Sun's magnetic poles shifting

Wondering about the moment when the magnetic field strength of the sun goes to zero (right before the flip) what opportunity this presents?

— Tim Kali Om Ma (@kalltim) September 3, 2013

Memories of Mt. Shasta CA Summer 2013

Ichneumon wasp

Adding a voltage guage to my Roadtrek control panel

When I purchased the components for my solar panel project, it included a small DC voltage gauge ($10.38 with good Amazon reviews) that I wanted to install.  At first, I was not sure where I wanted to place it- in the rear battery box, near the voltage controller, or someplace else.  Then it occurred to me that the best place would be in the camper near the control panel so I could monitor the voltage without having to open the cargo doors.  But to do this I needed to know whether the wires coming into the control panel had the battery voltage information even when the battery disconnect switch was off.  After doing some voltage measurements on the control panel, I discovered that it did and so I was ready to start this new project.

 To begin with, I disconnected the house battery and then soldered on the contact leads of the gauge to the existing control panel.  The positive red lead of the gauge went to the orange wire of the control panel and the negative black lead was connected to the white control panel wire. I used the electrical tape to temporaily hold the leads in place while I soldered. Once the wire were secured and tested  okay using the gauge (re-hooking up the battery) I added some heat shrink tubing to replace the black shrink wrap I had removed.

Now time to make the hole.  I first penciled in the hole cutout using the hatch size dimension given below and verified my accuracy by placing the gauge
up to the markings.  Before I made the cut I wanted to make
sure there was no wires behind my hole so I removed
shower access panel (see below) to check for issues.  Seeing the
outside porch light wires I removed these from the switch
and tucked them into a safe place.

Satisfied that I had measured correctly
and that all wires in the back of the hole were
out of the way, I used a spiracut saw to rough cut the hole
and then used a file to exact the dimensions.  After a little filing
and test fitting the gauge I was ready to hook up the
gauge wires and insert the gauge in the hole.

After lightly tapping in the gauge with a plastic mallet, I
reconnected the outside light switch, put the control panel back in place, closed up the shower access panel and cleaned up my mess.  Overall, a very satisfying project!

One question you may be thinking and that is what is the power consumption of the gauge itself?  Per the specifications online it comes out to 12mA X 24 hours X 12 volts or about 3.46 watts per day.

• Power range : DC 4.2 V - 30 V
• Current consumption : 12mA
• Accuracy : 0.1V
• Led Size : 0.56'' 

Who pays for the ambulance?

"Who pays for the ambulance?" was an article in today's LA times (8/26/2013) under Healthcare Watch.  The article talked about making sure you know what insurance covers and how to appeal charges.  Per Mr. Zamosky of the LA Times, "Both Medicare and private insurance generally covers the cost of ambulance rides, but they rely on medical necessity when determining reimbursement"  and the billing codes that the ambulance provider puts on the paperwork determine how an insurance company will treat this claim.  If a claim is denied or the bill seems high or improper a person can appeal to the ambulance company. The LA Times reported that the average ambulance ride in Los Angeles is about $1200 though the range can vary between $224 and $2,204 across the country.  Making sure the ambulance company properly codes the bill can be an important first step in resolving any problems. In my own experience, I was billed by the city of Long Beach for ambulance service and because the insurance company did not pay fast enough I was billed a late fee by the city.  Cities I have noticed tend to demand payment much faster than a typical business and are quick to slap on late fees. It's like the old saying- "You can't fight city hall" at least in the short run. For a great website on those who are being successful in fighting city hall check out http://www.voiceofoc.org/countywide/who_says_you_can_t_fight_city_hall/

LA Times goes on to list the following resources in case a billing issue becomes a problem or one needs help with ambulance services.

Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency at ems.dhs.lacounty.gov or Orange County Emergency Medical Services at healthdisasteroc.org/ems

Help in fighting bills: Patient Advocate Foundation at www.patientadvocate.org

Medicare help: California health advocates at cahealthadvocates.org and the consumer advocacy nonprofit Center for Health Care rights in Los Angeles at lawhelpca.org

Project: Adding a 12 volt LED TV/DVD to my Roadtrek for about $200

Project cost:  $203

Adding a LED TV with built in digital TV tuner and DVD player wasn't too hard.  I bought the 12V NAXA NTD-1552 15.6 inch widescreen online for about $150 and a good TV stand to mount it on.  The stand I purchased was the Sanus double-pivot full motion flat panel mount which ran for about $50 online.  I then purchased two bolts, washers, and locking nut for another $3 bringing my total cost to about $203.  Nowadays, because certain online companies are collecting state taxes, the price would be a little higher.

 I really like the panel mount I purchased as the TV stays put while I drive but it is easy to move when I want to use it and even face forward so I can watch it from the front side captains chairs.  Unfortunately, the viewing angle on this TV is not that great meaning that if you are not viewing the TV straight on the images will darken making it hard for two people to watch a program who are not sitting close together.
 

A big plus to this project is getting to reclaim the old analog TV storage area.  This space is great for storing my CD collection, DVDs, laptop computer, camera equipment, and a small inverter for charging my ipod, computer, & camera batteries.

I should also note that I try to unplug the TV when idle as it drains the battery a little in off-mode.  A simple enough solution is to disconnect the power which gets plugged in the rear cigarette lighter.  It is also nice that the panel mount manages the cables that need to run into the cabinet.

Tip- While drilling your hole to run the cables through make sure you drill it out on both sides or you may tear the oak veneer on the non-drilled side like I did.  I was able to glue back the veneer for the most part but I do wish I had partially drilled it through on the one side and then reversed drilled it on the other side to get a clearer hole. 

Project: Install a solar panel to my RV (Roadtrek 170 Popular) for around $300 dollars

Project cost:  $304.12

I wanted to add a solar panel to my Roadtrek 170 Popular as this would allow me to extend my boondocking camping trips and the same time do it for around $300 dollars.  As my RV is not equipped with a generator (pretty expensive option to add one at this point) and running the engine just to charge the battery is not very practical, I figured adding a solar panel was really the best way to go.  When considering my options I decided not to permanently mount it on the roof as I prefer to park my camper van in the shade. Also, because of the limited roof area on this model, I would have had to mount it sideways along the back of the van creating greater air resistance while traveling. With my gas mileage averaging around 16 mpg I certainly did not want to add anything that would contribute to its drop nor did I want to take the chance of creating a whistling sounds as the air passed over the panel. So if I wasn't going to place it on the roof, the challenge became where to store the solar panel when not being used in the smallest of the Roadtrek models.

This challenge was solved when I realized I could place a solar panel (47 x 1.4 x 21.3 inches) in the very back of the van in the underneath storage area accessible from the rear doors.  Basically, what I did was add a couple of shelves on to this back storage area so I could minimize the area it took up and at the same time protect the solar panel itself.  Note the felt padding I added to the wood pieces to minimize it bouncing around on the shelf.  When creating the shelf for the solar panel to sit on I also removed the back seat belts as i did not want the solar panel glass breaking from the protruding seat belt bolts sticking down.  This was fine with me as I have the additional seat behind the passenger captain chair and my back area had been converted into a permanent bed so I would not use these seat belts anyway.  I am sure there are other ways to work around the bolts like lowering the shelf if you needed to keep the seat belts or pointing the glass down towards the ground.  I wanted the glass on the panel to be facing up so as it minimize the chance of something below the panel bouncing up and breaking the glass, but you could face it down (with care as to what you have below it) and this could be another work around.

 

 Near the van doors I added a rubber stopper for one side and a Velcro sling for the other side.  This made for easy removal of the solar panel when I wanted to plug it in. The rubber stopper I bolted in place and secured the nut though the opening in the side of the door panel.

  Speaking of plugging it in, I decided to create an external power connector underneath the van so I could keep my van doors closed during those times I would be charging the battery.  Don't want to make it too easy for nature to find its way into my van.  I ran the cable through the battery compartment on the right side of the van and bought a dust/moisture cover to keep the contacts in good condition when not in use.  The cable I bought was originally 50 feet. I needed to cut this in half as one side had the female plug and the other side the male plug so I ended up with a cable approximately 22 feet in length (3 feet was used to connect the external connector cable to the terminal strip.  This length still gave me plenty of locations to place my solar panel.  Usually I just placed my panel against one of my camping chairs when charging though at some point I may build a stand out of PVC pipes.

 

 The parts used for this project where as follows:

 

Item Model Qty Cost per Item Total Solar Panel RENOGY 100 Watt 100w Monocrystalline Photovoltaic PV Solar Panel Module 12V Battery Charging 1 179.99 179.99 Volt Meter Mini Blue LED Digital Volt Meter 4.5~30v for 9v 12v 24v 1 10.38 10.38 50 ft MC4 Cable Instapark® CBL50 12-Gauge MC4 Male to Female Solar Panel Extension Cable, 50-Foot, UL Listed 1 34.99 34.99 Charge Controller Instapark® PRS-1515 PWM 12V/24V 15 Amp Solar Power Charge Controller, 180W/360W 1 27.95 27.95 Power Connector Anderson SB50A 2 connector kit 1 8 8 Dust/Moisture Protector Dust cover for Anderson SB50 connector 1 4 4 Terminal Strip 22-10 guage RadioShack 12 position jumbo 274-0677 1 4.33 4.33 Battery Cable 4 feet 10 guage wire Red and Black from West Marine  2 3.25 6.5 Ring Term 3/8 Solderfill Ring Term 2 count from Auto Zone 1 4 4 In-Line Fuse Holder ATO Fuse holder with protective cover from Pep Boys 2 3.99 7.98 ATO Fuse 15 Amp ATO Blade from Pep Boys 1 3.5 3.5 Rubber Stopper Size 1 11/16 from Lowe's 1 2.5 2.5 Felt Padding Lowe's 1 6 6 Bolts & Nuts Machine 8-32X1 8 count @ Lowe's 1 1.5 1.5 Bolts & Nuts 1/4-20X2 1/2 2 count 2 1.25 2.5 Total 304.12
Note: the wood pieces I did not have to purchase as I had these lying around. Want to thank Wilton Hart from http://windsurf.mediaforte.com/roadtrek/solar/Roadtrek_Solar_on_the_Cheap.html for his wonderful article and his information on the power consumption used by the various components in a Roadtrek.  His article helped me figure out how much energy I needed for my typical usage.  I recommend you read his article.  Bottom line for me is that 100watt should take care of most of my energy needs assuming I keep the solar panel in the sun for around four to six hours when recharging. In my energy plan, I will not be using the A/C nor microwave though the later is possible with a large enough inverter.  I converted all of my house battery lights to LED to lower my energy consumption and one of my big energy uses is my 12volt LCD TV/DVD which I installed a couple of months earlier and/or the fan during the hotter summer months.  On colder days running the propane heater can use up a lot of watts so its use has to be regulated. Hope this blog helps with your RV solar project.