It’s been a while.  We’ve been busy – I know, sounds odd to hear from someone retired…or maybe we just get so stuck in our routines that it seems like we are busy.

Last post, we were about to leave Henry’s Lake State Park, headed south toward southwestern Utah.  We spent a couple of weeks in Hurricane (or as the locals pronounced it: Hurrican) near Zion.  Then moved on to an RV park in St George, just a few miles away.

Puppies…. Yes, we have two new puppies from the Humane Society in Wisconsin.  Deb and a friend made a mad dash across the country while we were still at Henry’s to pick them up.  We were told they were siblings and the DNA test we’ve had done confirmed they indeed are.  They are an exceptional pair, well-behaved, smart, cuddly, and beyond cute.  Here is a small sampling of the zillions we have on our phones.  Click the small image to see a full size.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, they are never very far apart.  Whenever we are gone, they lay on a doggie bed and watch for us in the “doggie window”.

I never quite finished the fender repair and now I think it will have to wait till we get back to Illinois (or more).  The sites here in Tucson are pretty close to be spray painting without upsetting the neighbors.  I have an area where the color is a bit mismatched and another area where the paint seems to be cracked (perhaps it was too cold when I painted) and the entire area needs a better clear coat once all the base coat work is done.  One has to look closely to see the defects, but it is WAY better than it was. 

While we were in St George (to be near our daughter’s family for the holidays), they moved from their motorhome to a fifth wheel.  We spent a lot of time helping them move in and customize their new RV; including building a three-high bunk bed for three of the four grand-girls. 

 

We are now in a 55+ park in Tucson till the end of March.  There is lots to do here – already have had the bikes out several times, including some trips with the dogs.  They didn’t like riding in separate baskets, so now they ride together in one basket.  We are still considering ways to keep them a bit more out of the wind as we ride.  

The list of RV repairs and mods seems to stay about as long no matter how many we take care of and check off.  The electric fireplace, which we use a lot, quit one day.  I managed to get it running again but since we are dependent on it to stay warm, we now have a new one.  The outside porch light has been replaced.  The old one had water incursion and half the LEDs had died.  The silicone caulking Tiffin used was impossible to get off – so I just purchased a physically larger light to install over the mess.  I’ve bought a new set of horns that are supposed to be louder than the facotry ones.  I need to install them.  And so on and so forth……

Oh, we finally purchased a Power Watchdog (hardwired) and installed it.  I tried twice to order from Amazon and twice they sent the wrong Watchdog model (corded instead of hardwired).  I then ordered from E-trailer and got the correct item at the same price.  I still need to install a new battery monitor shunt – the old one has lost its mind and says the same number of amps no matter what is going on.  

An RV detailer stopped by a few days ago.  He claimed he had someone cancel an appointment at the last minute and since our rig was the dirtiest one in the row, he made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.  The motorhome is now clean and shiny, saving me a 3-to-4-day job and lots of sore muscles.

I’ve also been working on a project.  At Henry’s someone wanted to throw away an old E-bike.  We took it and I looked it over – it was quite trashed; almost nothing worth saving.  But it still had the battery.  With a zillion different randomly named e-bikes out there, the used battery probably wasn’t worth trying to find another bike owner to sell it to.  Besides I had another idea.  I have a telescope that needs several USB ports and two 12V lines to run the scope, cameras, focuser, and a laptop.  In the past, I  used a set of individual battery packs to run it all.  I realized I could repurpose the batteries from the bike.  (when near the RV I just used AC power, but I want to be able to take it away from civilization and city lights). Update: I’ve taken the scope et al to the edge of the park where I have a clear view of the sky and worked off the tailgate of the truck several times, on battery power.  It works great, though the seeing at the park isn’t very good.

I disassembled the battery and separated all the individual cells.  For a 48-volt plus battery, they put 12 cells in series, then place the series stacks in parallel.  Since I needed 12 volts, I needed to create groups of three or four, and then placed those groups in parallel.  I didn’t bother to measure the cells at first, and assumed four in series when three probably would have worked fine (these particular li-ions batteries charged up to 4.2 volts instead of 3.7).  I purchased interlocking plastic bits to hold the cells together, some nickel-plated strips, and a small battery spot welder and assembled the battery pack.  Then I ordered a fuse box, some panel connectors, meters, and a switch and found a small toolbox it would all just fit into. Finally, a charger spec’d to the voltage of my battery pack and a pair of voltage regulators to provide 12 volts to the scope and focus motor.  Everything else runs off USB ports, of which I have four.  There is room to add more, should I come up with more things to connect.  Testing is to commence shortly.  Sure, I probably could have bought something similar, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as educational or fun.  I am, after all, an old electrical engineer.  UPDATE: well I did add some more connections.  I tried running the iPad and Macbook off the USB ports and they just don’t have enough power, so I added 2 cigarette lighter-style ports and bought a 12V adapter for each of them.    I ran everything for 3 sessions each 2+ hours long and still had power left over so I imagine I could run an all-night session and be good to go.  I also discovered the toolbox cover isn’t rainproof……

On the to-do list: install balance beads in the front tires to see if it corrects what appears to be a balance issue at 55-60.  Replace the awning lifts which sometimes don’t operate correctly.  We bought a new tow bar – all the options for fixing/upgrading it just were too much hassle.   Install a new Battery Monitor Shunt on the house batteries  (we now have a new Brooklyn Bedding Mattress and I have to upgrade the lift cylinders on the bed to accommodate the heavier mattress). UPDATES Balance beads installed – boy was that a pain coaxing the beads in through a valve stem. They do seem to have helped. The new tow bar seems to be working – now the RVIBrake is having fits for unrelated reasons. The Battery Monitor is still waiting. The awning strut was replaced (pain in the but), but it works better now and it turns out the old one was the source of the horrible noise when we closed the awning. New lift cylinders were installed on the bed. Oh, horns. Two problems with the factory horns: 1 – the horn buttons on the steering wheel were difficult to find the right spot and took lots of pressure. 2 – the horns were not very loud and were mounted high in the engine compartment on the driver’s side. So, I ordered a pair of louder horns, a high-current 12V relay, and a couple of push-button switches to try. I pulled the center steering wheel cover off to see if I could make the buttons easier to push – but it is all molded together and thus inaccessible. I pulled the horn wire connector off, drilled a hole top center of the cover, and installed a 3/4″ RED push button. Out under the hood, I used the Ford horn wire to operate a relay with power right off the battery (yes I always use a fuse) and mounted ALL FOUR HORNS just below the radiator pointing out the front. They do make a lot of noise and Deb did need to use them once on the way home.

Till next time.

Mike