RvNaut
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Happy Giving of Thanks Day...
I have been settled here in a Quartzsite LTVA for about a month now....
It is nice to be cavalier with water and garbage... I note that I am not anal about squishing garbage because I know the dumpster is "right there".... and while I am watching water and still saving shower water, I know water is also "right over there" ... and my furnace might run a bit more than it might because "I'll be out to dump tanks and gas is right up the road"... living the nomad version of easy street....
last night I combined the battery I built this summer with the Inverter/Charge controller that arrived last week, making up the cables for the 48v battery connection, and some temp cables for the AC in.out... and wow... I can now run my desktop computer, starlink, 30" monitor etc... without running the genny... ahhhhhhhhh... now then, it will take another 8 hours on the generator to get a full charge on the battery bank..
Sometime in the next week or so, I go to Santan to pickup my solar panels, and then running the genny becomes more of a catch up maintenance thing...
The entire solar system is gunna lay around in pieces working for a bit, and will only then get actually installed, which is another big challenge of inserting this system into the RVs existing system....
big dinner on the day with folks in the notwash...
notwash -noun; found in desert locations. The area of higher ground between washes, specifically when there are numerous washes in an area. Example: "Turn left after the pit toilet and we are in the 3rd notwash on your right."
A bit colder than norm in Q this fall... fairly crowded.... but the crush will be here soon... still, this is way better than the snow and cold back in Maine, or that 6' of snow Buffalo got... yoikes and gadzooks!!
I have been settled here in a Quartzsite LTVA for about a month now....
It is nice to be cavalier with water and garbage... I note that I am not anal about squishing garbage because I know the dumpster is "right there".... and while I am watching water and still saving shower water, I know water is also "right over there" ... and my furnace might run a bit more than it might because "I'll be out to dump tanks and gas is right up the road"... living the nomad version of easy street....
last night I combined the battery I built this summer with the Inverter/Charge controller that arrived last week, making up the cables for the 48v battery connection, and some temp cables for the AC in.out... and wow... I can now run my desktop computer, starlink, 30" monitor etc... without running the genny... ahhhhhhhhh... now then, it will take another 8 hours on the generator to get a full charge on the battery bank..
Sometime in the next week or so, I go to Santan to pickup my solar panels, and then running the genny becomes more of a catch up maintenance thing...
The entire solar system is gunna lay around in pieces working for a bit, and will only then get actually installed, which is another big challenge of inserting this system into the RVs existing system....
big dinner on the day with folks in the notwash...
notwash -noun; found in desert locations. The area of higher ground between washes, specifically when there are numerous washes in an area. Example: "Turn left after the pit toilet and we are in the 3rd notwash on your right."
A bit colder than norm in Q this fall... fairly crowded.... but the crush will be here soon...
still, this is way better than the snow and cold back in Maine, or that 6' of snow Buffalo got... yoikes and gadzooks!!Tis the Holidays, eh... blech... not my fav time of year... but much better than I have been in the past about it all... I no longer pine for what could have been.
The temps in Q were down to 38° last night... brrrr.. which means running the furnace, more than I would prefer, but I also like being warm... and some around me have fabric walls, so I have no complaints there...
The Solar Build... huge progress and a slight set back... With help from Jeff ( thanks Jeff) I not only had my 6 panels delivered, we got them setup in temp mode laid out on the ground and wired up to the Sigineer charge controller. I am now producing more power per day than I currently am using. I estimated that it produced 3500 watt hours the other day. I am gaining more in solar than I am using, which is a good thing, as the 120v side of the charge system has pooched and this unit will go back to get replaced. There was marked damage to the unit upon receipt, but I decided to try it anyway...
I run a desktop computer and a 30" monitor, and Starlink, and a power amp, and mixing board....plus all the other widgets and things that take 120v..... over the last 9 months I have been burning $200++ a month putting gas in generators ( built in Onan 4kw and portable 3Kw).
My spreadsheet says that my solar build is costing around $4800, so my payback on this solar system is roughly 2 years. It is all setup in Test-Bench mode and is not connected to the 12v system yet... this all will come to fruition in the next month..... I lok fwd to only running the gens fro maintenance.
played with the Osmo action cam a bit ..
The temps in Q were down to 38° last night... brrrr.. which means running the furnace, more than I would prefer, but I also like being warm... and some around me have fabric walls, so I have no complaints there...
The Solar Build... huge progress and a slight set back... With help from Jeff ( thanks Jeff) I not only had my 6 panels delivered, we got them setup in temp mode laid out on the ground and wired up to the Sigineer charge controller. I am now producing more power per day than I currently am using. I estimated that it produced 3500 watt hours the other day. I am gaining more in solar than I am using, which is a good thing, as the 120v side of the charge system has pooched and this unit will go back to get replaced. There was marked damage to the unit upon receipt, but I decided to try it anyway...
I run a desktop computer and a 30" monitor, and Starlink, and a power amp, and mixing board....plus all the other widgets and things that take 120v..... over the last 9 months I have been burning $200++ a month putting gas in generators ( built in Onan 4kw and portable 3Kw).
My spreadsheet says that my solar build is costing around $4800, so my payback on this solar system is roughly 2 years. It is all setup in Test-Bench mode and is not connected to the 12v system yet... this all will come to fruition in the next month..... I lok fwd to only running the gens fro maintenance.
played with the Osmo action cam a bit ..
Ooof...
Xmas eve and day were awesome here in Pirate Camp.. I made a couple of cheesecakes and some pork roasts.. there was Spiral Ham and scalloped taters, apple this and cranberry that, and pie and... Oy! The weather was nigh-on perfect! On the eve, the fireplace iron were whipped out and various fruit and jalepeno apetizers were had, and I had extra cheesecake goo and made a mini pie... now on to the new year!!
Xmas eve and day were awesome here in Pirate Camp.. I made a couple of cheesecakes and some pork roasts.. there was Spiral Ham and scalloped taters, apple this and cranberry that, and pie and... Oy! The weather was nigh-on perfect! On the eve, the fireplace iron were whipped out and various fruit and jalepeno apetizers were had, and I had extra cheesecake goo and made a mini pie... now on to the new year!!
Phew..
The last two months have been a bit of a ride. I found myself herding the Van Aid cats, and that drained me.... My solar panels are up on the roof, being 6 used panels from SanTan totaling approx 1400 watts. A lot of the prep work for getting the systme up and running had been done. In Jan when the panels were o the ground I got 1041 watts off them. I haven't made a Step video in months although I have been making short little vids because they are easy.... I have been in Q now for 4+ months and the weather has been colder than normal.
The RV continues to operate well, and the furnace has been doing a good job keeping things warm.
The builtin Onan 4000 generator's starter just spins now... boo hiss.
The external Gen, that has been running 6-12 hours a day for over a year) is burning oil now , but continues to run well and keeps thing powered and charged.
A great SSI raise in Jan .
Starlink, has pissed me off, last year at this time I was paying $99, then they raised it to $110, then they added the roaming plan $135 and now I will be paying $150 a month. This one item takes ALL of my SSI increase and represents a 50% increase, meanwhile service had deteriorated.
The last two months have been a bit of a ride. I found myself herding the Van Aid cats, and that drained me.... My solar panels are up on the roof, being 6 used panels from SanTan totaling approx 1400 watts. A lot of the prep work for getting the systme up and running had been done. In Jan when the panels were o the ground I got 1041 watts off them. I haven't made a Step video in months although I have been making short little vids because they are easy...
. I have been in Q now for 4+ months and the weather has been colder than normal.The RV continues to operate well, and the furnace has been doing a good job keeping things warm.
The builtin Onan 4000 generator's starter just spins now... boo hiss.
The external Gen, that has been running 6-12 hours a day for over a year) is burning oil now , but continues to run well and keeps thing powered and charged.
A great SSI raise in Jan .
Starlink, has pissed me off, last year at this time I was paying $99, then they raised it to $110, then they added the roaming plan $135 and now I will be paying $150 a month. This one item takes ALL of my SSI increase and represents a 50% increase, meanwhile service had deteriorated.
PineyCruisin
Well-known member
Coincidentally, I just watched a Gone w/Wynns video a couple weeks ago and they mentioned that that were holding off on Starlink bc they were predicting a cost increase for service, which they believed would be attributed more with the astronomical increase in usage and demand than anything else. This prediction, they said, was based on their past experience with "unlimited" data plans that either increased substantially in price or limitations placed on service plans in response to the increased traffic.
That sounded like a reasonable explanation for any possible price increase to me.
That sounded like a reasonable explanation for any possible price increase to me.
Cajunwolf
Well-known member
Starlinks the best thing going, and good things cost money. I have no problem with Starlink having cost adjustments; it will repeatedly happen, either up or down, depending on the market. Building your own internet from scratch in space instead of landlines and towers costs serious money. He had to build a rocket to do it. He has a long way to go yet. I have the mobile style, and the least I've ever gotten here in Houston is 285 down; I can live with that.
How much has Starlink's service degraded in the Quartzsite crowds? I imagine that would be the toughest test for it, after hearing about cellular services being degraded to the point of uselessness. Assuming those tales are not exaggerations, of course.
It has been fascinating to see the Starlink availability/capacity map at their website change so fluidly.
It has been fascinating to see the Starlink availability/capacity map at their website change so fluidly.
It is not an exaggeration that in January that the cellular services tower signals are frequently unusable for internet browsing, connections often timeout. The cell signals work for phones calls but at times even the text messages can take awhile to send and receive. After midnight and before 6:00am the cell signal connection to the internet is still slow but useable.
You're welcome. I'm happy we made the switch, too. Didn't have any problems with working around Quartzsite this year. Cell service still kinda sucks around there during peak season.I absolutely love it that the biggest Vanlife bandwidth users are switching to Starlink.
WinneNomad
Active member
- Joined
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Hi RvNaut,Phew..
The last two months have been a bit of a ride. I found myself herding the Van Aid cats, and that drained me.... My solar panels are up on the roof, being 6 used panels from SanTan totaling approx 1400 watts. A lot of the prep work for getting the systme up and running had been done. In Jan when the panels were o the ground I got 1041 watts off them. I haven't made a Step video in months although I have been making short little vids because they are easy...
The RV continues to operate well, and the furnace has been doing a good job keeping things warm.
The builtin Onan 4000 generator's starter just spins now... boo hiss.
The external Gen, that has been running 6-12 hours a day for over a year) is burning oil now , but continues to run well and keeps thing powered and charged.
A great SSI raise in Jan .
Starlink, has pissed me off, last year at this time I was paying $99, then they raised it to $110, then they added the roaming plan $135 and now I will be paying $150 a month. This one item takes ALL of my SSI increase and represents a 50% increase, meanwhile service had deteriorated.
You mentioned the starter on your Onan generator went out, I was wondering how many hours you had on your generator when it broke. I have a similar generator on my RV (1997 Minnie Winnie - 22') and wondering how long I might expect mine to work. Currently it has around 250 hours on it.
Thanks
A- Sorry, I somehow missed this.... 1300 hours... I was able to get the cover off in-situ so the R&R was easy....
It didn't that I could see, but I was "resident" vs mobile..... a friend who was on roam said they did not notice a slow down.
So then.... Here it is July ... how'd that happen. I have been working as a host in a National Forest campground since May 1st, staying put for 5+ months and making a few bucks so I can replace my shocks.
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The bump in cost of Starlink was a bite in the ass.... grrrrrrr... I think they think that anyone in an RV is rich, so they are sticking it to us.... grrrr
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The Flagstaff area is awesome, so far, with great weather for the last month, but very dry... May was showers most afternoon and that kept the dust down. I am awaiting the dreaded monsoon season, but so far... there isn't much.
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a few new videos on the channel, mostly just short fun stuff
.
The bump in cost of Starlink was a bite in the ass.... grrrrrrr... I think they think that anyone in an RV is rich, so they are sticking it to us.... grrrr
.
The Flagstaff area is awesome, so far, with great weather for the last month, but very dry... May was showers most afternoon and that kept the dust down. I am awaiting the dreaded monsoon season, but so far... there isn't much.
.
a few new videos on the channel, mostly just short fun stuff
- Joined
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CHILI Dog !...............Oh, Hi Jason
Looks nice there Jason
Yeah my Starjunk was a joy in the beginning then it gradually became un-usable (meaning very slow and extended drop-outs) and it also became more expensive.
I eventually cancelled my service.
I know I'm responding to an older post but I'm late to this thread and was trying to find some stuff and then I 'swerved' into this thread.
Yes…. Chilly is doing very good. Maybe chilly and Kira can hang a bit this winter.
I’m heading west next week for a bit…
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