Sunday, October 22, 2017

A FEW SIMPLE THOUGHTS ON RV SOLAR POWER

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It turned out be such a nice Autumn day I wished it could have lasted forever.  Another couple hours of enjoyable countryside cruising for Pheebs and I as we puttered around northeast of Goderich this morning.  Front windows down and no heater on.  With sunny skies overhead we hit 72F.  Checking the 14 day weather forecast I see we have a lot of predicted rainy days ahead of us with average day time highs of 50F.  Nothing dropping down to the freezing mark yet so our mighty fine Autumn weather luck is holding:))

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GREAT LAKES FREIGHTER RADCLIFFE R LATIMER DISCHARGES A LOAD OF ?? AT THE GODERICH ELEVATORS THIS MORNING

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WHILE TAKING THIS PHOTO NEAR GODERICH A FARM FELLA WALKED OVER AND TOLD ME HIS DAD HAND PAINTED THIS BARN QUILT ON A PIECE OF PLYWOOD HIS GRANDAUGHTER ONCE TAP DANCED ON

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For 3 mornings in a row I had eaten a heavier breakfast (bacon & eggs) and for 3 days in a row I felt tired after doing that.  No heavy breakfast this morning and my energy levels came back up.  I sometimes wonder if bread is the energy drainer for me.

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BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY MORNING FOR A DRIVE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

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NORMALLY THERE WOULD BE A LOT MORE BRIGHT AUTUMN COLORS OUT THERE BUT NOT THIS YEAR

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THIS FIELD WAS RECENTLY IRRIGATED

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HOW’S THAT FOR A SET OF PUMPKINS AND I ALREADY HAVE THAT BARN QUILT IN MY  PHOTO ALBUM WHICH I MUST TRY TO RE-INSTALL ON MY BLOGSITE

Pretty much everything outside that needs to be put away for winter has been but no doubt I will find a few ornaments lurking here and there over the next few weeks.  Two frogs and three tiny fish to the Park pond this afternoon. 

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Moved one of our Horton recliners from the sunroom to the Motorhome today and that is Kelly’s recliner while traveling.  My heavier leather recliner stays in the rig year round. 

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Had a question about solar panels asking are they worth it.  Right out of the box my answer is ‘Ya darn right they’re worth it’.  We’ve had solar panels on all our rigs since late December of 2008 when we had 2 panels installed on our Class A 33’ Damon Challenger.  We have always gone to Solar Mike’s Sun Works at Slab City near Nyland California for our installations.  Kelly one time figured out the cost of staying in RV Parks as opposed to the installation cost of our Damon solar set-up and we were both happily surprised to see how fast those solar panels had paid for themselves as opposed to paying for RV Parks every night.  Preferring the quiet freedom of boon-docking our solar system is key to our travels.  If it was not for solar power it is unlikely we would have pursued our RV interests years ago.  Fortunately for us solar technology had advanced to the point it had when we found out about it.  Now if you were to ask me a bunch of technical questions about our solar system(s) I wouldn’t be able to help you out  much but I can tell you this, it’s just like being in your house.  You flip a light switch and the lights come on.  Plug something into a wall socket and you have power.   No need to be running a noisy generator all the time or having to be plugged into wall socket someplace.  Whenever there is Sun our 4 (new) coach batteries are charging, whenever the rig’s engine is running the batteries are charging and whenever the generator is turned on the batteries are charging as well.  We are not big power users so basically we’ve never had a problem running out of juice.  Our present coach came with 4 solar panels on the roof and that’s way lots of power for us.  I’m guessing at this but I think we might have a 2500 Watt Magnum inverter.

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Catching onto Kelly’s coat tails and taking advantage of this great weather I began loading some of my clothes into the Motorhome today.  I had been a bit lax this past week in loading anything in the rig knowing we have one more call coming from Kelly’s Doctor but after looking ahead at the 14 day weather forecast again I see we have a predicted 11 rainy days out of 14 headed our way.  Not much fun loading up a Motorhome on cold rainy late October days so figured I had better think positive and get at it.

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Another nice walk for Pheebs and I this afternoon through the forest here at our Park.  A warm wind had picked up and with mild temperatures and a late afternoons golden Autumn glow along the trail I couldn’t help but feel it may have just been the finest weather day since arriving home from the Southwest early last March.

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GROANER’S CORNER:((  A husband and wife came for counseling after 15 years of marriage.When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a passionately painful tirade listing every problem they had ever had in the 15 years they had been married.  She went on and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy,emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable, an entire laundry list ofun-met needs she had endured over the course of their marriage.
Finally, after allowing this to go on for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and, after asking the wife to stand, embraced and kissed her passionately.
The woman shut up and quietly sat down as though in a daze.  The therapist turned to the husband and said, "This is what your wife needs at least three times a week Can you do this?"
The husband thought for a moment and replied,.. "Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Friday's I go fishing!

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Knock Knock
Who's there?
Cantaloupe!
Cantaloupe who?
Cantaloupe to Vegas, our parents would get mad.

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12 comments:

  1. I never bothered to check the break even point on my solar. I had to have it to be comfortable in the remote places I wanted to go. With 10 years of using them, even when in a campground with electricity I have to pay for, I am very sure they have paid back the original cost many times over. I only have 2 each 100 amp hour batteries and have found that plenty for a single fellow who lives like an Old Fat Man.

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  2. Sure has been some nice fall weather! Good days to get things done. Won't even be able to complain about the rain after a month of this!

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  3. We didn't have a choice but to get the solar as Brad uses a CPAP to sleep every night and it has to be plugged into a house socket. So grateful we did. We have 480w of solar panels and 4 coach batteries, Brad wants to get more panels and more batteries as his CPAP seems to drain the batteries to about 65% overnight... perhaps we should just have the battery configuration checked - at least thats my thought on it. We'll soon find out as we're going to a place tomorrow for info.

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  4. Cannot get over your beautiful countryside. Trying to figure out what the
    negative would be living there..... Maybe the humidity ?
    Love the rooster-barn quilt..... Very creative that guy is!

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  5. As far as food, I always find that carbs zaps my energy and makes me think more seriously about a siesta. That includes oatmeal, brown rice, wheat bread, lots of pasta ... never felt that with bacon and eggs but the past 5-6 months cut out the bacon and just have eggs. No big deal, but personally I've never liked the barn quilts. I feel it takes away from the beauty of an old barn, even the newer ones plus the country side. I'll duck now and head for cover after saying that. LOL

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  6. Thanks so much for sharing the fall colors. For whatever reason, here in our neck of the woods, the color is lacking this year.

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  7. I wish Fall weather lasted longer every year - it's such a beautiful time of year. How lovely that the chicken square has family history, and that it was shared with you. Those pumpkins are crazy big!!!

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  8. Couldn't agree more about solar. Wouldn't be without it! Agree about carbs too. Seems everything we eat has some not so great effect. Both bacon and eggs are bad for the heart. So what's a body to do? Eat nothin?

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  9. I find bread and all carbs zap my energy too. Solar sure is worth it, we have just 230 watts in 2 panels and two trojan Batteries golf cart batteries more than enough power for what we need, now in our 12 year full-time, saves us so much money. And is so quiet.

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  10. All your photos today are spectacular, but I think my favorite is your header picture.

    I've tried everything imaginable - cutting carbs, gluten free, no fruit, etc., and it works for a while - then I notice my energy is dropping again. I wonder if it matters what you eat or don't eat - maybe the problem is still to be discovered. (And of course, it could be just getting older!)

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  11. I am beginning to lay out our camper clothes in a spare bedroom..Hope that doesn't jinx our travel plan!!

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  12. A large helping of Bacon eggs toast Wow that called ,,, fat dumb and happy thank you Lord for my overstuffed chair

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