New Batteries, Chapter 3: “You’re a gentleman and a scholar.”

This morning I disconnected the four batteries I put there in 2019 and dragged them out to the yard, replacing them with the six batteries I bought yesterday. There was some fiddling in between: I needed a larger tabletop but I’d already cut that, and I needed to move the battery charger on the wall but that didn’t take long. Then I wired the batteries up and when the charge controllers came on line – I had 19 volts. Not 12. Not 24. 19. I needed 12. The inverter just gave me an error code. I had no power to the cabin except for DC. Which was 19 volts. This was not going to work.

So I did what I always end up doing whenever I have to mess with new battery configurations: I picked up the phone and whined to Neighbor S. He was wrapped up in something else but shook free about 3 hours later and helped me sort it out. And now it works.

There’s still some fiddling to do. The new series/parallel circuit required exactly one more cable than I had – but by pure coincidence BB had just sent me a spare he had lying around, possibly smelling my impending embarrassment. So not everything fits just right and I need some cosmetic retrofitting. And the battery charger isn’t hooked up because the positive cable doesn’t reach. But those are minor tweaks. The Secret Lair now has 50% more battery capacity than it did before. Actually far more than 50% because my old batteries were dying fast. It was imperative that I get this done before the cold. Happily, so far November has been very mild.

Now: The next question:

Can I use my hillbilly refrigerator, which has been sitting out on the porch since September? Stay tuned. Maybe I no longer need to haul ice from Ian’s freezer.