Shattered tablet and things electric

This blog is a bit harder to write than usual. Not because of the topic, but because my touch screen notebook computer has a couple of nasty cracks in its screen. I had it attached to its keyboard and it was in my bag. I'm sure I didn't drop it, although the mobile phone hit the deck twice yesterday.

But when I opened it up in class yesterday strange things were happening on the screen. Little bubbles of what looked like air were drifting across the lock screen and nasty flashes of light were happening.

 

Disaster!

 

Carefully holding the screen with one hand so it didn't move I was able to copy off the files for morning classes.

 

So no blogging last night for me.

 

 

A very helpful person suggested I use sticky tape to hold the cracked screen .

 



 



 

 

So I am typing now with big strips of tape all across the left of the screen. So far so good.  K ordered a new tablet and key board online last night, which turned out to be cheaper and faster than getting a new screen sent from overseas.

 

Just blew a few weeks pay! And probably added another piece of equipment to Mr Fix It's pile of things to be rescued.

 

Any way I thought I would tell you about  some things we have done to make battery power easier to manage.  ( K has promised an explanation of our power set up, solar and wind power as well as our batteries.) 

 

Now I am not good with volts and amps and such. I know I studied it all in high school Physics, which I passed quite well, but I never really got how it all works.What I do know is that normal household power in Australia is 240V AC and my caravan battery set up outputs 12v DC.   And therein lies the problem. Some things just don't work of the batteries.....and we spend up to three months of the year off grid.

 

Here are my favourite electric fixes.

 

Most wonderful is the ability to charge mobile devices whether we are plugged into 240v power or not.  K installed a car lighter type socket near the fridge. This beats running out to the car and turning on the car to charge my phone. Of course this useful outlet is in great demand and I have seriously thought of creating a timetable to control access during peek charging times.

 

The 12v fan can also be run from this socket. Great for warmer days at free camps.

 

 

 

 

 

The next fantastic addition to our electric supply kit is the 2000w pure sine wave inverter which magically turns the power stored in our batteries into 240v power just like the mains power in your house.  It has two power points, one of which can power the essential things like the coffee machine, the microwave (tiny 770w one), my stick blender, the crock pot and a computer charger. (Not a kettle or a toaster since they go over 2000w, and not all at once or for long periods of time) 

 

Now, I can get by without these devices. Ok not the coffee machine, but the others, if I have too. But the addition of the inverter to our battery bank and solar/wind power generation increases our capacity to live normally, yet be off grid.

 

The batteries' charge only lasts so long if I use the power too much. K used to be diving under the bench seat to check the charging levels of the three batteries all the time. Off would come the seat cushion and whatever was on the bench, the bits would go all over the bed and he would frown and/or smile depending on what the numbers on his testing thingy said. Sometimes I would precipitate this exercise by asking the question, "We got enough power for the microwave or do I fire up the BBQ?"

 

Then he discovered this useful device. It displays the exact voltage of the batteries at all times. It is placed in a overhead locker and he can lift up the door and look at the numbers to his heart's content. In fact many an hour has been spent monitoring the power generation and consumption without the bench seat being lifted at all. 

 

 

 

 

And then there are these essential outdoor safety features. I cannot see at night. Not at all. Never could. I can't tell the difference between shadows and holes in the ground and I can't see pegs or ropes. I have permanent scars on my knees from this "disability'.

So while it might look like we have pretty lights on the annex roof and around the edges of our camp, they are in fact important safety features designed to keep me out of hospital. Solar powered of course.

 

 

 

 

Sick of chasing the pointer over the screen. Catch you soon

Cheers Sue

A Ferg on the Move