I'm sure some are wondering how the bean soup turned out yesterday. Well, it was just about the best bean soup I've ever had. Dar loved it too. I love soup on cold winter days, and have gotten very creative in adding all sorts of things to even the most pedestrian canned soups in a pinch. But this "from scratch" soup was just excellent.
Oh, and my experiment to use food-oriented titles for blog posts was inconclusive. I think I'll just go back to using my normal naming conventions in the future. Let me just say that a number of readers were very upset with the "bait and switch" nature of those entries. I am sorry if you got all riled up over this.
Back to boondocking... We have 4 big lead-acid "house" batteries that, when new and running optimally, should provide us about 200 amp/hours of usable 12 volt power. But because they're almost 4 years old, have endured some abuse, and many charge/discharge cycles, we're lucky if we can get half that. In the next few months I'll probably find a set of replacements.
This battery power is critical for boondocking... and anytime we're NOT plugged into the grid. Our main draws on the power are for lighting, fridge controls, furnace controls and blowers, and, with the "inverter" turned on, any 120volt thing we'd like to run... TV, microwave, coffee pot (critical), and keeping our laptops charged and running. When it's cold outside (like it will be tonight), the blower on the furnace will need a big chunk of the 100 amp/hours we have available. So we pile extra blankets on the bed and keep the thermostat turned as low as we can.
We also have our new catalytic propane heater to try out. Since it uses NO battery power at all, it allows us to use our reduced battery power for other things. But because one needs to be cautious with any combustion heater, it won't be used overnight... while we're sleeping... but it should help take the chill off in the evening and warming the place up in the morning.
So, we'll see how it goes...
T
6 comments:
Looks like you had a pretty easy time to find a place to park near Q. Since most people are "herding creatures", wondering how long it took to find a rig parked right next to you.
Lloyd, we're into our second day and the nearest camper is still about 300 yards away.
"I love soup on cold winter days"
How cold is it in Q? I would have thought it would be nice and warm right now.
While there, you should visit Crystal Hill in KofA
Hey Homeless... today was almost 70f, last night mid 30's. I guess pretty normal. The good thing is the winds are low making life v. good.
T
Do your solar panels help with the battery power issue?? Just curious if they (along with a generator) help keep up with the demand??
Andi, they sure do. We don't use a lot of electric power, so when the sun shines most of the day we can go indefinitely without firing up the generator at all. The panels charge the battery during the day so we have power at night. It feels good to live on purely solar energy.
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