SUMMER CHAT 2014
 

Happy June 1st a few minutes early.

good morning all.

Howdy az gang. Hope eveyrbodys day goes well.
Trav

the "Dog Days" are upon us...

Happy Sunday all.

Howdy gang.

I posted on the old Spring chat thread this am not even thinking about it being June..... :-/ If I get the gumption I'll copy it into the new Summer chat.

Oh well. Hope the weekend is treating everyone well. Have a short to-do list today and hope to get at least one chore done on the truck today. Mostly just honey-do's.

JIM

Good Morning Everyone. Welcome to June

Checked water level in all our batteries cars & trailer. Cleaned ends just a good service. I like to do that twice a year. I seem to get extra life out of my batteries that way. Especially my trailer batteries. They are a little over 3 years old. I will replace them this fall or end of summer.
Has anyone checked the batteries at Tractor Supply? I think they have some pretty fair prices & they carry Exide. I bought two large 6 volt for my solar from them. Haven't used them yet.

Good afternoon, Arizona...hot enough for everyone?? Enjoy your weekend.

Howdy az gang.

Craig the batteries at tractor supply wouldn't work for our solar so I don't know if it will do well with yours being the low amp hours.
Trav

Here's my latest truck activities posted in the spring thread....

Latest diversion: Got the original rear bumper off the ole Ford two weeks ago. Time to get it straightened out.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps5be64feb.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps39dce8f2.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps5bc7d388.jpg


About a month ago my neighbor came home with 50 ft of welding cable. Not sure what size it is but it won't fit through a 3/4" hole.... :-huh
So the logical thing to do (of course!!) is move the battery to the truck bed!!

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps82c40884.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps7685409c.jpg


It's nice to have room to climb into the engine bay on the right side and have room to lean/sit.... Was always hard to adjust valves leaning in to the back of the motor with the battery in the stock place.


JIM

Edit: Hey Trav! How's the Harley coming?

Looks good Jim.

Trav, All I'm doing is using them for is to keep my batteries charged. To use to run a TV, & watch DVDs. Just some light duty stuff. I found a couple of Exide 6 volt 1170 cranking amps, 975 cold cranking with a 300 amp reserve $99 ea. I running LED lights in our trailer. We have a 2000/1600 watt inverter generator to keep them changed & to run stuff during the day.
So I think I'm running way different than you. I just have at this point a 45 watt solar panel.
I'm going to go with APS for power. I have an appointment with their project manager to tell me what is what & the cost to me. I have power poles with a transformer on one pole at the corner of our property. Solar will end up being a back up if the power goes down or APS & I have too many differences, which I'm not planing on.

Ya that is a lot different then our set up.

As far as APS goes that is what we are doing on the lot where we moved the new mobile because power passes right by it so it won't be to expensive to bring in.
Trav

I think using grid power is the best. If things ever get to where it becomes not reliable I'll have back up to cover our needs. Right now I'm just kind of playing with solar & wind. We bought a 1500 watt pure sine inverter. yet that won't power everything in our planned house it will power the basic stuff.

Happy Monday!

Spent part of yesterday binge-watching "Life Below Zero" on the National Geographic channel about people in Alaska. I really respect what they do!

Howdy az gang.

Craig I can't remember if we talked about this but ask APS about kicking power back to them that will lower your bill to little to nothing. A guy up the road is doing it and his bill without solar being kicked back was $200 with solar it is $40 a month. We have been thinking about doing that on the new property but we aren't sure yet.
Trav

Good Morning Everyone.

Thanks Trav. There is also a push by APS to charge higher bills to those with solar also. I don't know all the details. But they where denied the increase they wanted by the State at there last go at this, so I'm kind of watching it. It is kind of a solar tax.