My yard...

This is a photo of my yard last night with the solar lights going.  I got a good shot with the flash, because it was almost dark.  The flash must be picking up what was left of the red sunset?  It looks kind of pink.  My little Walmart solar lights are all lit up.

As I was crossing over to the couch to close the window, I saw a pretty big coyote walking right along side my rig!  He was about five feet away, slow and confident.  I grabbed my camera, but by that time it was too dark, and I couldn't get the settings right, and they all came out too dark.  Wow, that was exiting, and I'm sure glad we were already back from Katie's last potty break.  I've got to play with the camera at night more, so I can get the settings quicker.

Some of you commented on Katie waking up so late - YES, Katie is a wonderful sleeper, and sometimes sleeps until 9 or 10 am. I get up, fix my coffee, get on the computer, and then an hour or so later she pokes her head out of the covers and I get her down to go outside.

Good morning... are you awake little Katie?

I put one of my little quilts over us last night, and we were as warm as could be.  Those little quilts really make a difference. The side showing here is the back of the quilt.  I actually made it to be a wall hanging, then it became a table cloth, then a lap quilt, and now it's also a comforter when needed.  It's the first quilt I made, and has been pretty handy.

We both got a little mixed up with all the time changes we've had, between Pacific and Mountain time, and Daylight Savings and then Standard time, so sometimes I'm not sure what time our bodies think it really is.  Today I was up at 8 and she was up at 9.  I'd rather each of us sleeps an hour later, though, because it would be warmer then.

Update on the heater:  This morning it was 48 in here when I got up, I turned on the heater, opened the windows and vents again, and its taking about a hour to bring the temperature up 10 degrees each hour.  I have the heater set on low and I just closed the kitchen window.  Tomorrow I'll try a different approach, move the dial to medium for awhile, or keep the windows closed and keep the vents open.  I guess it's a balancing act, once you get the right balance, things will heat up faster and then I'll know how to set it.  We'll get there.  Also, when the sun is shining in the couch window all morning, that helps, too.  Not so much this morning, though.

Update on the Solar:  Yesterday was clear and sunny all day, and even though it's November and the sun is low in the sky, we had a really successful day.  I don't know if this makes a difference, but I have my computer and Sirius radio charger plugged into my little inverter, which is plugged into the 12 volt plug in the coach.  So they are using the coach batteries, but through the 12 volt plug instead of being plugged into the wall.  That way I don't have to keep the solar inverter button turned on all day.  (If that is a bad way to do this, please let me know.)  I monitored the regulator readout on the wall, and it had good readings all day. The batteries were at 100% until the sun got low. Then the volts slowly went down and the amps coming in also slowly went down.

I hope I'm saying all this correctly.  Those of you who understand this stuff will know what I'm saying, and I guess the rest of you, like me, wouldn't know if I've got my lingo down right or not and probably don't care. :)

I fired up the generator when I used my coffeemaker, toaster oven or microwave, which were very limited times, then I turned it off.  The regulator indicator for Volts isn't supposed to go below 12.1 or 12.2, and a couple of times it was getting there, so I turned the generator on for while to bring it back up and charge the batteries, and then turned it off.  We were almost completely living off solar all day.  I'll bet in the summer I won't have to charge the batteries at all.

If I didn't want to use my generator, I would use the gas stove/oven to make coffee, toast, or cook meals, and maybe only turn it on a little to get the batteries charged when needed.

At 9:00 pm when I went to bed, I had a reading of 12.5 v on the regulator, 81% battery charge and of course zero amps coming in.

This morning at 8:00 am, the regulator was at 12.6 v, the batteries were at 93%, and there were, 1.5 amps coming in.

Right now, at 10:00 am, I have 13 volts, 100% charged, and 5 amps are coming in.  We have cloud cover this morning, it's thin, but will probably make a difference as the day goes on if it stays cloudy.

To those of you who know and understand solar systems, does all this sound okay?  Is it working properly, and am I okay to be using the 12V plug instead of the house plugs to have my computer on all day?  Or should I be plugging into the electrical outlets and turn the inverter on?

This is all very interesting to me and it's starting to make sense.

Here's a little diagram I lifted from my daughter-in-law, Trish's, Face Book wall.  This about says it all, doesn't it?

From Me and Katie, have a wonderful Monday, everyone!  :)