Cloud Energy......

 7:07 am - Tuesday - March 25th - TWW  - 48° F, humidity 30%, wind 6 mph out of the east.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 82° F!  On this date in 2017 TLE and I hiked to the summit of Mr. Rubidoux in Riverside, CA.....

.....with Kate, Rochelle, Chris, Nick, Elijah, Charlise and Jolene.

I've been procrastinating on the install of the two 12 volt, 300 amp hour Cloud Energy batteries to replace the old technology, flooded cell, 8d batteries that have provided 12 volt power for the Newell interior for quite some time now.  In fact, I've had those new batteries since late November.  TLE has been pressing me to install them, so we set Monday aside to do just that, or should I say 'I' set Monday aside to do just that.  It's pretty much a one person job, right?

Before I could install the new batteries we needed to head into Seligman to pick up our mail/packages, which, as it turns out, occupied not only our PO Box, but two additional parcel lockers.  While I retrieved the mail/packages TLE walked over to Family Dollar to buy a few things.  Next we headed to Seligman Market where TLE bought some produce, after which we headed to the General Store to fill three 5 gallon gas cans, and one 5 gallon diesel can.  Next we headed inside to buy an 8' x 4' piece of plywood (3/4") which I would need to make a new shelf in the battery bay for the new batteries.  It cost $70....ouch!  I wanted 1/2", but they only had 3/4".....very, very expensive!  We were back home by 11:15 am, without incident.

I began to pull everything together I had purchased for the installation around 10 am, and finally began to remove the 8d batteries around 11:30 am.  Often I underestimate the time needed for jobs such as this, but my uneducated guess was it would take 4-5 hours beginning to end, and it took just over 4.5 hours.  

First I pulled out the old batteries (with TLE's assistance) from the two sliding trays, then cut a piece of the 3/4" plywood to size (20.5" by 24.75") to place over the two extended trays.  I next affixed them to the plywood already in the trays using 12 w00d screws.  The Cloud Energy batteries are each 13" wide, so there is a little overlap on each side of the two trays.  TLE then helped me to move the new batteries from the shed to the battery trays (now operating as one tray), after which I began to connect all the cables.  I had to cut off the old battery clamps, and replace them with new copper 1/2" lugs so they could be attached by screws to the new batteries.  It came out pretty well....

....I finished around 4:10 pm, and was I ever tired.  We're going to have to reacclimate to warmer temperatures now that the daytime temps are back into the 70's.  Even though the high was only 78° F Monday, it felt more like 90 to me, which really drained the energy out of me.  I'm going to need to clean up the wiring a little to make it look more organized, but everything works!  I'm still using the old Blue Sky charger controller for now, but will install the new Victron charge controller in the next few days.  The batteries have their own BMS (battery management system), so they will not be damaged by the old charge controller.  The new Victron has Bluetooth, so I'll be able to check the battery status on my phone once it is installed.

Thanks for stopping by!