Newell Renewal - Day 3

6:55 am - Monday - April 20th - Wittmann, AZ - 56° F, 52% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the northeast......high clouds today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this day in 2017 we crossed Donner Summit on our way to South Lake Tahoe for another summer.....

.....we arrived in Carson City later that day spending two days there to stock up at our favorite stores before heading into the Tahoe Basin.

One of the most serious things I observed when Glenn and Laureen arrived last Thursday was that they had NO headlights, NO brake lights, and NO turn signals.  Sunday we cracked the mystery....but I get ahead of myself as usual.

As I reported weeks ago Glenn and Laureen bought two eBikes just like TLE's.  They had taken them out of the box and put them together, but had not done much else, so my task first thing Sunday was to get the folded bikes out of their Honda Element, and tuneup both of them.  I began with Laureen's as it had several issues, including a missing 'set screw' which holds in the pin at the hinge enabling the bicycle to be folded.  I had to make one by cutting the head off a Phillips head screw, then sawing a notch in the top with one of my mini hacksaws.  I applied a liberal amount of Locktite to the 'set screw', and then screwed it into place.  Once that was done I could work on the rest of the bike.  Just as I did with TLE's eBike I moved the brake levers closer to the handlebar grips to make it easier to brake, then adjusted the seat by moving it forward on its rails so Laureen's riding position would be more comfortable.  I finished the tuneup by adjusting the front derailleur so it would move easily between all three front sprockets.  Once that was done, and Laureen had taken a couple of test rides I moved inside to work with Glenn and Laureen on further troubleshooting the lack of headlights, brake lights, and turn signals.  

What we did not realize as we continued troubleshooting this issue, but kind of suspected, was that every single element had blown in the headlights, and taillights, as well as all the turn signals, and running lights due to the over voltage issue they experienced last Wednesday just west of Ft. Stockton when their alternator was dying.  We spent time at the rear panel replacing a couple of very compromised wires attached to both of the turn signal relays.......

The bad wires

......unfortunately, this did not solve the problem with the turn signals, but it got us closer, and was a necessary repair.  What finally removed the veil covering this mystery was when we attempted to apply 12 volts directly to the left turn signal terminal on the front 12 volt panel.....we got the left turn signal directly below the mirror to blink, but only one of the two bulbs blinked.  We then began taking apart all the turn signals, and found all of the other bulbs were blown to smithereens.   As we replaced bulbs the blinker began to come back to life.  The tail lights are sealed units, so you must replace the whole assembly.  Glenn happened to be carrying one replacement with him so we removed the old one, and plugged in the new one......success!  We now know what the problem is.  We will acquire the other 5 tail lights units, and install them.  

 One of the old lights

The new one installed.....need 5 more now

.....from there we moved to the front where we removed both sealed beam headlights and installed two replacements, which Glenn did have......once again SUCCESS!  We'll have to replace the two sealed beam amber lights in the middle, which are the front turn signals, but at least we know what is wrong now......

 
.....after much discussion regarding the solar panel orientation we have decided on have all 4 panels installed in an 'east to west' fashion.  This will accomplish two things: 1) each of the panels can now be tilted from a ladder without going on the roof....a very important thing for us older guys, and 2) there will now be space in front of the rear panel to install a satellite dish, which Glenn wants.....

The satellite dish will go in front of this panel

......by the time we finished it was almost 5 pm, and time to call it a day.  TLE and Laureen made us small, personal pizzas for dinner which I failed to photograph, but they were delicious!  Tom and Darlene came out just after dinner and joined us for never ending conversation until just after sunset......

....and it was a lovely one indeed!  Thanks for stopping by!

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