|
More Bus Problems: You Call That News?
Wed., Aug. 17. 2011 11:01pm EDT
Many of you already think our bus is a lemon, because of all the repairs it has required in the past year. If so, maybe the lemon is short for "Lemony Snicket," because last Thursday it continued our recent "series of unfortunate events," causing the cancellation of last weekend's shows in Iowa and Kansas.
However, all of the fans did receive a full refund for their "lemony tickets." ApologetiX lead singer J. Jackson relates the story of what happened and gives an update on the subsequent repair process:
I'm not very good at understanding mechanical things -- let alone explaining them -- but here's my best first try:
Keith called me last Thursday night at 8:20 p.m. Apparently, as he was bringing the bus home from the mechanic that evening (yes, the alternator had already been fixed by the electrician, but the mechanic was finishing installation and putting in new air filter and didn't get it done till Thursday afternoon, etc.), Keith heard some loud pops.
Apparently the alternator is now too powerful and blew out the battery -- not just blew it out, but blew four caps off of it, and the lights were much, much brighter than normal on the bus and trailer -- apparently a sign that they were now receiving too much power -- and then they would go out intermittently.
After he heard and saw that, Keith called an expert about the prospect of just running on the battery without the alternator, and (to nobody's suprise) was told we'd probably wind up on the side of the road. Then to top things off, as Keith was telling me that news, he started noticing a burning rubber smell and a hissing sound.
Furthermore -- I'm not kidding -- my six-month-old son threw up on my foot while all this was happening.
Again, I am not good at explaining mechanical things, but Keith is quite good at observing and assessing them, so if anything I wrote above doesn't make sense, it's because I lost something in the translation.
The electric people who worked on the alternator made a house call to Keith's the next day (last Friday) to check the bus out and determined that there appeared to be no regulator for the alternator, and that is why it was overpowering the battery and the bus electrical system.
They were scheduled to come back and install a regulator Monday at Keith's house, but that got rained out. Then they couldn't come on Tuesday, because the part hadn't come in. Finally, on Wednesday, the electric guys came and installed the regulator. They said they got us the best one available, and the owner of the company assures us that there should be no more problems. So we're planning to be there as scheduled.
Please pray for us. We need it!
|
