Tech

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Where Do Main Fuses Fit Into a Xantrex Battery Monitor Wiring Diagram?

As I started to put together my Xantrex LinkPRO battery monitor yesterday, I needed clarification as to where to fit my main 150A fuse into their wiring diagram. They had the battery monitor fuses tied directly to the positive battery terminal, while my battery bank wiring diagram has only the main 150A fuse tied to the battery and all other positive connections attached to the fuse.

I also wanted to know if my battery monitor cabling could follow the same route to the study as would the 120V wiring from the inverter.

I fired off an email to Andy Baird. His memory was fuzzy as to where I should locate the fuses, but he said that the frequency emitted from the 120V wiring would interfere with the battery monitor. Darn! Since finding one route from the battery bank to the study was difficult, finding two is out of the question. So it looks like the battery monitor will be installed in the living room. 🙁

That said, my mother had originally found a way to route wiring fairly neatly from the living room to the study, so I may be able to convince her to help me route the battery monitor cable under the rig and the 120V wiring through the rig. We are running short on time, but it never hurts to ask. 🙂

Since my guru left me at an impasse, I decide to try emailing Xantrex directly late Sunday, making sure to include my monitor’s serial number so it would be clear that I had purchased one of their products. Can you believe I just received an answer (noon Monday) from them?!

My question:

I would like clarification on two steps of the battery monitor connection kit instructions. This is in reference to an RV battery bank that includes a 1,000W inverter and a 150W solar panel. So all the positive connections are made from a 150A fuse.

Step three (3) of the instructions states:

“Connect the single inline fuse holder to the main battery + terminal.”

Should I be adding the inline fuse holders to the battery terminal (before the 150A fuse) or to the fuse 150A itself?

(Incidentally, the wiring diagram shows that that should actually be fuse holders, plural.)

Additionally, my battery bank is located below the living room of my RV, but I want to install the monitor in my home office, a distance of about 25 feet.

The instructions state in note one (1) below the diagram: “When routing the cable from the battery monitor to the battery system, avoid running it along with mains cables over long distances or in the neighbourhood of large relays or generators/motors.”

The connection kit comes with more than enough cabling to do this, so I know the distance is not an issue. But would there be a problem with running the monitor cables along with 120V wiring that provides a hard wired connection between the inverter and an outlet in the office?

Reply from Xantrex:

The fused power lead can connect to either side of the 150A fuse, however, if the 150A fuse blows, you will also lose meter power if connected to the inverter side of the fuse. The link wires should not be run with AC wires, as this can induce noise that may corrupt readings.

So not only does Xantrex answer its emails quicky, it actually reads them and provides clear and pertinent answers. I am very impressed!

I just may get a battery monitor installed in this lifetime!

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Working Hard

There hasn’t been much to report in the last few days. I’ve been continuing training to work remotely for a new client.

The most challenging part is not learning the job itself, but learning to work with Windows 7. I do have a bit of experience with Windows XP, but the last time I really worked with Windows day in and day out was on version 98. Windows 7 does have a lot of similarities with OS X, but they are mostly cosmetic. I don’t want to start a Windows vs. OS X debate in the comments, so that’s all I have to say about my experience with Windows.

Today, I set up my new printer. The physical setup was a breeze thanks to videos integrated in the control panel of the printer showing everything from how to install the duplexer to how to size the paper trays.

Getting the printer and scanner to actually work was a little more challenging until some research told me that the OS X drivers that come on the CD, and all accompanying software updates, are for Snow Leopard. So once I found, downloaded, and installed the Lion drivers, everything went smoothly. I even set up ePrint to work with my iPad!

I received a massive transcription project for the weekend (30 hours of work due 11PM Monday), the first serious transcription project in almost a month. I am rather relieved! It’ll be a busy weekend, but it’ll be nice to spend so much time on a non-frustrating computer. Okay, so that wasn’t all I had to say about working with Windows! 🙂

The weekend will be broken up tomorrow afternoon with the celebration of my niece’s second birthday. She has been visiting all week and I have really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with her. My eldest nephew spent a few days here, too, happily playing games on my mother’s spare laptop while she and I worked side by side. I’ll be babysitting him and his brother next week for the first time.

Tonight, I’m doing a serious cleanup of my Mac. It has been running a little sluggishly and inefficiently since I upgraded to Lion. I installed more RAM a couple of days ago (going from 4GB to 8GB) and the difference has been phenomenal! I didn’t expect to notice a difference, but it was $90 (including shipping) very well spent.

Now that the computer is running more smoothly, I decided it was time to start cleaning up folders and managing files more efficiently. I am test running Hazel, an app that creates automated processes for OS X. I am fairly certain I will be buying the app as it will save me tons of work. My next project is to master my inbox. I have been working with Apple Mail for nearly 10 years now and I still don’t use it efficiently.

Needless to say, if I have moved on to virtual organizing, my home must be running smoothly. Indeed!!! Tuesday, I did the first really big and proper grocery since the accident (yes, in four months) and I have been cooking nice dinners and experimenting with new recipes. This week, I mastered sushi rice! Will I start making sushi at home now? Hmm…

The battery bank project will hopefully happen next weekend. I really don’t want to delay it much more than that.

As for my leak, it has been raining something fierce the last few days and it looks like my leak repair is holding at last! Miranda is looking really, really good.

I can’t believe that tomorrow is September 1st. This is the last month that I can count on decent weather for exterior projects. I am hoping to be here through October to get in as much work training as possible and delay crossing the border, so the count down to departure isn’t on yet, but I am thinking about it.

As proof, look what came in the mail the other day:

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The HP OfficeJet 8600 Inkjet Printer Series: Perfect for RV Boondocking

For the last four years, I’ve only been able to print when I’m on hookups since I was using a laser printer. Laser printers are incompatible with a boondocking lifestyle unless you have a crazy solar setup or are willing to run the genset to print; they just require too much power. I haven’t really missed being able to print and was only once in a situation where I had to run to a print shop to print something.

But my new line of work is going to require me to print. So I found myself tasked with finding the impossible: a professional-grade inkjet printer with low energy consumption and low ink costs. Would you believe that such a thing exists?

Look no further than the HP Officejet 8600 series multifunction printers. There are three models, the Pro, the Pro Plus, and the Premium. Being multifunction, they also fax and scan, making them suitable for a small office setup.

HP Officejet 8600 (Premium) Multifunction Inkjet Printer

What these printers all have in common is how cheap they are to run as well as their energy efficiency.

According to PCMag (and a number of other sources), the cost per page of the HP Officejet 8600 series is 1.6 cents for black and white and 8.2 cents for colour! This might actually be less than the cost per page of a laser printer!

As for energy consumption for the HP Officejet 8600 series, the peak capacity is 34 watts and standby is 6.63 watts. On 12V power, that’s just a maximum of 2.8 amps and 0.6 amps for standby. Compare that to an average laser printer with a maximum consumption of 634 watts/53 amps and a standby of 35.1 watts/3amps!

The only negative for me of the HP OfficeJet 8600 series is that the printers weigh 26lbs. That said, the weight is comparable to that of my old Brother laser printer, so I know I can secure the new printer with a couple of new thumb grips. And it won’t affect my carrying capacity!

Now, the difference in the three models. There are actually not that many. The Premium and the Pro Plus have identical specs but the Premium has two trays. If you have to go often between different kinds or sizes of papers, the extra tray is very useful. The Pro is a little slower (32 ppm per minute vs. 35) and it allows for fewer pages in auto feed (35 vs. 50).

All three models allow for wireless networking and support Airprint, for direct printing from an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone.

This printer has one quirk I have never seen on a printer. It’s not glossy black or putty grey, but rather a dark bronze. Several reviews I’ve read have put that as a negative. For me, that’s another bonus! 🙂

The entire line of HP OfficeJet 8600 printers is on major sale at Staples in Canada until August 16th. The Pro is selling for $180 (save $50), the Pro Plus is $259 (save $70), and the Premium is $330 (save $100). So if you’re a professional looking for a printer that is compatible with an off-grid lifestyle, there’s no need to shop around.

 

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On the Bus

I’ve always rather enjoyed taking Greyhound, but I have to say that Red Arrow is the way to travel in Alberta! It reminds me of flying in the good old days. The coaches are spacious (I have a single seat) and there are complimentary beverages and snacks. I also like that they have power outlets and wish I’d known that before I put my iPad charger in my big suitcase under the coach.

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The wifi is pretty good, but it blocks some sites, including Google Maps (huh?!). I used the less helpful Map app on my iPad to get the answers I needed, mainly how long it would take to drive to Stettler tonight.

I’m thinking about the negotiations for the truck, knowing that I do not have strong position to negotiate a better price. But I do have a couple of ideas, including mentioning that I have luggage with me since I wanted to keep open the idea of spending the night in Edmonton to look at a few more trucks tomorrow.

But the fact is that the listed price is already an awesome deal for that truck so even if I end up paying that, I’m still going to be a winner. That said, I can only put through $3,000 on my debit card per day, so if the price won’t budge, I’ll tell them it has to include GST otherwise we’ll have to wait for tomorrow to conclude the deal and at that point, I might as well go somewhere else. But I really think this is going to work!

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Saratoga Springs, NY, to Chambly, QC

I had a slow morning at Saratoga Springs. The cats certainly were in no rush to go anywhere:

I enjoyed my quiet little corner of the raceway parking lot:

I backed right into a corner, just because I could:

The raceway was a long ways away:

I got the rig as squared away as I could and took off around 10. I was really impressed with the signage right at the Jefferson Street exit. It was certainly more helpful than my GPS, who told me to navigate to such and such a street:

I meandered my way to I-87 north and got off two exits later to take highway 50 north to Saratoga RV Park. Their dump fee is $20 and it’s just that, a dump fee. There is no potable water for filling an RV holding tank. They also sell propane and it cost $50 to fill the on board tank. Propane is the only thing I’ve found to be much cheaper in Canada than the US; this price would be exorbitant in Whitehorse, but was cheaper than in Washington State. That sure was an easy $70 for these very nice people!

Before heading back on the road, I parked the rig to the side so I could change into a nicer skirt (I’d worn grubbies to dump!). In a moment of perfect timing, the phone rang. It was the adjuster from Aviva wanting to let me know that the cheque was in the mail. She also asked me when I’m getting the other repairs done and I asked her to please give me a few days to breathe and think about this when I get to Montreal, a place I wasn’t at yet. I told her I’ll be filing my reimbursement claims shortly.

From the RV park, I was able to continue on highway 50 north to I-87, so the RV park wasn’t really a detour. It didn’t take long to reach the scenic and isolated Adirondacks. It is a rather long stretch after Saratoga Springs before you reach civilization again in Plattsburgh and you have to go through the scenic Lake George region.

I was amused when we started to hit the bilingual signs. Quebec does have some bilingual signage near the border, but the English is in tiny print, as per the law, while the French on the US signs is the same size as the English.

I’m always amazed by how quickly the landscape changes before Plattsburgh. One minute, you are surrounded by towering trees and the next you are in open cultivated land full of neat orchards.

It was going on 2:00 when I hit Plattsburgh for lunch. It was a bit of an emotional stop in that the last time I ate at the Applebee’s there was with my dad in late 2006. He was having a rare good day in his final stages of terminal colon cancer and we were on what turned out to be our last road trip together, just a quick border run, because he got tired so easily. I remember so clearly our discussion that day, with him making me promise that I would from then on make changes that would make me happy rather than satisfy other people in my life. Little did we know that less than two years later, I would be setting off on a great adventure. But I digress.

The border was nearly upon me, but I had one more stop to make after lunch. I pulled off in Champlain to get half a tank of gas, at a whopping $4.03 a gallon, the worst I’ve seen on this trip! A fill would have been $200, which is still cheaper than anywhere in Canada right now.

The knots in my stomach tightened when I reached the point of no return:

Left: Canada. Right: last US exit

It’s amazing how returning to my own country is more stressful than entering another one.

Croft asked in a comment if I was planning to cross in French or English. This was something that I debated and I finally decided to let the guard’s accent answer the question for me. I got a woman with a very thick accent when she spoke English. So I decided to cross over in French.

I was asked how long I was in the US, the purpose for my trip, how I met my friend in Virginia, and if I owned the motorhome. Then I got asked a question I could not answer and I froze: what was my license plate number? The car and the rig are one number apart and I can never remember which is which. I was just about to offer to jump out and check when the officer asked if I had my registration on hand. Oh, yeah. Duh. I got the right papers out and told her. She ran the plate number then asked the value of the goods I’d bought, if I had booze, drugs, or personal weapons on board. And that was it. The last time I had an easy clearing like that was back in 2005! I’ve been grilled harder coming back from a Walmart run! WOOHOO!!!!

From the border, it was just 45  minutes to my mother’s. I arrived, got level, and accepted a cold beer! That and getting the bike out of the living room were the only things I planned to do tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll deal with getting some water on board, plugging me in, and getting me hard wired to the internet.

The drive today was really difficult and I am exhausted! It was windy, but I also think my suspension needs to be looked at. I started to notice that the roads felt really rough well before my accident, so I’m sure the issue is not related to it, but it seems worse now that I don’t have the toad. I just find that I’m bouncing a lot more and hearing things shift around in the rig. Tioga George just got some Bilstein shocks installed and I’m hoping that a simple cure like that is all that’s needed. It just seems that if I don’t have a perfectly smooth road I’m more bouncing than rolling down the highway and having a lot of side to side movement. I just did some quick research and it doesn’t sound like I have a major or unusual problem, but I’m astounded by how differently the rig handles solo!

Finally, I want to, again, raise both my middle fingers to the guy who honked at me for going 5 miles below the speed limit on a narrow, twisty road and to the guy at the shopping plaza in Plattsburgh who honked at me because I wasn’t turning fast enough for him. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!

And I would like to end by quoting T.S. Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

I have complained bitterly about how rude and rash are Quebec drivers. But having just traveled the breadth of the United States, I have to say that Quebec drivers were a breath of fresh air. After weeks of having the cars behind me whip around me at a highway on ramp, making it impossible for me to merge, it was a breath of fresh air to have the column of cars behind me wait patiently while I got over safely. And then I got caught on autoroute 10 in construction and traffic (its usual state) and everyone gave me my space and made sure I had enough room to change lanes. Merci beaucoup!