The SOLAR installation

Here are the two Kyocera DK135 solar panels that were installed on Wednesday:

We slept in the covered work area, with two other rigs that had their people in them overnight.  I didn't meet the owners of the rig next to me, they were very quiet and kept to themselves.  I met the other couple, though,  Nancy and John Wayne; they said Ron is a friend, along with his family, and they have been coming here for years. They have been full-timing for more than 20 years, and are on their third rig.

I enjoyed talking to them both, and we had a couple of good conversations.  Here's Nancy feeding Katie a treat. 

Katie with Taz and Stitch and Nancy

Here's Ron, the owner of the shop, he was great to work with.  He's been working on RVs for 30 years, and installing solar for 20 years.

Ron fabricates all the wires, hoses, and connections himself. All his installs are done the same, if someone calls and needs information on what he did, he can always talk them through a repair or warranty on the phone. He's had people call from other countries, and was able to talk them though the fix.

In case you need a good shop for anything at all relating to RVs, I would highly recommend:

Ron Wicklund, Owner
D & R Family R.V.
6344 W. Orangewood #7
Glendale, AZ 85301
623-842-1265    drfamrv@q.com

Ron has a new employee, Arron, who did most of the work on The Palms.  He's been a mechanic for a while, but is new to solar, and he seemed intent on getting everything right.  Ron checked from time to time, made corrections and suggestions, and the final job was perfect. And here's Arron working on the wall panels:

The little black gizmo is the remote, I push the button and the solar is switched on.  The batteries are 91% charged, it was night when I took this, but I hadn't used much.

This is the Inverter and another new generator switch, and 

the in-house water filter I didn't know I had.

Ron got some filters and put one in for me.

Geez, Mom, the house is a mess!

Ron also asked me about how I am going to fill my new batteries.  I didn't realize that because the 6 volt batteries are taller, the other shop took out the sliding tray the old batteries were sitting on, and now I can't fill the cells without removing the batteries.  He took off the cell covers and put on a new cover that's part of a fill kit.  I just have to insert the end of a little hose, put the other end into the gallon jug of distilled water, and pump the little balloon thingie on the hose until it won't pump any more.  All the cells will be full.  I'm really glad he had the fill kit, I sure don't want to be taking out the batteries myself to refill them.

Ron solved some issues I didn't even know I had, but he saw and fixed them for me. I like shops that notice things other than what you specifically came in for.  I'd rather have them taken care of now than have to stop later somewhere else that wasn't recommended. 

At 4:00 all the work was done and paid for, and I asked Ron where would be a good place to do some boondocking that night to test out my systems. He checked with John Wayne and Nancy because they are boondockers, and they suggested a good place to go. Ron came back to the rig and wrote down directions for me, and we headed toward Buckeye Hills Recreational Area -  we blogged about that yesterday.

So, yesterday morning we left Buckeye Hills and headed for Yuma, AZ, looking for some sun:

A little sun in the distance.

Sun coming through, but it didn't get much better than this all day.

Last night we stayed at Paradise Casino in Yuma.  They offer one night free parking in their dirt lot next to the regular parking lot.  There were a lot of RVs here, but the area is so large the RVs each had a lot of space. It's a nice setup for an overnight and very quiet.  I went to their restaurant and ordered the Thanksgiving dinner and an extra salad for around $12.  Quite a deal for a fresh turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

 This church is right up the hill from where we are parked.

There was a beautiful sunset last night. One of the sunsets that have all kinds of colors, red, pink, yellow, gold, it kept changing until the sun was gone.

Today we are heading toward Quartzsite.  I want to see what it looks like and find a free space to park for two weeks to see how the solar does.  Yesterday I did have to run the generator, but today I have had my computer, TV and printer on since I woke up, just using the solar.   There were 4.4 amps coming in at 9:00 am, and now it's 11:00 am and we have10.1 amps coming in.

I'm unsure about the coffee maker and microwave. Yesterday I couldn't use them with the solar, but maybe it was the cloud cover.  Or maybe I'll need to fire up the generator when I use those, which is okay because they get minimal use during the day.  I'm hoping to meet up with other RVers in Quartzsite who have similar set-ups, and maybe they can answer some of my questions.  I could call Ron, of course, but that would be too easy.  :)

On to Quartzsite!  From Me and Katie, have a great Black Friday, everyone!  :)