While we are gearing up for a couple more trips, we had to
adjust our schedule slightly. The Mt
Baker banked slalom has been postponed from Feb to March due to a lack of
snow. Our own dear Mt Hood is very low
on snow too. This means we have spent more
time in town then planned.
Now, on the plus side we have made some real progress with
the Airstream. It has taken some time, a
few adapters, but finally I have really, really good wifi J The Pepwave SOTG is
connected to a 9.5” omni directional antenna on the roof. This gives me excellent S/N. The key here was
getting the correct adapter to join the N type male to the RP SMA…. I have
forgotten already… but yes, the “reverse polarity male” connector on access
points is odd…
Anyhow, this has had the added benefit of increasing the
reliability of the apple TV that is now stashed behind the TV in the
longue. I need to tidy up the cables and
secure the ATV in such a way it will see the remote from the dinette., probably
facing skywards! The wifi speaker will be cracked out and tested – hopefully
this will stay connected.
A little progress has been made with the solar set up. I procured a 100W panel and a 20A MPPT
controller from Renogy. I sourced some
beefy 8AWG cables from the Internet along with some SAE quick connects (not
totally sold on these but should be fine with a single 100W panel). From looking at the AS solar wiring diagram I
can connect straight into the bus bars, stick a fuse or two inline (to be
procured) and be in good shape. The only
issue is exiting the cable to the real world.
As this will be a portable set up, I will be going through the curbside
cubby hole for now, it looks like there is enough play in the rubber gasket to
pass a couple of AWG10 cable through on a dry day, but this is not a permanent
solution.
Not IT related, but still exciting, the first run of the
generator has gone well. The remote start is awesome, it powers up nice and
runs quiet enough. We managed to get
free shipping, which on an 80lbs+ box is a good deal! This will eventually be
converted to propane, but probably not till the summer. As we do not have a
truck it will have to ride in the AS when we are travelling. We will also have to keep a small can of gas
in there, prob in the shower with the vent open.
We also got a good price on a propane grill, we have a few
1lb canisters to use up, but I do need to work out how to hook this up to the
AS main tanks.
On a side note, I have also started the build of our vintage
Klein mountain bikes. Ultimately these
will be a great aluminum addition to the AS!
Lessons learnt:
- External antennas are awesome!
- There is no point converting 12VDC to 120VAC and back to 15VDC…. Need a 12v DC power adapter for the 4G booster. Should be easy enough.
- Cables and adapters are confusing, lots of similar sounding stuff.. Read carefully and double check. Do not trust pictures online!
- Snow pack is not good in the PNW this year… but we should be able to take advantage of the clear roads and boondock in some resorts.
- The converter/charger supplied by AS is a boat anchor. It is well documented a single stage charger will cook your batteries…. and the inverter is not much better as it is very good at sucking all your power away to keep itself warm. Both items are on deathwatch…
- Transporting gas is a giant pain in the butt if you have an SUV and not a truck…
Shopping list:
- DC-DC adapter for the 4G booster
- Converter/charger to replace the stock one.
- Tri-fuel conversion kit for the generator.
- Inverter to replace the stock one.
