Another Around the World Tacoma

Michael,

If I recall correctly, you said something about planning to redo you roof box. Have you considered the Alu-Cab Wood box? I'm considering the large without jerry cans on the sides.
https://www.alu-cab.com/product/the-roof-box/


I really do need to update my truck photo to my new truck DCLB in red

 

Thanks for sharing this with me. It's hard to see on their website exactly how the camera wiring connects, but if it is anything like my current camera then disconnecting the wiring is not difficult at all.

 

Share a photo of the new truck please!

You must have an in with OK4WD, because I am currently awaiting the delivery of the large wood box, without the jerry can mounts, from South Africa.

I ordered it back when we were at Locust Point for a week, as our current Pelican case is already maxxed out without us really trying.

I saw a Tundra in Phoenix with the large wood box next to his Alu-Cabin and it looked great.

I can't wait for mine to arrive.

 

This is a few items down the list for myself or as soon as a discounted (likely never going to happen) order could be placed. I'm still in the planning phase of back end build out. Highest on the list is insulation and heating in the rear.

St George has dang good climbing and bouldering, I've spent time there on winter trips. It is also the place I had the scariest flat on a MTB. Happened while flying down a forest service road. By the time I had stopped the front rim had dings in it that looked like a 5lb sledge had taken two dozen wacks at it.

 

Yeah, the price on that box is hard to swallow for sure.

Nice, yes, looks like we will spend a week and a half there.

 

How much do you want for that D7500, what's the count, and are you throwing in any good lenses...

 

PM Incoming

 

That 200-500, all kinds of possibilities there. One of my favorite writer/photog guys did a pretty cool shot and video.

http://lacemine29.blogspot.com/2015/09/over-moon.html

 

Thanks for sharing, that was quite the read.

I want a 2x teleconverter so I can get a nice shot of the moon as well.

 

I appreciated the detail he put into the shot, knowing the moon was erratic (to our perception) in its rise, planning and practicing and then detailing what was good and what wasn't. Learning how that piece of equipment "sees" and how I can manipulate its outcome, that is still the most fascinating part - along with the sentiments of the moment, the stories and memories of an outing.

 

@MR E30


That’s cool you remembered the whole picture thing. Looks like you’re enjoying life. The trail repairs and sign upgrade is awesome. You both are so nice to give your time for the trail.


Enjoying reading about you adventures. Pictures when you get the time.

 

The 200-500 is a great lens, I rented one for a week - but the daum thing was a beast, just getting in and out of
the car / truck was an adventure. It was a bit heavy as well - I then rented the sigma 100-400 and found it to be
a real sweet lens and very manageable ...

Now, the 500pf is very nice, much faster and much lighter than the 200-500, but it's a fixed length... still I wouldn't turn one down LOL

 

Agreed, definitely well written. Good info in case I want to do something similar in the future.

 

Thank you and much appreciated.

 

Color me crazy, but I actually like the heft of the 200-500. It feels very solid to me.

Definitely wouldn't turn down a 500mm prime either, but Fro Knows Photo did a comparison of the two and he is not sure why anyone would buy the 500 prime, unless the weight of the lens was such a massive concern for them.

 

Here is the summation of my morning, while it is still fresh in my mind:

This is my first 'issue' with a Renogy product.

Last night, late afternoon I suppose, I noticed that one of my house batteries (the new one) was not showing up in the Renogy DC Home app like it usually does. It was still there, but grayed out, with no info showing up as to its charge level. I thought it was interesting, this had never happened before, but I decided to wait until the morning to check again. Each battery has a BT device inside of them, and that is how the battery communicates through the app to my phone. The charge controller is connected to a BT dongle that does the same thing.

Well this morning arrived and still no dice. The new battery was not in the app, and worse off, the lone battery (the old one that has been running fine for a while now) in the app seemed to have carried the burden of our electronics all on its own over the course of the night. It should have been around ~85% charged, but instead was down at 60%.

Disclaimer: I do not as of this moment, know if this is temperature related. I have the furnace on inside of the tent to warm up the inside of the truck. It has been in the 70's for the highs, and the low to high 30's at night for the low, for a few days now, so colder than usual, for this system at least.

The functioning battery did have a warning saying that it was charging at less than full capacity due to its temperature, but it was still functioning and can discharge at full capacity, as the discharge temp limit is lower than the charge temp limit. 32 degrees Fahrenheit is the cutoff for charging according to the manual. The battery certainly is not that cold. It feels cold to the touch, but not frozen cold. Update: I just checked the temperature with a ~$100 food thermometer with a scan function, and the housing is at 56 degrees currently after the furnace has been running for ~45 minutes. This is not an accurate reflection of the internal temp of the battery though. You can see the batteries temp in the app, when it is working of course.

I test the system and see 13.2v at the BlueSea fuse block (before disconnecting the batteries) and at both batteries (after disconnecting the two from one another), so the faulty battery is not in undercurrent protection. This happens at around the 10v mark, where the battery will not do anything until it is charged back up to a satisfactory level. Considering my setup, this didn't make any sense, as the last time I checked the battery in the app, while it was still functioning, it was at around 92% charge. This was in the middle of the afternoon too, so not cold.

I get on a live chat with Renogy and here is the synopsis of what I discovered:

- If your battery is not showing up in the app they first recommend deleting the app and then reinstalling it. I did this and experienced the same results.
- Their next step is to immediately have the battery sent to their warehouse for testing:
- This is where it gets tricky. The battery has to be picked up by a FedEx employee who has been in contact with Renogy's CallTag Team, as the battery is considered hazardous material.
- You cannot physically take the battery to a FedEx location yourself.
- You must physically be at a physical address (FRxxx near Marble Canyon, AZ, look for the silver truck, does not work).
- You cannot leave the battery for FedEx to pick up on their own, a person must be there.
- Once the battery is picked up it takes 3-5 days to get to them, 1-2 days to test, and then they determine if you get a replacement.

Due to the fact that we do not have a permanent address, and that we move round a lot, this is obviously a pain in the rear.

Based on when a relative can take the battery to their home to be picked up by FedEx, I decided to reconnect everything and leave the battery inside of the truck for now. Thankfully we are meeting family members in Zion, and then shortly thereafter in St. George, so I figured out a way to get this rectified.

As for now, both batteries are still in the truck. After reconnecting the system, the new battery still does not show up in the app, but it is now load balancing with the old battery (charge to old battery is much greater than input from solar is how I came to this conclusion). I am not sure why it didn't do that all night, as it is supposed to. Even if the battery doesn't show in the app, it is still a battery that is full of electricity, and wiring them in parallel forces them to balance each other out, unless the faulty battery has some switch/relay inside that keeps it from doing that. But in that case when I test it with a volt meter it wouldn't read 13.2v. Ah, I'm no expert.

For now I am going to crank the heat up inside of the camper and see what happens. It's kind of silly that my phone battery, or my cameras battery can function just fine in really cold temps, but the ~$600 fancy battery may have temp related issues.

I'll report back with what I find as the day continues on.

 

This isn't as good as it could be (bird doesn't fill the frame enough IMO and not quite super sharp and I should have been at f/8.0 for sure), but this was the best I captured after ~60 photos.

I'm surprised at how surprised I was to get a good clear photo of a common bird. Haha

First Bird Shot! by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

 

I watched that a while back. His main concern ( valid to boot ) is the limitation of the PF. Should you need to back off ... say 200-250-300 you can't -
you're stuck with 500 whether you like it or not. I held a PF attached to a D7200 and was amazed that it felt a hair lighter than my sigma 100-400....
being an old-man that's something to consider - ... turning from 200 to 500 took me a good 2~2.5 twists of the barrel whereas I can go from 100 to 400
in a single move -

If any of you folks out there are getting into the holiday mood the Z8 is on the top of my list - LOL

 

Alright, here are the interior photos of the camper. Props to @POOLGUY for his patience. Haha

These photos represent what the camper portion of the truck looks like while we are driving. It gets more disorganized throughout the day as we use it, but we do our best to tidy it back up every single night.

It has a fair amount of empty space. I didn't want things piled up above the bed sides, in most cases. And that empty space near the door is used to climb in and out, as well as to stand during the workday.

Drivers Side Camper Interior by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Back Door by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Back Door Camper Interior by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Passenger Side Camper Interior by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

We have spent the last week freezing our butts off (heated blanket is doing wonders), but we head over to Zion tomorrow.

The upgrade to energy collection and energy storage was well worth the effort. We can collect our necessary amperage (~10a) as early as 8 am (even during this time of year) so our system doesn't get depleted throughout the day. In fact, the sun is going down with both batteries back at 100%.

Ah yes, that battery issues ended up being temperature related. I warmed the interior of the camper up with the fireplace and the battery came back online within an hour.

That isn't the last issue with Renogy though. Our 1000w inverter bit the dust yesterday morning. The fan was running more than usual (despite it being ~50 degrees outside) and then its alarm went off and that was that. A slight smell of burning electronics was there with the red light and alarm. I gave it time to cool down but it didn't change. The ghost was let out of the machine as they say. So I need to source a new one of those. It made for a fun lunch break as I zipped down into Hurricane UT to grab (2) backup inverters.

 

I love the "check your knot" reminder on the side door! I don't recall if that was present on the N Rim trip or it was a recent addition. It works for a couple different situations.

Ominous skies and juniper make for a perfect background