It was touch and go if the planned start date would happen! I had my first week of part time work after returning from wedding/family in UK. Early start due to jet lag had the rig at my house Sunday, early Monday I gave Humsafar a wash, and a wax on Thursday. Shopped and loaded the fridge watching the battery power to gauge how much power it takes per day. Battery got a little low and I plugged into "shore" power from my house (15 Amps) expecting the batteries to be charge to full by morning. However it didn't work!
What could be the problem? I thought maybe one of the switches might have been turned off. I called Scott Deigal--a neighbor and fellow traveler but he was out of town and then called Scott Harmon, who did my electric and solar upgrade (now have four 100 Amp Hour batteries, and two 200 watt portable solar panels in addition to the 180 Watts of solar on the roof). He worked with me for over an hour and 20 minutes while I opened the breaker panel to look at the converter (which changes home AC to DC to charge the batteries). He suspected the converter was the issue but we flicked various switches on and off while checking the voltage, (thank goodness for Scott as I have no skill set in electric). It was, indeed, the failed converter that prevented charging the batteries from shore power. The solar worked and so I set up the portables in addition to the roof, but had to empty the newly stocked freezer and fridge because I had gotten too far behind and there wasn't enough to keep the fridge going at night while the sun wasn't' out. How to fix?
Enter Sean who tuned up my bike for my birthday present and became interested in the problem. He repeated the voltage testing (I recommend everyone get one of these sons who studies/works in a physics lab for his PhD and has acquired some electrical skills). He found a replacement for the converter and was able to confidently pull out the broken one (and even tore it apart and found the ceramic resistor that failed in it!) and installed the replacement that he found at Camping World and off we went at a much later than planned 2:30 PM.
Did I mention we were working in an un air conditioned trailer in 109 degree Tucson heat wave heat! The shore power wasn't strong enough (20 Amps) to keep the AC working without tripping the breaker at the house and I didn't want to drag out the generator. I blame myself--I had hoped it would be 'hot as a fire cracker' in Tucson the day I leave so I could enjoy the cool mountain air. Joyce returned on schedule from UK on June 13 and was very concerned about us leaving in the heat of the day. She wasn't ready to join in a few days which would allow Sean to use the car to return to Tucson, so Sean offered to drive his vehicle separately and follow me so he could still accompany his dad on the first leg.
AJ found a bottle of champaign left over from Kateri's wedding which we used to celebrate the occasion! We drove out of town and briefly and inadvertently joined the energetic "No Kings" rally processing up country club road.
The 2017 Ford F 150 truck handled the rig, bikes attached and fully loaded, and handled the heat and especially the Salt River Canyon. Honestly I was worried about that section in this heat. We stopped for a quick photo over the Salt, then for a bite and gas in Globe, and arrived at Horseshoe Cienega lake 13 miles east of Hon Dah at 8 PM in the twilight. Long-time friend Marc Traeger had secured a camping pass for us knowing we would arrive after the outdoor shop closed. We found a gorgeous spot and leveled and set up the camp and celebrated with a wee dram of Oban Scotch, a birthday gift from my Scottish brother in law, Charlie. I definitely felt the support of AJ and Sean and Sean and I had a really fine time together just chilling and being in each others' company. We read and played music, and by nightfall the weather was perfect for sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment