Putting Lipstick on a Pig - Fixing the camp! (Photo heavy)

[Crowz]

Mine went back so far it had to hit the bed first. Crew cab short bed its the only way to tow.

 

[Crowz]

Heres mine.

 

[timselectric]

I can't live without an 8' bed.
Which is the only reason that there isn't a Ford lighting in my driveway.
If it had an 8' bed option, I would have been one of the first to reserve.

 

[OffGridForGood]

My F350 had the 8' bed and solid front axel and front leaf springs which sure limit how far the wheels steer, wow, talk about a turing "Orbit"
The 2500 Ram is better for turning with the solid fron axel and coils in front, and not an 8'foot box so that helps. Oh the joys of bush roads in poor weather...

 

[wme]

Had a Dodge long bed, 4x4, 4 door. Sometimes I felt like the Capt of the Queen Mary ordering the helmsman for right rudder.

 

[Rednecktek]

OK, I'm back at the camp and I brought my emergency diesel heater to get that shed dried out. I fired it up last night on full and it's warm and cozy inside now, but I'm just gonna let it roll so everything in there can really get toasted.




The weather is krap again now that I have spare BMS's in the truck. I might start tearing into that today once my coffee kicks in. I'm not in any hurry as the weather obviously KNOWS that my spare parts are here.



So I think today is going to be small projects day. Maybe I'll get the ATV fixed. I need to clean and rebuild the spare diesel heater and get it back in its box. I still need to get the metal garden shed started. I have the plumbing parts for the shed I can throw in too. Not sure how I feel about trying to get on that wet metal roof and get the panels up on my own.. The electrical stuff is going to wait until at least Tuesday when I head to town to get another sheet of concrete board to mount everything to inside there.


So yeah, only a couple weeks to finish everything before I head back for the season.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Lets see,
PNW,
winter,
low solar,
low wind potential,
lots of mountains and rain = micro hydro electric?

 

[Rednecktek]

lots of mountains and rain = micro hydro electric?

The river is about 600ft lower in elevation and across another persons's property... and a highway... the wire runs are gonna be a real PITA!

 

[timselectric]

Go wireless. lol

 

[Checkthisout]

Lets see,
PNW,
winter,
low solar,
low wind potential,
lots of mountains and rain = micro hydro electric?

Not when all the water is frozen

 

[OffGridForGood]

Not when all the water is frozen

LOL! PNW is always mild weather right? South of Vancouver where they get snow maybe twice a decade? (and still complain about it!)

The river is about 600ft lower in elevation and across another persons's property... and a highway... the wire runs are gonna be a real PITA!

directional drill...under them? (quietly!) LOL
600 feet lower elevation will provide great mini-hydro potential!

 

[Checkthisout]

Out on the coast, my 2430 watt array. Collection for today. Don't feel too bad.

 

[Checkthisout]

LOL! PNW is alway mild weather right? South of Vancouver where they get snow maybe twice a decade? (and still complain about it!)


directional drill...under them? (quietly!) LOL
600 feet lower elevation will provide great mini-hydro potential!

He's in NE Washington, east of the cascades. It's continental. He's going to be frozen out until April. ?

 

[OffGridForGood]

He's in NE Washington, east of the cascades. It's continental. He's going to be frozen out until April. ?

yeah, I was surprised when RNT got snow before I did north of the 49th, I expect his place is higher elevation area too.

 

[Supervstech]

LOL! PNW is always mild weather right? South of Vancouver where they get snow maybe twice a decade? (and still complain about it!)


directional drill...under them? (quietly!) LOL
600 feet lower elevation will provide great mini-hydro potential!

Yeah... EASTERN washington gets COOOOOLD.
those cascades block the warm weather.

 

[Rednecktek]

directional drill...under them? (quietly!) LOL
600 feet lower elevation will provide great mini-hydro potential!

Let me find that winning lotto ticket first... it's around here somewhere I swear!

That's just 600+ft down, still gotta head a mile west on top of that to reach the river so roughly 6000ft-ish of wire. What kind of voltage drop is that going to be?

 

[OffGridForGood]

Well I am about out of ideas for your winter conditions, old time steam driven engine turing a modern generator, put some of those trees ya got to work!

 

[timselectric]

Let me find that winning lotto ticket first... it's around here somewhere I swear!

That's just 600+ft down, still gotta head a mile west on top of that to reach the river so roughly 6000ft-ish of wire. What kind of voltage drop is that going to be?

Voltage drop is insignificant. If you start with around 6kv.

 

[Rednecktek]

Success! So I tackled the BMS change on the battery tonight...

Started out with ripping out all the JK bits and some cells so I could drill new mounting holes because of course they're different sizes...



Time to start figuring out what's going to go where. Fortunately I had 2 insulated butt connectors that were large enough for the 4AWG wire I used inside there. I love the dichotomy of wire size. BlueSea says "Use 2/0 for that amperage!!" but the BMS manufacturers say "Meh, 6AWG is plenty" and since the wires on a Daly are a special screw on type I couldn't just go straight from the BMS to new wire...




I got everything cleaned up after testing my balance leads were right, then moved on to adding in a second thermostat to control the relay feeding the heaters. After setting the start and stop temps higher than normal I ran it for a test. It took about 10-12 minutes to start changing the temperature on the thermostat, and the shunt says it was drawing 4a to do it, but then it started climbing pretty quickly. I have no doubts that if I had to use this battery in "real" winter up here the heaters would probably kill the battery faster than I could charge it, but that's what AC chargers and a generator are for.




Yaay!! Everything worked as planned! Now I just gotta wait for the sun to come out ...




GODS DAMMNIT!!!!!!

 

[OffGridForGood]

Partly Sunny on Thursday!
Chance of winter until April, then lots of sunny days...

 

[OffGridForGood]

I have no doubts that if I had to use this battery in "real" winter up here the heaters would probably kill the battery faster than I could charge it,

This makes me wonder about the reported temperature range for Sodium batteries, -they say down to -30c (and up to +80c)
For a set up like RNT has out in the woods, left to it's own for long periods of time, a battery system that doesn't require any heating to accept or discharge energy would be a good option, similar to using AGM currently. - maybe in a few years we will see the sodium cells coming on line for this type of application.

 

[cj5orion]

Yea,,,bush roads with a big drop on one side,20 pt turns...all good stuff !!! But then ya think about it a lil...and many a soccer mom has done the same thing just getting in/out of a parking spot with a Humvee,but she's got 20 cars behind here waiting to get the hell out of the way.!

So,what,master plan is to get outta there for winter ?

Climbing around a wet metal roof... I'd pay $ for that
show !

I'm sure you realize,,,Spring will just reward you with muddy roads.Lots of 4-wheeler tricks for getting unstuckj.

 

[Rednecktek]

Yea,,,bush roads with a big drop on one side,20 pt turns...all good stuff !!! But then ya think about it a lil...and many a soccer mom has done the same thing just getting in/out of a parking spot with a Humvee,but she's got 20 cars behind here waiting to get the hell out of the way.!

How else are you supposed to get into Starbucks?

So,what,master plan is to get outta there for winter ?

Yup, get as much finished before turkey day (I still gotta take a day or so and get me one of those) and then bail until I get back from my next ship next summer.

Climbing around a wet metal roof... I'd pay $ for that
show !

Cue the Benny Hill theme music!

I'm sure you realize,,,Spring will just reward you with muddy roads.Lots of 4-wheeler tricks for getting unstuckj.

Most people know how to drive forwards, backwards, left, and right. Up here you have to learn Sideways as well. It's a viable direction.

? ?

 

[NCislander]

How else are you supposed to get into Starbucks?

Yup, get as much finished before turkey day (I still gotta take a day or so and get me one of those) and then bail until I get back from my next ship next summer.

Cue the Benny Hill theme music!

Most people know how to drive forwards, backwards, left, and right. Up here you have to learn Sideways as well. It's a viable direction.

? ?

LMAO @BennyHill theme, and of course the lovely ladies parading around.

 

[wme]

Drove a 40ft school bus for years on unpaved country roads. Never got stuck, but spent a lot of time in the sideways mode. You should try "drifting" a bus at 3 mph