Work

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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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Bad News and Good News

I picked up Miranda today and made a call to another nearby repair place. He told me that not only are they not equipped to stretch a frame, they are booked for the rest of the summer and that I should expect the same from any other RV repair place at this point. He was not surprised by how I was treated by They Who Shall Not Be Named Again.

He also told me that the major repair to be done is the frame, so I should start by calling Ford and finding a place to get that done; the rest would cascade from there. He told me to introduce myself as having an E450 chassis with a 32′ motorhome on it, not that I have a 32′ motorhome on an E450 chassis.

If I get lucky, I will be able to find a Ford place that will subcontract out the hitch and fiberglass work and give me a total price for the job, or I might end up having to find a hitch place and then a fiberglass place.

My adjuster at Aviva is away, so I called her replacement who was MUCH nicer. She said that she wished she could write out a cheque for all the repairs I want to have done because of what I’ve been through. A gal can dream. *wry grin* Anyway, I was told that, yes, I should wait for approval before going ahead with work, but that I can present the existing estimate and if the shop says they can work with those numbers, then approval is just a formality.

I am understandably feeling overwhelmed and discouraged at this point. I am going to make calls in the morning but I suspect that I might as well move back home because this won’t get resolved until September. 🙁

The good news is that yesterday I started paid training in a field that I dabble in but would never have expected to actually work in (it involves graphic design and programming). I love what I am doing so far; it’s creative and requires brain work. I’m really excited about doing this work, but the learning curve is really steep and I’m pretty sure I had smoke coming out of my ears tonight! 🙂

What’s awesome about this work is that I’m still an independent contractor. So I don’t have guaranteed work with this new client who will supplement, not replace, the transcription. This means that instead of earning, say, 90% of my income from transcription and 10% from writing and related activities, the 90% might become 75%, which will add a bit of much needed variety to my schedule.

Transcription is slow this month, so it’s the perfect time to start on the training since I don’t have to spread my attention span too far. Between Miranda and the training, I have enough on my plate.

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Homeless Again

Miranda is waiting in the street to be brought to the repair place in a couple of hours. I’ve moved what I think I will need for the next couple of weeks into my mother’s house. The next big chore is to get a semblance of an office set up.

I have pretty much lost two weeks of work this month, which is really going to hurt come July 1st. Doing transcription was out of the question for most of the last two weeks, but, thankfully, I got a small translation contract that is going to make a big difference in the coming weeks. I just hope I have tons and tons of work in the next two weeks to make up for such a poor start in June. I’m still in much better shape financially than I have been in a while, even with all these extra expenses and all the lost income, so I’m okay! It’s very tight, but not so bad that I can’t soothe my nerves tonight with some sushi. 🙂

The plan for this afternoon is that I will go park Miranda at the repair shop with my step-mother following in my truck (she hasn’t driven standard in ages so this has the potential for hilariousness). I’ll then drive us back home. In the morning, I’ll take off to meet the repair folks. I was relieved to learn that I am booked in for two hours, so I should have plenty of time to discuss the work I want done beyond the stuff covered by the insurance. I really think that getting that work done and waiting till the fall to set up the truck for towing is my best bet since I am not going to want to move out of my home again for several years after this!

Bitha and Nee are now living in the garage. My girl clung to me and cried and cried when I brought her in there. I’ve never seen her behave like that. If this change of environment stress does anything to my cats, I will be out for blood!

Have I mentioned recently just how exhausted I am?

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Winnipeg Layover

I made it safely and even a little early to Winnipeg, where I have a two-hour layover. I just had dinner at the TGI Fridays (didn’t know we had one in Canada) and now there’s only an hour left till boarding starts.

It was a painful flight. I’ve been fighting a cold for about a week now and am still stuffy. So the change in air pressure was excruciating on the ear drums and my left ear refuses to clear. I’ll be glad when I get to Calgary tonight.

I did manage to squeeze in a solid hour of work on a translation and coding project, but I have to admit that a 17″ MacBook Pro is too big if you have someone sitting next to you. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case today since I was in a row of three seats and the middle one was unoccupied.

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Back to the Grind

It’s a holiday in Canada today, but I’m treating it like a normal Monday. I neglected a lot of projects over the winter and have tons of stuff to catch up on. I am also sending out tons of bids on contracts. I have no intention of looking for a part-time job this summer. My budget is solid into August, especially since I won’t have the car and car insurance payments, so as long as I keep plugging away at whatever transcription comes in, I’ll be fine. This is definitely a more relaxed start to the summer than was last year!

I’ve started to do some online shopping for my new toad. I’ve decided that buying it in Alberta really does make the most sense so I’m just waiting on the insurance cheque to buy a plane ticket. What I want exists, but it soooooo rare. I’d definitely have more choice if I was going with an automatic, but a manual transmission is a non-negotiable. I’m looking at 1990s models only.

My first choice is a Nissan Frontier, then a Toyota Tacoma. I’ve heard mixed reviews of the Mazda B-series, but am not ruling it out. I’m considering American models (eg. Chevy Sonoma and Dodge Dakota) on a case-by-case basis and I’d prefer a truck that already has a canopy/topper. One thing I have accepted is that I won’t be getting power windows and doors as those options just weren’t available, but AC is not negotiable. The Nissan Frontier is 3,000lbs, just under three times what my toad weighed, and that’s as heavy as I want to go.

I also hope to time the trip with the motorhome repairs and other projects (I’d like to leave a few thousand of the car settlement money to do some work on Miranda). I got a lead from my younger sister, who just bought a travel trailer, on a good place close by that could go through my entire list:

-the repairs covered by the insurance, including the bumper and the tow hitch, and I want them to confirm that my suspension is okay;

-remove the over hang window and fiberglass the overhang seams;

-replace my propane regulator (have the part, just need a pro to get it in);

-replace the house door window frame;

-square and plumb the house door;

-repair the body damage to the metal portion at the bottom of the rig and repaint that part only (I doubt I’ll be able to afford this right now, but I’ll ask for a quote).

Well, I just found out that a big and messy project is incoming so I’m off to get ready for that. Definitely a better to start to the summer than last year!