When we first bought Gus, we quickly discovered we were on the wrong end of a big learning curve. A truck like #80 has many systems to learn, and most of them have a quirk or two. For instance, the diesel stove works great, but it starts up slowly. If you repeatedly punch the button, like you might at a crosswalk or an elevator, the stove decides that you are a three year-old and locks the stove down to keep you from harming yourself. Reversing this involves pulling the fuse and counting to 60. Of course, the long new-owners orientation assumes you are a patient, mature individual and doesn't cover this. So, your first weekend in your new rig, and you can't cook dinner until you figure this out. Similar quirks abound in any vehicle, and multiply with the vehicles' complexity. We have patently learned most of our truck's quirks, and figured out how to work with them. Recently, we needed to have some work done to the truck, and while at the shop decided to upgrade to a new solar setup. Gus was built in 2008. In the ensuing years, solar technology has come a long ways. Our solar panels didn't work when it was cloudy. Or partly cloudy. Or in the shade. If you have been following this for a while, you may have noticed we've seen a lot of rain. At one point, 28 consecutive days of rain.
So..rain=no sun. No sun=no solar panels making electricity. For a few days, this isn't a big deal. EarthRoamer's have two huge batteries, more than twice as big as the battery in your car. We can live for a while without electricity. But at some point, we either need sunlight or a place to plug in. We can go to a campground, which feels like cheating. Or sidle up to a gas station or shopping center with an exterior power socket, uncoil an extension cord and see how long it takes to get caught. After more than a month, this was getting old. We learned that new Earthroamer's have a much improved solar system incorporating vastly more efficient solar panels and a new controller, which allows the panels to function in partial shade or cloudy days.
We decided to have these installed while other stuff was being worked on. We finally took delivery of #80 last week and headed back out on the road. We were stoked to be back in the truck and back out in the road. However, it didn't appear the new system was working as I thought it should. Much head scratching turned to semi-panicked emails back to Earthroamer. I started keeping a log of battery voltages and incoming amperage. After some time, and some patient coaching by Spencer (Director of Service at ER) it became apparent that everything was working perfectly, but the system acts differently than the older system.
It took me a couple of days to wrap my head around the way the new system works and to understand that it can top off the camper batteries in a fraction of the time required by the old system. (It looked like it wasn't working, when in fact, it was "on standby" because no power was needed.) We are far less dependent on external power now more than ever. Of course, we haven't seen a cloudy or rainy day, yet, but I suspect I'll be pleasantly surprised.
It's funny that after three and a half years of owning our truck, and living in it full time for over 6 months, we are still learning new stuff. I'm thankful for the extreme patience of Spencer at ER, who responds to panicked questions with calmness and grace; and Nancy who will ignore (as much as possible) me as I obsess over why something isn't acting the way I think it should.
Happily for all concerned, that doesn't happen often.
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