Tucson, AZ

Tuesday - The Jeep went in for its second free oil change and tire rotation. The dealer advertises a free car wash but, apparently, the machine is broken. The change interval is 10K miles, which has been since the last oil change in Athens, TX. 

My e-bike was not working properly and it turned out to be the cadence sensor bracket was bent, probably from the chain which had come off during the storage process. It’s kind of difficult getting the bike into the basement storage due to the weight. It’s a bit awkward. 

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the Magnum remote had a lithium battery preset as part of the remote. I used it for a while but have switched back to the CC/CV setting for flexibility. The LFP setting has an absorption voltage of 14.4V which is fine. The float voltage is 13.6V which is also fine. I’m currently using 13.8V. The absorption time can be set to whatever you want with both settings and I’m currently using 30 minutes. The difference is the re-bulk voltage or the battery voltage where bulk charging starts. The LFP setting is 12.8V and I’m using 12.9V. The difference seems small but with the LFP setting, the battery discharges to under 20% before it starts bulk charging again. With the 12.9V setting, bulk charging starts around 70%. 

The behavior with the LFP setting is discharge, followed by float charge to not complete, then discharge again, followed by float to not complete, etc. until it eventually gets down to 20% which could take days. Too unpredictable. 

Wednesday - Participated in the morning test session. Only one person is testing. The number seems to be dropping as more in-person sessions are happening. The person passed easily for his Extra, which is the highest amateur license available.

I started working on another 8266 microprocessor board for the battery compartment. I hope that it is able to connect to the RV WiFi which is in the very front cabinet. This one is to monitor the temperature inside of the battery box and possibly the batteries themselves. Initially, I will be controlling a PWM 12V fan designed for computer cases. It is variable speed from 200 to 1800 rpm with the 8266 sending a PWM control signal based on the air temperature above the batteries. This is something that new for me...

Thursday - Another microprocessor project for today. This is for controlling a PWM fan to ventilate the battery box. It’s been a while since I had worked on a project. 

I went to a lunch with park staff and several other residents. It was a scheduled monthly activity. We went to Divine Bovine, a gourmet burger place, but I didn’t have a burger. I went with a couple of delicious sides. Fries and brussel sprouts. Both were fantastic.

Late in the afternoon, we drove up towards Mt. Lemmon and found snow at over 7,000’. This is at a viewpoint on the way back down. No snow here but a good view of Tucson.