RE: How Do I Charge, and Maintain 2 New 6 Volt Batteries???
As long as you have now removed the charger, let the batteries rest for 12 hrs.. You can then measure the voltage and specific gravity with a hydrometer to see if you have a good base reading. You will not get an accurate reading of the batteries' health when first removed from the charger.
Did you measure the actual current or voltage that was input to the batteries? At 2amps, I wouldn't be seeing more than a bubble or two when a battery was almost fully charged. I was advised to charge a new set with 2 amp charge until charger voltage reached 15v. I think that's pretty good advice.
RE: Buying first TT or Maybe Class C
A plan B might be to rent a TT for a weekend or even longer, for your work purposes and see how the truck handles the load, whether there is anything missing that you'd like or parts of the rented rig that you really liked.
Going "all in" on the first hand takes a lot of courage and a bit of luck to work out right. If it's only you and the wife, you could possibly get by with something smaller than 30', I'm thinking. If you're bunking with three workmates, you'll want all the space you can pull. When you get up into the 30' range, you may need a bigger truck, mostly depends on payload ratings.
Good luck with the hunt!
RE: Update from the Road and Question
I had a cracked vent cover on my TT (actually had holes in it) and I taped it with HVAC foil tape.
Oh!!! Good idea!! If it takes me awhile to get mine replaced I'll have to grab some of that foil tape! Thanks!You're welcome. The foil tape is sold at any of the big-box stores.
I was looking at vent cover solutions for the ancient plastic covers I inherited with my TT. The cheap plastic ones were certainly a step above what I had but would probably degrade in the sun just like the originals. Metal covers are available but I like the light through the vents. I also looked at the vent hoods and that is a good solution since the vent cover can be opened and fresh air allowed to flow without any worry about the weather. Those are on my to-do list, this Summer.
RE: Update from the Road and Question
Man, "Round Two" on your blog looks like a pretty good pelting of hail! Hope you don't see any more of that!
I had a cracked vent cover on my TT (actually had holes in it) and I taped it with HVAC foil tape. It held up for a few months, until replaced with a DIY polycarbonate cover.
Have fun on the rest of your trip!
RE: Hail damage and Mobile Techs?
I would think having a Mobile Service repair it would be least inexpensive. Don't know if you are using your insurance on this? If the FIL inspected everything and was able to seal any cracks in the skylights, you ought to have no worry about any further damage. I had a vent cover taped for months with foil tape and if didn't leak at all.
RE: Emerald Ash Borer profit?
Emerald ash borer is a insect right? With wings right .....................?
just saying
a example of, lack of knowledge…
just saying…
Then why are they everywhere?
Jumped a 1 mile ash break between two great lakes and now extend to the limit of the ash trees range,that is as far north as they grow ?
Wind, birds, dirt on our tires there is never going to be a way to stop nature from filling every and any nich it can.
Name one species we have stopped .........ever?
purple loose strife?
zebra mussels?
gobey?
quagga mussels?
asian carp? -hint a 40 pounder was caught last week on the grand in ontario ,and we worry about the canal in Chicago.
Worth a try ? yes for sure , but when its futile admit it and use the effort for somewhere where it can make a difference
.This might be a good method if eradication was the goal. Most plans put in place by agencies are to thwart the spread, however, and not aimed at eradication. The goal is to slow the spread of EAB, allowing us to enjoy our Ash trees for a few more years.
Just judging by experience with Dutch Elm, there were trees that were spared from DE and are still living. They were few and far between but made it. Also, after the major infestations had passed through an area, new Elms grew and were unaffected by DE. Emerald Ash disease may prove the same. The vector for disease is similar.
FWIW, I'm doing some treatment for EAB disease for a few folks that really want to save their Ash trees. It involves using a systemic insecticide and root feeding. There are new pesticides coming on the market and trials are proving successful.
RE: Grid tie inverter with power outage capability
AFAIK, right now, MN and WI are the only two States that require the utility to cut a check for excess energy production from residential customers. In MN, the difference must be greater than $20.00/mo. or a credit is issued. The price paid for that energy is set at a tare rate just slightly below residential rate. My local utility, Xcel Energy, requires a 30 yr. contract, a separate meter is installed, physical installation has some standards, and all Energy Credits are ceded to the utility. They also incentivise solar to the tune of $1.75/w, currently. If you buy panels from an in-state mfg., the rate of incentive is higher. For alternative energy questions about pricing, incentives, and such: Dsire
The Sunnyboy inverter would put 1500w back into your house but that won't run mine. it would be handy to have for powering refrigerators, freezers, or other specific essentials. I would be better off with a battery back-up and larger inverters or, as I do it now in the case of a long outage, with a generator. At some point, I'll have panels on the property.
RE: How Do I Charge, and Maintain 2 New 6 Volt Batteries???
Good advice by all! As mentioned, you don't want to deeply discharge your new batteries, you will take years off the life of them. If your daily use is, say 100AH, it would be wise to use your tow vehicle and a set of jumper cables to get some charge back into them on a daily basis.
A small solar setup would be ideal for the way you camp and, if you're away from the rig when it's stored, it will keep your batteries at full charge with no work on your part. Also, think about how much cred you could get with the FIL by not using a generator.
Your onboard conveter will work fine for restoring charge to the batteries but you want to make sure it has a low enough float voltage so that the batteries aren't constantly charging at 13.5 or so. Your Schumacher charger may fit the bill, also, but float voltage should be ascertained, just like the converter's output voltage.
Harbor Freight sells cheap multimeters that fit the purpose for battery measurement. They are not that durable but are fairly accurate for voltage measurement. If your Schumacher charger is discovered to be not adequate, HF also sells an inexpensive multi-voltage charger that gets good reviews.
Good luck with the new batteries, appreciate your input to the "Sam's vs Costco" thread.
RE: What's wrong with this?
If they cannot even get the bumper on correctly; I would bet that the axles are probably miss aligned too and it would probably have towing issues.That could very well be. It may also be that one frame beam is shorter than the other. If the whole frame was out of square by 1", I don't see how they could have attached the floor without gaps or uneven overhang in places.
RE: Rear-end lube change
I know some guys that have used the Royal Purple with good results. Since all oils are rated for use, I don't think you can go wrong with similar rated products. You must be preparing for many differential oil changes if purchasing 5 gallons!
RE: Emerald Ash Borer profit?
So does the emerald ash borer reside in maple wood?No, the borers only reside in Ash. Not to say a mature beetle doesn't take a rest on a different species of tree once and awhile but they deposit their eggs into the bark of Ash. It is the larval state of the insect that does the damage, drilling through the bark and the trees circulatory layers, killing the tree.
I heat my shop with wood, been doing it for many years and I have a pretty good stack of wood still piled. For the minimal expense of buying local firewood, I don't take any of my stack with me to camp. The risk is greater than the reward.
FWIW, I worked on tree crews during the Dutch Elm disease days and it was tragic to see the amount of Elm trees removed. A lot of these trees were a major part of their neighborhood and when they were gone, the whole community seemed to suffer.
RE: Killed my solar panels.......
Diodes can be found at Digikey, $8 overnight shipping to MH Alberta.
Digikey
Glad you found the problem!
X2 on Digikey, they're fast and accurate.
RE: Emerald Ash Borer profit?
Certified firewood, especially Ash, is treated to eliminate any live larvae or mature beetles. There is a County quarantine where I live.
BTW, be careful with the pallets, look for an agency stamp on the skids. Some pallets are treated with Bromide spray to stop infestation from overseas. You don't want to be melting Smores with that treated wood.
RE: Battery/electrical experts -- question on refrigerator
Assuming a 220 AH rating for each battery, your total capacity would be 880 AH. The fridge draws 1.5 KWH/day, on average. That is 125 AH/day at 12v. With a target of 50% state of charge until recharging the batteries, you should be able to run the fridge 3 1/2 days. You will not want to wait until the batteries are at 11v because this will quickly ruin all your batteries.
The above math is not exact because you will also have the result of the Peukert effect on the constant draw from the batteries and the inverter loss so that 3 1/2 days may be down to 3 days in real-world use.
RE: Killed my solar panels.......
How are you measuring that voltage from the panels? Something doesn't add up, if the diodes on the panel were burnt open, there would be zero output.
I thought that RV wiring convention as to color was always: black--hot, white---ground? Good on 'ya for marking the wires, anyway. I would bet that the spark you encountered was the result of the reversed polarity at the battery. that may have affected the controller but doubtful any power greater than the panel's nominal voltage was exceeded or overcame a diode.
RE: Bolt snapped off but from where??
Yeah, you're in between a social/moral rock and a hard place with the goings on. If you can, an inspection of the brakes and caliper mounting may make everyone feel better about the situation.
Maybe you should mount that bolt on a plaque, hang it on your shop wall---"The Missing Bolt"....?:B
RE: Bolt snapped off but from where??
One more observation that may help: It looks like someone had either an open end or Crescent wrench on that bolt, it looks like the edges of two opposing sides on the head are galled. Has the owner had any work done on the vehicle recently?
RE: New invention could benefit RVers.
Good effort by the young man but it certainly isn't a decrease in fuel savings for ALL vehicles and I doubt school buses would even see those numbers. Around here, in suburbia, the buses are operated on side streets at low speeds and make frequent stops and starts. Not the best test situation for aerodynamics.
RE: Bolt snapped off but from where??
Low carbon Grade 8 or 9 bolt, it was used to fasten something that endures heavy torque. The collar should mate to one part of what is fastened. This is starting to drive me crazy, I hope the bolt didn't come off a road grader.
RE: Costco vs Sams Club 6V Golf Cart Batteries
Trying to get pertinent technical information from a store employee may be a fool's errand. If the 12 AH difference in rating is going to cause sleepless nights, contact the Mfg. and work your way through the myriad of customer service people until you get a definitive answer about ratings. That, or take a scale from the Bathroom Accessories Dept. and weigh them.
