Quartzsite, Arizona

Last March we came through Quartzsite and to say I was unimpressed would be an understatement.  The BLM land assigned to short term camping was close to I-10 so you could hear the big trucks all day and all night.  Pay twenty-five cents per gallon for water, I remember when I was a kid when I wanted bought gas for my mini-bike that is what I paid per gallon for gas.  To fill my camper which holds fifty gallons of water would cost me $12.50 and I'm still not sure what it costs to empty my black and gray water tanks.  The town did not impress me much either.

This year we stopped at the short term camping area six miles south of town while checking in with the host he tells me that two weeks ago there were about 15 thousand people camping here!  Now it is down to a hundred or so.  Most of these were here for the camper show but there is also the flea market and rocks, lots of rocks for sale.

We found a good spot parking with the door facing southwest which turned out to be the direction of the prevailing winds so after I put my blue tarp skirting up we had a wind free spot to sit and enjoy the sunshine.  Nobody camping within a hundred yards of us but you can see where there must have been a lot of campers only a short time ago.  Something else I noticed is how clean the area is, kudos to all these campers for their clean up job when they departed.

The first couple days we spent in the flea market area walking all the booths.  Some prices seemed to be consistent with everyone else or is that another way of saying fixed?  Other items just seemed to be a bit expensive for a flea market.  This is not to say that you couldn't find a barging but it pays to shop around and if you are really in the market for a particular item take notes and try to remember  where the best buy is at.

Down the street from the short term area we noticed a small sign that simply said "music" and a arrow.  We followed the signs for a mile or two to Reds place where he converted his garage to a place where a few people from the RV park could play there guitars.  The musicians at times were joined by their wives some could sing very good others were a bit off key but much better than I could do for sure.  Music ranged from gospel to old time westerns.   At the intermission time they put out coffee, water, cookies and homemade cake and a donation can at the end of the table.  One of the musicians came up to us at the intermission and asked what us kids were doing there, he was right, we were the youngest ones in the room.  Today there were at least 80 people there and he told us some days there was standing room only inside, the garage doors were opened and people were outside in lawn chairs. 

We plan on spending a few more days here, the day time temperatures are hitting the low 70's but east of Phoenix temps are only in the mid 60's.

Tomorrow we will go to the Desert Inn just north of Parker.

February 4th was Solar Power install day.  I'm not going to go into all the technical aspects of how big of a solar panel should be installed because basically it is buy as large as you can afford!  One point to keep in mind is that you need a 12v panel and a lot of larger panels are 24 or even 48 volt panels.  I'm not saying they CAN NOT be used but a 12 volt panel is much easier to hookup to my RV which is already designed to run on 12 volt.

So how did I install my panel? 

First step is to decide where to mount your panel.  For the size panel that I purchased I really only had one spot on my roof to install it.  I elected to use the "Z" mounting bracket over the adjustable bracket so my panel will lay flat with only a inch or so air space under the panel.  At some point when I have the ability to modify this a bit I will add a inch or two to the rear mount to give it a slight angle, not to provide a better sun angle but to first when it rains it will help keep the glass clean and not pool up and leave mud spots.

When screwing the panels down waterproofing is a two step process.   First using a ball of mastic sealer under the mounting bracket wherever a screw will penetrate the roof membrane.  Using the mastic sealer  will drawn into and around the screw.  Then using some Dicor caulk over the screw.  Using Dicor calk designed for rubber roofs will preserve your rubber roofing guarantee.  Do not use silicone!

 

Step two is how to get the wiring into the RV.  It is best to do this without drilling any holes by directing them down the refrigerator cooling shaft or another way is to drop them alongside a vent pipe but not only do I think the refrigerator shaft is not only a better path but in my case more convenient.  Under my refrigerator is a perfect mounting location for the solar controller and next to that is my power panel.

The rain cover to the refrigerator shaft is held on by four screws.  Once removed you should have some screening to keep bees and other varmints from making their home inside the shaft.  I made a hole in this screen just big enough to drop two 10 gauge wires down and under the refrigerator.

Step three is to mount my solar controller.  I selected a 30 amp controller which is large enough to add another panel or two in the future and also provides me a digital readout telling me the State of Charge, Battery voltage and the PV Current.  To hook up the controller you mount the positive wire to the back of the panel marked solar and the negative to the negative.  The other connection is to connect the positive wire from the controller to the positive connection on the fuse panel and the negative to the negative.  You can also lead this directly to the battery but doing it this way not only saves quite a bit of wire but you also do not need a catastrophe fuse because there should already be installed.

 

 

 

 

Step four and the last step is to secure the wires from the PV panel to the roof of the RV.  Use wire clamps  to screw down about every three feet using mastic sealer under the clamp when screwing it down to the roof and then using some more Dicor caulk to cover the screw.   Re-install the cap on top of the refrigerator.

DONE!

At the time of this writing my PV panel has been installed for one week now and has been working perfectly.  I still need to start my generator to use the coffee maker not much for much else.

A problem with a flat mount is that if you park in the shade there will not be much power produced from your solar collector.  Eventually I would like to have a second panel that I can deploy in such a circumstance or to provide more power when needed.  To accomplish this I will use some 10 gauge wire from the solar side of the controller to a convenient location outside and install a 20 amp rated female plug.  The solar panel will use a heavy duty 10 gauge extension cord hard wired on the solar panel side and another 20 amp rated male plug.  All that has to be done now is to deploy the panel to a sunny location and plug it in, well that is after I purchase that second panel that is.

Into the City

Leaving the Silverado Ranch we planned on driving up to Tucson and then up to Phoenix to visit a couple relatives and to possibly purchase a solar panel for our travel trailer.  The easy route would be to take 80 up to the interstate and into Tucson but we did that route last year and was not very interesting.  This year we will first take 92 to the Coronado National Monument.  I would have liked to check out a few of the hiking trails but one of the stops in Phoenix will be the REI store for new hiking boots,  Next trip for sure.  From there through the town of Sierra Vista to highway 82 south to Nogales.   If the day was warmer another interesting town would have been Patagonia.  Nogales didn't interest me at all, probably some good history there but it looked like just another big city.  We drove on up to the Desert Diamond Casino just south of Tucson for the night.  No, I'm not a gambler but we ate at their buffet last year and it was good!  They did not disappoint us this year either.

The next day we drove up to Phoenix, only a couple hour drive and we had a lot to do there.  We had the normal grocery stops at Costco when we can find one you have to be careful what you buy but some things like breakfast cereal, Costco brand diet coke (I cannot tell the difference between that and the name brand stuff) for only $5.00 a case too!  Another stable from Costco is their pizza it is huge and it taste great for only $10.

One of my main objectives is to check into a solar panel for the travel trailer.  First place to check is a place called RV Solar Electric he has a nice kit for a reasonable price and talking to him he is very knowledgeable but I wanted to check out another company too.  Sun Electronics turned out to be internet only and you go to a warehouse to pickup or have it shipped.  I never was able to talk face to face with anyone from this company but they did have a great deal on a 230 watt 12 volt solar panel but I liked dealing with Doug at RV Solar Electric much better.  He did not have a storefront either but I was able to personally meet the guy and look at his product at his mini storage cubical.  What I ended up with was buying everything but the panel from Doug.  Total cost was about $50.00 less than the kit and 90 watts more.

I also really wanted to see my Aunt and cousin while in Phoenix so now that all our other running around was completed plans were set to first take my Aunt out to lunch and then visit my cousin.  The next morning we had time to relax before heading out into city traffic to first see my Aunt Loretta.  Aunt Loretta lives in an assisted living apartment building, she decided not to go out to eat so we enjoyed lunch with her in the dining area.  Cherri and I both had the chili dog, very good.  Later that afternoon my cousin and after a couple hours of visiting they took us out to Dillons BBQ, another excellent meal and a nice visit with family that I don't have much opportunity to visit with.

The next morning it was time to get out of the city!  Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not a city boy,  I can enjoy what it has to offer for only so long then it's time to leave.  We are heading back out to the Hot Well dunes which only a couple hours east of Phoenix and I can't think of a better place to install my new solar panel and then enjoy a dip in the hot tub.

Next entry will be to show you how I installed the solar panel.