International Space Station And FMCA
How cutting-edge technology connects the two.
National President
Jon Walker, F268778
jwalker@fmca.com
I am having a very strange experience sitting here today writing my May magazine column. When deciding on a topic for this month, I planned to announce FMCA’s new partnership with Briter Products. Our new partner will be selling, installing, and servicing lithium-iron-phosphate batteries in FMCA members’ RVs.
What is so strange about this announcement is the fact that as I am writing this, NASA astronauts are conducting a spacewalk. Astronauts Anne McClain and Nick Hague are out in space replacing six “old technology” nickel-hydrogen batteries with three brand-new lithium-ion batteries. NASA is making this change because the new lithium batteries are more powerful, more reliable, safer, and have much greater performance than the old-style batteries.
FMCA national president Jon Walker poses with Avanti Lalwani, director of marketing at Briter Products (center) and Gyasi Mwewe, director of engineering.
I found the timing interesting in light of FMCA’s new partnership with Briter Products. Perhaps for the first time ever, I think this new partnership places FMCA way ahead of the current technology curve of what the RV manufacturers are producing. I truly believe the new lithium-iron-phosphate battery shortly will be the “norm” in our RVs. RV Doctor and Family RVing technical editor Gary Bunzer has prepared a story about this new technology that begins on page 42 of this issue.
We picked Briter Products as our partner for several reasons. The primary reason: We looked at the company and the people behind the product to determine whether they could provide the proper battery and support to fit the needs of all our members’ RVs. Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries are not just something you buy from a rally vendor or a store to take home and replace your worn-out battery. The new batteries require a different charging system, a different management system, a different arrangement in your RV, and charging/maintenance standards that differ from what most of us are using today.
Briter Products — originally known as Duramold — was started by Bob and Kay Lalwani in 1978. Bob is a mechanical and materials engineer who came to America from India. They moved to South Bend, Indiana, where they became U.S. citizens, settled into their business, raised their children, and got involved in the local community.
What the Lalwanis found out in the marketplace was that manufacturers were interested in keeping material prices as low as they could related to the products they were producing. This sometimes took place to the detriment of new technology. Bob was at the forefront of developing the new LED lighting technology that finally is being used in most RVs today. This technology was available years before manufacturers began using it in RVs. As a footnote, the name Briter replaced the Duramold name in 2016 because of the “Briter” nature of LED bulbs.
Bob concentrated on developing RV products that were technologically superior to the current offerings, products that had a lower cost-per-life cycle than current ones, and products that promised higher usability for consumers. They hired Gyasi Mwewe as their director of engineering. Gyasi is an electronics engineer and has a background in IT development. Bob and Kay’s daughter, Avanti, serves as director of marketing.
FMCA also partnered with Briter because they are committed to providing our members with all of the information they need before a product is sold to them. Briter representatives are dedicated to providing world-class service to FMCA members. They also have agreed to provide a product/service at a price that you cannot get if you are not an FMCA member. Briter Products will offer FMCA members exclusive discounts on the Briter lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, extended warranties, labor rates, and a battery/charger bundle. Installation options are available to those with convenient access to Elkhart, Indiana, as well as at specific FMCA events. Briter officials hope to add more installation locations in the coming months.
Over a year and a half ago, I had Briter install a replacement set of their Ion-Ready lithium-iron-phosphate batteries in my motorhome. My coach serves as a rolling test lab. As I travel across North America, I use the batteries, test them, and load them up in all kinds of different ways (some of which included overloading my inverter to the extent that it blew out lots of circuits) to see how the batteries would react. At the end of every trip back to my home in Elkhart, Indiana, and now Union, Michigan, I agreed to drop the motorhome off at the Briter Products facility near the airport in South Bend, where Gyasi and his staff would run tests on the batteries. All of their testing results were sent to Gary Bunzer for his analysis. Gary plans to write a follow-up article at a later date to share some specific results.
Here are a couple of links you can click on to see how these batteries replaced my original-equipment batteries and note some of the refinements that have been made during the past year and a half: https://youtu.be/VYNQZvrauXI and https://youtu.be/uEzs4kYQoIg
Briter Products representatives have assured me that FMCA members who purchase the company’s products will receive the very latest and most advanced items, as well as complete support for their purchases. Of course, that is what we all are looking for.
Important readership survey on the way. Please be on the lookout for an important survey from FMCA. To help ensure that Family RVing provides you with the types of articles and information that are most useful to you, FMCA has contracted with Readex Research to survey a representative sample of our members. Surveys will be sent to randomly selected members, some via U.S. Postal Service mail and some via email from FMCA. They will be arriving sometime in April or May. Your participation is vital for accurate and meaningful survey results. This is true even if you do not regularly read Family RVing — we need to know that, too. Rest assured that your answers will be kept completely confidential by Readex Reseach and used only in tabulation with others. We’ve had a great response to these readership surveys in the past, so I’m asking that you please help us to maintain that impressive rate by taking time to fill out the survey if you happen to be chosen via the random sampling.
I’m hoping to see many of you at upcoming area rallies and in Minot, North Dakota, for FMCA’s 100th International Convention and RV Expo, August 14 through 17, 2019.
Until then, remember, it’s still all about having fun!
Notice Of Annual Membership Meeting
The FMCA annual membership meeting will take place on Saturday, August 17, 2019, at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds in Minot, North Dakota.
100 Times The Fun
Get ready to have a great time as we celebrate FMCA’s 100th convention this August in Minot, North Dakota.
Executive Director
Chris Smith
csmith@fmca.com
Chris Smith
As I write this, things seem to be returning to normal at the FMCA national office in Cincinnati. We recently wrapped up FMCA’s 99th International Convention and RV Expo, which took place March 13 through 16 in Perry, Georgia. For the first time in 45 years, FMCA hosted a convention at the same site two years in a row. The results were very satisfying. The recent convention in Perry attracted right around 2,300 RVs. That equates to the second-largest attendance we have had at a convention since 2011. Number one took place in Perry last year!
The convention staff and the Convention Committee have worked very hard to make the events better. We have looked at every aspect of the convention, from parking to daytime and evening entertainment and everything in between. The results speak for themselves. We send out surveys with many questions to all of our attendees. Open-ended comments allow voices to be heard and provide feedback to make the events better.
One of the key metrics we use to grade our events is the net promoter score. We ask attendees whether they would recommend the event to someone else. This is much different from simply asking someone whether he or she liked the event. The net promoter score can range from negative 100 to positive 100. Any positive number is considered good, and a net promoter score over 50 is considered excellent. A score over 70 is world-class.
For the Perry 2019 convention, the first-time attendees who were surveyed graded the event with a score of 58. Those who have attended multiple conventions gave the Perry 2019 event a 66. While we are happy with those excellent scores, we want to be world-class. So, keep the feedback coming, and we will continue to work to improve the events.
Now that Perry is in our rearview mirror, it is time to focus on our next convention. We’ll be setting up camp at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds in Minot, North Dakota, August 14 through 17, 2019. Registration is now open, so make sure you reserve your spot today. You can register online at FMCA.com; call us at (513) 474-3622 or (800) 543-3622; or mail in the form that appears on page 63 of this magazine.
With it being FMCA’s 100th international convention, this is a particularly special event. The convention theme, “Minot Magic — 100 Times the Fun,” reflects our excitement. Many special surprises are in store. One that we announced last month was that Captain “Sully” Sullenberger will be our keynote speaker. He is best known for serving as captain during what has been called the “Miracle on the Hudson,” but he has an impressive background, and I thought I’d share a little of that this month.
After logging more than 20,000 hours of flight time, “Sully” Sullenberger became internationally renowned on January 15, 2009, when he and his crew safely guided US Airways Flight 1549 to an emergency water landing in New York City’s frigid Hudson River. The Airbus A320’s two engines had lost thrust following a bird strike. Captain Sullenberger and his crew received international acclaim for their actions that day, including the passage of a Congressional resolution recognizing their bravery. He was ranked second in Time magazine’s “Top 100 Most Influential Heroes and Icons of 2009” and was awarded the French Legion of Honour.
Born and raised in Denison, Texas, “Sully” Sullenberger pursued his childhood love of aviation by learning to fly at age 16, while still in high school, and later at the United States Air Force Academy. At his graduation from the Academy in 1973, he received the Outstanding Cadet in Airmanship Award. In addition to his bachelor’s degree in psychology, he also has two master’s degrees, one in industrial psychology from Purdue University and one in public administration from the University of Northern Colorado. He also has an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Purdue University.
“Sully” Sullenberger served as a fighter pilot for the United States Air Force. He advanced to become a flight leader and a training officer, attaining the rank of captain. During his active duty, he was stationed in North America and Europe. After serving in the Air Force, in February 1980 Sullenberger became an airline pilot with Pacific Southwest Airlines, later acquired by US Airways, until his retirement from commercial flying in March 2010. He still flies privately.
He has been dedicated to the pursuit of safety his entire adult life and speaks on the topics of aviation and patient safety, crisis management, leadership, and living a life of integrity.
To read more of his biography, visit www.sullysullenberger.com/about/.
More about Minot. The FMCA staff is compiling a commemorative 100th convention program. The program will take folks on a trip down Convention Memory Lane. It will cost $10 per copy, and orders can be placed when you register for the convention and then picked up at the convention. We will have a limited number of copies available for sale during the event as well.
We’ll also be creating a nostalgia area, and we’re asking members to contribute to this by bringing along convention memorabilia to display in Minot. Members are invited to bring old photos, scrapbooks, or other convention-related items to display. So that we can prepare for the nostalgia area, please contact Penny Gortemiller at pgortemiller@fmca.com, or (800) 543-3622 extension 238, and let her know you’ll be bringing items to share, and to schedule delivery and pick-up of the items.
We did something similar at FMCA’s 50th anniversary celebration in Gillette, Wyoming, in 2013 and it was a great success. Members brought some really interesting material to display, and everyone enjoyed spending time in this area. So, we’re hoping to have an equally interesting nostalgia area in Minot, but we really need your help to make that happen. Photos can be in albums or mounted on poster board, etc. Office supply and craft stores sell foldable white project boards — the ones kids use for science fairs — that work well.
Prior to the start of the convention, the FMCA Academy will be presenting RV Basics. Registrations are being accepted now, and the past couple have sold out, so if you’re interested, you’ll want to sign up soon. During 2½ days in a relaxed classroom setting, RV experts share information about RV operation and systems. RV Basics is ideal for new RVers but also great as a refresher course for others. We have had excellent feedback from RV owners who have completed these sessions.
I’m really looking forward to the Minot convention. I’ve heard about how friendly people are in North Dakota and how warm and welcoming the community was during FMCA’s visits there in 1990, 1995, and 2005. So, I can’t think of a better place to kick back and celebrate the fact that FMCA will be bringing people together to celebrate all things RVing for the 100th time in its 56-year history.
A story about what you can see and do in Minot begins on page 60.
New atlas available. FMCA recently revealed our 10th edition North American Road Atlas and Travel Guide. We collected considerable feedback related to our 9th edition and implemented changes that resulted in our 10th edition being the best one yet.
Some of the noteworthy features: sturdy plastic spiral binding; larger type for easy reading; campground locations, including big-rig-friendly options; an index with phone numbers and addresses for FMCA commercial member campgrounds (pairs great with the FMCA RV Marketplace in the January issue of Family RVing magazine); Pilot Flying J Travel Plaza locations; Love’s Travel Center locations; Walmart stores, Walmart Supercenters, and Sam’s Clubs, marked with distinctive symbols, plus a chart that lists store locations that are adjacent to interstate highway exits; Cracker Barrel Old Country Store locations; detailed city maps; and tourism contact information.
The cost of the 10th edition North American Road Atlas & Travel Guide is $17 plus shipping. You can order one by calling our office at (513) 474-3622 or (800) 543-3622 or by going online to www.shopfmca.com. Or, better still, join us in Minot and purchase one there.
Hope to see you in Minot in August. Until then, enjoy the journey!