulled into the park in the afternoon… A 1931 Ford Model A Roadster!
Completely restored and running like new.  The young lady that drove it into the park is the daughter of the owner, who was along for the ride as well.  John waved and stopped them asked if he could take a few shots of their roadster.  They asked if he knew who owned an enclosed trailer that is in storage here.  They are looking for a trailer to store either this car or their other Model A Sedan.  He told them no he doesn't know the owner.


They talked for quite awhile as this beauty just idled away.  You could tell John was admiring the simplicity of the design by the way he looked and pointed at all the details of the car.  Later he told me how this car as well as the Model T changed this country forever. 




This is how a museum should display items of history; outside and on the road.  That way you can hear the actual motor running, smell the car’s exhaust, experience it up close.  Be able to touch it without a velvet rope and sign preventing it.
John has told me about the many museums he’s been to where cars, trucks, planes or trains are on stands and it made him sad.  He told me about when he went to see car and truck shows where people drive their “heritage” or “dream cars” and sit to share their love of this type of machinery.  John has even been to historic sports car events where 20, 30 and even 40 year old race cars are raced again!  The sound and smells are intoxicating.

He went to Oshkosh to see World War II “War Birds” fly!  Not just sitting on the ground in a museum.  He told me of the time where he sat under the wing of a P-51 Mustang “Cadillac of the Sky” at Oshkosh with the owner and a Mustang pilot.  He just sat there and listened to them share memories.  John and I both know the risks of operating equipment like this and if something goes wrong it could be lost forever.

Remember the Liberty Bell.

Starting Anew Again

Well it is 2014 and looking at my blog I only made two entries for 2013.  John is embarrassed of that fact.  He is the one that helps puts a posting together.  He’s the one that really interacts with the world around us, I’m only an observer.  When tells me of other blogs that he reads on a regular basis and wonders why he can’t be that committed to posting something at least once a week.  The main reason is he has a vision, a plan or a design for each posting and a big part of that is photographs.

John grew up around photography; first camera age 10, first 35mm age 12, darkroom age 13 then it got worse.  Every photography class in junior high as well as summer school, photography and graphic arts in high school and audio/visual technology in trade school.  Every family event or get together John was there to document it.  After graduating he applied for a job at Pako Photography which later became Brown Photo which later became Black’s Photography.  Eleven years in the photo business.  He loved sharing his love of “painting with light”.

So why this long winded explanation for why he doesn't contribute my blog very much.  Simple answer is pasting or inserting photographs into the draft post using Blogger.  It has been very frustrating to him and when he can’t get the draft laid out the way he wants then he has me delete the entry before I can publish it.  On one draft posting he spent nearing two hours inserting one photograph into a paragraph and getting the sentences to wrap around correctly.  Since then he just gave up.

Until he saw Jessica Riker’s latest postings on her blog.  Beautiful photos embedded into paragraphs that helped tell the story Jessica was telling.  John quickly fired off a message to Jessica to learn how she was creating the great layouts and how difficult it was.  Jessica said that she used MS Windows Live Writer.  So John downloaded it and this posting is the result.

John and I both want to thank Jessica for her help and want this to be a renewal of our blog and John’s love of sharing his photographs.