the heli mobile is down.

[murankar]

The van is down for a short time. Flat bed comes tomorrow morning to pick it up. The starter whent out and I am getting the fuel pump and power steering pump replaced. I am looking at almost $700 in repairs. Its all good though because the van has plenty of miles left to go before it gets scrapped.

[Superbad]

Got To keep the wheels rolling LOL

[murankar]

In about a week I should have it back. Once this is done its onto the charging case then the radio. When I get the radio that marks the last of the big stuff for the hobby at this time. I should be hammering out some massive OT over the next few months so will see his it plays out.

[Superbad]

What radio you looking at getting

[murankar]

Futaba t8j. I just like that radio, plus if I get a different gyro I can run a cgy and do some tuning in the radio. Plus I like the idea of s-bus. I want to be different and the price is not to bad for an 8 channel radio.

[Tony]

thats bad news URI, hope you get it sorted mate...

[murankar]

Yeah I knew it was coming just didnt know when. Well the when just happened 2 days ago and since its going in for the starter I am finally getting the "fuel leak" fixed which is the fuel pump. As for the power steering that's something I have been nursing since before I left Texas. I had it mostly fixed before I left but its starting to make that noise that power steering makes when it goes bad. Its sorted just needs completed which will be all this week and some of next.

When the van comes back I will be doing some major cleaning in it. The kids left it trashed and no one cleaned it out. After that its getting it packed for the season.

[danhampson]

I've got a t8j Uri. It's an awesome radio a lot smaller than spektrum stuff, fits in my hands better. And sbus is super simple to setup. It sounds like your getting all setup for the new season.

[murankar]

Trying to. I really want to get the next bit of stuff for my charger case. i should be able to get it to 90% complete and functional in one purchase. The radio would probably be next year.

[murankar]

Prognosis is as follows:

The stuff being fixed
Battery
Alternator
Tie rod ends
Starter

Things still needing fixed
Rack and pinion, fix a small drip in the fluid line
Tires.

The last 2 items are going to get done this summer when I get my promotion here at work. I should be getting promoted within the next 4 months.

If I fex everything now its about 2200 USD. Since I am only doing the first list its about 1200 USD, car back by Saturday.

[pvolcko]

Oy. Glad to hear about the pending promotion. Hate the car woes.

[murankar]

Well its not yet but history has dictated 7 months for the first promotion. Right now Lubrizol is expanding in my facility and they need operators like crazy. My first promotion should be around may or June. It a crazy pay hike too. Going from $13 an hour to 19.50 and hour.

[murankar]

Van is done and ready for pick up. I should be getting the van tomorrow. I have had another idea pop in my head. This is a future idea, like next year possibly unless I find the parts used for cheap.

My idea is a 12v deep cycle battery charge station for the van. I would not need to much in the way of parts; battery, battery box, some wire and a voltage sensing switch for charging the battery off the alternator (which is now brand new). I was thinking of using solar to charge that battery but for cost reasons I think using a relay switch for now would be cheaper and just as easy.

My end state of this project is to be able to charge batteries off a dedicated battery while away from the house with out the use of a generator. A generator would be nice but it incurs a lot of maintenance and long term costs that I am not ready for. I want simplicity and ease of upgrading in the future.

My goal is to power my charger and some 12v leds for night time lighting that is independent of the van battery. I would like to keep it flexible for other uses as well not just for RC.

[Graham Lawrie]

I hate car troubles:(

[murankar]

Van is back and all ready. Now for more projects.

[pvolcko]

I like the charging battery idea. Just make sure not to draw more than half the capacity off the battery before charging it up again. And you may not want to use a deep cycle battery. I remember reading somewhere that they are not well suited to a charging power source. I think. Maybe. I do remember reading something about them. It was either in context of powering a charging station or as a UPS battery for backup power purposes.

Do a little research on it first.

[murankar]

In my research I have found that for a solar setup deep cycle is ideal, its because they are designed to be drained down then recharged. Car batteries don't do so well under these conditions. I saw a how to video series where a guy took one of those jump boxes set it up to recharge with solar and used the stored power for his cordless power tools.

The ideal setup I have seen so far is using golf cart batteries that are 6v and run them in series to get 12v or run 4 in series for 24v. These batteries are usually around 250 AH + for capacity so I would not really need more than one set of 2 in series. My hangup so far on this is the size of solar panel I would need to charge the bank. Its been suggested that I run a Voltage sensing unit and charge the batteries off the alternator which I like also.

With solar you will want a redundant way to charge the batteries and I think the VSU would suit that bill. Whats nice about running the VSU is that what ever the sun did not provide the drive to the field or home will top off the batteries. Right now I am looking at about $175 to get the solar panel and the bits needed to charge the batteries. The cost of the batteries are going to be rather high since I dont know anyone who deals with used batteries. I would like to start off with use batteries and then upgrade later with new.

I have been on this idea for a almost a week now and right now I think I am going to post pone it for a little bit. I had another idea jump in my head which is more in line with my charging case. So getting the charging case done is priority then I will do the battery bank. I still need to continue sourcing the parts. I will let you a,, know when I start the project though.

My end state is to be able to fly at the field and not have to rely on someone else providing me with power. I want to be able to go somewhere for a long time and fly and not have to worry about using my van battery or running the van to charge packs.