Camping At Work: Wiring Diagram

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Wiring Diagram

Above is the current wiring diagram I have in the van. I recently had issues where battery C died, dragging down the system. I used a battery checker - a little clear plastic device with a floater in it. Battery C showed as weak while battery D showed as good (despite only measuring 7 volts when isolated from the system). So battery C appears to have died and dragged down battery D's charge with it. I took battery C home, replaced the fluid with fresh distilled water, and it charged up properly to 12V. Hopefully that means the battery is now good.

Part of me wonders though, could my wiring be to blame. Perhaps the right side is not charging like the left side and caused battery C to fail.

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About

I keep track of my equipment costs here.

Photos are here.

I work about 117 miles from where I live. My work schedule is fairly interesting. I work night's – 12 hour shifts. It alternates between 3 and 4 shifts each week. Factoring in a 1 hour lunch break, I work 33 and 44 hours. I then end up with really long weekends. The drive takes 2 hours and 15 minutes each way, so on a 12 hour shift, a round-trip is 16.5 hours. That leaves 7.5 hours to sleep, hygiene, and eat. For the last two years, I have been either renting an apartment or staying on a coworker's couch for the 2-3 days (and it is daytime that I sleep) that I'm at work. Rent in the DC area for a single bedroom apartment is very comparable to my mortgage payment on a 5 bedroom house at home.

For a permanent solution, I have decided to use a conversion van as my apartment during the work week and hope to sleep in the work parking lot during the day. I checked with the both the county sheriff's office and the county attorney's office. While there are rules against sleeping on a public sidewalk or park during the night (which might apply to someone inside a van) there are no issues with me sleeping at those same places during the day. Private parking lots require permission of the owner, otherwise I could wake up with a $100 fine on the van. The sheriff's office advised me that I should be prepared to be woken up a few times if someone called in a suspicious vehicle. Otherwise, there are no legal issues with me camping out in the area on a semi-regular basis.

My quest for cheap living begins.