24/7 Chat About Anything

[Morgana]

Yeah that's what I thought I got. It's a little bigger than what I expected but I think that's what it is?
"Intelligent battery charger with power supply mode"?

 

[bullfrog !]

Living remotely requires some adaptations. Lol!!! Lots of options as we lived a lot more remotely and father out. Many times no phone service and no passing cars for days. We carried tools, alternator, belts, battery and jumper cables. Now with the new jumper packs which I really like I still carry a charged up battery with tools to swap them out. I have a charger at camp where I can charge up the battery if needed. Newer cars won’t run as long off the battery only as the older ones with less computer controlled systems but using the jumper pack to start the car helps. Sounds like you have purchased some type of combination charger and power pack. How do you power it or charge it up?

 

[Happy Camper]

Yeah that's what I thought I got. It's a little bigger than what I expected but I think that's what it is?
"Intelligent battery charger with power supply mode"?

Do you have a model number? What did the mechanic say was wrong with the car? That would determine what you need in your situation.

 

[bullfrog !]

My wife had the red light come on half way to town. Managed to make the last 130 miles on just the battery by turning off or unplugging all electrical components she could, swapping battery and using the jumper pack to restart the car. The fuel injection starts to start shutting down when the battery goes below 11.5 volts. Fortunately it doesn’t rain much and the windows roll down and she drove to the mechanics garage and got the alternator replaced! The new alternator went bad before she left for home and was replaced under warranty! Lasted about 10 miles! Lol!!! Even the best plans don’t always work out! Always carry extra water and some food as well as a way to start a fire you are familiar with.

 

[Morgana]

It's either the alternator or IIRC the electrical load detector (lives underneath some fuses next to the battery). We are starting with the electrical load detector because it is cheaper and the alternator is still showing some signs of maybe being OK. The reason I bought this "intelligent battery charger/maintainer" (which I think is the same thing as a "jumper pack," at least that's what I was trying to get) is to keep the battery going until the repairs can be made and then to put it with my emergency kit in case God forbid I have a problem on the road. However if it has explosive gases etc. I'm not sure it's something a mechanical illiterate like me should really have in the car.

I do carry food and water, in fact both the car and house emergency kits live in the car. I had the opportunity to review their contents recently when a bitchy border guard (US side) ordered a full-on search of my car (in apparent revenge for me not speaking to her with a sufficiently subservient tone of voice, lol learned my lesson, they can really mess up your life if they want to!). They really do leave stuff strewn about and don't put it all back. Good point on "you are familiar with"; I should see if I still remember how to use the fire starter, it's been ages.

My mechanic doesn't have a garage and works outdoors. I don't know how he manages in this heat ("real feel" 118°). From the way he was talking he appears to make house calls, which is good to know just in case!

 

[abnorm]

However if it has explosive gases etc.

The warning of explosive gases is for your Battery ..........

 

[Morgana]

OK! That makes more sense actually.
I guess I should stop freaking out and finish RTFMing.

 

[maki2]

Late afternoon just after 5pm following lots of lightning thunder and gentle showers but my house battery is at 100%. Not too bad for having run a fan much of the afternoon as I needed to keep the rain out. I want to look on Amazon for fans to fit across the louvered vent that is at the top of my trailer’s entry door. Most likely a pair of computer cooling fans will fit there. I can wire in a USB plug at that end of cabinets. I have a 12v circuit underneath that counter that is not being used and there is room for wiring behind the door trim. Yet another small home improvement for my list of things to do. I will make the fan unit removable because I close that opening up on freezing cold nights. Maybe magnet mounts, maybe Velcro, maybe screw studs. I won’t know until I find a fan unit what fastening system will work best.

 

[maki2]

I have retreated into a lot more solitude this past year. It is an election year, it dominates conversations I do not want to get into. So it is vastly more relaxing to camp solo.

Back to work today. After a relatively quiet week last week I had several orders come into my yesterday and today that need cutting, packaging and a trip into town to ship them out.

I have not seen much in the ways of Forest rangers lately. The news story yesterday explained that. The rangers have been busy putting out lightning strike fires before they got big. There were recently 29 such fires in the Coconino forest. Plus the nearby Tonto Forest region has several some major and smaller lightning caused fires going on. I suspect the same is true in the adjoining Kaibab forest district. The news report says there are too many of those lighting stile fires to turn them into controlled burns so they have to fully extinguish them.

 

[maki2]

I had the Ponderosa family around for a late afternoon visit while I sat in my lawn chair and ate dinner. I could not get a word in for a verbal conversation nor could the Ponderosa as the thunderstorm clouds overhead were on a real a tear loundly expressing their opinions on all sorts of things. At least the storm clouds were not throwing lightning bolts at us! The little birds were out having fun flying in squadrons hopping in and out of the sun and grasses along the road catching their dinner.

This area around Flagstaff is the largest Ponderosa forest in the World.

 

[vanbrat]

I vaguely remember those forests from when my family went there for our annual family vacations. Huge pinecones and the sounds of the donkeys and my Mom telling us to be careful of the snakes. My grandma took us for the last time. She told my sis and me to climb that hill over there and don't come down until we reached the top (I think we was driven her crazy as only pre teen girls can). A thunder storm rolled in when we were half way up and sent us running back down. We got to watch as lightening struck a tree not far from us just off the trail and it exploded into toothpicks.
Beautiful country. Great storms and red rocks. We always came back with moccasins, don't know why, but we did.

 

[Happy Camper]

I vaguely remember those forests from when my family went there for our annual family vacations. Huge pinecones and the sounds of the donkeys and my Mom telling us to be careful of the snakes. My grandma took us for the last time. She told my sis and me to climb that hill over there and don't come down until we reached the top (I think we was driven her crazy as only pre teen girls can). A thunder storm rolled in when we were half way up and sent us running back down. We got to watch as lightening struck a tree not far from us just off the trail and it exploded into toothpicks.
Beautiful country. Great storms and red rocks. We always came back with moccasins, don't know why, but we did.

Moccasins are awesome!

 

[bullfrog !]

Moccasins are awesome!

Only if you want to ruin your feet and fall on your but on wet tile!

 

[Happy Camper]

Only if you want to ruin your feet and fall on your but on wet tile!

I can't even wear slippers or flip flops these days. My feet are fragile. Go figure.

 

[maki2]

There are no wild burros in the high elevation forest areas around flagstaff. You must have been camping some other place.

This is the rainiest day so far in this monsoon season. Not at all typical for it to have rained most of yesterday, last night and today. I am conserving electricity but at least my battery did get a decent charge before lunch time. No need to run my fan as the temperature is in the 60s, also my fridge will not need o run a lot.

 

[vanbrat]

There are no wild burros in the high elevation forest areas around flagstaff. You must have been camping some other place.

This is the rainiest day so far in this monsoon season. Not at all typical for it to have rained most of yesterday, last night and today. I am conserving electricity but at least my battery did get a decent charge before lunch time. No need to run my fan as the temperature is in the 60s, also my fridge will not need o run a lot.

We camped all around Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Then went down to see Granny somewhere around Tuson. Always had to go to old homestead and played around the old ranch house. And this was more then 50 yrs ago

 

[maki2]

We camped all around Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Then went down to see Granny somewhere around Tuson. Always had to go to old homestead and played around the old ranch house. And this was more then 50 yrs ago

I suspect those “donkeys” you heard if you were camped inside the Grand Canyon park were not donkeys but instead were mules. There is a huge historic mule barn with paddocks in the park not too far from the rim where they take riders on mules down to the bottom of the canyon.

You can easily look that up on the NP website for the park and see the map that shows the location of the mule barn and the camping areas. Maybe they even have a few donkeys but I do not know if they use any for trail work.

 

[vanbrat]

The donkeys we saw may not have been in the parks. We saw them, they were donkeys. My grandma said they were wild donkeys left over from old time miners. I don't know if any are around anymore, again it was 50+ yrs ago and it may have been on or around the old homestead ranch somewhere around Tuson. My great Grandpa was one of those miners on his days off. He had 7 daughters and sometimes he would run off into the wild with his horse and his donkey and look for gold or? He was the territorial sheriff, that was before it was a state, so I guess he needed a brake now and then.

Most of the time we camped around the canyon not in the park. I don't know the names of the many parks we camped in and I'm pretty sure some of the places weren't parks as we were the only ones around. I just remember they were fun and we were loud and nobody ever bothered us. We caught horned toads and poked at red ants and found out way that was not smart.... but we did it anyway. We saw tarantulas, cousins always seemed to find at least one snake and yea we knew which snakes we could touch and those not to get to close to. We climbed cliffs and walked around the Indian pueblos. It was legal then and we knew and were told to be careful of the old walls. The old homestead had an ancient communal corn grinding place where we got to grind corn just like the Indians did. History was big for my Grandma in Arizona. We hit all the tourist things and then some not on anyone's map 'cause Grandma knew there was more to Arizona then what's on the postcards.

 

[vanbrat]

Only if you want to ruin your feet and fall on your but on wet tile!

We did that, but still we loved our moccasins.

 

[maki2]

The cows came home! To my temporary home that is. A small herd of mammas and newly weaned youngsters were grazing outside my trailer when I went to get in my car for a trip into town. They were apparently very contented cows as they never made any noise so I did not even realize they were around.

I was just feeling a little restless after two days with a lot of rain so I came into town to get some more drinking water and a few grocery items. I will download some more audio books while I am in town as the cell signal is slow at my campsite in the daytime hours.