Cue the Heavenly Chorus

Today I took my long awaited trip to Harbor Freight. What bliss - surrounded by all the boy toys ones heart could desire! I went on a mission however. I needed a big battery. While I was there I bought a step bit to replace the one I broke a few weeks ago.

I'd been trying my eBay battery and found that it just didn't seem to work too well. It went to 12.9v then powered my 2.5A fan for 10 seconds before dropping to 11.9v. That means that the 10ah battery drops to 40% capacity in 10 seconds. Using 6ah should have taken a 2.5A fan something around  2 hours not 10 seconds.

I didn't install my battery today. I did, however, put it on one of my charge controllers to find it was at 12.9v and was full. I tried it in my 50 cal ammunition box. It fits and I can close the lid. The terminals are close to the lid but don't touch. I can easily glue plastic to the lid to ward off accidental contact. There's enough space in the box to install a voltage meter and a pair of contacts. There's no need for a USB connector on the house battery though.

Thinking about retitling, I moved the bus today. Aside from the brakes sticking initially, it moved and started easily. I'll have to drive with the brakes lightly applied in order to clean the rust off them. While the bus was moved, I took some exterior photos as required for the retitling process.

The rear facing camera needs attention. The LEDs are a little dazzling. That can be cured with black tape or black paint. Having said that, drivers should keep way back anyway. I need one of those bumper stickers that says "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you".

The outside, I'm sure you'll agree, looks pretty anonymous and pretty good. The inside is good too. I definitely need to complete installing my new battery. As far as the two 7ah batteries purchased via eBay go, I'm not convinced I should even attempt to use them. I'd bought them because they could be used to recharge a phone or tablet. I'm thinking more now toward a different solution though I've not yet got an idea solid enough to mention; I'm still mulling over different options.

The other day I looked idly at small manual pumps online. I'd thought of having a manual pump drawing fresh water out of a 5 gallon can under the sink. Then I realized I'd be paying $25 for a pump when I could easily pour water from the 5 gallon can into a jug fir use be worry less about contamination.

While I was out, the thought of a water inlet cane to mind. Again, I decided it's not really worth my while at the moment. That might change at some point in the future. It's tempting though right now beyond the scope of what I'm prepared to do.

My lighting inside the bus is pretty sad. I have LED lanterns giving off some quite pathetic amounts of light. Sure, it's enough light to see large objects but anything more is a case of fumbling in the gloom. Looking at the lanterns available, those that claim to be ultra bright are usually the most pathetically dim things I've encountered. In my research I came to the conclusion that lanterns that don't offer a minimum of 1000 lumens are a total waste of time. Those that cost more than $15 represent wasted money. I've got 5 lanterns each of which claims to be bright but which fail miserably to produce enough light to do anything worthwhile.

On my journies today I saw a new kind of LED lantern that had a broad glowing stripe. It looked interesting but as soon as I saw the description of "brightest ever" my eyes glazed over. I've heard that old wives tale so many times it's not even funny. I probably won't change any of my led lights until they fail - which at the rate they fail, won't be long. It's worth finding out more about them but I feel very much that though I had my first LED light in 2009 that LED is still in its infancy. I'm not prepared to be the diaper that tries them out though!