RoyB
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Joined Apr 13, 2008
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Re: Solar trickle charger for chassis battery......Good or bad?
I have one of these 10W Solar panels always sitting on the dash of my truck plugged into an always hot 12V Receptacle... My Truck start battery is always ready to use. I am getting up in age now and don't use my truck like I used to do... Truck usually sits in a spot that gets direct sunlight thru the windshield for a few hours each day... Have not had any boil out of fluids and Battery sees to be always ready for use when I need it to start... Roy Ken1.3KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Flash finally coming to an end
I hate this happening haha... I unfortunately use the FLASH for my ONLINE RADIO SCANNER. I can't afford the real radio scanners anymore... Flash gives me a display when the channel is being used... I know there is a dashboard out there to do the same thing but it only works if you are paying a yearly fee... I will work around it but have been using the FLASH program for many years here. I have a good eight channels that I monitor when on-line here in my radio room... Always like to have a good Local Police Scanner going in the back ground haha... We will overcome the change haha... Roy Ken539Views0likes0CommentsRe: looking for music app alternative to google play
I use TUNE IN Radio app for my music. Like to get country music and TUNE IN makes alot of choices available... I can also tune in my favorite FM Radio station like KLUR or WFLS no matter where I go... We may not be talking about the same thing haha... Roy Ken247Views0likes0CommentsRe: Finally got to test solar system install
I got into the same catch 22 here as well. Have not got to go camping in a few years now due to health issues with both Me and the Wife. I had just purchased my two groups of 6VDC batteries and have them setup on my work bench... I have been making sure they are staying charged up. They are not being used however under any load... I am thinking now I should go ahead with my solar panel plans which was installing three 120Watt panels on my trailer roof with one on each side of my roof window... Then another solar across the rear of the roof between the roof mounted air conditioner and the rear of roof... I will use the aluminum Unistrut to mount the panels... At least I could be using my POPUP TRAILER Panels to feed my radio room here at the house while not being camping off grid somewhere... My big battery bank sure is not doing much good just sitting on my work table haha... I have a second 10WATT small solar panel on the other end of the battery box. One for trickle charging each 12VDC battery banks... This was to be mounted on my trailer tongue area replacing my three 12VDC batteries currently being used... Roy Ken267Views0likes0CommentsRe: Outside Antenna Connection
This is a simplied drawing of my antenna box wall plate. The OUTSIDE connected is for hooking to the an antenna signal coming from the site TV antenna source... I usually use a short RG cable and a signal splitter here so that the camp ground TV cable can be routed to the ANT INPUT connector on the RV and also to a long RG Cable that I throw under the RV so I can connect up an outside TV SET on the picnic table. You will have to do something similar to this on the inside where the RV Antenna is connected to the TV ANTENNA BOX connector. When adding a splitter be sure it is the that will pass the 12VDC that goes up the coaxial to power up your TV Power AMplifier that is located in the antenna. If the the splitter you get does not also pass 12VDC going up the RG Cable to the outside antenna the Power AMplifier will not work.. I guess all of this makes sense to you... Roy Ken337Views0likes0CommentsRe: Wifi in Remote locations
I am on VERIZON CELL PHONE and it has had the best cellphone coverage for me over the years... I also have a MIFI Box that will operate up to five of my devices using the Internet over Verizon... When Camping I would set the MIFI UNIT in WILSON CRADLE that has an outside ANTENNA which would allow me to use my various devices around the camp site... I have updated the Verizon MIFI unit to a newer model now... It looks like this now... With the new AT&T 5G towers going up everywhere now this may be a better resource in the near future... I don't know firsthand if things has changed on the camping off grid scene as I have not been camping for around five years now with family health problems... Roy Ken499Views0likes0CommentsRe: Mattress Underlayment
I came up with a hugh throw away of 2x2 feet Carpet squares... These still had sticky on their backs haha.. I put carpet squares under both tent bed ends and of course had to trim a tad to cover the whole floor. I used DARK GREEN color here... Then I put down 2X2 Carpet squares on the POPUP main floor. I used DARK BLUE color here. One spot was very close to the heat duct coming from the Propane Heater so I used a small section of metal here on the floor in front of the heater vent... I didn't do any of this per say to a problem you are discussing here... I was never aware our mattress was doing something like you are speaking of... I was looking mainly on putting down something under the POPUP mattress to make a tad warmer to sleep on and prevent drafts from sneaking in around the edges... We also laid down a few of those Air Conditioning foam sections that one installs in the house open window where the installed window air conditioner is installed to prevent drafts. This works great going around the where the POPUP floor meets the installed tent bed fabric ends. Also keeps small things from falling out as well like small flashlights haha... The Carpet Squares did very well for what I was expecting. Having carpet on the main floor however probably was not the smartest thing I have done. I never knew how much dirt and twigs got carried into the trailer through the front door haha.. I installed one of those HD grated steps allowing one to stomp their feet real hard before entering the trailer. Roy's image Roy Ken1.5KViews0likes0CommentsRe: A/C couldn't keep up. Help?
You really need to park in the shade somewhere that will help big time... What cooling you gain during the night gets immediately eat up when the sun comes up if you are not sitting in the shade somewhere... I remember my Maricopa days... It is a brutal place to stay for sure... Our Air conditioning back then was water based haha... Had to go up the roof to change out the filter and had fight off the black widow spiders first... Roy Ken294Views0likes0CommentsRe: 12 V cooler
All of my camping trips are based on PLAN Bs.... If I was to use my Truck Start Battery like having a 12V COOLER connected and run down the battery I would then start up my 2KW Honda EU2000i generator that is sitting secured and covered in the tailgate corner of my truck bed. Then I would hook up my portable BATTERY CHARGER and charge up up my truck start battery to start my truck. My battery situation however is geared for camping off grid and consist of two groups of two 6VDC Batteries in series and has a great long term use when camping off-grid... What you are describing would never be a problem for us camping off grid... This was my original BATTERY BANK setup using three each 12VDC Batteries in parallel... This has recently been replaced with a new 12V battery bank that consists of two groups of two 6VDC Batteries in series. The new battery bank is installed in this battery box that has a slide off top lid. This is sitting on the trailer tongue area replacing the three 12V Batteries originally used... This battery box extends out on both sides of the tongue area and fits perfect inside the the two welded on mounting rails. I also have a second 10WATT Solar panel so that each 12V groups will have a trickle charge using the two 10 WATT small solar panels when sitting in the high sun.. This is my 2KW Generator sitting inside my covered truck bed.. This is pulled out onto the dropped tailgate when being used... ALways having the generator mounted in my truck has been used many many times getting someone else truck's started. Also being secured in my covered and locked truck bed my generator goes where I go.. Its all about PLAN Bs hehe... Roy Ken982Views0likes0CommentsRe: Wiring A 30amp RV Outlet - Ground & Neutral
This is a NO SHOCK ZONE drawing for Power Panel at the house... Be sure you get someone that understands all of this before jumping in there and wiring it up yourself... Nothing worse then stepping off your trailer steps to the ground and getting shocked... Also nothing worse than having a licensed technician wiring up your RV power panel and not knowing the difference between RV and House Washer/Dryer wiring... This will burn up all of your plugged in appliances when first turned on haha... This is a good reason to have a licensed electrician company doing it as their Insurance will pay for all they are responsible for burning up. Guess who gets the bill if you wire it up wrong. Could be in the thousands of dollars replacing electrical appliances in the RV haha... Just saying of course.... I am no authority on any of this... Roy Ken278Views0likes0Comments
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