theboondork's RV blog

I want more power.

7/28/2019

Alien looking flower.

Another day in the low 90s in Denver, which because of the low humidity is very comfortable in the shade but to warm standing in the sun.

I worked on the solar panels this morning and got the wiring all hooked up. I'm hoping this 400 watts of Solar that I have now will keep me more comfortable than the 200 watts did. I guess if this doesn't work very well I'll have to look into ways to conserve my power, which would for the most part mean not taking my 17 inch Asus laptop with me, and depending totally on my 13 inch Asus. The 13 inch laptop uses about one third the amount of amps the 17 inch uses but the big one is so much nicer and faster to work with.

Sometimes I feel like making a video and I don't think I've ever edited a video on the 13 inch Asus. I imagine it would do it, it would just be very slow, which might end up using more power than the 17 inch Asus which could get it done quicker.

Or I might look into the other end of the solar equation which is the batteries. I almost wish there wasn't two new batteries in the little Bronco when I bought it because that makes it mentally much harder for me to get rid of them and put in something else.

There's not much extra room in the compartment their in since they share it with the water tank. And since the batteries are 6 volt I would have to buy another pair to increase my capacity and I don't think there's room for two more batteries. So I'm kind of stuck with 200 amps of battery power.

Since their hooked in series the batteries end up being a total of 100 amps, and for battery longevity I'm only supposed to use half of that. So in effect I have 200 amps of battery power that has 50 amps available.... such a deal.

If the batteries were old and raggedy I would've thrown them away when I bought the Bronco and put in a couple of hundred amp lithium iron batteries so I would have about 180 amps available. I know they cost more, but the BattleBorn's I bought before are hundreds of dollars less than they were when I bought them, and there's a lot more cheaper options out there now than there used to be.

But like I've mentioned before, if you spend most of your life hooked up to shore power their probably not worth the expense but to a boondocker their worth their weight in gold.... Except they don't weigh all that much.

theboondork

A couple of hot air balloons were flying over the neighborhood this morning. Real common for Arizona, but not often seen In Denver.

6 Comments

Darrell

7/28/2019 06:21:30 pm

How about getting an additional laptop battery or two. When I left for the road I got two extra laptop batteries. I've only used the extra ones once and that was due to an area wide power outage. If I remember right, my laptop batteries ran about $40, five years ago.

Tom

7/28/2019 08:10:15 pm

That's a good idea Darrell, in fact I have several batteries for my little 13 inch Asus laptop but it hardly needs them since it'll run for four or five hours before it needs recharging, and I think the only time I've used them was in Texas when it got very cloudy for three or four days and I had to go into power conservation mode until the solar panels started working again.

The problem is my 17 inch Asus laptop only lasts about an hour or so, even less if it's doing something important, and the battery is built in and nonremovable. I think it was a cost-saving feature for the company, or a way to get you to buy a new laptop when the battery no longer holds a charge.

Actually the battery can be removed and replaced with a new one if you're handy with a tiny little screwdriver and microscopic screws. But thanks for the idea I'm usually in need of a shove into a different way of thinking.

Glad to see you're having fun in your travels, having been in the tourist business our summer vacation customers would all be gone by the second weekend of August to get the kids in school so things should get a lot less crowded for you after that.

Stay safe, Tom

Tim link

7/29/2019 08:25:19 am

I know what you mean about getting rid of brand new batteries. I gave my two batteries that came with my RV to my neighbor at the storage facility. I thought about keeping them and use them for something else, but that was pointless and I don't have anywhere to keep them. I hope he gets good use out of them.

BTW, I've been meaning to mention. I was watching an interview with the head guys at Battleborn and they were saying that with their batteries, you have the entire 100 amps available for use. The BMS in the battery will cut off the battery to retain enough charge to keep everything fine and not cause damage to the batteries. So, it sounds like to me (but I'm guessing) that their 100 amp batteries are probably more like 110 amps, with 100 amps usable. Of course, I hope I never get my batteries down that low to find out. (The interview was on a YouTube channel called "The Getaway Couple" and they were getting a consultation at Battleborn for their battery system, in case you want to check it out).

Also, I finished installing my sewer hose holder this weekend. I did like you did and drilled through the frame and used threaded rod. It's really sturdy and I can't imagine it falling off, unless the nuts come lose (but I used the belts and suspenders method and have lock nuts, double nuts, and lock thread on them - I guess I could go the next step and weld the on). I was worried that it might shift around a little bit, but after installing it, I can't imagine it doing that at all. Thanks for steering me in that direction - it's much better than the way I was thinking about doing it.

Also, that was great seeing your old photos from your Air Force days. I've never been in the Air Force or been to Japan, but I was around in the sixties, so it brought back my own set of memories.

7/29/2019 03:26:39 pm

I watched that YouTube interview, and it was kind of interesting. It seems like there's more and more competition out there in the lithium iron department and prices are coming down a bit, which is what competition always does. I think one day relatively soon lead acid batteries in RVs will drop off the scope the same way that bias ply tires, cassette tapes and incandescent lights did.

I'm glad the sewer hose holder worked out well for you. I drilled a lot of large holes in mine to get some air circulation going and dry things up. I also drilled holes in the front and rear caps. I've tried a couple different ways to hold the caps on, since I didn't trust the friction fit, and have finally settled on a small thumbscrew that goes through the side of the cap and ever so slightly into the area where the sewer hose is but not deep enough to touch it. I also put a little drawer handle on the front cap to make taking it off and putting it on a little easier.

You're lucky you have memories of the 60s, for a lot of folks that era is a blank.

Tom

Linda

7/29/2019 01:26:45 pm

The existing batteries are what's known as "sunk costs." That's money already spent that you feel you need to get value from. But, it's money already spent so it's not costing you now. Dump those batteries and get ones that will actually provide what you need.

7/29/2019 04:26:58 pm

I have to admit I had never heard of "sunk costs" before so you've taught me something new. Looking back on my life I would say this is not the only sunk cost I've ever had. I think I've also had some sunk relationships.

But anyway, I thought about getting two BattleBorn hundred amp batteries for the little Bronco and at the end of the summer take them out of the Bronco and put them in the Arctic Fox. That way I would be getting full use out of the batteries so the initial expense would feel less devastating.

But I probably won't do anything this year, I'll just deal with the batteries I've got the rest of the summer and maybe by then they will either have proven themselves usable or made me mad enough to toss them both into the Colorado River and see how long it takes them to get to the Pacific Ocean.

Tom

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