Long and straight roads

Traveled through Nevada and into California today.  Drove I80 from Winnemucca, NV to highway 95.  Took 95 south to 360 which I took over to highway 6 and south to Bishop, CA where I am staying for the night.

The roads were so straight, I would forget how to steer by the time I came to a curve.  My GPS was not warning me of sharp curves because it died.  The plug broke and left part of itself in the cigarette lighter.  Not sure how to get it all out without electrocuting myself so I will leave that until I figure out how to do it.  Anyway, here are some pictures of the roads and hills along the way.

I am finally far enough south where it is time to think about getting my shorts out and putting the jeans away again.

Life is good.

On the road again

Made good time yesterday and stopped in Winnemucca, NV.  I spent the night in a Walmart parking lot where it was quiet once the store closed. 

Saw a sign outside of Bend, OR that said:  "Beetle cleaned skulls".  Don't think I want one.

It was an easy drive yesterday. A few passes but they were only around 5000 feet so they were not bad. Otherwise it was mostly flat and straight. My Rand McNally GPS was a little confused. I would be driving along and looking at a stretch of highway going straight for miles and it would pipe up and say "Warning, sharp curve ahead!".  I think it was just bored and wanted to remind me it was still there.

Life is good. 

Goodbye Springfield

After getting a few questions answered and picking up a 300 watt pure sine wave inverter, I said goodbye to all the wonderful folks at AM Solar. 

I headed out 58 and over Willamette Pass to 97. It had snowed last night on the hill as the locals call it but I was assured I would have no problem.   There was some snow on the side of the road and in the trees but none on the road.

The pass is at 5128 feet and this picture is at a little lower elevation. 

After coming back down off the hill, I arrived in sunny Eastern Oregon.  I am staying in this area for a couple days to dry things out.  I will dump my tanks and fill with fresh water before heading out so I should be good for a while and can camp anywhere. 

It is cold here!  Today was a high of 49 and a low of 31. Tomorrow's forecast is for 58/26.  Brr.  Sunny though.

Life is good.

Batteries

Here are some more pictures. I can't show everything because there is some stuff mounted above the batteries where multiple wires are combined so there is just one positive wire coming to the battery. 

I believe I am going to head east this morning to central Oregon so I can dry out. 

Life is good. 

Solar up and running

My solar installation was finished this afternoon.  During the walk through at about 3:30 PM on a grey and raining afternoon I was getting 2.7 amps from the panels.  According to the installer this means all four panels were working very well.  Hopefully tomorrow there will be some sunshine.

This is all I can see of the solar inside the RV.

 

 This is the remote that shows everything that is happening with system.  The charge controller is in the cabinet behind the remote in a "hidden" compartment behind a fake wall Born Free put in to hide some wiring.  So I didn't lose any cabinet space at all.

I also had AM Solar install a 12V outlet with a heavy wire directly under the cabinet with the controller in.

Here is how it all fits together.

I didn't take a picture of the batteries today so I went out in the dark and snapped a few.  They didn't turn out so good but here is one of them.  Tomorrow I will try to get some better pictures.

The thing on the left with the yellow on is a battery cut off switch.  It all looks nice and neat.

In a day or two I will head for Arizona where it will be warmer and drier.

Life is good.

Panels installed!

The four panels are installed. Everything is complete down to the batteries.  Tomorrow they will remove the old batteries and the sliding tray and put the AGM batteries in on their sides.

Here is what my roof looks like now.

The panels will tilt up if I want to angle them to the sun or clean under them. 

Looks good to me.

Solar install

I have been sitting on the Oregon coast for the last couple months enjoying the ocean and not updating my blog.

Spent some time driving the back roads,

and walking on the beach,

hiking on trails,

and dog sitting my son's dog.

Max is a wonderful dog.  Very well behaved and it was a pleasure having him in my life for 2 weeks.  He was a perfect gentleman on our many walks, adjusting his stride to mine and not dragging me around which I greatly appreciated.  I greatly appreciate the training my son and his wife have done to make him the great dog he is.

      Solar install!

Yesterday I left the beach and headed to Eugene, OR to have my solar installed at AM Solar .  They have a wonderful reputation for doing a great job putting solar on RVs.  This morning I pulled up at their facility and they talked me through what I wanted and what they could do.  After giving me an estimate for my install, they started putting it together.

Two of my four 100 watt panels are on in this picture.  The other two are going behind that neat blue lift thing.  I am also getting 2 AGM Lifeline GPL-6CT batteries with a total of 300AH.  Should give me plenty of power.  I will have the Blue Sky IPN PRO remote meter  to monitor the system.  The charge controller is a Solar Boost 2512iX-HV MPPT.  Can't wait to check it all out.  Now I just need to find some sun!

Life is good.