Good Morning!!!! 52F @ 5:15AM. Mostly cloudy. High 62F. Winds light and variable.
Yesterday's starting test on the van didn't go so well, with the voltage once again falling into the 9s. And I inadvertently stumbled onto the three second crank and let off, and it does start in a stumbling sort of way, with the idle yesterday spiking up into the 2000 RPM range for a bit. Not exactly confidence inspiring, but thanks for sharing your CDI experience Jim, which seems to parallel what's going on here. Dug out an old school charger with no fancy electronics, just an amp meter on the face, and put it on to see if it would bring the battery to a higher state of charge. Within an hour, it was only drawing an amp, so I left it on overnight and we'll see what happens this morning. But my guess right now is that all that unattended sitting, and the fact that this is a battery from NAPA, not exactly a first string supplier, will have me shopping for a new battery soon. The Kubota side-by-side needs one as well, so might as well take two birds with one stone while I'm in town today.
Anybody have experience with Duracel car batteries? They make pretty good flashlight batteries, and there's a shop in town having a 20% off sale...
The Vanagon's dash is rather spartan, with no voltmeter and only water temperature and fuel gauges. A while ago I picked up a pair of USB charging outlets that also have a digital volt meter in them, so I mounted one into one of the cutouts I'd made earlier in the dash, and wired it into the switched 12V side of the wiring harness. The response isn't exactly instantaneous, but it is quick enough to show the low voltage when cranking, and will be handy for keeping tabs on the charging system in general.
Most of the smart light switches I've installed are WiFi based, and their signals are pretty robust and reliable, but the few Bluetooth based ones in the garage often drop out. Their supplier, Eve, just released a repeater, so yesterday I installed one in the master bath, which sits on the edge of Bluetooth reception on that side of the house. After some initial fumbling and a firmware update, it seems to be working nicely now.
David was kind enough to offer some backchannel expertise on the latest solar quote, raising my confidence that this time is headed in the right direction and giving me a little peace of mind. Thanks, David, I owe you one!
Slow start to the day, as I'm fasting for some blood work, but it means I'll be in town early. With a little luck I'll get back before dark this time around.
Hang in there, gang, Friday's comin'!
