Solar Modifcation...and Trip Scouting for Wildflowers

Its been a while.....There has been numerous projects around the house, plus we had one of the Kids from Kansas City down here.......also dealing/helping with FIL's "new life style"...

(c)2011Horst Kelly Photographer..Million Dollar Hwy

One of the projects I wanted to do was get a new solar controller and instead of having it hooked to my panels, put it inside the camper...Finally got all the items ordered from Amazon....and to my surprise I had accumulated enough gift cards to pay for everything, new MPPT controller, remote, wiring, connectors and inline fuses....Ordered the items from Renogy...I most say they have thus far provided superb customer service.....and there products are first rate...by the way, I have NO relationships or interests in the Company. I guess I'm suppose to say that..   :)

So I put the Controller under the side dinette, by the partition, used 8 gauge to run to the battery(about 4 ft). Instead of screwing the controller into the wheel well I used velcro.....since it would be a pain in the a-- to monitor from underneath the side dinette, I got a remote and screwed it into the partition....you not only can monitor it with the remote, but also do adjustments and setting changes...I  got 40 feet of 10 gauge and ran that from the panels to the controller...you don't need heavy gauge for that run, in fact they say 14 gauge wire is more than enough...I connected wire with MC4 and MC4 Y connectors.....even got inline fuses that snap directly to the MC4 connectors...its pretty slick, sure makes easy work of it...and God knows I need it to be easy!  There are folks that have had trouble with the connectors being hard to clip and unclip....so far I have had not had the problem...I suppose it could be due to different manufactures.  I ran the wires from the solar panels(suitcase type)through the small door where the shore power cable is stored...I may look at somehow cleaning that up a bit...with both sets in there, its is a little unruly in the storage area. But overall quite happy and the MPPT is doing so much better than the PWM controller.....

(c)2015 Horst Kelly Photographer...Ilano, Tx. Bluebonnets

Its been a few days since I began this post.....I washed, and cleaned and organized the Albino Armadillo  today...prepping for my trip....since I'm not going to Bryce or Tetons this spring due to FIL's status, I thought maybe a short trip north to see if I can get some Bluebonnets and such before they go past their prime...I'm leaving Tuesday morning and plan to spend a week plus just roaming around the Hill Country and the Bastrop/Brenham area East of l-35.....I am ready for a adventure.....The weather is suppose to be just about perfect, I think we're all done with Spring Break.....its putting a smile on this old mans face and soul.

(c)2015Horst Kelly photographer...Ilano Tx. Bluebonnets

So there you have it.....I'm off and running.....with a Looong overdue trip...it may be short, but it will recharge my "Nomad" spirit  until I can venture West....hopefully I will be able to do a daily recap when on this trip...until next time....Horst sends

(c)2014 Horst Kelly Photographer...Tetons