September 15, 2013

           Band practice was fun. Isn’t that the way all gravitational musicians spend their Sunday? I found a picture of Heaven, kindly reproduced here. Or at least a single room in that location. I’m not worried about eternity, with just what is here I could always re-read the things that I missed. Sadly, the source of this photo is unknown, though I was [electronically at least] in Europe at the time. I did a lot of bench-testing some electrics today, so see the addendum of you are the curious-tech types. See how nice I am?

           Am I suddenly famous? I got told off by a New York psychiatrist. Thinking it was a joke via my date club where it originated, I played the lady a while and it turns out she is one serious SOB. If this goes no further, that’s a plus, but I think she is really challenging me to a confrontation. Blog rules for today say I must publish the most unusual thing. This lady is it. (Hopefully she will go away.)
           Once more, I can only say what a thrill it is to drive the sidecar! Motorcycles (by themselves) cannot compare. I need that camper. I need something besides time to spur me on to completing the project. Why am I sleeping here a day at home more than necessary? I was bitten by the travel bug many years ago. Why fight my instinct?
           Because there was always a missing ingredient. I never before owned any type of mobile accommodation. This camper is not the culmination my plans. It is a box to sleep in to cut down on expenses during extended road trips that would otherwise cost around a third more than now. That money should be spend on fun, not fundamentals.
           I took the sidecar to the Czech club after practice. Going over the same music without playing it live is a spiral to nowhere. I missed the management meeting at said club, but the others who saw me Friday were heap big pleased when I pulled up again. I was also pleased and pulled into Aventura to see the movie “Riddick”.
           It must be some episode in a series. Full benefit of the excellent special effects is dependent on what went before. I don’t know that part I’ve never seen, but I had a great time spending money for the entertainment. It was $11.00 for the cinema and $3.50 for a large but luke cup of Seattle’s Best. (If you just arrived, a big part of coffee enjoyment is the highly volatile oils that swirl up with the steam of a properly brewed cup. A microwave—and reheating coffee in general--kills those vapors.) At such prices, one does expect such things to be perfect.
           “Riddick” was a great movie but lacked anything original. Must we persistently believe those capable of galactic travel still use metal spacecraft and shotguns? And not just ordinary metal, but sheets of corrugated tin from last inventory?

ADDENDUM

           The camper electrical worked nearly right the first time. The side marker lights still don’t like the chassis ground to the extent I may braze a plate to the frame and bolt them directly to that. I think my Ryobi rechargeable 18V battery gave out in just over a year of mild and occasional use. If so, they’ll get a piece of my mind on ePinion. Back to the camper, the lights work and I am testing the relays that will operate them. So far, the extra time spent planning/testing the electric is paying off in ease of installation and testing. It isn’t even funny how many mechanics won’t go near electrical repairs.
           Now, if you are like me concerning construction projects, you like to see the building and testing process, not some slick video once everything fits together perfectly. Shown here is testing a relay. It is hard to see but the relay is right in front of the battery case with the red probe clipped on. The obstacle I’m tackling is that the Honda cannot push enough current through the natural resistance of the copper trailer wires to operate the tail lights seven feet distant.
           The tail lights come on, but they are very dim. When I went to resolve that, I saw how the previous owners hit the same difficulty, but gave up. Their setup would slowly drain the Honda battery from the sidecar lighting (which I will fix next). I see now how each owner put in a new battery to sell the vehicle. My seller from Sarasota thought the problem was the starter. The blame is the weak Honda electrical system.
           My plan is to mount three relays so [that] the Honda is only providing power to close the relays, not operate the lights. Shown here, the relay requires a smaller current (.15Amp) to trip the relay than to illuminate the bulb (.22Amp). The bulb is barely visible, the orange dot above my home-made tester. Actually, the tester is wired in backwards to become the object rather than the control, see the small blue switch? Purists will spot the meters properly connected in series and the correct 10Amp positive plugs in use. Yes, I’m wearing safety goggles.
           If you want the technical details, the combined trailer LED lighting requires a full 2.5 Amps. You can’t judge by the photo above, because this setup is only powering one tiny bulb. Of the three relays in the real configuration, only the marker lights are full duty cycle. Next is usage is the brake lights, and least used are the turn signals. Thus, the inclusion of relays drops the current requirement from the Honda to 6% of a direct-wire connect, with a temporary spike of 12% when the brake or signal lights are activated. Note, both the brake and signal bulbs are the same, wired so the signals will still flash when the brake is on. I mentioned this before, the signal lights are off-on instead of on-off.

           Additionally, I tested the interior fan and inverter. If this gives sufficient performance, I will not use a 12V fan for a number of reasons including ease of replacement and lack of speed controls. This is the fan I’ve chosen and it moves a substantial volume of air. I’m testing for the amount of voltage drop per minute before the lead-acid battery falls below 11 volts. (Beginners beware, you would NOT normally rig up a voltmeter to a vehicle battery as seen here. It will overheat the meter wires in a few seconds or worse. I am taking precautions you cannot see in the photo.)
           The initial tests show a predictable pattern of voltage drop, 2 millivolts per minute initially, dropping to 13 millivolts per minute after an hour. In English, that means I’ve go a reasonably so-so battery here. The good news is that the solar panels would handily cope with this assembly running in the daytime. The bad news is at night, it looks like I’d get two hours run time until I shell out $250 for that deep cycle marine battery. Meanwhile that poor old Honda battery is probably wondering what it did to deserve what I’m putting it through.