Showing posts with label Modifications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Modifications. Show all posts
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Quartzsite, Arizona
Saturday: (01/19) We made it to Quartzsite a little after 4pm. Our first stop was for some of their cheap gas, by California standards anyway. Gas was $3.79 in Blythe and most other places on our path yesterday. Here in Quartzsite it was $3.09. We checked in at the La Poza West BLM Long Term Visitor Area just South of town. After a quick tour we found that the the spot we stayed at a few years ago was available. There really are no specified sites. Campers just park 25 feet from each other in the desert and our spot was available and it includes a tree. Lou made pad Thai noodles for dinner. Quartzsite is a little town of some 3,000 full time residents that becomes a metropolis of maybe 500,000 peak during the winter. Most of the winter residents come in their RV's and park somewhere in the desert. It's the migration ritual of Snowbird's. More leftovers for dinner.
(GPS: 33.65026, -114.21905)
Sunday: (01/20) Dawn and I ventured out to look around. Dawn checked the vendors at Prospector's Gulch.
I concentrated on the Big Top RV Show. Lots to see even the occasional new and exciting thing.
I rather liked the customized golf carts.
Lou went to the market. Grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. After lunch I stayed home a while while Lou and Dawn took the Jeep out for a spin around town. I discovered our nice tree was shadowing our solar panels so I moved it away from the tree. I also cleaned the panels. Now they are doing much better. Later I returned to the Big Top tent and bought some LED lamps for the RV to replace some removed for use at home and also the lone remaining incandescent, the lamp in the range hood. Now we are 100% LED and florescent. For dinner we went out to the Mountain Quail Restaurant for their special of the night, mesquite smoked pork. We woke at 6am to 25 degrees but it as 35 degrees by 8am and by 9am quite nice. By afternoon we were in the 70's. Typical desert winter weather.
Monday: (01/21) Hash browned potatoes, Quartzsite General Store sausage, and eggs. I walked over to the Big Top and walked through looking for a pain eliminating ointment that we heard about that the people had picked up in the tent. There are a lot of old folks here so there were all sorts of pain sales booths. Some electric therapy, some insole for shoes and some others I forget but no ointments. I then walked by the shops at Tyson Wells, more than 100 tents. At one of the last I visited I found the SmoothGator ointment that the people we met last night were rving about. Now I can point Lou to where it's located to try it out. On the way home i stopped and picked up a fancy long range TV antenna. They are seen all over out here and a regular RV TV antenna gets nothing here and many places. The transmitters are about 90 miles away. I had brought our extendable handle that I use with brush to clean our house without needing a ladder. Now a multipurpose tool, it is serving as the mast for our TV antenna. I brought it to use with our Wilson cell phone antenna when we get to Yuma. I assembled it and erected the mast and it works great bringing in 16 channels. We had planned a late lunch at the Grubstake bar. I wanted to get their outstanding fish and chips but Lou and Dawn can't eat them because of their gluten free diet. The bar couldn't just grill the fish and we didn't have a menu to check so Lou and Dawn had lunch at home as I went off to my fish and chips. It was great as expected. I brought home a menu for reference later. They had leftover pad Thai noodles. When I returned they headed off with the jeep on another tour of town. I relaxed digesting my lunch. The above photo is of our campsite. Note the nice tree for Lou and the new TV antenna. Cottage cheese and fruit for dinner.
Tuesday: (01/22) Hash browned potatoes, sausage and eggs. We explored the West end of Main Street and the Main Event, a usually big flea market. it isn't too big but there were enough shops to keep us busy until about 2pm. Steamed cabbage with onions and sausage for lunch. After lunch we secured the RV and rolled down to the dump about 2 miles South of our campsite. Now with a full water tank and empty holding tanks we returned home. More cottage cheese with fruit and some ham and cheese cold cuts for dinner.
Wednesday: (01/23) We enjoyed a really nice sunrise this morning. Oatmeal with yogurt, craisens, and brown sugar for breakfast. I dropped Lou and Dawn off near the Post Office where they could check out near by junk dealers. I then Stopped by Solar Bill's and Discount Solar looking at replacement batteries for the RV. Our existing batteries are only five years old but cant hold a charge. By morning when we run the heater fan the batteres are below 10.5 volts. This after being conservative in the evening. We should be able to go three days with normal use without becoming too discharged. I chose Fullriver AGM batteries from Discount Solar. That's one of the nice things about being here in Quartzsite. If you decide what you want early enough they have it so no shipping is involved. For batteries that's rather a big cost. The batteries are costly enough so it's nice to eliminate the shipping. The Fullriver batteries are from China but so are most batteries. These gave a seven year warrantee more then any others so hopefully they do last. They also cost only $259 each rather that $318 each. It took me a while to conform with myself that I didn't want to change from six volt batteries like I currently had to twelve volt. Also to determine I wanted six batteries and not just four. There was a sign on the wall at Discount Solar that said "buy what you really want, it only hurts once." So I got replacement six volt batteries that were the same size as the existing so that fit right in place using the existing cables.
It was a lot of work to change them. The shop was busy and the guy I bought from was elderly so couldn't load the batteries himself. So I did. A lot of times. First to the cart. But since I needed to make room in the Jeep to carry them I then had to lift them off the cart to the ground so the cart could be used for other things, They have one cart. I then loaded them into the Jeep when there was room. Then back at the RV I unloaded them, Then removed the old batteries from the coach and installed the new batteries then loaded the old into the Jeep. Back at the shop, I had to unload them a final time and got my core deposits back. the six batteries were moved a total of seven times. They are not light, weighing about 70 pounds, so I got a good workout today. Before I started installing the batteries I had a ham sandwich for lunch. I finished returning the batteries about 2:30 and meet Dawn and Lou. They had had a Greek salad for lunch at Silly Al's Pizza Parlor. They left me to look around where they had been and did some errands in the Jeep, things they didn't want to have to carry around. Lou was adventurous and avoided the traffic backups on the roads by driving back home through a wash. I wondered why there was so much dust caked on to the rear of the jeep. Dinner was smoked pork chops with mashed potatoes with cauliflower served with broccoli. We had horchata fruit bars for desert.
Thursday: (01/24) Potato pancakes and sausage for breakfast. We went over to the Pow Wow at the Quartzsite Improvement Association (QIA). The Pow Wow is really mostly a rock and mineral show. We really don't care too much for rocks but there are interesting things to be seen among them. We had lunch there. The QIA served up a nice Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and green beans which I enjoyed. Lou and Dawn had Chef salads. After lunch we stopped by to visit our friend Jeanie who has a home here. Today was cloudy all day so our solar didn't help much. We had some rain last night but only threats today. Carrots, sausage and couscous for dinner.
Friday: (01/25) Toast and sausage for breakfast. We did our final tasks to be accomplished here in Quartzsite. Lou and Dawn were off to the bookstore, the market and the prospector store. Dam and Lou got lessons for using Dawn's metal detector.
I walked through the Big Top at the RV show. I asked questions of the travel reps from Canada and pestered other vendors with questions. I also picked up some summer sausage for one of the vendors and bought a new sewer hose to replace the leaky one I threw away. As I finished, Lou called to say they would be finished shortly so I could start getting ready to depart toward Yuma. i had a ham sandwich for lunch before starting. I lowered the solar panels, removed the TV mast and antenna, and secured everything. When Lou and Dawn returned, they enjoyed Greek salads they picked up at Silly Al's Pizza Parlor. We got on the road about 3pm. Shortly after getting on the rod it started to sprinkle enough to keep the wiper on all the way to Imperial Dam.
(GPS: 33.65026, -114.21905)
Sunday: (01/20) Dawn and I ventured out to look around. Dawn checked the vendors at Prospector's Gulch.
I concentrated on the Big Top RV Show. Lots to see even the occasional new and exciting thing.
I rather liked the customized golf carts.
Lou went to the market. Grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. After lunch I stayed home a while while Lou and Dawn took the Jeep out for a spin around town. I discovered our nice tree was shadowing our solar panels so I moved it away from the tree. I also cleaned the panels. Now they are doing much better. Later I returned to the Big Top tent and bought some LED lamps for the RV to replace some removed for use at home and also the lone remaining incandescent, the lamp in the range hood. Now we are 100% LED and florescent. For dinner we went out to the Mountain Quail Restaurant for their special of the night, mesquite smoked pork. We woke at 6am to 25 degrees but it as 35 degrees by 8am and by 9am quite nice. By afternoon we were in the 70's. Typical desert winter weather.
Monday: (01/21) Hash browned potatoes, Quartzsite General Store sausage, and eggs. I walked over to the Big Top and walked through looking for a pain eliminating ointment that we heard about that the people had picked up in the tent. There are a lot of old folks here so there were all sorts of pain sales booths. Some electric therapy, some insole for shoes and some others I forget but no ointments. I then walked by the shops at Tyson Wells, more than 100 tents. At one of the last I visited I found the SmoothGator ointment that the people we met last night were rving about. Now I can point Lou to where it's located to try it out. On the way home i stopped and picked up a fancy long range TV antenna. They are seen all over out here and a regular RV TV antenna gets nothing here and many places. The transmitters are about 90 miles away. I had brought our extendable handle that I use with brush to clean our house without needing a ladder. Now a multipurpose tool, it is serving as the mast for our TV antenna. I brought it to use with our Wilson cell phone antenna when we get to Yuma. I assembled it and erected the mast and it works great bringing in 16 channels. We had planned a late lunch at the Grubstake bar. I wanted to get their outstanding fish and chips but Lou and Dawn can't eat them because of their gluten free diet. The bar couldn't just grill the fish and we didn't have a menu to check so Lou and Dawn had lunch at home as I went off to my fish and chips. It was great as expected. I brought home a menu for reference later. They had leftover pad Thai noodles. When I returned they headed off with the jeep on another tour of town. I relaxed digesting my lunch. The above photo is of our campsite. Note the nice tree for Lou and the new TV antenna. Cottage cheese and fruit for dinner.
Tuesday: (01/22) Hash browned potatoes, sausage and eggs. We explored the West end of Main Street and the Main Event, a usually big flea market. it isn't too big but there were enough shops to keep us busy until about 2pm. Steamed cabbage with onions and sausage for lunch. After lunch we secured the RV and rolled down to the dump about 2 miles South of our campsite. Now with a full water tank and empty holding tanks we returned home. More cottage cheese with fruit and some ham and cheese cold cuts for dinner.
Wednesday: (01/23) We enjoyed a really nice sunrise this morning. Oatmeal with yogurt, craisens, and brown sugar for breakfast. I dropped Lou and Dawn off near the Post Office where they could check out near by junk dealers. I then Stopped by Solar Bill's and Discount Solar looking at replacement batteries for the RV. Our existing batteries are only five years old but cant hold a charge. By morning when we run the heater fan the batteres are below 10.5 volts. This after being conservative in the evening. We should be able to go three days with normal use without becoming too discharged. I chose Fullriver AGM batteries from Discount Solar. That's one of the nice things about being here in Quartzsite. If you decide what you want early enough they have it so no shipping is involved. For batteries that's rather a big cost. The batteries are costly enough so it's nice to eliminate the shipping. The Fullriver batteries are from China but so are most batteries. These gave a seven year warrantee more then any others so hopefully they do last. They also cost only $259 each rather that $318 each. It took me a while to conform with myself that I didn't want to change from six volt batteries like I currently had to twelve volt. Also to determine I wanted six batteries and not just four. There was a sign on the wall at Discount Solar that said "buy what you really want, it only hurts once." So I got replacement six volt batteries that were the same size as the existing so that fit right in place using the existing cables.
It was a lot of work to change them. The shop was busy and the guy I bought from was elderly so couldn't load the batteries himself. So I did. A lot of times. First to the cart. But since I needed to make room in the Jeep to carry them I then had to lift them off the cart to the ground so the cart could be used for other things, They have one cart. I then loaded them into the Jeep when there was room. Then back at the RV I unloaded them, Then removed the old batteries from the coach and installed the new batteries then loaded the old into the Jeep. Back at the shop, I had to unload them a final time and got my core deposits back. the six batteries were moved a total of seven times. They are not light, weighing about 70 pounds, so I got a good workout today. Before I started installing the batteries I had a ham sandwich for lunch. I finished returning the batteries about 2:30 and meet Dawn and Lou. They had had a Greek salad for lunch at Silly Al's Pizza Parlor. They left me to look around where they had been and did some errands in the Jeep, things they didn't want to have to carry around. Lou was adventurous and avoided the traffic backups on the roads by driving back home through a wash. I wondered why there was so much dust caked on to the rear of the jeep. Dinner was smoked pork chops with mashed potatoes with cauliflower served with broccoli. We had horchata fruit bars for desert.
Thursday: (01/24) Potato pancakes and sausage for breakfast. We went over to the Pow Wow at the Quartzsite Improvement Association (QIA). The Pow Wow is really mostly a rock and mineral show. We really don't care too much for rocks but there are interesting things to be seen among them. We had lunch there. The QIA served up a nice Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and green beans which I enjoyed. Lou and Dawn had Chef salads. After lunch we stopped by to visit our friend Jeanie who has a home here. Today was cloudy all day so our solar didn't help much. We had some rain last night but only threats today. Carrots, sausage and couscous for dinner.
Friday: (01/25) Toast and sausage for breakfast. We did our final tasks to be accomplished here in Quartzsite. Lou and Dawn were off to the bookstore, the market and the prospector store. Dam and Lou got lessons for using Dawn's metal detector.
I walked through the Big Top at the RV show. I asked questions of the travel reps from Canada and pestered other vendors with questions. I also picked up some summer sausage for one of the vendors and bought a new sewer hose to replace the leaky one I threw away. As I finished, Lou called to say they would be finished shortly so I could start getting ready to depart toward Yuma. i had a ham sandwich for lunch before starting. I lowered the solar panels, removed the TV mast and antenna, and secured everything. When Lou and Dawn returned, they enjoyed Greek salads they picked up at Silly Al's Pizza Parlor. We got on the road about 3pm. Shortly after getting on the rod it started to sprinkle enough to keep the wiper on all the way to Imperial Dam.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Quartzsite, Arizona
Thursday: (01/26) We awoke and were on the road by 6am. We headed a little South on Highway 247 to Highway 62 and continued on to Parker, Az. After picking up a few things at Walmart and enjoying leftover ham, pepper and onion salad for lunch we continued on down Arizona highway 95 to Quartzsite. We stopped in the Hi Jolly BLM campground at MM112 a few miles North of downtown Quartzsite. After settling in, we headed down to the big top RV show. There is a much bigger crowd here this year for this time in the show run. Some interesting things as usual. After a look at the show we covered a few rows of vendors at Tyson Wells before stopping by at the Grubstake Bar for fish and chips. We are really fortunate to have a very friendly cat named Bounder at the neighbors.
(GPS: 33.70700416, -114.21432001)
Friday: (01/27) We were up for a nice sunrise. Cereal for breakfast. I removed the towbar from the RV and put it in the Jeep. We headed toward the big top but had to stop at a couple of garage sales and a thrift store on the way. I found a couple of "new" shirts at the thrift store. Lou found an extension wall mirror at a garage sale. I then headed straight to the RoadMaster tent outside the big top where I dropped off the towbar for repairs. It's gotten too loose to stay in the stowed position a sign of some serious wear. They rebuilt the towbar like new for $155, a lot cheaper than a new bar for $1100. It did have nine years and 70,000 miles on it. I looked at a few motorhomes and really liked the layout of an older Chinook. Lots of good space for a small RV. Lou was busy checking out more of Tyson Wells vendors. The towbar repairs took about an hour so after 1.5 hours I returned to pick it up then called Lou. We returned to the RV for lunch. Chinese chicken salad for lunch. We returned to the hunt in the afternoon. I picked up a new fluorescent fixture for the bedroom. The fixture on Lou's side of the bed had a bad ballast. We found an exact match. I also found a couple of more matching small fixtures like the one I installed over one side of the dinette to replace a decorator fixture that didn't provide usable light. I also got a couple of LED lamps for them. There are a few other things we that we may return for like a new bathroom sink and counter tomorrow. A mostly leftover dinner. I had a hamburger/chorizo steak with onions, brown rice and fresh asparagus. Lou had tomatoes cucumbers fresh asparagus and a ham steak.
Saturday: (01/28) Lou made corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. After breakfast we were busy completing our visit to the big top for the purchases we still thought we needed to make. We feel for getting some of the polish/wax. By the time we try it they will be gone so you never know. We also got some things at Tyson Wells. They we stopped by the Gamblers RV Store at Rice Ranch and picked up a new bathroom sink and fittings as well as a piece of Corian counter top to go with the new sink. Also a screen door latch for Ernie's trailer and a magnet for our screen door. Haven't found a replacement latch for ours yet. I spent some time trying to get our Hughes Net Internet to work with no success yet Lou finished organizing her doll magazine articles. We managed to think of eating too late for lunch so we just snacked on some beef log and cheese and crackers. We had to save ourselves so Lou could enjoy her prime rib dinner at the Mi Casa Restaurant tonight. Actually I enjoyed it too and we topped dinner with a shared slice of berry pie.
Sunday: (01/29) Lou made pancakes with fresh cranberry topping and sausage for breakfast. I spent the morning working with the satellite system. I determined I had a bad/intermittent transmit cable. I'm getting closer but still can't get a successful crosspol test which is needed to commission the modem. A bit before noon we headed downtown. I was off to look at RV's, Lou checked out the junk vendors on Main St. For lunch we returned to Mi Casa and shared a wet burrito and a bread pudding. We returned home about 5 pm. Coleslaw, leftover prime rib and baked potatoes for dinner.
Monday: (01/30) Corned beef hash and eggs with tangelos for breakfast. I finally got the HughesNet satellite Internet system working. Persistence does pay off on occasion. I think the threat of having it repaired at the local shop scared it in to working. Those were the sentiments before the sun warmed the dish up and it stopped working again. Reception died when the LNB got warm. I put an ice pack on it and it started working again. Third problem but repaired easily enough when I get home. I have another LNB there that hopefully works better than this one. Meanwhile I'll be a night owl since it works when it's cool. We dropped by Granma's Apple Pie for lunch. Granma treated us to a nice apple pie ala mode with caramel sauce. We visited with Judy for a while then picked a couple of more things up at the Gamblers RV shop and KB Tools nearby before returning home. On the way home we had to wait a bit while they cleared a wreck. A pickup and travel trailer had turned over trying to avoid hitting a dead dog in the road. Better to hit the dog! When we got home we had to balance lunch with some beef log and cheese. We had a late dinner of Chorizo hamburgers.
A nice sunset and we shared our neighbors campfire.
Tuesday: (01/31) Leftover pancakes with cranberry topping and sausage for breakfast. We had planned on leaving Quartzsite this morning after a couple of stops to look at things we hadn't visited yet but on our way we remembered we intended to get the RV windshields replaced. Both windshields need replacement. We stopped at Windshield Magic on Main Street and arranged for the replacement, possibly tomorrow if the glass comes in.
Before we left this morning Lou started some beans in the slow cooker. They were ready by lunch time so she turned them into chili for lunch. We relaxed at home in the afternoon. For dinner Lou prepared BBQ ribs with baked potatoes and fresh asparagus.
Wednesday: (02/01) Leftover corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Actually the eggs aren't leftover. It's sunny and 38 degrees here at 9am. Pretty typical. Typically pretty. After breakfast, Lou prepared a ham pepper onion and cheese salad for lunch. Since the frying pan was dirty after frying the eggs she usually uses it to prepare other meals, like grilling the ham, onions and peppers before doing dishes. We received word that our windshields would be in today and they set an appointment for 3pm today to install them. We ran a few errands and stopped by at the Craft Show at the Big Top then returned home for lunch. We enjoyed Lou's ham pepper onion and cheese salad for lunch.
I picked up some silver bubble insulation at Herb's Hardware and installed some tinfoil around the satellite LNB and made a shade for the LNB out of the silver bubble insulation.
It didn't fail today, possibly because of the shade and possibly because it was cooler today. At 2:30 we got ready to roll and drove downtown for our appointment.
Jeff, the installer, did an excellent job on the installation though he was having some back problems at the time. We've never been able to see so clearly through our windshields. The installation was finished at 5:30 and we returned the RV to our campsite, which was saved by our chairs having spent the afternoon there. We had planned to go to the QIA for their pancake dinner but Windshield Magic gave us a coupon for Silly Al's Pizza so we went there for dinner (above right). We got a ginormous Al's Combo pizza which more than satisfied our appetite for dinner and provided three more meals for the future. Thanks Jeff. Now our tasks here are "really" finally completed so we should be off in the morning toward Yuma.
Desert flowers seen at Hi Jolly.
(GPS: 33.70700416, -114.21432001)
Friday: (01/27) We were up for a nice sunrise. Cereal for breakfast. I removed the towbar from the RV and put it in the Jeep. We headed toward the big top but had to stop at a couple of garage sales and a thrift store on the way. I found a couple of "new" shirts at the thrift store. Lou found an extension wall mirror at a garage sale. I then headed straight to the RoadMaster tent outside the big top where I dropped off the towbar for repairs. It's gotten too loose to stay in the stowed position a sign of some serious wear. They rebuilt the towbar like new for $155, a lot cheaper than a new bar for $1100. It did have nine years and 70,000 miles on it. I looked at a few motorhomes and really liked the layout of an older Chinook. Lots of good space for a small RV. Lou was busy checking out more of Tyson Wells vendors. The towbar repairs took about an hour so after 1.5 hours I returned to pick it up then called Lou. We returned to the RV for lunch. Chinese chicken salad for lunch. We returned to the hunt in the afternoon. I picked up a new fluorescent fixture for the bedroom. The fixture on Lou's side of the bed had a bad ballast. We found an exact match. I also found a couple of more matching small fixtures like the one I installed over one side of the dinette to replace a decorator fixture that didn't provide usable light. I also got a couple of LED lamps for them. There are a few other things we that we may return for like a new bathroom sink and counter tomorrow. A mostly leftover dinner. I had a hamburger/chorizo steak with onions, brown rice and fresh asparagus. Lou had tomatoes cucumbers fresh asparagus and a ham steak.
Saturday: (01/28) Lou made corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. After breakfast we were busy completing our visit to the big top for the purchases we still thought we needed to make. We feel for getting some of the polish/wax. By the time we try it they will be gone so you never know. We also got some things at Tyson Wells. They we stopped by the Gamblers RV Store at Rice Ranch and picked up a new bathroom sink and fittings as well as a piece of Corian counter top to go with the new sink. Also a screen door latch for Ernie's trailer and a magnet for our screen door. Haven't found a replacement latch for ours yet. I spent some time trying to get our Hughes Net Internet to work with no success yet Lou finished organizing her doll magazine articles. We managed to think of eating too late for lunch so we just snacked on some beef log and cheese and crackers. We had to save ourselves so Lou could enjoy her prime rib dinner at the Mi Casa Restaurant tonight. Actually I enjoyed it too and we topped dinner with a shared slice of berry pie.
Sunday: (01/29) Lou made pancakes with fresh cranberry topping and sausage for breakfast. I spent the morning working with the satellite system. I determined I had a bad/intermittent transmit cable. I'm getting closer but still can't get a successful crosspol test which is needed to commission the modem. A bit before noon we headed downtown. I was off to look at RV's, Lou checked out the junk vendors on Main St. For lunch we returned to Mi Casa and shared a wet burrito and a bread pudding. We returned home about 5 pm. Coleslaw, leftover prime rib and baked potatoes for dinner.
Monday: (01/30) Corned beef hash and eggs with tangelos for breakfast. I finally got the HughesNet satellite Internet system working. Persistence does pay off on occasion. I think the threat of having it repaired at the local shop scared it in to working. Those were the sentiments before the sun warmed the dish up and it stopped working again. Reception died when the LNB got warm. I put an ice pack on it and it started working again. Third problem but repaired easily enough when I get home. I have another LNB there that hopefully works better than this one. Meanwhile I'll be a night owl since it works when it's cool. We dropped by Granma's Apple Pie for lunch. Granma treated us to a nice apple pie ala mode with caramel sauce. We visited with Judy for a while then picked a couple of more things up at the Gamblers RV shop and KB Tools nearby before returning home. On the way home we had to wait a bit while they cleared a wreck. A pickup and travel trailer had turned over trying to avoid hitting a dead dog in the road. Better to hit the dog! When we got home we had to balance lunch with some beef log and cheese. We had a late dinner of Chorizo hamburgers.
A nice sunset and we shared our neighbors campfire.
Tuesday: (01/31) Leftover pancakes with cranberry topping and sausage for breakfast. We had planned on leaving Quartzsite this morning after a couple of stops to look at things we hadn't visited yet but on our way we remembered we intended to get the RV windshields replaced. Both windshields need replacement. We stopped at Windshield Magic on Main Street and arranged for the replacement, possibly tomorrow if the glass comes in.
Before we left this morning Lou started some beans in the slow cooker. They were ready by lunch time so she turned them into chili for lunch. We relaxed at home in the afternoon. For dinner Lou prepared BBQ ribs with baked potatoes and fresh asparagus.
Wednesday: (02/01) Leftover corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Actually the eggs aren't leftover. It's sunny and 38 degrees here at 9am. Pretty typical. Typically pretty. After breakfast, Lou prepared a ham pepper onion and cheese salad for lunch. Since the frying pan was dirty after frying the eggs she usually uses it to prepare other meals, like grilling the ham, onions and peppers before doing dishes. We received word that our windshields would be in today and they set an appointment for 3pm today to install them. We ran a few errands and stopped by at the Craft Show at the Big Top then returned home for lunch. We enjoyed Lou's ham pepper onion and cheese salad for lunch.
I picked up some silver bubble insulation at Herb's Hardware and installed some tinfoil around the satellite LNB and made a shade for the LNB out of the silver bubble insulation.
It didn't fail today, possibly because of the shade and possibly because it was cooler today. At 2:30 we got ready to roll and drove downtown for our appointment.
Jeff, the installer, did an excellent job on the installation though he was having some back problems at the time. We've never been able to see so clearly through our windshields. The installation was finished at 5:30 and we returned the RV to our campsite, which was saved by our chairs having spent the afternoon there. We had planned to go to the QIA for their pancake dinner but Windshield Magic gave us a coupon for Silly Al's Pizza so we went there for dinner (above right). We got a ginormous Al's Combo pizza which more than satisfied our appetite for dinner and provided three more meals for the future. Thanks Jeff. Now our tasks here are "really" finally completed so we should be off in the morning toward Yuma.
Desert flowers seen at Hi Jolly.
New magnetic latch for screen door.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A Shady Spot In The Desert
Thursday: (03/17) Oatmeal with yogurt and diced apple for breakfast. We drove over toward Yuma via Mitry Lake. On the way we also took a look a Yuma Lake. It's more of a pond but has some nice free camping spots as well. Next stop was the Arizona Marketplace. We bought a sun screen for our awning and vegetables. For lunch we stopped at Eat's Chinese Buffet, as usual. We stopped at Lowe's for some hardware and Barnes and Noble's to pick up the "Milepost" book we ordered. Now we need to start reading about the trip to Alaska. Then Lou made a quick check of all the thrift stores. I got a haircut and we did our laundry. With all that stuff out of the way we stopped at Food City market and Walmart's, got gas and headed home. It was after 8pm when we got back to the RV. Good thing Lou started some beans in our powerless crock pot before we left. They were perfect.
Friday: (03/18) We erected our sun shade this morning. It slips into a slot on the awning roller. We also got an end shade and now are well protected from the sun. Of course now we'll be leaving. Our neighbor came over to help since we were having trouble getting it in the slot. Now sure why, but we succeeded finally. The neighbor gave us a couple of pointers such as that we needed to drill and pin the upper arms that are only held out by a friction knob. We went to get our mail in Bard and got our date shakes for lunch nearby. I also made some repairs to our dinette. Lou was busy sewing and suddenly, the day was gone. Corned beef hash with eggs for breakfast. Date milk shakes for lunch, More beans for dinner.
Saturday: (02/19) We headed back to the Arizona Marketplace this morning. I needed some more heavy duty tent stakes, bungee cords and RV awning de-flappers. We finished that quickly enough. Then we checked a bunch of garage sales and looked around the town of Fortuna Foothills East of Yuma. It is a town of own your own RV lots. The weather was much cooler today making it a perfect day though viability was way down. Chorizo and eggs for breakfast. Lou and I shared a combination plate of chili relleno, chili verde burrito and a beef taco at Mi Fajita Restaurant in Fortuna Foothills. Lou fixed broccoli pork for dinner.
Friday: (03/18) We erected our sun shade this morning. It slips into a slot on the awning roller. We also got an end shade and now are well protected from the sun. Of course now we'll be leaving. Our neighbor came over to help since we were having trouble getting it in the slot. Now sure why, but we succeeded finally. The neighbor gave us a couple of pointers such as that we needed to drill and pin the upper arms that are only held out by a friction knob. We went to get our mail in Bard and got our date shakes for lunch nearby. I also made some repairs to our dinette. Lou was busy sewing and suddenly, the day was gone. Corned beef hash with eggs for breakfast. Date milk shakes for lunch, More beans for dinner.
Saturday: (02/19) We headed back to the Arizona Marketplace this morning. I needed some more heavy duty tent stakes, bungee cords and RV awning de-flappers. We finished that quickly enough. Then we checked a bunch of garage sales and looked around the town of Fortuna Foothills East of Yuma. It is a town of own your own RV lots. The weather was much cooler today making it a perfect day though viability was way down. Chorizo and eggs for breakfast. Lou and I shared a combination plate of chili relleno, chili verde burrito and a beef taco at Mi Fajita Restaurant in Fortuna Foothills. Lou fixed broccoli pork for dinner.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Even Colder
Tuesday: Dawn studied and I goofed off all day.
Wednesday: I took a trip down to San Jose again about noon. The tenant called yesterday afternoon complaining about mice in her kitchen, still. Lou's been working on sealing under the sink but there still leaving little traces around the kitchen. I did some more sealing under the sink. I'm not sure how big the mice are but I couldn't see any way there were getting in around the pipes but caulked or taped over all openings, no matter how tiny.
I then checked under the dishwasher. It had been removed when we installed the new flooring a couple of months ago and I caulked all around the edge and "knew" there were no openings there. Wrong. There was about a one inch mouse hole there. It was quite difficult to seal it off since it was on the back wall and my arm are just about at the max working back there through the 3" space under the dishwasher. I didn't have any flooring compound but did place a metal fender washer in the hole and covered it on top with a PVC cover. I then went under the house and finally found the other side of their route and covered the area with a piece of plywood. Hopefully they give up and leave now.
I also checked the orange tree stump. I had added chemicals to help disolve it. It's too close to the gas meter, and house to grind out.
Thursday: Dawn and I were up too early to head down to San Jose to a pancake breakfast at my former place of "work." We had a nice breakfast of pancakes and sausage and a lot of visiting. The picture above is of the Traffic Operations Center I used to work at. The monitors are new replacing the nine year old previous monitors. i brought my camera but forgot to get any pictures of the breakfast. there was quite a crowd as usual. As I was leaving I snapped the above picture.
We dropped by the San Jose library to pick up some books Dawn had requested through the inter-library link. I picked up some egg rolls at the House Of Eggrolls in Santa Clara on our way home. Dawn stopped by Rasputin's used book store as I picked up a couple of things at Trader Joe's market.
After lunch of the egg rolls, Dawn studied and we both worked on preparation for departure next Tuesday.
Friday and Saturday: I worked on cleaning up the RV. I then decided to do some of the things on the RV ToDo list. I wanted to finalize the load management for when we're on battery power. Because of where the power panel is located, it was more difficult than I would have liked but it's now done. The power panel was split into two sides, inverter loads and non inverter (utility or generator) loads. Its been limited by the inverter input until now and the whole RV was on one circuit. Not the best. I also added a new outlet that is not on the inverter and to be used for the electric heater. I also added a few plug strips for easier individual load shedding.
All went well until the last plugstrip. I then broke the TV installing the plug strip. It can only happen to me, I hope. Oh well, it would have been obsolete next year anyway so now I guess we can get a new HD TV instead. That wont be for a while though so we'll be a single TV RV for a while. It's a tough life.
Sunday: Laundry day, not exciting but necessary. The RV fridge was loaded from the house. Other packing was done. Pretty close to ready to leave.
Dawn and I went downtown to the Palo Alto Cremery for dinner. We both had pot roast. Very good. And for desert we shared a chocolate pecan pie.
Monday: Up very early to take Dawn down to San Jose. She has a final at 11am and I have a dentist appointment in Cupertino at 9am so Dawn had to get to San Jose before I return North to Cupertino. I actually got in about 8:30 and was back in San Jose by 10am, so why the hurry.
When we dropped by for her test, it wasn't ready so we went shopping. At 5:15, she met with her professor and got her test but it's too late to do today so tomorrow morning she will take the test. (The test needs to be enlarged for her to take the test). So, we probably wont get back to Palo Alto until later Tuesday. We then need to do the final prep to leave. We may get out late Tuesday or Wednesday morning?
Wednesday: I took a trip down to San Jose again about noon. The tenant called yesterday afternoon complaining about mice in her kitchen, still. Lou's been working on sealing under the sink but there still leaving little traces around the kitchen. I did some more sealing under the sink. I'm not sure how big the mice are but I couldn't see any way there were getting in around the pipes but caulked or taped over all openings, no matter how tiny.
I then checked under the dishwasher. It had been removed when we installed the new flooring a couple of months ago and I caulked all around the edge and "knew" there were no openings there. Wrong. There was about a one inch mouse hole there. It was quite difficult to seal it off since it was on the back wall and my arm are just about at the max working back there through the 3" space under the dishwasher. I didn't have any flooring compound but did place a metal fender washer in the hole and covered it on top with a PVC cover. I then went under the house and finally found the other side of their route and covered the area with a piece of plywood. Hopefully they give up and leave now.
I also checked the orange tree stump. I had added chemicals to help disolve it. It's too close to the gas meter, and house to grind out.
Thursday: Dawn and I were up too early to head down to San Jose to a pancake breakfast at my former place of "work." We had a nice breakfast of pancakes and sausage and a lot of visiting. The picture above is of the Traffic Operations Center I used to work at. The monitors are new replacing the nine year old previous monitors. i brought my camera but forgot to get any pictures of the breakfast. there was quite a crowd as usual. As I was leaving I snapped the above picture.
We dropped by the San Jose library to pick up some books Dawn had requested through the inter-library link. I picked up some egg rolls at the House Of Eggrolls in Santa Clara on our way home. Dawn stopped by Rasputin's used book store as I picked up a couple of things at Trader Joe's market.
After lunch of the egg rolls, Dawn studied and we both worked on preparation for departure next Tuesday.
Friday and Saturday: I worked on cleaning up the RV. I then decided to do some of the things on the RV ToDo list. I wanted to finalize the load management for when we're on battery power. Because of where the power panel is located, it was more difficult than I would have liked but it's now done. The power panel was split into two sides, inverter loads and non inverter (utility or generator) loads. Its been limited by the inverter input until now and the whole RV was on one circuit. Not the best. I also added a new outlet that is not on the inverter and to be used for the electric heater. I also added a few plug strips for easier individual load shedding.
All went well until the last plugstrip. I then broke the TV installing the plug strip. It can only happen to me, I hope. Oh well, it would have been obsolete next year anyway so now I guess we can get a new HD TV instead. That wont be for a while though so we'll be a single TV RV for a while. It's a tough life.
Sunday: Laundry day, not exciting but necessary. The RV fridge was loaded from the house. Other packing was done. Pretty close to ready to leave.
Dawn and I went downtown to the Palo Alto Cremery for dinner. We both had pot roast. Very good. And for desert we shared a chocolate pecan pie.
Monday: Up very early to take Dawn down to San Jose. She has a final at 11am and I have a dentist appointment in Cupertino at 9am so Dawn had to get to San Jose before I return North to Cupertino. I actually got in about 8:30 and was back in San Jose by 10am, so why the hurry.
When we dropped by for her test, it wasn't ready so we went shopping. At 5:15, she met with her professor and got her test but it's too late to do today so tomorrow morning she will take the test. (The test needs to be enlarged for her to take the test). So, we probably wont get back to Palo Alto until later Tuesday. We then need to do the final prep to leave. We may get out late Tuesday or Wednesday morning?
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Time To Mesh
We have wireless internet at the house and in the RV. I've been trying for years to find a better system that allows a good signal anywhere around the house, yard and RV. I also would like to have the ability to easily share my Internet connection with fellow campers when we're on the road. When I share, I want some access and bandwidth limitation controls though. I hadn't found a good system that provided a good signal let alone some control, until now.
I ordered a couple of Meraki Outdoor Repeaters Sunday and they arrived Monday afternoon. One of the things I really like is an appliance approach to technology. I just plugged it in and it worked immediately. I then logged in to it's dashboard and easily setup Id's, passwords, and features. Nice system.
Meraki isn't really a home router or access point product. They are trying to setup public Internet access using "mesh" networks. They're located in Mountain View a few miles from home here in Palo Alto. The goal is cheap ubiquitous Internet access. Google is evidently assisting them get started.
I installed a repeater on the roof. It is connected to our DSL Internet connection. The range should be 100-700 feet in radius depending on obstructions. That's been one of the problems. Our house seems to be a very efficient radio shield. Since the device is rated for outdoor installation and is on the roof, the signal is quite good anywhere in the house since the roof doesn't shield the radio waves like the wire lath in the stucco walls does. Also since it is up there, coverage is good in the front and back yards as well.
I also installed a second repeater in the RV and linked it to the home network. When I'm home, I don't need to use the Hughes Satellite Internet dish on the RV but do like to use the RV as a quiet office occasionally. The Meraki repeaters talk to each other and connect into a mesh network. The unit in the RV can get to the Internet via the repeater in the house when parked at home. It can provide wireless connections using the Hughes Satellite Internet connection when on the road. Also, it can provide connections to other campers for free or for fee which can easily be setup or changed as needed using the dashboard. It takes a minute or so for the change to be effective.
It also has the capability to provide both a private wireless system and the public access at the same time or can have a white list of for free access users while providing fee access to others.
The result will hopefully be a better system providing more features with easier control.
One other neat thing is that expanding the mesh network is quite easy and cheap. Meraki Mini repeaters cost $49. The outdoor versions ($99) are basically the same but in a weatherproof housing with the power provided over the cat5 cable. If this works out, I'll probably add another at Dawn's apartment in San Jose. When the RV is parked there it could mesh with it and have a connection. Also, I could carry a spare to loan out at RV rallys or gatherings to increase the range to assist fellow campers to get their email.
Now, to try to reduce the costs of Internet access. Maybe some neighbors could utilize the system and just a couple could pay the telephone company moguls. Or, maybe I can convince a neighbor to install a repeater and I could use their connection and eliminate my copper telephone/DSL connection completely. We currently use Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) as our home phone. The only reason for the copper connection is to have a fast Internet connection (the DSL). Even if neither cost reducing advantage materializes The things are still great for my own WiFi access, better than anything previously tried like router/access points from Linksys, D-link, Netgear, and Belkin.
I've set the system up to provide for fee access here at home with my own laptop set on the white list. The thinks have been working out as expected and perform quite well.
Since I don't have a lot of experience with these yet and none on the road, this posting may be edited if my experience proves different than expected and as specification, features and tests indicate.
More information links:
Meraki Site
Google and Meraki
I ordered a couple of Meraki Outdoor Repeaters Sunday and they arrived Monday afternoon. One of the things I really like is an appliance approach to technology. I just plugged it in and it worked immediately. I then logged in to it's dashboard and easily setup Id's, passwords, and features. Nice system.
Meraki isn't really a home router or access point product. They are trying to setup public Internet access using "mesh" networks. They're located in Mountain View a few miles from home here in Palo Alto. The goal is cheap ubiquitous Internet access. Google is evidently assisting them get started.
I installed a repeater on the roof. It is connected to our DSL Internet connection. The range should be 100-700 feet in radius depending on obstructions. That's been one of the problems. Our house seems to be a very efficient radio shield. Since the device is rated for outdoor installation and is on the roof, the signal is quite good anywhere in the house since the roof doesn't shield the radio waves like the wire lath in the stucco walls does. Also since it is up there, coverage is good in the front and back yards as well.
I also installed a second repeater in the RV and linked it to the home network. When I'm home, I don't need to use the Hughes Satellite Internet dish on the RV but do like to use the RV as a quiet office occasionally. The Meraki repeaters talk to each other and connect into a mesh network. The unit in the RV can get to the Internet via the repeater in the house when parked at home. It can provide wireless connections using the Hughes Satellite Internet connection when on the road. Also, it can provide connections to other campers for free or for fee which can easily be setup or changed as needed using the dashboard. It takes a minute or so for the change to be effective.
It also has the capability to provide both a private wireless system and the public access at the same time or can have a white list of for free access users while providing fee access to others.
The result will hopefully be a better system providing more features with easier control.
One other neat thing is that expanding the mesh network is quite easy and cheap. Meraki Mini repeaters cost $49. The outdoor versions ($99) are basically the same but in a weatherproof housing with the power provided over the cat5 cable. If this works out, I'll probably add another at Dawn's apartment in San Jose. When the RV is parked there it could mesh with it and have a connection. Also, I could carry a spare to loan out at RV rallys or gatherings to increase the range to assist fellow campers to get their email.
Now, to try to reduce the costs of Internet access. Maybe some neighbors could utilize the system and just a couple could pay the telephone company moguls. Or, maybe I can convince a neighbor to install a repeater and I could use their connection and eliminate my copper telephone/DSL connection completely. We currently use Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) as our home phone. The only reason for the copper connection is to have a fast Internet connection (the DSL). Even if neither cost reducing advantage materializes The things are still great for my own WiFi access, better than anything previously tried like router/access points from Linksys, D-link, Netgear, and Belkin.
I've set the system up to provide for fee access here at home with my own laptop set on the white list. The thinks have been working out as expected and perform quite well.
Since I don't have a lot of experience with these yet and none on the road, this posting may be edited if my experience proves different than expected and as specification, features and tests indicate.
More information links:
Meraki Site
Google and Meraki
Sunday, January 29, 2006
NetZero VOIP Phone
I tried out the new NetZero phone service. I've been using Vonage in the RV and at home but sometimes it doesn't work too well in the RV due to the satellite uplink bandwidth. Has worked best at night, sometimes not too well during the day. NetZero has a satellite setting that seemed to work well for my test calls around noon today.
They have several account options from free (no incoming from real phones) to $14.95 per month (unlimited and includes a phone number so real phones can call). They allow for the first three months free and you can cancel anytime. I opted for the unlimited for 14.95 and got my phone number. Just like Vonage everything went well on setup and was working in a few minutes. Unlike Vonage, it's using my laptop for the calls but a USB adaptor is available that will allow use of regular phones. If it continues to work well, I'll order the adapter and set up the program in my NAP (Network Access Point) system. Here's hoping!
They have several account options from free (no incoming from real phones) to $14.95 per month (unlimited and includes a phone number so real phones can call). They allow for the first three months free and you can cancel anytime. I opted for the unlimited for 14.95 and got my phone number. Just like Vonage everything went well on setup and was working in a few minutes. Unlike Vonage, it's using my laptop for the calls but a USB adaptor is available that will allow use of regular phones. If it continues to work well, I'll order the adapter and set up the program in my NAP (Network Access Point) system. Here's hoping!
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Installed The Battery Monitor
I finally installed the Link 10 Meter. I got it last winter shortly after being in Quartzsite. After I installed the solar panels which I got at the same time, I didn't get around to installing the Link 10 battery monitor meter as I should have. It's great. Now I can see what's going on. Is the battery charging or discharging. How many ampere hours have I used etc. It can even be used to automatically start the generator but that, I didn't do, yet.
It was quite a task installing the shunt (top left picture) that is used to measure the current. It needed to be installed in the battery ground cable and that is behind the big inverter and at the back of the compartment. After a few hours work at arms length, and a few choice @%$# words everything was ready.
The meter was installed in the pantry area (top right picture) where the other electrical controls and the existing inverter control panel are. It doesn't look big, but it does a lot. The only adjustment that was needed was to set the battery capacity to match my system.
I dressed up the wiring with the tubing to make a neater appearance and to protect the wiring.
I also installed a new small inverter. I replaced the existing 400w inverter with a 700w inverter and installed a larger fuse to allow for more loading. Small is getting big. The small inverter powers up the Satellite system and the computers. It will also be used to power the bedroom TV. This inverter is always on and is used like a UPS system for the satellite system.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Quartzsite Day 13
One more day here in the LTVA, then I guess I'll move East of town and maybe drop by the Escapee Boomers Birds Of A Feather group campsite. Then?
Today I went by the hardware store to get some small wood screws to finish installing the new LED light fixture in the bathroom. I installed it in the bathroom for a night light. It's made for boats as evidenced by the fact it has two operation modes, red or white lites. With the red lite on, I'll be ready to be able to see at night if I run aground.
I browsed around the RV's some more and dropped by the big top tent to get a couple of more LED flashlights.
I worked on the Map Project some more.. These maps use the Google Map Application Interface (API). It's now functional for all trip routes and campsites.
Here is the link.
There is more work needed but it's usable now.
Today I went by the hardware store to get some small wood screws to finish installing the new LED light fixture in the bathroom. I installed it in the bathroom for a night light. It's made for boats as evidenced by the fact it has two operation modes, red or white lites. With the red lite on, I'll be ready to be able to see at night if I run aground.
I browsed around the RV's some more and dropped by the big top tent to get a couple of more LED flashlights.
I worked on the Map Project some more.. These maps use the Google Map Application Interface (API). It's now functional for all trip routes and campsites.
Here is the link.
There is more work needed but it's usable now.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Visit to Blythe
Thursday: Since we were in Blythe, Ca to see the vet, Lou and Dawn departed from there to head home. I did some shopping at the hardware store. I want to rig up a better mount for the solar so that all panels can have the best exposure to the sun, what there is of it. I also did the laundry and some grocery shopping. I then returned to Quartzsite. I needed to dump. We've been out dry camped for a week with the three of us and the tanks were getting full. I stopped and took a shower before dumping. There was a bit of a line at the dump but not as bad as it will be after all these people that have just arrived have been here a couple of days. I returned to our campsite and the chairs defended the site form the invading forces thankfully. I cleaned up the RV and made the beds etc. There are now 2-3 times as many people here as were here when we arrived. The RV show does draw them in.
Friday: I tinkered with the solar panel mounts. I was thinking of some elaborate means of getting the rear panels higher to avoid a shadow due to the low winter sun. Well, It seems i don't need to. I was able to set the rear panel back on it's mount, not just tilted but relocated back and that seems to do the trick. 25 amps of charge at noon. Of course that only amounts to about 100-120 ampere hours of charge per day. I am a big consumer, so I use more then 200 ampere hours per day. So some generator is still needed.
I ventured over to Q Mountain estates to check on RV lots. $60-140K. Interesting but too expensive and restricted.
I looked at an RV. It's roomy. Maybe my next rig?
Friday: I tinkered with the solar panel mounts. I was thinking of some elaborate means of getting the rear panels higher to avoid a shadow due to the low winter sun. Well, It seems i don't need to. I was able to set the rear panel back on it's mount, not just tilted but relocated back and that seems to do the trick. 25 amps of charge at noon. Of course that only amounts to about 100-120 ampere hours of charge per day. I am a big consumer, so I use more then 200 ampere hours per day. So some generator is still needed.
I ventured over to Q Mountain estates to check on RV lots. $60-140K. Interesting but too expensive and restricted.
I looked at an RV. It's roomy. Maybe my next rig?
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Quartzsite Flea Markets
Another day at the markets. We started at the Main Event, the vendors in Northwest Quartzsite. This is the better market. Right now there are an awful lot of rock vendors at all the other markets. The RV Show begins the 21st, next Saturday.
Lou and Dawn thoroughly examined the market while I casually looked and made my way back to the RV. Their last stop was to attend a flint knapping class, making arrowheads out of rocks. They learned a lot form Jerry Nine Fingers, the instructor. ??
One thing I looked at was a wind turbine generator. The idea has always impressed me. When the solar panels loose the sun because of clouds, there is often wind to come to the rescue. A 400 watt turbine should be capable of supplying as much energy as the solar panels do at a significantly lower cost, just $620, a little more than one solar panel. So it looks like something to do, right? Well, maybe not, the vendors ammeter only showed 2 amps during some very brisk gusts today when i looked at it, Should have been in the 15-20 amp area to be equivalent. So more looking is in order.
Speaking of solar, I tilted up a couple of the panels and at noon I was getting 20 amps charge, 15-17 amps at 10am and 3pm. Not bad. Unfortunately, I can't tilt all the panels due to shadowing. I need to devise a way to elevate as well as tilt the rear panels. I'll start tinkering next week.
Lou and Dawn thoroughly examined the market while I casually looked and made my way back to the RV. Their last stop was to attend a flint knapping class, making arrowheads out of rocks. They learned a lot form Jerry Nine Fingers, the instructor. ??
One thing I looked at was a wind turbine generator. The idea has always impressed me. When the solar panels loose the sun because of clouds, there is often wind to come to the rescue. A 400 watt turbine should be capable of supplying as much energy as the solar panels do at a significantly lower cost, just $620, a little more than one solar panel. So it looks like something to do, right? Well, maybe not, the vendors ammeter only showed 2 amps during some very brisk gusts today when i looked at it, Should have been in the 15-20 amp area to be equivalent. So more looking is in order.
Speaking of solar, I tilted up a couple of the panels and at noon I was getting 20 amps charge, 15-17 amps at 10am and 3pm. Not bad. Unfortunately, I can't tilt all the panels due to shadowing. I need to devise a way to elevate as well as tilt the rear panels. I'll start tinkering next week.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Pinnacles,Ca
For some reason it took a really long time to get ready this time. Of course, we did reorganize just about everything. Stuff that hadn't been used or was seldom used stayed home. Somehow we seemed to eventually get everything into place.
Friday I wired the Hughes Autoformer into a compartment. Since I got it, I've been having to chain it up outside. When we were in Pomona a few weeks ago, a representative from Hughes said it would be OK in the compartment as long as it had some room for air circulation around it. The RV had a permanently attached 30' power cord which I shortened to 2' to plug into the transformer.
We spent most of Saturday morning preparing to leave. I built a shelf where the coffee pot used to be. We removed the built-in coffee maker because we use the microwave for our tea. Lou has an occasional cup of coffee and uses coffee bags. Easy to store, easy to brew, always fresh.
We finally got away a bit after 2pm. We had a few errands so I took the RV on mine and Lou and Dawn the toad for theirs. We met In Gilroy, about 54 miles South of home. Not far, but it ended up being as far as we got. It seems to get dark early now. We had dinner at the Longhouse restaurant. We asked if we could spend the night in their lot and they said OK. The local Walmart doesn't allow overnighters, due to a city ordinance. The restaurant is also in the city but we stayed and had no problem.
Except that we had a very heavy rain that night. The window by the dinette leaked. Made Dawn's bedding quite wet and ruined the laminate on the table top. I clamped it together and Hope it turns out OK .
We didn't do much better getting away from Gilroy, and then Hollister. We finally arrived at the Pinnacles a little after 1pm. It's been raining all day. For some reason there aren't any other transient campers in the campground. There are the usual 6 or so ranger/botanist trailers here. They're her working on the California Condor restoration. We've spent the afternoon lazying around watching the beasts outside.
Friday I wired the Hughes Autoformer into a compartment. Since I got it, I've been having to chain it up outside. When we were in Pomona a few weeks ago, a representative from Hughes said it would be OK in the compartment as long as it had some room for air circulation around it. The RV had a permanently attached 30' power cord which I shortened to 2' to plug into the transformer.
We spent most of Saturday morning preparing to leave. I built a shelf where the coffee pot used to be. We removed the built-in coffee maker because we use the microwave for our tea. Lou has an occasional cup of coffee and uses coffee bags. Easy to store, easy to brew, always fresh.
We finally got away a bit after 2pm. We had a few errands so I took the RV on mine and Lou and Dawn the toad for theirs. We met In Gilroy, about 54 miles South of home. Not far, but it ended up being as far as we got. It seems to get dark early now. We had dinner at the Longhouse restaurant. We asked if we could spend the night in their lot and they said OK. The local Walmart doesn't allow overnighters, due to a city ordinance. The restaurant is also in the city but we stayed and had no problem.
Except that we had a very heavy rain that night. The window by the dinette leaked. Made Dawn's bedding quite wet and ruined the laminate on the table top. I clamped it together and Hope it turns out OK .
We didn't do much better getting away from Gilroy, and then Hollister. We finally arrived at the Pinnacles a little after 1pm. It's been raining all day. For some reason there aren't any other transient campers in the campground. There are the usual 6 or so ranger/botanist trailers here. They're her working on the California Condor restoration. We've spent the afternoon lazying around watching the beasts outside.
Thursday, November 3, 2005
New Articles And Layout
I added a couple of new articles to our RVexperience. Both these articles are related to yesterday's experience, sort of. One is about our macerator pump that is used to drain the holding tanks using a small hose and when the drain point may be up to 20 feet higher than the RV.
The other article is about another bad black water experience we had due to making bad assumptions.
Macerator Use
What Drains Where?
I also made a couple of changes to donwood.org's layout. I added two sub-blogs one titled "Don's Random Thoughts" (yes I do occasionally think, though not as often as I should). I moved a previous post to it to start it out (I didn't have a thought today.) The second sub-blog is "Our Itinerary" which will contain notes on our plans. Our itinerary isn't guaranteed, just a list of what we might do.
I also renamed "RV Park Reviews" to "Campground Reviews". It just seems more descriptive.
The other article is about another bad black water experience we had due to making bad assumptions.
Macerator Use
What Drains Where?
I also made a couple of changes to donwood.org's layout. I added two sub-blogs one titled "Don's Random Thoughts" (yes I do occasionally think, though not as often as I should). I moved a previous post to it to start it out (I didn't have a thought today.) The second sub-blog is "Our Itinerary" which will contain notes on our plans. Our itinerary isn't guaranteed, just a list of what we might do.
I also renamed "RV Park Reviews" to "Campground Reviews". It just seems more descriptive.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Here Comes The Heat
We've had a cool spell the past week here in Bakersfield, highs in the mid 90's. Today it is supposed to be the mid 100's, as in possibly 106 degrees (not possibly 150 degrees, just to clarify).
I received the Hughes Autoformer that I ordered last week. I plugged it in and it works as expected. It boosts the voltage to the RV by 17 volts if it drops below 115 volts. The RV is at the end of more than 100 feet of #10 extension cords. The voltage without the AC running was about 105 volts, with AC down to 92 volts. This was how it was in the heat of the day (hot cable). Needless to say that isn't good for the AC, so it hasn't been used in over a week. The voltage inside now is 110 with the AC running. I should have gotten the Autoformer long ago.
I've been tinkering with the lawn sprinklers. New valves, new heads, and other adjustments. It looks like the rear lawn may become green again. It's nice to get wet testing and adjusting the sprinklers when it's hot. (Anything above 80 degrees is defined as hot)
I received the Hughes Autoformer that I ordered last week. I plugged it in and it works as expected. It boosts the voltage to the RV by 17 volts if it drops below 115 volts. The RV is at the end of more than 100 feet of #10 extension cords. The voltage without the AC running was about 105 volts, with AC down to 92 volts. This was how it was in the heat of the day (hot cable). Needless to say that isn't good for the AC, so it hasn't been used in over a week. The voltage inside now is 110 with the AC running. I should have gotten the Autoformer long ago.
I've been tinkering with the lawn sprinklers. New valves, new heads, and other adjustments. It looks like the rear lawn may become green again. It's nice to get wet testing and adjusting the sprinklers when it's hot. (Anything above 80 degrees is defined as hot)
Saturday, May 7, 2005
Missing Part Run
Friday, I had to dash down to Camping World to get a missing shelf for the new refrigerator. Several other errands and some shopping and I made it to Dawn's house in San Jose to do a little more work on the fence. I installed the lattice work on top of the fence. The neighbors house is an older home that sits quite high and looks down into our yard. With the lattice work the fence is about nine feet high and almost screens view from their house. I also received my new Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router from Tiger Direct. This router promises 400% better coverage. It is a preliminary new wireless standard the 802.11n which is backward compatible with the g and b standards. Installation couldn't have gone more smoothly.
Find out more at RVexperience.info.
Find out more at RVexperience.info.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Solar Panels Are On The Job
I finally completed the solar panel installation.
I installed two 120 watt and two 80 watt Kyocera solar panels which provides a total of 400 watts of power. I used Unirac 990002 Tilt mounts that allow tilting the panel either to the left or right of the vehicle for maximum power output.
The SolarBoost 2000E MPPT charge controller provides up to 25 amps of charge current.
The cable from the roof to the electrical compartment came down beside the bathroom vent to minimize the wire length. I used #8 wire throughout except for #10 jumpers at the controller end to fit the terminal block on the charge controller.
Everything was obtained from Azsolar in Cambria, Ca. I went to Quartzsite, Az looking for the best price on a system but I found the best prices I could find there to be 25% higher than that offered at Azsolar.
The system should allow normal electrical use while dry camping (boondocking). The Motosat satellite system used for the Internet connection is a bit of an energy hog using about 13 amps for everything.
I installed two 120 watt and two 80 watt Kyocera solar panels which provides a total of 400 watts of power. I used Unirac 990002 Tilt mounts that allow tilting the panel either to the left or right of the vehicle for maximum power output.
The SolarBoost 2000E MPPT charge controller provides up to 25 amps of charge current.
The cable from the roof to the electrical compartment came down beside the bathroom vent to minimize the wire length. I used #8 wire throughout except for #10 jumpers at the controller end to fit the terminal block on the charge controller.
Everything was obtained from Azsolar in Cambria, Ca. I went to Quartzsite, Az looking for the best price on a system but I found the best prices I could find there to be 25% higher than that offered at Azsolar.
The system should allow normal electrical use while dry camping (boondocking). The Motosat satellite system used for the Internet connection is a bit of an energy hog using about 13 amps for everything.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Bakersfield
It looks like rain in San Jose through Wednesday. Don went to Bakersfield to see his ailing Uncle Doug. Stopped for dinner at Harris Ranch near Coalinga. They have the worlds best chicken fried steak so that was dinner. Staying at the Wal-Mart Astoria Hotel (Wal-Marts) in Bakersfield.
Visiting relatives and the hospital to see Uncle Doug.
In some spare moments Don got the cable for the solar panels from the utility compartment to the roof. It would have been easier if the RV wasn't built backwards with the kitchen on the left. The cable needed to go up on the right side and therefore ended up going down along side the commode vent pipe. Normally it would go down the refrigerator vent but that would have made the run more than 10' longer and minimum cable length improves efficiency so the short route was used even though it was a lot harder to get through.
Visiting relatives and the hospital to see Uncle Doug.
In some spare moments Don got the cable for the solar panels from the utility compartment to the roof. It would have been easier if the RV wasn't built backwards with the kitchen on the left. The cable needed to go up on the right side and therefore ended up going down along side the commode vent pipe. Normally it would go down the refrigerator vent but that would have made the run more than 10' longer and minimum cable length improves efficiency so the short route was used even though it was a lot harder to get through.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Solar Panels
One of the main reasons I came to Quartzsite was to get a deal on my solar system. As it turns out, Quartzsite isn't the place to get a deal on solar. Their prices for panels are 25% higher than the normal low prices from reputable dealers on the Internet. They also didn't have the Kyocera panels I wanted in stock. I ended up ordering from azsolar.com. They were located in Lake Havasau, Az but moved recently to Cambria, Ca, a lot closer to home and, if not the lowest package price, darn near the lowest. I'll be able to pickup the material when it's ready and still save on shipping.
Due to pressure from management, I was intending to have the system installed here but even if they had the materials, the wait to install is at least two weeks. That's a long visit in Quartzsite. Also, from what I've seen of some of the installations, I can do a much better job anyway.
I ordered two Kyocera KC120 and two Kyocera KC80 solar panels and a SolarBoost 2000E charge controller with the Maximum Power Point Tracking feature. This should provide 25 amps of charge on a sunny day.
I also ordered a Link 10 Choice Battery Monitor from WMJ Marine. They had the lowest price available on the Internet. The "Choice' model, isn't normally available from most dealers but it provides the ability to get data from the monitor to a computer for study and review. It also can be set to automatically start the generator when needed.
I'll do an RV Experience Article when I've got the system installed.
Due to pressure from management, I was intending to have the system installed here but even if they had the materials, the wait to install is at least two weeks. That's a long visit in Quartzsite. Also, from what I've seen of some of the installations, I can do a much better job anyway.
I ordered two Kyocera KC120 and two Kyocera KC80 solar panels and a SolarBoost 2000E charge controller with the Maximum Power Point Tracking feature. This should provide 25 amps of charge on a sunny day.
I also ordered a Link 10 Choice Battery Monitor from WMJ Marine. They had the lowest price available on the Internet. The "Choice' model, isn't normally available from most dealers but it provides the ability to get data from the monitor to a computer for study and review. It also can be set to automatically start the generator when needed.
I'll do an RV Experience Article when I've got the system installed.
Thursday, December 9, 2004
VOIP Phone
A couple of weeks ago, I went to Circuit City and bought a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) device for the Vonage telephone service. When we were down at the Pinnacles last month, we had no service on our cell phones. The VOIP phone seemed like a way to have phone service almost anywhere because we can use the DataStorm satellite Internet system for the connection. Well, the test went well. It works.`It's OK most of the time in the RV and works perfectly on the house DSL connection. It's OK in the RV because the uplink breaks up occasionally due to the up bandwidth being only 20-30k while the downlink works well due to it being 250-500k. The devices lowest bandwidth requires 30k. There is a considerable delay of 1-2 seconds due to the satellite propagation delays. The delay takes a little getting used to. The delay is sort of like the delay you see on the nightly news where the reporter at their remote or network seems to be asleep when asked a question taking a couple of seconds to start their response. The sound quality is as good or better than our Verizon cell phone. In the RV, it works really well at night but during the day, sometimes, you don't get a good connection. Just hangup and try again and it usually is OK. In the house on DSL there is no difference from the SBC copper line.
What's really neat about this, in addition to the price ($15/mo for 500 minutes anywhere in US and Canada) is that you can have any phone area code you want and you can take it with you. Just unplug it from the RV, take it in the house, take it into the office, the library, anywhere there is an Broadband connection.
It's performed so well that I got another for our daughter Dawn's apartment. I'm a little upset with SBC's costs recently and while we have to keep the phone to have the DSL at both locations, we can keep the long distance and zone charges down by using Vonage. Another great thing, the hardware is free and it only requires a three month commitment. They must be confident it works. The PAP2 Lynksys adapter cost $60 at Circuit City and they give two rebates totaling $60.You can get a $50 rebate anywhere else or get the hardware directly from Vonage for free. It takes all of 5 minutes to have your new phone number working, including setup of the hardware and the account. I'm impressed!
The Vonage PAP2 adapter is the small box under the router in the middle of the picture.
What's really neat about this, in addition to the price ($15/mo for 500 minutes anywhere in US and Canada) is that you can have any phone area code you want and you can take it with you. Just unplug it from the RV, take it in the house, take it into the office, the library, anywhere there is an Broadband connection.
It's performed so well that I got another for our daughter Dawn's apartment. I'm a little upset with SBC's costs recently and while we have to keep the phone to have the DSL at both locations, we can keep the long distance and zone charges down by using Vonage. Another great thing, the hardware is free and it only requires a three month commitment. They must be confident it works. The PAP2 Lynksys adapter cost $60 at Circuit City and they give two rebates totaling $60.You can get a $50 rebate anywhere else or get the hardware directly from Vonage for free. It takes all of 5 minutes to have your new phone number working, including setup of the hardware and the account. I'm impressed!
The Vonage PAP2 adapter is the small box under the router in the middle of the picture.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
New Batteries
I've just completed some updates to the RV. I installed 6 AGM deep cycle batteries to replace to 2 wet cell Trojan batteries. This should allow for up to two days of our heavy use without the need to run the generator. AGM Batteries are no maintenance low internal resistance batteries that are great for high current use and fast recharge, good for use with the inverter.
This Christmas, when we go to Las Vegas and Arizona, I'll get some solar panels installed. That should complete all the modifications that are planned. About 400 watts of panels should allow normal electrical use while dry camping (boondocking). The Motosat satellite system used for the Internet connection is a bit of an energy hog drawing about 10 amps without considering the laptop(s).
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