Category Archives: California

Solar Install (Part 2)

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This is the next installment on our solar install.

I have put in insulation in the void behind the battery doors and one of the next steps is to caulk the battery doors themselves to make them a bit more water tight.

Before I physically put in the battery pack I had to clean up some wiring first.  Here is what it was:

I moved and reoriented everything on the front wall:

Here are things all cleaned up before putting the couch back in.  The wires on the left are the solar wires Airstream provided but were not large enough for what I wanted to do.  I moved the inverter to the right side and out of the way.

The couch fits just fine and I have more room to put back the subwoofer if I get to that.

Now I have to get the wiring from the couch back to the refrigerator area.  The wiring consists of 2 2Ga wires, an RJ11 connector to drive the IPNPro status device and a battery temperature cable.  These have to be run along the outside edge of the floor, under the dinette and into the refrigerator box.  The controller box is destined for the refrigerator box.

It has been a lot of floor work recently and that is a bit difficult since I still have 1 rib that isn’t quite right.  However, everything has been going along according to plan, for now.  Part 3 is next.

Launch delay…

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Years ago when I was still working (that still sounds weird) we had two employees, in a different department, that always complained about things going on in the office.  When they retired we thought they would be happy then.  Nope.  They came back to work with the office on a contract basis!  We could never figure out, other than monetary reasons, why someone that hated their work so much would do such a thing.

When people knew about my retirement, about 3 years ago, they would ask if I was going to come back and contract with the office also (which new CalPERS rules don’t allow now)?  My joke in return was, “The day of retirement, I will have the trailer hooked up and we will be taking off!”

Well, that didn’t work out, yet.   Since there was so much for us to do to get the trailer and truck ready and so much to get rid of at home we shot for the end of January.

This got further delayed due to:

  • Me falling off the ladder and being limited in my activities
  • Ripping out the master shower at home and building a new one from scratch (never having done this before)
  • Waiting for the Snugtop shell for my truck

It turns out that I had 3 fractured ribs not just two and my tailbone is broken/displaced.  There is still pain at certain times but nothing like right after I fell!

As mentioned in a previous post, we will not be returning to California to live but we still have our house.  Our son, Aaron, will be renting the house from us until he decides he can buy it.  If he doesn’t buy it then we will sell it.  Either way, the house will be sold so we are looking at it from a resale aspect.  Hence the shower redo.  Here are two current pictures:

Since I got a new model year truck I have been having to wait for my shell.  I ordered it in October!  Every time I call for a status it is two more weeks.  Sigh.

During the month of January, I was hoping for the end of February.  As I write this on the last day of February it is obvious we are going to be delayed again.  I have pushed the date back to the end of March.

Maybe…  (Don’t hold your breath)