Frost In The Desert

It has been cooling down a lot lately. Gone is the heat with 80+F. Mornings are frigid, and tonight we’ll be having frost.. Yes, it does happen. While day temps are still in the upper 60s nights are getting cold. We have been sitting around the campfire most evenings, but tonight there is none. Too cold! After distributing the 12 solar panels I have been setting up one of them temporarily.  Needed to check on the performance. They are putting out over 24V and approx. 16amps depending on angle and available sunshine.  The one panel brought our batteries up to speed in no time. I connected a voltmeter to make sure we could check on the battery voltage. It stayed under the magical 14.5V. Before I am putting up the other one I need a charge controller, otherwise I’m gonna “cook” my batteries. I am also needing 2 more 6V Golf Cart batteries. Ordered me a 60amp Morningstar charge controller from Amazon.com. Came about 100 bucks cheaper than elsewhere. Almost made a big booboo there. Thinking of a UPS or FEDEX shipment I gave them the address of the Hot Springs LTVA, which is not serviced by USPS. When the order- and shipment confirmation came by email I discovered that they had shipped it by USPS! I was quick to fire off an email asking to stop the shipment – and they did and will re-ship tomorrow by FEDEX. Talk about great customer service! Can’t wait to put it all together. Of course, the pre-Christmas time is always the time when my thoughts wander home. Home to my childhood and my dear parents who did everything they could to make Christmas stand out for the rest of our lives. Somehow they managed to stir our curiosity to the utmost possible. And of course, mother always made lots of wonderful Christmas cookies for the family. Mother has now been gone for almost a year and all we have left are memories…wonderful memories all-together. Thanks mom! Thanks dad! Have a great Christmas time and be with your family!