Adventure Location: Decatur, Al
Adventure Date: 12-17-2022
Met new friends Doug and Sonja at the Lawlers while eating lunch there today. They have some interest in longer camping times as in clover leaf for a month or so after retirement in a couple of years. They were wonderfully educated in using a rig safely. But they needed a few details about longer time out traveling techniques. It was a wonderful lunch and it was an even better visit. They should be great at their style of travel and having lots of fun.
As the sun was disappearing tonight we checked the solar performance after two days of watching for any glitches that could get in the way of future boondocking. The result was at sun down the batteries were at 12.85 volts which is totally full.
We use deep cycle AGM batteries since we have had the same performance for years now from AGM batteries that the Lithium batteries would give but for $125 each instead of $895 each for lithium. Apparently we do not push the batteries as hard as some folks. Lithium batts seem to be well past the experimental stage of several years ago and into the good equipment stage if you need their abilities. So far after at least ten years of AGM use we have not seen the need for the considerably more expen$ive battery in our style of Rving.
In this county of Alabama a camper is not allowed by county law to stay in a site longer than 179 days without being out of the site for a night. You have to move the rig out of your site for a night and move back in the next day to stay legal.
My neighbor and his son live next door to each other. Today was the day they swapped sites with each other to fulfill the obligation. Then in 179 days they will swap back and so on and so forth.
SWAPPING SITES
The OFM hits that stupid mark on December 31. So we will have to move the Castle before January 1, 2023. Hopefully the medical garbage will finally be finished by then and we can roll on down the road instead of swapping to another site for a night. We shall see what the future holds for us. One thing we know for sure, trying to knock your eye out out of your head with a chair can keep you off the road an awfully long time, four months at least in this event.
Then a good event tonight on the run to Burger King for supper. The right eye had been having a serious fight with lights around us after dark when driving. We skipped a couple of days of night driving and deliberately went out tonight since traffic was light to test our eye recovery. The news was good. The light troubles were not totally healed but were at least 50% better than a couple of days ago, so apparently the right eye is not finished healing. We guess we should be glad to see even small improvements after such a serious accident.
The OFM says we need to just work harder at trying to have tooooo much fun. He is right.
We've been using AGM Batteries for years and they never let us down. With continued use those AGMs will always help you have tooooo much fun.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
I was a big believer in AGM's as well. I bought my 2-105 Ahr AGM batteries about 8 years ago and they have served me well with zero maintenance. For my new, smaller RV, I intended to get new AGMs or transfer my old ones to the new trailer. But that all changed when I started doing some research. I found that lithium batteries can be routinely discharged to about 10% without any damage as opposed to the 50% limitation for AGM's. The lithium battery recharges faster and surprisingly, they are lighter in weight. So I found a 100 Ahr lithium battery for $300.00 which is much cheaper than 2 new AGM's. The lithium weighs about 25 pounds compared to 65 pounds for the AGM's. I had no idea battery technology had improved this much and am glad I did some checking before opting for my tried and true AGM's. Watch out for this cold weather that is on it's way.
ReplyDeleteApparently lithium value has done some serious catching up in the last year. Research is good. Thank you.
DeleteI didn't hurt my eye and I'm no longer a fan of driving at night, age I guess. Mind you I will do it but I'm aware that things are not the same as they were.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I like traveling during the daylight so I can see the country, the night vision thing is just an extra...
The battery technology and prices for lithium batts has come down to within reach. If your flooded cell batts are doing the job for you then I'd see no reason to change.
ReplyDeleteBut if I was starting out (or it was time to replace what I had) I'd have to give a deep and serious look at lithium batts. Like Darrell points out they weight a lot less and you can get more power from one (use 90% vs 50%) than you can from the older technology.
I hope the timing for your move works out for you!