Author: Rae

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Inverter Treasure Hunt

On a whim this afternoon, I decided to check out the inverter selection at Canadian Tire. The first thing that popped up was a 1000W pure wave model down from $299.99 to $199.99!!! I don’t know about the prices for inverters in the US, but I knew this was a crazy good deal in Canada! I immediately hopped in the truck to go pick one up at the store in Saint-Bruno.

There, I decided to go into the mall for dinner first figuring that there was no way that three inverters would be gone between the time I found the sale online and the time I actually got to the store.

Ha ha ha ha ha. They sold the last one 10 minutes before I got there!!!! The clerk made a few calls and finally found one in Greenfield Park, where they agreed to hold one for me for 45 minutes only, just enough time to get there.

If that isn’t proof that this was a good deal, I don’t know what is! The Saint-Bruno clerk couldn’t figure out why people wanted that one and not the much cheaper modified wave model. Without going into all the gobbledigook, I explained that a pure sine wave inverter is better for running electronics like TVs and computers.

I made it to Greenfield Park in time and opened the box to see if I needed anything else. Yup, wiring. I went to the automotive counter and asked where to find such a thing, which turned out to be right behind where I was standing in line for 10 minutes, but way down near the floor. Now that I’m home, I realise that I was sold the wrong stuff even though the lady seemed to know what she was talking about as it does not have both positive and negative cables in it.  *sighs*

But, hey, all is not lost! The last time I priced pure sine wave inverters they were so far out of my price range I couldn’t imagine ever getting one. Now, I not only have one, but it’s a 1000W model, so I should be able to run my office and the crock pot at the same time.

Now, I’m off to research batteries because there might have been some changes in the last four years, at least based on some of the comments I’ve been getting in the last couple of days. If I haven’t responded to your comment about batteries, it’s only because I’m doing my own research. I’ll do a post about batteries once I’m satisfied that I know what I need to know.

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Electrical Reorganization

I’m about to start yet another electrical upgrade to my RV’s 12V system. The main reason for this is that my office setup is using more power than I would have expected (mainly because the work I do keeps evolving) and I will need to start printing a lot while off shore power.

My current setup has:

-two 6V batteries offering me about 120 amp hours
-one 400W inverter
-one 150W solar panel
-one 15W solar panel

When I did the math to get my solar panel, I estimated that I use about 40A per day and that I’d ideally need 60A available to me. Those numbers still hold up; I have average 50A per day if I’m working and need to heat a little.

My unscientific experiment with the solar panel this spring told me that on a sunny day, my batteries are charged by noon regardless of how low they were in the evening. So that tells me that I have some wasted potential capacity and that I don’t need another solar panel right now. What I could use are more amp hours in the form of more batteries.

Because of weight and space considerations, I have decided to go from 2x6V batteries to 2x12V batteries. Assuming that my 12V batteries have a capacity of 180 amp hours and that I have access to 60% of that capacity (108 amp hours), I will have 216 amp hours available to me, for an increase of 96 amp hours.

I am also going to be adding a Xantrex LinkPRO Battery Monitor. There are monitors that are easier to install, but this one is available on Amazon and the entire cost was covered with two months’ worth of affiliate gift certificates. I should be getting it by August. Long time readers will know that I have been talking about a battery monitor for years and it’s finally going to happen! Thank you so much to everyone who buys products on Amazon through my links!

Next, I need a bigger capacity inverter to charge a laptop, run several external hard drives, and print. Oh, heck, and run the crock pot, too! I’ll check for sales and will be getting something in the 600W to 1000W range.

In terms of office equipment, my current Brother laser printer is woefully inadequate for my lifestyle. The power consumption of a laser printer is incompatible with life on an inverter unless you have a massive battery bank, a zillion watts in solar panels, and a generator as a backup. I am eying a multifunction HP inkjet printer with low power requirements and the cheapest operating cost in its class, but I won’t say anything more about the printer selection process until I buy one.

My mother and I are going to start doing some work on the rig this weekend and one of the projects will be to get 120V power on the passenger side of the rig in the front, right above the battery bank. What I am envisioning is a charging station there based on a power strip that I can plug into either my new 120V outlet or my new inverter. I will also be installing the battery monitor in that location. It will be much easier to get it there through the same hole used to run the inverter wiring than to run the monitor cabling to the location of the solar panel monitor.

What I like best about this plan is that it isn’t going to cost me a fortune. The most expensive component will be the batteries since I don’t have to put the monitor in the budget. I haven’t decided yet if I will be getting them here, in Canada, or in the US, but the latter is more likely. So I will probably hit the road with my monitor and new inverter installed, but won’t get to reap the benefits of my upgrades for a bit.

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I’m Losing My Mind

When I bought my new toad, it was sold as a two-door super cab model. Donna and Ken remember it as a two-door super cab model. Every time I had to put something into the back of the cab, I looked and looked and looked around the area wishing doors into it would materialize. When my mother crawled into the bucket seats in the back of the cab, she double checked that it was, indeed a two-door model and that there was no other way into the back.

So how do I explain this discovery yesterday?

one of the two very visible handles for the rear cab doors that at least five people failed to notice

one of the two very visible handles for the rear cab doors that at least five people failed to notice

yup, my cab has two rear doors

yup, my cab has two rear doors

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A Sunday in the Eastern Townships

Sunday, I’d promised my dad’s brother that I would go visit him at his trailer in East Bolton in the Eastern Townships. I took off around 8:30 and arrived around 9:30.

Uncle K has had a trailer in that campground for about 30 years. Until a few years ago, his trailer was from the ’60s but he has since upgraded to a trailer from the ’70s. The RV spot is large and he planted all the trees on it, so he saw them grow from saplings to the mature, shade-providing, trees they are today.

The campground is on Trousers Lake, so named because the general shape of the lake is a pair of pants. It’s a lake with an inlet and an outlet, so the water is cool, but clean. Motorboats haven’t been allowed in years, so the fishing is very good (bass and pike mostly).

Uncle K took me for a brief walk to see some of the sights and then we were joined by Uncle J (dad’s late sister’s husband) and his grand-daughter (my second cousin).

We piled into Uncle J’s tiny Nissan to go check out the site of the cottage my grand-father started to build in the ’60s and never finished because of his untimely death in an accident caused by a drunk driver.

The cottage was on Lake Gilbert. Today, you could drive to the site, but in the ’60s, you had to park on shore and pack everything over by boat. From shore, it was a 20KM walk round trip to get groceries.

The next stop was the Benedict Abbey (Abbaye Saint-Benoît), known for its beautiful grounds and superb cheeses. Had I not had several hours ahead before access to a fridge, I would have bought some treats at the large monastery store! Uncle J picked up a jar of caramel spread, something that was obviously a treat he gets whenever he’s in the area.

The abbey was founded in 1910

this is the older part of the abbey

the brickwork is gorgeous!

simple stained glass

floor mosaic

the left part of the abbey is ‘new’ from the 1980s

the little chapel

We drove around the countryside a little more after this, looking for, but failing to find, our family cemetery (I should have printed off the directions, but I can always go back later this summer; it’s not far). The Eastern Townships (Cantons de l’est) is one of the most scenic regions in Canada and very popular cottage country. You can run into politicians (eg. former Prime Minister Paul Martin) and movie stars (eg. Donald and Kiefer Sutherland) here.

We grabbed some goodies from a popular bakery for lunch, ate at the campground, and headed back to the Montérégie mid-afternoon. I was glad to have my iPod because I got caught in the expected Sunday afternoon traffic jam on the 10:

It started 3KM from the exit for Chambly and it took me almost a full hour to get home from that point. I could have walked home almost three times as quickly! I just cranked up the Cowboys Fringants and had fun watching the RVers run out of their rigs to use the bathroom and fix snacks!

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Another Moving Day Circus

I am partially moving back into Miranda today, just to sleep and cook most meals. I hadn’t moved back in right away for a number of reasons, the main one being that we were going through record highs here and it didn’t make sense to move back into a space where I couldn’t run the AC continuously being on 15A power. Finally, the strong cat odour in the rig kept coming back. I wound up doing a full sweep of the rig with a black light and an enzymatic cleaner and finally got  to the source of the issue and resolved it.

Now, why am I only moving back in partially? My mother came into the motorhome at one point and said, why don’t we do this, this, this, and this, all of which was on my to-do list for the summer. So we’re going to take advantage of the rig not being fully inhabited and the cats still being in the garage to do some final mods. The cloth dresser’s days are numbered!!!

It’ll be sooooo nice to sleep in my bed tonight!