Thor Solar Panel
Installation
Improving
an existing installation
Event Report
201806
Back to Bill Caid's Home Page
The Experience
We returned to San Diego
after our 2 month road trip to Leadville, CO. Our experience
on the road showed us that we needed additional solar panel
capability to fully charge Thor's house batteries. I elected
to get panels at West Marine as they have never failed me
(yet). In addition to the solar panels, we attended to tire
duty and hosted our friend Vince in San Diego.
The photos below are
what we saw.
Oh Rats! More likely squirrels, but whatever it was it
left droppings glued to the intake manifold and a nest against
the firewall. A cleanup was in order before I could use my
pickup for a trip to West Marine.
I cannot recall why I did not install two panels initially but I
am guessing that it was either time, money or motivation.
Likely some combination of the three. The previous
installation method was a combination of through-bolts and
construction adhesive to connect U-channel strut to the roof of
the camper. The panel mounts were then bolted to the
strut.
These are marine-grade 165 watt panels. Note the Z-mounts
connected to the lower flange of the frame.
Above, the mechanical installation is complete with the
electrical connection next.
Our tires were at end of life, but I had a set of new rubber in
the side yard. We dismounted the old rubber.
The inner wheels were cleaned, inspected and prepared for
mounting of new rubber.
New 395/85R20 tires have very deep lugs.
Disposal of 4 used tires is an issue if for no other reason than
the weight and volume of the tires. Lifting these tires is
hard and hard on the back, so we used Thor's tire crane to
assist with the disposal of the carcasses.
We rolled the dead tires to beneath the crane and used a rope
sling to lift the tire.
I drove the pickup under the crane and lowered the tires into
the bed. No muss, no fuss and no bad back.
I have had a number of falling incidents off Thor's stairs,
usually after a few cocktails. The stairs are usually not
level or flat and are somewhat wobbly. While I appreciate
wobbly in some things, stairs are not one of them so we decided
to fabricate a removable, adjustable hand rail that can be
dismounted from the stairs before stowage.
I had my eyes on a plasma torch for some time, but they are
quite pricey. I found one for sale at Walmart for under
$300. Online order, arrived next day and works fine.
While this is not an industrial-quality unit, it is more than
sufficient for my needs.
Surprise, the pin-out of the plug does not match any 240V plug
in your house. We fabricated a mapper cable that
translates the pin-out of the torch to the dryer's outlet.
We used by hydraulic crimper to insure that the connections were
snug.
After some web research I located cast aluminum railing
components called "Speed Rail". I went to the steel store
and got some fittings and pipe as well as some 1/4" plates.
The plate was cut and then welded to a finger of 1"x1/4" strip
that acts as a fork and goes between the stair's folding
components. A tapped hole in the fork allows for
sandwiching the stairs rails to provide a stout connection.
An example installation of the rail. The complete rail
exceeded our expectations.
My mog buddy Vince came in from Texas so we took him around town
on a walk-about. We flashed on a Segway tour and Kathleen
found a tour that was based close to the Embassy Suites at the
Embarcadero. There was a polished sculpture in the hotel's
atrium.
We got our safety briefings and headed out on the Segways.
First stop was a nearby park with a nice view of some of
downtown's highrises.
Sad I did not note the name of the park but there were plenty of
folks sleeping in the bushes.
Our path took us along the trolley tracks.
The convention center was just across the road..
Interesting sidewalk sculptures.
We past the entrance to the Gaslamp Quarter.
The guide gave us some info about Petco Park, but I was not very
interested.
An interesting sculpture on the waterfront.
A view of Petco Park (stadium) and a portion of the waterfront
park.
Our path took us along the waterfront at the harbor. In
the distance we could see the Dole Pacific off-loading hundreds
of containers of bananas.
Vince and Kathleen take in the sights.
There were some really high-dollar yachts docked at the quay.
A sculpture at the convention center.
We came past our starting location on our way over to the
Midway.
USS San Diego memorial plaque on the waterfront.
The linchpin of the San Diego waterfront, the USS Midway museum.
The solar panel installation
was about the amount of effort that we expected and other than the
rat's nest under the hood of the truck was no big deal. The
tires went on easily enough (for a really big tire). We
enjoyed Vince's visit and really liked the Segway tour.
Back to Bill Caid's Home Page
Copyright Bill Caid 2018. All rights reserved.
