While Joan went to the grocery store, I hopped on my scoot and headed for the storage place where we're keeping the van. For those keeping track, the temperature while on the scoot was 100 and OMGº... there is a reason you don't see many people on bikes once the heat of the day kicks in: spontaneous combustion.
I rolled up to the gated area, punched in security code, and rode on in. Before going into the van, I got a shot with my HoverAir X1 camera drone...
This storage place seems decent and it is much closer to our house. I wanted to check on the van; I'm reading there is a phantom drain on the engine battery, and RAM recommends you disconnect the battery or put it on a trickle charger. We have ordered a kill switch that I will wire in that will disconnect the battery with a remote. But, in the meantime, it fired right up.
It was surprisingly not like an oven in the van; the overhead cover makes a difference. I also put a steering wheel lock on it that Joan had ordered.
Plus, I just wanted to visit the van.
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2 comments:
Looks like a nice storage space. Given the blazing Arizona sun, it might be that the solar panels will still produce some charge even in the shade. That may offset the slow drain that almost all modern vehicles have, keeping the computer powered up.
Kudos for taking the bike and being baked to well-done.
Hi Earl. Yeah, it was a bit blast-furnace(ish) on the ride there and back, but the boy's gotta scoot. I've been studying up on the battery discharge situation. There's a lot of stuff "going on" with all the chassis electronics. One switch turns off all the power in the house part, including the lithium batteries; the solar panels feed the house batteries. Options: a disconnect switch for the chassis battery (also serves as a "kill switch"), a smart charger for the chassis battery (we have power at the site), no place for a small on-dash solar panel since we have all the covers on the van. The Aspect could sit for months without draining the chassis battery, due to the fact that the Ford E450 chassis was mostly "old school"... but I am enjoying all wiz-bang stuff on the RAM/Roadtrek.
RAM makes it somewhat easy: there is a "thumb lever" on the negative battery terminal to pop that off... but you have to lift up a panel in the floor of the cab to get at it. As I research, that may be the most effective way to deal with the power drain.
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