The beginning is never the beginning. Something always comes before. That is where we are now: in the before times. We’ll later look back on these times, hopefully with some measure of appreciation and grace, but likely also with some amount of judgment. I’m already judging me, so that’s to be expected.
Here in the before times, we are preparing. We’ve fretted and planned and spent and spent and spent. We now have a lot of stuff to help us through inevitable troubles and we have other stuff that will just make traveling easier. Micki is feverishly organizing and reorganizing, loading food, loading clothing, then organizing more. I see progress in nearly everything she does.
Less so for my prep work. Among our preparations are some power management upgrades, with which I am currently struggling. The core of the upgrades is a desire to have lithium batteries (Lithium Iron Phosphate or LiFePO4 for the sake of needless specificity), but of course such things are never as easy as they sound. Charging lithium batteries requires different voltages and different charge phases, meaning differ equipment.
I started with the power converter, because that should have been relatively easy. I purchased the same exact make and model, but with the added benefit of lithium charging capability. The install went mostly smooth, with the exception of one minor arcing incident. No casualties, no blood, no worries. We’ll move on.
I then proceeded with installation of an upgraded inverter – 2000watts up from 1000watts – which also should have been relatively straightforward. No so much. I successfully swapped the inverter, but the old one had one additional power cable that the new one lacks, which baffled me. I turned it on and tested the inverter outlets. They all work (hurray!) with the exception of two (boooo). This also baffles me. In addition, the remote on/off that controlled the old inverter does not appear to play well with the new inverter. It will send the signal, but the new inverter immediately throws a fault signal and shuts down. More bafflement.
Undeterred, I proceeded to swap out the batteries. This required some cable terminal lug installation with heat shrink, for which I had to buy a couple very fun tools. All seems to have gone well with the batteries, at least for now. I also updated the settings on the solar charge controller, which was easy and appears to have worked well. However, the converter – which is supposed to auto detect lithium and charge appropriately – has not yet recognized the lithium batteries. It is intended to switch after one full charge cycle, so we’ll see.
Also it appears as if I blew a fuse in the terminal block connecting the batteries, so I’ve ordered a new fuse and hope to have that tomorrow. Once that is done I’ll circle back to the inverter bafflement. I have a plan. I don’t know if it’s the right plan. Again we’ll see.
I also started the installation of a smart shunt for the batteries, but that will also await the new terminal block fuse. Again hopefully tomorrow.
Assuming I can get all of those together, the next step will be to install a dc to dc charger that will allow the truck to charge the trailer batteries while we’re driving. I hope to see fewer issues during that installation. At this point, I would just like to get to the point where I can begin that installation.
Once I’ve passed that beginning and have reached the end of these power management upgrades (fingers crossed), we can once again look forward to the actual beginning of our first adventure. That is the meaningful beginning. Wish us luck.
Mouse House Adventures 
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