Layne is sick and tired of me staring at my phone app and reporting how much energy the new 860 watt solar panels are producing. On a cloudy day we had a brief moment of sunshine and we got 50 amps but when the gray skies reasserted themselves we were getting around 30 amps. In the evening light before sunset we were getting eight amps which was what we used to get on a bright sunny day with the old panels. Layne isn’t wrong, I am rather boring on the subject. This is the wall panel in the Promaster I can stare at to my hearts content:
We were at 91% charged when we got home after driving 20 minutes and the new alternator was cranking 85 amps…I’ll stop now.
The wind deflector for the solar panels didn’t work out as it caused more problems. We’ll see how that goes and revisit it as necessary.
They built the wooden panel to go around the new air conditioner and it looks nicer than the plastic shroud Dometic supplied. It blows a gentle cool breeze at 21 amps so we can run it all night easily if we have to. We’ve also saved several inches in overall van height. I need to measure it but I think we are around 8 feet 8 inches or 2.65 meters. The door height of a shipping container is 8 feet five inches or 2.56 meters so we will have to deflate the tires and maybe compress the suspension to get the van into a high cube container with the unit on the roof but that won’t be a problem for a while.
I was pretty busy learning the new systems and forgot to photograph the stuff that makes Layne happy - the carpentry - though there will be time to expound on the few modest changes we wanted after five years traveling aboard this machine.
We plugged Starlink in, the modem sits in a custom holder on the wall which I forgot to photograph, and the dish on the roof is in a black box at the back. As soon as we plugged it in it immediately picked up a satellite. No more hauling it out and setting it up when we stop for the night. I know we were slow to adopt the fixed rooftop mount like so many others already have but we are like that; we like to know that other people have tested new systems or ways of doing things first shade will follow along later.
Allison on the left is the master carpenter who made Layne happy and she gave him a tip for his work which made him happy.
Then we took some celebratory photos and I took the wheel after two months and off we went. First order of business:
Back at Lakeside Apartments we had trouble getting permission to park the van inside the complex. A three way discussion ensued at the gate with our landlord and the English speaking front desk guy and the upshot was they let us in. The best part, the most Brazilian part was the front desk crew were fascinated by the van so of course we gave them a tour. From forbidden we became best friends. Brazilians are incredibly friendly and I feel it is my curse not to speak Portuguese. If I did I’d put Brazil on the short list of countries I’d settle in. Our new busy roofline. From the back: Starlink, Air Conditioning, 430 watt solar panel, Maxxfan vent, and then the second 430 watt solar panel. The old roofline you can see below photographed in Paracas Perú:
So it is done. It was emotional saying goodbye to Alessandro and crew and Rusty was pretty indifferent to the return of the van but we are ready to repack our home and get on the road. It all feels possible at last. Paraguay by Sunday we hope.
