LiFePO4 Batteries - First Camping Use at SprinterFest

SprinterFest Boondocking

I spent the first weekend in May boondocking at the SprinterFest on my new LiFePO4s. My batteries easily lasted the 3 days running my marine fridge and the usual few minutes of furnace in the morning, water pump, etc. The fridge ran almost constantly but I'm not sure why - it may still have issues of its own. I love having double the amp hours (AH) I had with the AGMs. I had used about 

I drove up Thursday night as I had arranged to have my serpentine belt replaced at 8am in the morning at the Sun Motor Cars shop who were also hosting the SprinterFest. It was 8 years old and I've been told that a broken one does a whole lot of expensive damage to Sprinters beyond stranding me on the road. 

One of the downsides to owning a Sprinter is that widespread competent mechanics are not available. The Sun shop has a very good reputation and a very nice Sprinter-specific facility. While I might have been able to replace the belt myself, I didn't want to risk not getting it back on right and the access is tight.  While there, I had them do an oil job too.  They very nicely let me have the dog in the waiting area where she got behave and stay calm training and lots of free pets. They have free wi-fi also which was nice.

When I got my van back, they had done a decent wash on it too, gratis. It looked great. Later at the SprinterFest, the mechanics said the one who did my work was surprised by finding the cats inside. I told the front guy there would be 2 cats in there so the mechanic wouldn't be surprised but he didn't relay the message. They told me the mechanic took a selfie with my cats. Cute.

Before I took the van to the shop, I let the dog have some exercise in a deep grassy area by the back lot. She went behind a bush and disappeared. I called and called to no avail. Getting worried, I hopped into the van and went up the road about a quarter mile where I saw some men at a big truck type facility in the parking lot. I pulled in and asked if they had seen a big yellow dog and there she was. They had grabbed her since she came running up to them to greet them and appeared on her own. Whew, but really! She hadn't gone off like that at the previous 2 Sprinterfests. One guy said he tried calling the numbers on her tag but it wasn't in service. Yikes! I forgot to change her tags when I changed cell phone numbers. He said she would have stayed with him all day if necessary. As soon as I got the van back from the shop, I drove up to the nearest PetSmart and made new tags with the new numbers along with a new tag for the cat.

After we were done, I settled into the back lot of Sun where they have us camp out for Sprinterfest. I had some volunteer work to do with my computer anyway so I completed that. No one else showed up until after 6:30pm.  A few vans arrived and one of them wasn't staying for the SprinterFest but was filled with dog crates and dogs. They have a business of transporting dogs. They built a bed way up high in the van over the crates because they wanted to maximize the number of dogs they could transport at once. A few of us went to dinner together. We have a very nice camaraderie developed over the 3 years I've come to the SprinterFests.

For the day of the SprinterFest, Saturday, I counted 38 Sprinters and there were a few people in other cars as well.

One guy that has come for the 3 that I have has an interesting saga. He's a youngish (30s) guy with tech skills. The first year, he showed up with an old T1N dual wheel cargo van with little improvement to it and was rough camping inside the tin tent. He had been having mechanical problems but had dreams of living in the van to cut costs and renting his house for income. He planned a do it himself buildout. The 2nd year, he showed up in a Sprinter box van that he planned on building out and living in. It had the advantage of square walls and quite a bit more space than the van interior and ran reliably.  This year, he was back in the old dually van with a new engine in it. He had done a lot more work on it with insulation, a killer stereo system and the electrics needed for it, a marine fridge, and a couple of cabinets.  He found the box truck was too big to navigate narrow city streets and thus wasn't going to cut it for his needs so he went back to his original plan in the cargo van. He plans on mainly city living and his personal cleanliness needs will be met with gyms. Toilet and cooking facilities will be in the van along with only interior water tanks/piping so he can use it in winter. He has rented out most of his house but wants to get out of it completely so he can charge more for rent. It is a viable plan for simple, inexpensive living as long as the cold winters here will work for him. It is a lesson in how a too big vehicle can make it harder, not easier. He's got an idea for making the bed self-leveling that will be interesting to see when done.

A few of us stayed over Saturday night for the circle-the-vans after pizza party. It was marred by showers but still fun. In the morning, we had breakfast together before heading back home Sunday afternoon. I was letting my dog run around in her favorite meet and greet mode. I got distracted for a few minutes Sunday morning and she disappeared again. When I got my phone again, there was a message that they had my dog about a mile away (glad I got the new tags!) because she had run across the road behind Sun to greet a man and he grabbed her to protect her from the road traffic. Before, she had stopped at the road considering it a forbidden barrier. Damn dog is now an adult (4 years old) but clearly, I am going to have to put her on the rope because the old no no's are not keeping her in safe bounds. Thankfully, I got her back but the training I've been doing to stop her from initiating greeting humans is not fully working and now former barriers don't work.

The LiFePO4s:

Some things are quite different with the LiFePO4s. With my 15 amp circuit at my house, it takes 2 cycles to fully charge them as my new charger shuts off after 16 hours and it needs longer than that to charge from a deficit of some 150AH out of my 200AH capacity. I haven't had it on a 30 amp circuit yet. To start charging, I have to disconnect the shore power, then connect again for the charger to start again. No float. 

The 3 days boondocking used about 160 AH but half of that was with the fridge on the manual setting which was using 5 amps. When I set it to the normal/auto, it dropped to 3 amps. The fridge froze the freezer plate on battery power because it sees the higher voltage and thinks it is on shore power.  Getting the more efficient computer version might not have been the best idea with the LiFePO4s because of this. The regular thermostat governed variety probably would have been better.

I had a trickle charger that shunted a few amps to the engine battery to top it off when I was on shore power but the higher voltage from the LiFePO4s made it think it was on shore power and sipped power from the batteries. So that is disconnected now.

My engine alternator charged them nicely while driving but just like on shore power, the BMS shut off the charging when they were full. No floating. Short driving periods resulted in some charging each time but it wasn't long enuf to fill the batteries.

My trimetric battery monitor shows the AH used after being off charging but while charging, it reverses and shows far fewer AH without me resetting it. That is, I use 150AH but when the batteries are full after a charge, it shows 4AH an hour or so after it is done. I guess it is measuring the deficit from full. I never saw that with the AGMs.

When the batteries are full, the charger gets shut off and won't start again no matter how long or how much juice is used unless it gets disconnected from shore power and then reconnected so I have to pay more attention to the charge levels when plugged in. The no float aspect means I can't just let it sit plugged in for long periods with no attention.

It will be interesting to see how these do with solar but I'm not there yet.

It's Always Something ...

Ow

We got cleared for dog swimming and walks this week along with instructions to do core exercises on an air mattress and I am directed to pull my dog's tail.  The tail pull is like chiropractic for dogs and helps to align her spine and release pressure. She thinks that is a bit weird but does seems to feel better with it. So it was off to the lake yesterday to have a good swim which she really enjoyed.

Today, we took a walk on the tow path in the C&O Canal NHP that runs along the Potomac River. Only walked for an hour because we need to get back into exercise gradually. Somewhere along the path, my dog stuck her nose into something by the side of the path and suddenly jumped a foot and a half. All I saw was a very quick flash of white. Towards the end of our walk, she was less enthusiastic. We went down to the river and she swam some. I thought we had over done the exercise from her lethargy.

Later in the afternoon, I noticed she had a big swelling under her chin so I took her to the vet. The vet found two spots right under her chin and thinks she got a snake bite and it was possibly venomous. She also said that most of the snakes here do not pose a life threatening bite and she didn't have a really rapid swelling so that is a good sign.  The vet gave her a Benedryl shot and prescribed an anti inflammatory, antibiotic, and a pain killer. Good thing she is easy to pill. I think that I saw a quick flash of the snake's underside with the flash of white but it was gone fast. The dog refused to get a water bottle discarded a bit off the path after that. Maybe she has learned to be a bit more cautious now.

Her swelling has gone down quite a bit in the late evening so I think she will be all right. The cat continues to heal. I took a picture of his wound to show the vet. She said when the hole in his skin heals/scabs over, then he can go outside again and it is healing up as it should. That can't be too soon. He keeps chasing the other cat and is generally a pain in the neck.

The fool dog finally paid the price for sticking her nose into everything.  It is always something ...

UPDATE: The dog is much better in the morning. Her spirits are up, the swelling is much smaller altho there is a swelling on her chest between her front legs (the vet said that would happen). Her neck measurement is 6 cm less than it was yesterday. So it looks like it will be all right. I love my vet!

Chugging Along and Vet Merry Go Round

Since I got back from my trip in July, I've been working along on my main objective: fix up this house so I can sell it.  I just finished the ceiling and walls of the powder room with wainscot beadboard. I went ahead and installed the toilet paper holder and towel holder and new mirror. Now the front part of the house is finally ready to lay the flooring after I clean it all out to clear out the rooms. Pre-finished flooring is nice in that once it is laid, all that is left is the baseboards and the rooms are done. I have to install the new vanity after the floor goes in as well. My objective in the house refresh is so that when prospective buyers walk into the house, their first impression is what a cute cottage. Most houses are sold in the first 5 minutes so I am trying to make that initial impression a good one. 

One of my long standing personality traits is focus on an objective until it gets done. So rather than indulge in my wanderlust, I am in full on carpenter mode to get this house done.  When pulling out the old ratty vanity a couple weeks ago, I wrenched my back. Drat. So I was down a few days but I'm ok now. Research has shown that no matter what you do for back pain, whether a doctor, chiropractor, physical therapy, or nothing, in a week to 10 days 95% get better. So I opt for nothing and inside a week I was much better. Cheaper and less trouble that way with the same outcome.

I've been spending a lot of money at the Vet's lately. My dog, Dirona, had a couple of episodes of limping again before and during our trip. I took her in for more physical therapy - laser treatments. Her PT found she is sore in the rear and today, she found the dog is sore on her back and doesn't like her tail moved in one direction. We talked with the vet and decided on getting xrays to see what is going on. Now I've got a dopey dog because they sedate them for an xray. But it is a good thing we did because she is diagnosed with spondylosis in her lower spine. No arthritis yet and the vet said that they do see arthritis in dogs this young. At least we now have a reason for all this lameness and that lets us formulate a better therapy for her, including tail pulling. Yep, next week, I get taught how to do therapeutic tail pulling. Makes me wonder if missing a tail makes my back recovery longer. I need a tail to pull! Defective humans. ;-)

Dopey Dirona

The vet also said they rarely get to diagnose it this early. Usually it gets diagnosed when the dog is fairly crippled.  I blame her physical therapist. If she hadn't done such thorough examinations, we would never have been led to get the xray and find it out.  Good thing this dog is so easy to pill. We now have Deramax, an anti inflammatory for 10 days and Vetri-Disc, a chondroitin supplement to add to the Dasuquin. But no more muscle relaxer.

Sunday, Sylvester, the Evil Extra Cat, hopped up on my desk where I noticed he had blood and fluid on his arm. A little examination revealed a nasty bite on what would be the armpit on us. I could see two fang punctures on the top and a mess on the underside. It didn't look infected so I waited until Monday to bring him in. The vet said it looked like a bite and him pulling away for the tears on the underside. The fool cat acts like he is in no pain but it has to hurt. He presents himself to go out and hunt mice in the morning like usual. So, he got  an anti-inflammatory shot and an antibiotic shot that both last a couple of weeks. He is impossible to pill and even liquid meds get spit out. The vet thinks it is likely a cat bite. She said the only other animal with teeth that size is a raccoon but they usually do a lot more damage. No doubt, Syl probably started the fight and if he didn't he did in the past so the other cat was primed to fight. He is just awful to other cats. And impossible to keep inside.

When we got home, Syl was more angry than I have ever seen him. He walked thru the house spitting, hissing, and growling with no one near him. When I put him in a crate to chill, he continued to growl and hiss for 2 more hours. Usually, he just does a quick show of his displeasure and runs off when he's mad. By nighttime, he was back to normal and purring at me. He's been licking the wound vigorously so I got him the lampshade to wear, which he hates. I asked the vet if the meds affect mood but she said she had never heard of that.

I do not like this one bit!

Unhappy cat in jail and dopey dog

Lots of fur-kid issues lately. Nissa, my elderly female cat has been vomiting lately. I switched to just giving her a heaping teaspoon of food at once and so far, that seems to have stopped the vomiting. It means she has to be fed 3 times a day now.

The other day, before the bite, Syl showed up on my deck with a mouse in his mouth. He asked to come in but I refused. He meant business because he proceeded to chomp the mouse down in short order with no typical cat torture session. The hunting must be good because he's been refusing his morning meal and insisting on going outside.  Sunday night, Dirona was very interested under the deck and finally when I made her come out, she had 2 rabbit feet sticking out of her mouth, chomping away. Predators.

Route back east

The high dry plains of NE CO - CO14

I got back home on August 3.  Once I get home, the work piled up is daunting!  Mowing and 8-10 foot weeds, my laundry, get food going again, the pets.  My attempt to get the little volunteer job I do failed as my friend somehow did the opposite of what I asked and sent my home mail to my sister's instead of the PO Box mail.  Before I know it, 2 weeks have passed.  Here's a quick post about the route I took back.  It was just to get home in a reasonable amount of time but still look for swimming opportunities for the dog.

Getting ready to go

I've been moochdocking at my sister's house over the weekend again.  Got the ASU back and a new remote switch from the company for my refrigerator Thursday evening.  He had emailed me that the ASU tested good and that it might be the switch.  I reinstalled it, first trying the original wire, then the replacement wire.  No joy.  For a while, I thought the compressor might be going but not the fan.  That turned out not to be the case.  It is exactly like it was when it failed.  I think it must be the ASU despite their tests.  The electronics box attached to the compressor and wired to a manual switch to turn the compressor on and off works fine and it cools very well including the freezer (a workaround).  I just have to watch the temperature and keep it from freezing and remember to turn it back on when the temp rises.  Not ideal but better than ice in a cooler.  So, after determining it simply does not work Friday, I reinstalled the manual switch and put the fridge back into the cavity and secured it for the ride home.  It started cooling.

To Colorado, part 2

Continuing the trek across the plains to Colorado story:

Camp at Chatham SP, IA

Sunday: Road closures made us head further south than I wanted in Illinois.  I was also winging it for awhile because Mr. Garmin kept wanting me to head for Chicago.  I was aiming for a more northerly route to have less heat but no way did we want to have Chicago traffic to deal with. I headed for US24 and defied Garmin for quite awhile.  The dog didn't get any swimming in because I wanted to make up for the lost time struggling with the refrigerator.  Once we made it across Iowa and the Mighty Mississippi, we were in Keokak, IA.  I hadn't realized that we had gone that far south.  It was the end of the day and I was tired so I started looking for a place for the night.  A little north of town, Garmin said there was a campground so I headed to it.  It was another one of those fit you in tight private campgrounds.  Yuck.  On the road, I saw a little sign saying Chatham State Park.  So I headed for it, got a bit turned around but found a little campground with electric, water, and a dump.  Might have been showers there too but I didn't look.  Only a handful of campers and a camp host were there.  Nice sites for $15.  It was essentially right across the road from the full and crowded private campground.  Yay, nice private site with AC for the night.  I cooked the hamburger I had brought along to use it up with some onions and spices for dinner.

Hi-Tailing it to Colorado

Sideling Hill Rest Area, MD

My aim was my sister's house in Colorado for our annual family get-together.  This year is hot, hot, hot across the path between the east coast and Colorado.  And I don't like hot.  Never have.  Not better at this stage of life either, like so many things are. There was a brief respite last week so I hoped for the best.  I had in mind to find public campgrounds in the central US to be able to plug in and have AC overnight at not too much cost.  I still loathe most of the private campgrounds I see.  The sardine can aspect is a real turn off.  There are few amenities that can make up for that in my mind.  Give me land, lots of land, and the starry skies above.  Or at least a little breathing room.

T-Shirt Dog

I feel like I have a new calling -  a dog nurse.  Sit with her and hold ice on her elbows, give her pills, guide her when she gets a bit stuck from the cone head.  Walk her outside on a tight heel to go to the bathroom.  Can't get much else done this way except work on her heel.

Back Home

Really?  As if naked legs are not embarrassing enough, I have to wear this thing?

Got my dog back home today.  The vet clinic was really thorough.  Fully written instructions and they even gave me a DVD of the arthroscopy.  I have a little movie of my dog's elbow on the inside.  It's going to be a long 8 weeks.  A couple weeks of drugs, icing, then warm compresses, no running, no jumping, nothing but very sedate short leash walking, and an Elizabethan collar.  Then we get the stitches out and start rehab physical therapy every week for 6 weeks.  She thinks the collar is a punishment.  She isn't supposed to go up and down stairs.  I thought about moving into the van but there is a bit of a height for her to put to much pressure on those elbows going in and out.  So I made a bed downstairs and moved her bed down too.  It will get harder when she feels better.  That's when keeping a good dog down will be really hard.

Dog Surgery Day

Today is the day my collie, Dirona, gets her arthroscopic surgery to remove the bone chip in her elbow and fix the joints.  The VOSM clinic is very good about keeping me apprised of her status.   They called me at 9 am to tell me she was scheduled for early afternoon.  Then again at about 1p to tell me they were prepping her for the anesthesia and surgery.  They said they would call me again after she wakes and the doctor would call at the end of the day.

Dog Woes

Best Buddies

The day after my dog was limping so badly at the SprinterFest, we went to my vet and discovered she has a bone chip in her elbow.  At least there's a reason for it.  But that means surgery.  And an expensive surgery at that.  My vet (who I love) recommended arthroscopic surgery and a specialist in orthopedic surguery.  She would not want to do the elbow because it takes a lot of specialized experience and she doesn't have the equipment to do it the way she thinks it should be done.  So this week we were off to the specialist an hour away for the consultation.  A couple hours later, he came to the same conclusion as my vet but with the added diagnosis of some sensitivity in her other elbow.  He did a very thorough exam.

SprinterFest!

Over the weekend, I went up to the SprinterFest East hosted by Sun Motors in Mechanicsburg, PA.  It was a fun and interesting weekend.  There were a lot of innovative people there with tons of interesting ideas.  One guy heated his van with underfloor hot water from his diesel water heater.  While many were commercially built Class B vans like mine, there were several self-built ones.  One was particularly beautiful with custom curved cherry wood cabinets and tile bath and galley counter.

8/21 - Down the hill to home

I got on the road by 9 am. Just made coffee, walked the dog and took off. I forgot to secure the closet door and the dog got scared. This time, her solution was to get on the bed with the cat. We stopped at the Sideling Hill rest stop and I secured it with a bungee. She then resumed her position in the aisle and didn't try the bed again. We got home at 11am.

8/20 - US250

The van that was there last night was gone when I drove out. I'm not a terribly early riser anymore now that I don't have to. That came as a surprise to me after so many years of rising at 4:30 am to get to work. No one bothered me at all in my parking spot. There were 2 cars in the lot behind me. One had a person in the driver's seat who looked like he was napping. It appeared the park had only a single porta-pottie for nature's call.

8/19 - Huron and down the Mitten

Lake Huron

I did a little housekeeping this morning after cooking some eggs for my breakfast. Kids came over to play with my dog again. She sure is popular with children. A couple people were very interested in my van – saying it was what they had in mind. After all was done, I dumped my gray water and filled the tank with fresh water before heading off.

8/18 - Lakes Superior to Huron

Lake Superior looking toward Marquette

I was awakened very early this morning by loud rapping on my van and a man yelling for me to wake up. I finally answered and he asked if I had a dog and if she was red. Yes to the dog, no to the red as I think of her as sandy colored. My drivers door was wide open (yikes) and my dog was roaming around the parking lot. I must not have latched it securely last night. I got back in bed and then heard meowing. Oh no, did the cat get out too? Yup, not in the van and he wanted back in. Not one of my finer moments. Then I couldn't really get back to sleep so I got up early at 6 am.

8/7/11 - Up the Poudre and to Medicine Bow NF

Camp at my sister's house

We left my sister's house at 11 am after breakfast, coffee, shower, wash hair, packing up the food in the refrigerator and the frozen cat food. Last night, I made 2.5 pounds of food for them so I could freeze it overnight. It is sitting in the cooler with the frozen ice packs. I don’t have all that much cold food with me this time. I still have some cheese and I bought Greek yogurt and cherries last night. I got an onion and I still have quite a lot of sardines and tuna in cans that I can make a tasty meal of.

Heading out again

My mail packet didn't arrive until 3:30 yesterday and it didn't make a lot of sense to head out at that hour so we stayed at my sister's for one more night.  That meant one more trip to their land for the dogs to play and run.  My dog had a blast fetching in the irrigation ditch and she made it running at 30mph along side the truck.  She "heels" to the truck and has learned to stay away from the front mostly.

Moochdocking

Refinished elephant table

We spent a week in the Denver area camped in my mother's driveway.  It has a slope downward but not as bad as I thought it would.  My airbags managed to get the rear up just enuf for a comfortable near level experience.  Turns out that it was illegal to camp on the street like I did last year.  I plugged the van into her outside outlet which kept the batteries charged and was enough to run the AC when needed.  I took showers in her house but did all other personal ministrations in my van, including the teeth brushing.

Pets in the Van

Nissa on tether in front of rock

One of the big reasons for me to invest in my camper van was to be able to wander about with my pets in tow.  Last summer, I had 3 cats and no dog.  I was waiting and disciplining myself to not get a dog after my last one died a couple of years ago until I had firmly gotten my post retirement life in some sort of order before saddling myself with another dog.  There was never any question about getting a dog, just a matter of when.


There seems to be a lot of people who worry about traveling with cats who hate the car.  Here's my experience with traveling with my cats and how I handled the challenges.