It's Done!

My converting to lithium project is finished (well, I still have to add a plate over the hole where the old GoPower solar controller was located; it is on order, but hasn't yet arrived).  While I haven't done any actual camping with the new batteries & components, I did do some testing.

The other day I used the microwave to pull down the batteries by 6 amp hours (a couple of minutes heating a cup of water at a 12V draw of 154 amps).  The solar was shut off, and the new converter pumped 34.7 amps into the batteries until almost full, at which point it tapered to float & almost no current.

Today I took the trailer to Seven 0's to have the refrigerator serviced, the bearings repacked, and the brakes checked & adjusted.  While there I sat in one of the most comfortable folding chairs I've ever been in, so they suckered me into buying one.

On the way home I switched the refrigerator to 12V to see how the truck & solar panels would do.  The refrigerator draws 24.5 amps on 12V.  It was mostly cloudy for the trip home, and using the Victron battery monitor remote on my iPhone, I watched it go from as little as -18 amps to as high as +6 amps.  It was a 50 mile drive on back roads to home, and by the time I was back in the driveway I had lost 12 amp hours.

The verdict?  I will still keep using propane while driving.  Maybe on a cloudless day I could break even or even do a little charging while driving down the road, but overall the refrigerator simply draws too much to guarantee arriving with charged batteries.

On an entirely different front, since I was moving the trailer, I would have access to my flower window box, so I picked up some flowers to plant.  It is about 12' long, and I cleared out the left over growth from last year as I planted the new flowers.  As I hit the last section, the old growth was actually an active bird's nest!  A pair of what I think are robins were in a nest almost even with the dirt in the box.  I left that section unplanted, and hope they will fledge before I have to water the stuff I already planted.

Not much else is happening.  I passed my annual physical with flying colors, I'm still adjusting to living in a house rather than a trailer, and already have the urge for a camping trip.  Right now there are far too many projects that built up over the 8 months I was away for me to get away, but if the weather cooperates, I'll get them cleaned up.

Until Next Time -