Relaxing while doing chores on the VRRV

Wednesday, May 29

A very nice and sunny morning leading to an overcast afternoon with gusting winds.  Got some major minor tasks done with a bit more riding of Yagi, my TW200 thrown in for good measure.

The gate to Deadman Road remains closed though I see work trucks go to and fro along the road leading to it.

As to the major minor tasks:

I finally figured out what was causing the water pump to cycle on and off for no apparent reason. It had started doing this in the previous camping trip and this time out I'd taken to turning the pump off when no using it. The sound of it cycling on/off unexpectedly was quite annoying to me.

As I sipped my coffee, I looked again at all the valves and connections.  No leaks that I could find which would cause pressure to drop and activate the pump however.  This time though, I spotted what looked like a air stem cap on top of the accumulator.  Hmmm.

The accumulator's role is to keep the water in the lines under pressure, to help move it when one opens a faucet.  I didn't know, until I read its manual, that you're supposed to check it's stored air pressure!   That's why there was a cap you see and I deployed a portable air compressor to fill it to 30 PSI as per the manual.

Once I got the pressure back to spec, no more unexpected cycling on/off by the water pump!  Success!

Another major minor task was figuring out why there seemed to be connectivity issues between the solar panels and the solar charge controller.  There's two 100 watt panels now you see, and its no longer a simple one-to-one connection as I combine the two panels into one charge controller.

I started off just twisting the wires together but this didn't lend itself to easy disconnects for storage and for sometimes using only one panel.  For example, only one is needed while the VRRV is in storage to keep the batteries topped off.

Enter this connector I found on Amazon:

Easy peasy to use and to connect/disconnect.  You just have to make sure no copper is exposed as the possibility of unwanted contact increases of course!  Now, when I just need one solar panel, I just disconnect the unneeded one by flipping the levers up as appropriate....

Finally, now that we're using Starlink for Internet access while camping, I'd had a slight worry (yep, I overthink things) of the darn dish being caught by wind gusts and flipped over, getting damaged.

I'm using a tent stake similar to the ones used by the gazebo, driving it into the ground first, leaving just enough room to slide the "dishy"'s flip stand under the hook.  I think it'll work just fine, and it's so low to the ground to start with....

No plans to mount it on the roof, I want to retain the flexibility of being able to move it around to clear obstructions like when camping in a forested area.

The riding with the TW200 was enjoyable in the sun.  I rode it on trails seeking high point area access for pictures; since this place is so forested.  I found a nice hill with boulders at the top that gave me this view of nearby houses:

Not a bad location for one's weekend house eh?

Finally, another shot of the campsite, showing where I'd moved the gazebo to get it somewhat out of the wind.

The skies turned only partly cloudy in the later afternoon, with warm sunshine somewhat offsetting the occasional gusty winds.

I walked over to a nearby copse of Aspen for this shot: