I braved the Black Friday hoard!

Well, not really. I didn't leave the house until 4pm. By the time I arrived at Lowe's (hiss, spit), the car parks were pretty clear and the roads about as busy or quiet as normal. It was pretty mundane in actual fact.

In Lowe's I found the Nema TT 30R that I was looking for. I looked for an adaptor to turn it into a standard household socket but they didn't have one. I would have left it at that but I spied a stand with 60W equivalent LED bulbs for 99 cents each. As bulbs are dying in m'lady's bathroom, I added four and then a flashing LED necklace to spice things up a bit at work over Christmas. I got out for $16.

Next stop was Walmart where I got the Nema 30TTR to Nema 5-15 adaptor and a can on black spray paint they had for 96 cents. I got out of Walmart for about $8.

Returning home, the mail still has not brought my cooling vanes for my Peltier cooler. This looks a bit suspicious! I ordered it on November 8th and the seller provided a tracking number that doesn't state the vanes actually arrived at the carrier. I'm suspecting they're hoping I won't notice they haven't supplied the product.

Tomorrow I hope to complete the wiring for my RV power socket. The adaptor I bought says "don't use for more than 15A" yet looks to be solid brass connectors. I'm putting 20A through it and will just watch to see what happens. I suspect they labelled it conservatively. Worst case scenario, it melts and catches fire. Not a big deal, where its located.

Maybe Sunday I can do some welding!

As far as the heatsink is concerned, I suspect I'll have to buy another elsewhere and try to get a refund off eBay!

Starting with electrics

Today I had enough energy after work to visit Lowe's to pick up some electrical supplies. I now have a breaker box although I suspect it might be a little oversized for what I need. They were put into the bus to await commencement of the electrics. I like to be a little ahead.

Meanwhile, here's a photo of my almost cleared countertop. By the end of the weekend, that countertop will be cleared and repainted.

Today also, a surprise phonecall. This morning, Eric who's currently touring Canada rang. I didn't answer as I was otherwise employed so this evening, I rang him. We had a nice chat about the bus, my plans and electrics.

His recommendations were to go for a secondhand fridge. His opinion of the Haer dorm fridges was that they were power hogs. His recommendation was to go for a small household fridge or a 12v fridge. I think initially, I might just use an ice box.

From Eric's travels, the 30A socket was the most common at campgrounds. This means that I've way overdone it with my breaker box. Really, I want each socket on a separate breaker but the box is a bit big. I'll have to see if I can fit it or whether I should exchange it for a pair of smaller boxes.

On the 12v side, Eric recommended hunting for an Opel Astra fuse box from a scrapyard. Apparently GM built a copy of the Opel Astra that was identical on all levels. Another recommendation was some kind of smart relay that could be used to make cabin batteries charge from the alternator.

It was such a high speed conversation that I missed a lot of what was said. Really I need my bus and Eric to meet. I think he'd have a blast redoing bus wiring, wiring in trailer lights and so on. That's unlikely to happen until next year though.