pennsic planning
Sat Jul 30 21:20:30 EDT 2011
I hadn't counted on the van being fixed in time for Pennsic. It does open some possibilities, chiefly not having to worry about what there's room to take in the car. Anything I might possibly want to take will have no trouble fitting in there. Almost anything I might want to bring back will fit. (People throw away all kinds of stuff there, much of it perfectly good that they simply don't want to bother to pack and take home.) It would use about twice as much gas, but it would be much more comfortable than the car - 5 hours each way, with A/C, a better radio, and cruise control. But this is all assuming this dealership can do a better job of fixing the problem than the last one did.
And the car really should have enough space for one person travelling with a tent, cooler, sleeping bags, clothes, instruments, craft supplies, folding chairs, miscellaneous electronics, and a solar panel.
Sat Jul 30 23:24:25 EDT 2011
I'm spending the night out in the new tent. It's not exactly cool outside, but it's cool enough for me, and it's cold in my bedroom. The WiFi signal is good in the back yard, and I've got TV shows from the MythTV in the laptop.
The queen-sized air mattress we used in the monster tent the last couple of years looks huge in the new tent. Going across the end of the tent it doesn't take up too much space, but it's up against the sides of the tent, and will probably induce leaks in the rain. Turned longways, it takes up more of the floor space. I think it will be manageable, but the mattress will have to double as the seating space. We do have some smaller foam pads as an alternative. I'll have to think about it. Fitting the ice chest and the archery case (for the big recorders) in here with the mattress will get cramped. (I didn't have any big recorders at the NY RenFest, and I don't think I had the great bass at the MD RenFest; I don't think the archery case came along until Pennsic. (A bow case is about 3 inches (8 cm) longer than a rifle case, which makes the difference for holding an assembled great bass recorder.) I also have a lot more clothing, food, and diversions for a week+ at Pennsic than for a night or two at NYRF or MDRF.How unusual - a car just went by blaring classical music.Sun Jul 31 11:42:39 EDT 2011
Looking around the tent in the daylight, I think the queen-sized air mattress does take up too much space. It doesn't fit across the end of the tent without pushing against both sides, and going lengthwise it eats up 2/3 of the floor. It looks OK sitting here, but there's nothing else in the tent yet - ice chest, food, clothes, instruments, music, crafts projects....
Sun Jul 31 15:21:14 EDT 2011
I've been updating my packing list, and there's not much I need to buy. Most everything is already here from before, and there's just a few minor things that have worn out or broken. There's a lot of batteries to charge, and some laundry to do.
Sun Jul 31 19:45:15 EDT 2011
Three items on my shopping list, the most important being a 5/8" 4 Amp fuse for the Solar Charge Regulator. After four hardware stores (including Home Depot and the amazing independent store that seems seemed to have everything), an auto-parts store, a grocery store, a drug store, and Target, I could not find 2 of the items, and the 3rd wasn't worth standing in a checkout line for by itself.
There are 3 sets of connections to the charge controller: the solar panel, the storage battery, and the load. I think the fuse is only to the load, so the controller will still charge the battery without the fuse, and the loads can be connected directly to the battery. The controller is also supposed to cut power to the load if the battery voltage is too low (to prevent damaging the battery), but we found that the controller itself causes enough of a voltage drop to sometimes keep the inverter (for powering standard AC devices) from working while the battery is OK. (And the inverter has its own low-voltage cutoff.)
Sun Jul 31 21:09:54 EDT 2011
I wish I had a better memory. I just replaced a crimped-on termimal for one of the charge controller cables, and when I was putting all the stray bits away I found a package of 4-Amp fuses - exactly what I'd spent the afternoon looking for. I probably bought them 2 years ago, and a year ago, had we gone to Pennsic, I might have remembered them.
Mon Aug 1 03:07:03 EDT 2011
So we've got all these little LED flashlights that are nice and bright, and compact to carry, but they use 3 AAA cells. This is annoying because the battery chargers do even numbers of cells. I'd also like to get away from managing a mix of AAs and AAAs, and it looks easier to go all AA. And then I notice this LED flashlight on my nightstand which is actually a bike headlight, and it uses 4 AAs, and I think "Ideal." Then I wonder how old the batteries are, and I can't figure out how to open it. I finally look up the model number on the Web and download a PDF instruction sheet. There's still a piece of tape protecting the lens from scratches, and it was keeping the cover from sliding off. I find the original batteries. I've had this light for years, used it occasionally at night and during power failures, and it's still got protective shipping tape and the original batteries. Those 3-AAA lights go dead even when you don't use them, so they've got a drain even when they're off. The bike light wins.
Maybe I'll name the tent "SIDRAT" because it's smaller on the inside.
Mon Aug 1 12:45:18 EDT 2011
The van continues to cause problems. AAA towed it to a Chevy dealership Saturday. Someone at the dealership reported it was there, and someone else was supposed to call back that afternoon. No call back, and today no one there seems to know anything about it. This is a really big van, and like most urban dealerships, this one looks tight on space, so some one's got to have noticed it there. So it probably hasn't even been looked at yet. ☹
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/445944.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
I hadn't counted on the van being fixed in time for Pennsic. It does open some possibilities, chiefly not having to worry about what there's room to take in the car. Anything I might possibly want to take will have no trouble fitting in there. Almost anything I might want to bring back will fit. (People throw away all kinds of stuff there, much of it perfectly good that they simply don't want to bother to pack and take home.) It would use about twice as much gas, but it would be much more comfortable than the car - 5 hours each way, with A/C, a better radio, and cruise control. But this is all assuming this dealership can do a better job of fixing the problem than the last one did.
And the car really should have enough space for one person travelling with a tent, cooler, sleeping bags, clothes, instruments, craft supplies, folding chairs, miscellaneous electronics, and a solar panel.
Sat Jul 30 23:24:25 EDT 2011
I'm spending the night out in the new tent. It's not exactly cool outside, but it's cool enough for me, and it's cold in my bedroom. The WiFi signal is good in the back yard, and I've got TV shows from the MythTV in the laptop.
The queen-sized air mattress we used in the monster tent the last couple of years looks huge in the new tent. Going across the end of the tent it doesn't take up too much space, but it's up against the sides of the tent, and will probably induce leaks in the rain. Turned longways, it takes up more of the floor space. I think it will be manageable, but the mattress will have to double as the seating space. We do have some smaller foam pads as an alternative. I'll have to think about it. Fitting the ice chest and the archery case (for the big recorders) in here with the mattress will get cramped. (I didn't have any big recorders at the NY RenFest, and I don't think I had the great bass at the MD RenFest; I don't think the archery case came along until Pennsic. (A bow case is about 3 inches (8 cm) longer than a rifle case, which makes the difference for holding an assembled great bass recorder.) I also have a lot more clothing, food, and diversions for a week+ at Pennsic than for a night or two at NYRF or MDRF.How unusual - a car just went by blaring classical music.Sun Jul 31 11:42:39 EDT 2011
Looking around the tent in the daylight, I think the queen-sized air mattress does take up too much space. It doesn't fit across the end of the tent without pushing against both sides, and going lengthwise it eats up 2/3 of the floor. It looks OK sitting here, but there's nothing else in the tent yet - ice chest, food, clothes, instruments, music, crafts projects....
Sun Jul 31 15:21:14 EDT 2011
I've been updating my packing list, and there's not much I need to buy. Most everything is already here from before, and there's just a few minor things that have worn out or broken. There's a lot of batteries to charge, and some laundry to do.
Sun Jul 31 19:45:15 EDT 2011
Three items on my shopping list, the most important being a 5/8" 4 Amp fuse for the Solar Charge Regulator. After four hardware stores (including Home Depot and the amazing independent store that seems seemed to have everything), an auto-parts store, a grocery store, a drug store, and Target, I could not find 2 of the items, and the 3rd wasn't worth standing in a checkout line for by itself.
There are 3 sets of connections to the charge controller: the solar panel, the storage battery, and the load. I think the fuse is only to the load, so the controller will still charge the battery without the fuse, and the loads can be connected directly to the battery. The controller is also supposed to cut power to the load if the battery voltage is too low (to prevent damaging the battery), but we found that the controller itself causes enough of a voltage drop to sometimes keep the inverter (for powering standard AC devices) from working while the battery is OK. (And the inverter has its own low-voltage cutoff.)
Sun Jul 31 21:09:54 EDT 2011
I wish I had a better memory. I just replaced a crimped-on termimal for one of the charge controller cables, and when I was putting all the stray bits away I found a package of 4-Amp fuses - exactly what I'd spent the afternoon looking for. I probably bought them 2 years ago, and a year ago, had we gone to Pennsic, I might have remembered them.
Mon Aug 1 03:07:03 EDT 2011
So we've got all these little LED flashlights that are nice and bright, and compact to carry, but they use 3 AAA cells. This is annoying because the battery chargers do even numbers of cells. I'd also like to get away from managing a mix of AAs and AAAs, and it looks easier to go all AA. And then I notice this LED flashlight on my nightstand which is actually a bike headlight, and it uses 4 AAs, and I think "Ideal." Then I wonder how old the batteries are, and I can't figure out how to open it. I finally look up the model number on the Web and download a PDF instruction sheet. There's still a piece of tape protecting the lens from scratches, and it was keeping the cover from sliding off. I find the original batteries. I've had this light for years, used it occasionally at night and during power failures, and it's still got protective shipping tape and the original batteries. Those 3-AAA lights go dead even when you don't use them, so they've got a drain even when they're off. The bike light wins.
Maybe I'll name the tent "SIDRAT" because it's smaller on the inside.
Mon Aug 1 12:45:18 EDT 2011
The van continues to cause problems. AAA towed it to a Chevy dealership Saturday. Someone at the dealership reported it was there, and someone else was supposed to call back that afternoon. No call back, and today no one there seems to know anything about it. This is a really big van, and like most urban dealerships, this one looks tight on space, so some one's got to have noticed it there. So it probably hasn't even been looked at yet. ☹
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/445944.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]