Sunday, February 8, 2015

IT and electrics: fun, fun, fun...



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.


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