August 21, 2013

           As I progress on the wagon electrical, I see at least one former owner of this motorcycle ran into the identical problem I fortunately anticipated long before I began. The factory Honda alternator or whatever they call it will not handle much beyond the motorcycle requirements. I see how he went through great trouble to wire everything up but did not test at each stage. When he got done, things kept failing on him until he finally cut the wires and left them hanging. He was also a little unclear on the concept that there are standard wiring colors, however, this was nothing to decipher for a robot kind of guy such as myself.

           Here’s a nice shot to let you know everything doesn’t always go my way. You know what causes this? Let’s make this a multiple choice.
           A) Pilot error
           B) Made in China
           C) Using a metal bit to actually drill metal
           D) Halliburton “frack” prototype
           E) None, some, or all of the above

The good news, for me, is that he did leave the wiring in place and he did a credible job of routing it efficiently. There is no evidence he was even aware of the option for a separate battery supply or that he knew about relays. It is actually easy. A relay only requires a tenth of an amp to trip and the Honda electrics can deal with that. The relay then cuts in the independent battery supply. All I’ve done is figure a way to keep that spare or extra battery topped up without unduly straining the Honda system. (The Honda factory electric is anemic and Mickey Mouse.)
           I was in the yard nine hours during which time I wound up completely revamping the wiring for the sidecar. I just drove it for over a year with the wrong lights and could have picked up a ticket if I wasn’t so lucky. When I finally rigged up the wagon electrical harness, I noticed the motorcycle left turn signal would also flash the side car right signal. This led to a rather complete trace of the wiring and sure enough, the previous owner must have changed his mind several times before giving up.

           The new and pretty wiring is mine. Shown here is my method of tagging every wire with a full description. The marker lights and turn signals were configured wrong. I found this testing the Honda and discovered the motorcycle will not even push volts down a wire four extra feet long. Time to see if they make a marine grade battery that fits in the Honda bracket. I further managed to break the existing positive battery post off.
           Music. What else is there these days but electricity and music? I talked to a guy from North Miami putting a country band together to find he’s already got four members. Good intentions aside, remains a mystery where such a band would ever play around here. Guys, the big band era has been gone since around 1946. But I can’t turn down any potential paying gigs so I asked them for a song list. I’ve got a funny feeling the list will be as well-thought out as the rest of what they’re doing.
           I was just coupling up the wagon when Billie-Bill rolled into the yard. He’s playing the bowl on Sunday and I may drop in after practice. You see, the drummer in my band decided not to play Jimbos, so that cancels the Sunday I had planned. And a lot of others as well, since I had the posters and expectations all up at the club. I’ll invent a cover story, but now we are back to rehearsing without any hope of finding work.
           Billie-Bill is still in several three and four piece groups, none of them doing any real country material. We talked for an hour but like every other local guitarist who’s good enough, he recognizes the instant appeal of country music but are is not willing to leap into it. It does require full focus and commitment at the expense of other music, but you’d think after thirty years all musicians would realize doing the same as everybody else is a bumfuzzle.

           Here is the batbike rig ready for a test. This is a most revealing picture if you analyze it. See the left turn signal is also lighting up the right lens on the sidecar. I had not spotted the problem yet. The front amber marker on the wagon is barely glowing but the rear tail lights are not even lit, that’s the four foot wiring maximum I described. Some good news is that the turning radius of the bike at the sharpest angle will not permit the trailer to jackknife, so I can still turn on a dime.
           The wagon is light enough that I can pick it up momentarily rather than wrestle with backing up. The road length of the full rig is 14’ 5-1/2”, around 1-1/2” below projection. I only took it up to 25 mph but you can’t tell the wagon is there, a good sign. It does bounce a little because of light weight, which will improve when the 80 pounds of lumber is added. And you can see how the Nikon decided to go out of focus. The wooden bumpers are conspicuous, and yes, they are temporarily out of square.
           Let me look at the blog topic list, see if I’ve left out anything. Not really, except that my leg still hurts and that support nylon doesn’t make working exactly comfortable. It is flesh colored except where it now has grease, oil, and paint spots. I have to wear that in the daytime until Sunday. I’m not convinced it helps anything.
           There, that’s a damn full day here. How goes things over at your place?

ADDENDUM
           During my search for solar panel information, what do I find? Trivia. AC motors squander electricity, up to half of what is used in the USA every day. Additionally, I found a fairly decent solar energy site written in plain English, from Arizona. If you want to know as much as I do about this technology, go to that link. I’m still learning so now is the time to catch up with me if you want to follow along.
           Take the battery-charging controller itself. Why bother with it? Because I did not know the Harbor Freight solar panels had no way of storing electricity. Here’s the logic. My motorcycle cannot generate enough amperage to run the extra wagon lights. These lights are required to be on at all times. Without battery storage, the panel kit would only power the lights during the day. I must therefore have a battery that will last overnight should the need arise. This gets expensive ($250) so one does not want to ruin a marine battery via accidental overcharging for lack of a cheap controller ($15).
           I find out these controllers are not efficient, rather they throw off any extra power as heat. Oddly, the Harbor Freight model comes with two 12-volt lights. If the panels must be placed in bright sunlight to work, who needs the lights? I know, I know, there are circumstances but in the end, if you are going to operate lights, get a battery and wire your wagon with some extra goodies. Like a way to recharge NiCads for your phone, laptop, camera, and (I’m thinking) an interior fan.
           For all the advances claimed, batteries are still pitifully compared to the demands of even basic appliances. I’ve already successfully wired up a wind generator, but whether I would consider that as an overnight way to keep the wagon battery topped off is still undecided. Wind turbine blades are conspicuous.

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