Reworking Lou

Saturday: (03/07) I installed the new Victron BMS712 in the RV and found it didn’t work either. So, I checked the battery fuse and found the one to the Aux battery broken and the fuse for the house battery open. It now works well. I set it up for the new battery capacity and for the lithium batteries and can now monitor the batteries on my phone. Nice. Of course, Amazon managed to have an early delivery of something i had sent to an Amazon locker in San Jose so I had to drive down to get the package.I won’t be returning until Monday and their three day return might have kicked in. This locker delivery to get my supplies for the paint job isn’t perfect. Otherwise a nice relaxing day inside as we had some rain today. Lou made salmon hash and eggs for breakfast. Green beans with quinoa for lunch. Dawn made chicken soup for dinner.

Sunday: (03/08) I spent the day working in the backyard re-potting and trimming the plans on the patio. In particular the jade plants. I had to make a run to the hardware store for more potting soil. We had some rain in the morning but most of the day was nice. I did turn the power off on the RV to test the battery capacity. It seemed to be generating solar and was using 18 amps from the batteries. With the solar it seemed to keep up and used about 7% of capacity running the refrigerator, which is a standard two way RV fridge. Soft boiled eggs for breakfast. Refried beans with chips and guacamole for lunch. Dan made mushroom soup and soda bread for dinner.

 

 

 

Monday: (03/09) Lou had a little work done at Kaiser on her wrist. I dropped her off then went to breakfast. On the way home I stopped at Grocery Outlet for a few things and at the Mountain View library to return some of Dawn’s books. Back home I relaxed and tinkered with the RV. I picked Lou up at 4pm. Breakfast at Los Altos Taqueria, some huevos rancheros. Baked potatoes with beans for dinner.

Tuesday: (03/10) I continued my test of the lithium batteries. This was the second day and I started at 250 AH down. I ended up at 8pm with 330 AH used at 11.7 volts. That’s probably about it, but quite good. With different charge settings that fully charge the batteries it might do more. I made a run to the pharmacy for Lou in the afternoon. Dawn made egg and salmon sopas for breakfast. Green salad for lunch. I made enchilada casserole for dinner.

Wednesday: (03/11) A nice sunny day but I relaxed inside all day anyway. I attended my Wednesday webinar in the morning. PBJ toast for breakfast. Dawn made cauliflower mac and cheese (no mac) for lunch. For dinner we had quinoa pudding and banana freezes.

Thursday: (03/12) Granola for breakfast. I drove the Hyundai down to the dealer to have some service and to get the intermittent power steering looked at. I had to leave it so I looked around and the nearby dealers while Lou came to pick me up. My new rototiller arrived in the afternoon so I assembled it and tested it in the new garden area. I also moved the plants from the new garden space to allow tilling it later.It works well. Leftover enchiladas for dinner.

 

 

Friday: (03/13) Ernie dropped me off at the dealer to pick up the Hyundai. I relaxed at home and did some tests on the RV electrical. It successfully charged from the RV engine at 26 amps and 58 amps with the generator. Later I used the rototiller in the garden and worked about half of the new space. I made fried eggs with sausage and home fried potatoes for breakfast. Leftovers with McDonald’s fries for lunch. Dawn made a quinoa chicken casserole in the Instapot.

 

Saturday: (03/14) Pi Day. It was a rainy day all day. Not heavy but continuous. I made a run to our nearby Ace Hardware and bought some Manure and garden soil. The little car was full to the brim with eight 3cf bags of soil and four 1.5cf manure. Back home I spread the bags on my new garden area. While it’s only half of the intended garden spot, the remaining area will take more work and Dawn is itching to get her garden going. The garden spot is now at the proper level but needs mixing with the rototiller before Dawn can plant. Interesting side, of course, the little car demonstrated the power steering fault when I started it. So my expensive dealer visit was worthless. Otherwise, I relaxed indoors all day. Dawn made egg and salmon sopas for breakfast. Lou and Dawn prepared roasted peppers and tomatoes with corn on the cob and chicken for dinner.

Sunday: (03/15) Another rainy day at home. I studied and debated the Coronavirus pandemics effect on my hiking and decided to cancel my week of hikes at Pinnacles NP. These are the first hikes that I’ve hosted that I’ve ever cancelled. The best advise, and of course Lou, recommend not going out and not meeting in groups. The fact that we elderly people are more prone to have problems when infected and the fact I’m hiking with a bunch of world traveling retired folks necessitated the cancellation. Hopefully we can do the hikes later before it gets hot. We need to stay optimistic and practical. Granola for breakfast. Refried beans and chips for lunch. Dawn made some cabbage and potatoes and fried tofu for dinner.