Newell Renewal - Day 6

7:20 am - Thursday - April 23rd - Wittmann, AZ - 63° F, 32% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north by northwest.......and we have another clear, blue, sunny sky today with a forecast high of 95°.....here comes summer!  On this day in 2017 we arrived for our summer stay in South Lake Tahoe to several feet of snow on the ground........

 Wednesday was our first 90 degree day of our 6 week stay here in Wittmann, AZ, and it was the first day we had to run our A/C in that same span of time.  I was up about an hour earlier than normal because I knew it was going to be a warm day and wanted to get an earlier start.  This was the day we would begin to permanently install the four solar panels.  We began with the one closest to the front of the Newell and worked backwards first connecting the gray able to the wiring on the back of each solar panel......

.....then connect the gray cable into the 'combiner' box.......

 Using Tom's heat gun to shrink the insulation onto the cable

.....things moved steadily all daylong until we were, at last, working on the fourth, and final solar panel......

.....now that all four gray cables have been cut to length, and connected to the 'combiner' box it is time to drill a hole in the roof, and begin to run the black and red cable down to the location of the charger controller, which will be under the salon couch....

 Just drilled the 1 1/8" hole for the red and black cable

.....once we were done with the 'combiner' box I broke out the DICOR self leveling lap sealant to squeeze some onto each 'foot' to further secure each 'foot' to the Newell roof.....

....we then fed the cable down the refrigerator chimney........

.....and then into the cabinet below the floor of the refrigerator chimney.....

.....at this point Laureen and Glenn took over to finish running the cable to the area under their couch where we will connect it to the Victron charge controller......↴

 Looks good to see those solar panels up there

......while all that fun was in progress Tom was under the Newell removing the final 6 air bags in preparation the installation of of the new ones when they arrive Thursday, or Friday.....

......Wednesday was also Tom's birthday so we convened in the 'mancave' around 6:15 for mini pizzas....

 ....a nice way to end day five of 'Newell Renewal'.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Newell Renewal - Day 5

6:20 am - Wednesday - April 22nd - Wittmann, AZ - 56° F, 57% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the northwest......clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this day in 2018 we entered Oklahoma on our month long journey to Southwest Harbor, ME.

One of the primary reasons for Glenn and Laureen coming to Wittmann was to get their solar system installed, and to get their air leaks fixed....that was before they departed Ft. Stockton a week ago and the subsequent failure of their alternator causing myriad other electrical problems which we are slowly unraveling.  Whist that unraveling is occurring the show must go on as 'they' say.

Three major things were accomplished Wednesday:  1) Glenn and I assembled the solar panels, and hoisted them to the roof using Tom's electric/hydraulic lift, 2) Eight new airbags were ordered and should be here Friday, and 3) we ordered the replacement brake/running/turn signal cans.

Assembling the panels was not difficult, but before we began that process we watched a few of A.M. Solar's YouTube videos showing how to put them together, and how to run the cables between each solar panel and the 'combiner' box.....

 Unpacking the solar panels....

 ....Glenn attaching the mounting brackets.....

 ....attaching the 'feet'....

 .....Glenn getting ready to hand me the first panel....

 .....Tom's electric/hydraulic lift.....very handy

 ....all four panels are on the roof!

The gray cable in the background will be cut to length and attached to each solar panel, then run to the 'combiner' box.  The red and black cable will run from the 'combiner' box to the Victron charge controller

While that was going on Tom was removing one of the four rear air bags to confirm the manufacturer and model number.  We discovered that  the four front air bags are completely different from the four rear airbags.  Apparently at sometime in the distant past one of the prior owners replaced the front airbags, and modified the mounting plate.  The front four are hard to find, but the four rear airbags are readily available so we are going to replace all 8 airbags with the same make and model as the rear ones.  Tom ordered them through Napa, and they should be ready for pickup by Friday, if not sooner.....

 The rear airbag

.....finally, we were able to source the replacement Truck-Lite turn/brake/running lights through Amazon.  We ordered 6 of the red (for the rear), and two of the amber for the turn signals in front......

 We ordered 6 of these Truck-Lite 07081's.....

....and 3 of these Truck-Lite 07080's

.......they will be here between the 27th and 30th of this month.

Meanwhile, Laureen, who is heading up the search for shorts under the dashboard, and checking out each of the electronic devices, continued her work.  It turns out the Garmin GPS came through unscathed (still works), and also their new stereo radio.  Unfortunately, it appears the rear view camera monitor is kaput.....we will know for sure today after she calls the customer support people at the distributor.

Wednesday also marked the last day we will see of 80 degree temperatures.....from this point on until the end of the month it will be mostly 90's with three 100 degree days thrown in for good measure.....summer weather is just around the corner.

We called it a day around 4 pm....we're making good progress, and our spirits are high.  Now that we've got the replacement parts ordered we can begin to wrap up the many projects in progress right now, and begin to talk about life after Wittmann.  

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Newell Renewal - Day 4

7:24 am - Tuesday - April 21st - Wittmann, AZ - 62° F, 44% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the east by northeast.........clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 81° F.  On this day in 2014 we were visiting Arches National Park in Moab, UT with our good friends David and Denise Zonker....

.....we were on our way to Sioux Falls, SD at the time, and were able to hook up with David and Denise as they were heading back to Denver.....does not seem that many years ago.

A few days ago Tom determined that Glenn and Laureen's airbags needed replacing, so Monday he removed one of the front airbags to verify the manufacturer and model number.  The one below is made by Firestone, and it appears it is hard to find.....

....the rear air bags, thankfully, are the more readily available ones.  Tom will remove one of them Tuesday to confirm its manufacturer and model number, and then then hunt for 8 airbags will commence.

I caught Glenn and Laureen under the coach about midday getting a little alone time......

....while they were under the coach I finished tuning Glenn's eBike, so now both are ready to ride.....

.....one project I wanted to accomplish Monday was to install the XM Radio antenna for Glenn.  There is already a hole near the front of the coach between the to air horns, but I had to remove the old Winegard cable guide to get at the hole....

The old Winegard cable guide

.....once that was out of the way, and the area cleaned, the install was easy to finish.  We'll cover the hole, and then using clear silicone caulk to cover the antenna wire, we'll finish mounting the antenna.....it's sitting on one of the marker lights until we finish.....

......before we begin installing the solar system the roof needed to be cleaned, so late afternoon Glenn and I tackled that messy job.  Laureen caught us in action.....

 About 1/2 way done

.....in all it took us about an hour working together to do the deed, and then I was tired, and ready for a long hot shower....

 It was another long, but profitable day!

Before

 After

......Tuesday we'll begin the installation of the cabling for the solar panels.  That will take a couple of days....maybe more....we'll see.  

After discovering that the tail and head lights had been blown by the over voltage being produced by the failing alternator, Glenn decided to check all the running, and marker lights and this is what he found.......

.....every single bulb had exploded.  A trip to Autozone, or Napa to acquire the needed replacements will be in order very soon......

......one final optimistic note for Monday......we found that the new radio Glenn had installed had escaped destruction....a 10 amp inline fuse protecting the radio electronics had blown, and after installing a replacement fuse we are happy to announce the radio still lives!

Thus day 4 of the Newell Renewal came to a close....we're making a lot of progress, and a there is a lot happening.....there are many projects in progress right now, and its time to begin to wrap up some of them.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

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!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!