The power rebuild

So what’s been happing at the 5er?

Well we finally found out why our solar system has been so sporadic in operation. After the original install all seemed to work as expected until we boon docked in one of the lower 48 states on the way to AZ. At that time after traveling all day in bright sunny skies I was disappointed to find that my batteries were only about 3/4 charged. 

Once we got to our present location I have been working on a lot of other things getting the 5er updated and doing needed repairs “propane system comes to mind”. Well now that I have had some spare time and am still getting mixed results with the solar I meant to look closer into the issue.

So the other day after listening to my bride voice her opinion about the cost of electricity here at the RV Resort I started to switch the 5er over to straight solar when Poof, the hole system went down. Lost all power to everything. Now I can tell you this even during a bright sunny day in Yuma when the power goes out in the old 5er, things get earie quite quickly and the shadows set in. Wowwwwwwww!

Ok so I start to look at what might be the cause of our lack of power making the usual checks for voltage and fuse condition. Nothing! Power to the manual transfer switch I built? Nope! What the heck, checked at the shut off and still no 12 volt power. Not even any voltage coming from the solar panels, this is nuts!!!!

Now I check at the outside terminal of the battery bank box, this is virtually checking at the battery and still nothing but some residual voltage. So I remove the battery ventilation system and cover to the battery bank then after deciphering the wiring “first 6 volt in series and then 12 volt parallel” I begin testing voltage at each battery. Bang 6 plus volts at each battery leaving me only with the cabling to be tested. One less than slight pull on the positive cables revealed they were in fact intact but after reaching further down sparks started emitting from the negative cables.

Not that this is how you want to find a problem but at lease now I was getting somewhere. After removing the cabling from the hot side of the battery bank I could get a better view as to what was happening on the ground side of the system.

Well adding to an already long story I had the two main ground cables come loose at their main connection thru the battery bank container causing intermittent contact which eventually burned off the ends on both 6 gauge wires.

Replacing the cables and redoing the method of passage thru the battery bank container netted a vast improvement in solar output which solved my dilemma.

So moral of this story is “It’s always an adventure”

Mark      

Breezy situation

Another project has been completed. After we purchased our new home Mark has talked about putting in a “Fan-tastic Fan” in the kitchen, replacing the regular ceiling vent. We found one at a good price on my favorite shopping place, amazon.com, and ordered one.

Upon receiving the new vent fan Mark needed to remove the old ceiling vent. That proved to be easier and less messy than we had thought it would.  Once the old was out the area was cleaned and ready for the next step, to get power to the fan. Oh my that meant emptying out a cupboard and running wire from a light switch to the ceiling. Fishing the wire up through the wall not knowing what you would find in the way proved to be challenging. But the ever persistent Mark got it done. And he got it done without “sparking” too much tension between himself and the ceiling. Although several areas were tried before finding the spot that would allow the wire to pass through.

Once the wiring was done the fan could then be permanently attached to the roof of the RV, That being done it was time to test out the fan and see how it ran. Wow, it really moved some air  pulling fresh air into the rv and removing the warm air from inside. On hot summer days or days when some smelly foods such as fish, or shrimp prepared the air can be removed quickly.

Oh dear, the next morning Mark noticed that the lid was  crocked and not closing properly. So that meant back up on the roof and remove the mounted fan. Mark found that the cover brackets had inadvertently gotten bent, which is why it wasn’t closing properly. So he had to fix that before remounting the fan. Twisting and bending proved to be easier said than done but the repair was successful and the fan was once again put in place.

The next few days were warmer than the days Mark installed the fan, so it was a very welcomed addition to our home. The new vent fan kept air moving, making the heat inside more tolerable. Which was great for me especially, since I had come down with a bad cold and was stuck inside. The fan also has a remote making it possible to turn it on without having to stand on a stool to do so. 

Once again Mark succeeded at making our home a nicer place to be. And as Mark would say, it’s always an adventure.

What a nice surprise

Wow what a great way to end the month of January. Friends from home are spending the winter in Phoenix and they came down here for a nice two day visit. They came from Phoenix to Quartzite where the the four of us met. We got to see the huge RV show there. We chatted endlessly and saw so many new campers, gadgets and thing a ma bobs that we were exhausted after several hours. They followed us back to Yuma where we had a nice supper together at AppleBee’s and chatted more. After tummies were filled and yawns began they headed to their motel room and us to our home. The next morning they stopped here and we loaded up and headed to our favorite place to eat, The Foothills Eatery. While our food settled we drove around to see how the other half lives and to show them around a bit. hehehe

Saying good bye was sad but we know we will meet up again somewhere down the line. But we had a wonderful time. How nice for them to come to Yuma to see us and spend time with us. It meant a lot to the both of us. Thank you Larry and Joan.