Working in 120F (48.9C)

It was bloody warm today at work. I spent 4 hours working outdoors with no drinks. That set me up for working in the bus after work. The bedroom was 99.6F. The galley was 106F and the cockpit was 120F. Needless to say, I was not prepared to abandon the auxiliary fan and buy one. Thus, I played with it a little more and got it working.

This was not without a mishap along the way! The fan had red and orange leads. The cable in the bus had red and black. Needless to say, I trimmed one of the fan leads shorter thinking it was a 1 speed fan system. Then I found it was 2 speed. Being conservative, I'd left sufficient length on the trimmed lead to attach a connector, which is what I did. That took care of my spare connector.

I think I was working on the fan for about an hour, by which time sweat was dripping off my brow. Testing the fans proved both worked well on high and low settings. Thus, it was time for a well earned break in an air conditioned house, together with a nice cup of Earl Grey.

Returning to the bus, I wound another layer on my electromagnet and sprayed it with paint. The paint glues it all together very satisfactorily. When that's dry, there will be 4 layers of coil. I'm aiming for 8. There's no specific reason for 8 other than I feel 8 might work. They're all parallel coils so current consumption might be high. This is why it won't be powered directly from a battery but rather from a capacitor that's pre charged just before use. Remember my two position BMW ignition key? Two clicks to charge, back one click to discharge and back a further click to release the key.

Another break and I returned to spray the coil with a second coat of paint. The third if it's needed will have to wait. Sitting in the bus, I heard a random creaking. Emerging from the bus, I could see it was raining. Thus I finished for the day, putting my now mostly dry coil away until tomorrow.

Let's just say that what with being out in the sun and the heat most of the day, I'm pretty much knackered until tomorrow!