Sedona Fail, Battery Limits, and My Next Move

I’d never been to Sedona, so yesterday I took a motorcycle ride there. The scenery was absolutely stunning. The drivers were the worst I’ve dealt with since leaving Massachusetts. Traffic was horrible, and there was absolutely no parking. That’s why you get a stock photo of Arizona instead of a picture that I took. There was literally nowhere for me to stop and take any pictures at all, between overfull parking lots and the insane traffic.

Sedona is a bit of a tourist trap town. They know they have this amazing scenery, and they capitalize on it. Unfortunately, they are victims of their own success. I would’ve enjoyed parking somewhere in town, getting off the bike, and exploring a bit on foot. I even took the motorcycle instead of the van partly so it would be easier to park. That didn’t work, though. The loop I rode, itself, would be amazing without the traffic and bad drivers. I may have to try it again at a quieter time of year. This time, I’ll slap the GoPro on my helmet and record the most scenic parts of the ride. It’ll make a good video in itself, plus I can take snapshots from the video to save as pictures.

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It’s been five days since I arrived in the forest. I’ve gotten a little bit of solar charging each day, but not a lot because of the tree cover. I’ve been monitoring my battery voltage carefully, since I’ve been using more than I take in each day, even without Starlink. This morning I was down to 12.8 volts, which on a LiFePO4 battery is just under 20% of its capacity. Running them below 10% can permanently damage them (the same way under 50% kills AGM batteries — ask me how I know). I was hoping to last until I leave here later this week, but that’s not going to happen. My generator would charge them back up again easily, except it won’t run at 6,500 feet elevation because its carburetor is tuned for sea level. (I’m seriously considering selling it this winter, since I haven’t been using it.) So my worst-case scenario happened. I ran the engine for about half an hour and charged the batteries off my alternator.

This is in no way a bad scenario. It completely validates my decision to swap my DC-DC charger from the old van to this one. With such a short cable run between the vehicle battery, under the driver’s seat, to the charger and my house batteries, the Renogy app showed me a “current limiting” status. That means I was getting the maximum 50 amps of charging that it can provide, and that it was even holding some power back so it wouldn’t overload. This isn’t a problem — it’s designed to do that, and it means I get the maximum possible charge out of it. I ran it for about half an hour, taking advantage of the heat the engine generated at the same time, as well as my diesel heater and the heat retained from boiling water for coffee. With three heat sources running at the same time, it warmed up fast inside! I had 13.1 volts when I turned the engine off, about 40% of capacity.

In the early afternoon, I rolled my van forward into a clear patch of sunlight to catch some more rays. I’m bringing in about 400 watts right about now, which should go a long way toward continuing to recharge my batteries. I’ll roll back next to my rug when the sun goes behind the trees, and repeat this maneuver tomorrow if I have to. This should keep me going until I leave this camp.

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We’re under a wind advisory from now through tomorrow evening, so I don’t plan to drive anywhere. In fact, I’ll probably start slowly packing up my camp. There’s not a lot to put away, but I’ll reconfigure the trailer for travel, putting away my office and even loading up my motorcycle once I know I won’t ride anywhere until I leave camp for good. The wind won’t be nearly as severe on the ground as in the desert since I’m among the trees, but I will need to watch for falling debris. The only thing I’ve seen falling here so far is pine needles, so I should be okay.

Amanda is leaving Thursday to return to her home base for an appointment on Friday. Temperatures are supposed to drop to highs in the 60s and lows in the 30s after today, so I’ll wait out the wind, then start heading toward Sierra Vista on Thursday. Google says it’s a 5.5-hour drive, so it will be longer at my self-imposed 65 mph speed limit (the legal limit on the highways around here is 75). I’ve found a Cracker Barrel at the halfway mark for an overnight stop, which should get me to Wayne’s place sometime Friday. Darryl and Marilyn are already at their RV park in Sierra Vista. Yellow Wolf will be joining us at Wayne’s, as will Matty Van Halen, on his way back from his trip to the east coast. I’m looking forward to hanging out with him a bit, not because he’s another well-known van life YouTuber, but because he’s a good guy who I have a lot in common with. Then Amanda will join us at Wayne’s on Sunday. We’re definitely putting the band back together!