Hey look, there’s a giant mountain over there! I had some fun on my trip to Bend. Went to get an inverter diagnosed, and spoiler, ended up with some new batteries.
After calling Zamp (makes of the inverter in question) on Monday morning, I decided to head to Bend, OR to have them take a look at the issues I’ve been having. If the experts are a couple hours away, and the piece of equipment is $500, I think it’s worth the trip. On the way there, a giant mountain appeared!
OK, so it might be obvious I’m from Minnesota and these things aren’t common there. Perhaps it was just the way it ended up being presented, after climbing hills for what seemed like an hour with a complete lack of view beyond the trees, it suddenly came into view when rounding one of the bends. There was a pull-off spot, so I took advantage of it. Yes, I look like a tourist, and I don’t care, because I am.
I got to bend in the early evening, and stopped in a Lowes parking lot. The lot was fine, but it seems no-matter where one stays in Bend, busy roads are always nearby. I think I’ll be avoiding overnights there in the future if possible.
The next morning, I stopped by Zamp, and a couple technicians were quite happy to see what was going on with my system. After much debugging and testing, it was finally found that my Trojan Reliant 6v AGM batteries just weren’t up to the task anymore.
I must say, I was more than impressed with the service I got from Zamp. The equipment that was being diagnosed was out of warranty, but they were happy just to have the opportunity to diagnose an issue and help a customer. If at all possible, I’m going to try to send business there way when I can.
In retrospect, given the performance that I have with my new batteries, I can see how the old Trojans were dying for quite a while now. They were just over 2 years old, and the standard warranty is 1 year. Of course. So, $500 later, I have two brand-new AGM batteries. I don’t even remember the brand. On paper, they’re supposed to meet or exceed the specs of the Trojans I replaced, so it works for me. Once I installed the new batteries, all of the inverter problems disappeared.
I left Bend this afternoon and headed to Florence, Oregon, specifically the Three Rivers Casino & Hotel. The casino offers free RV parking for up to four nights, and it was listed on Freecampsites.net, so I figured I’d give it a try. There’s one generator running now, but hopefully it shuts off by around 10pm.
The trip over was quite pretty, as many of these trips through the forests in Oregon are. The photo above has not been re-touched in any way. I pulled over just to stretch, and that was the view.
Tomorrow I’m planning on hanging out here at the casino for a while, and catch up on work. Maybe the next day I’ll try to find some nature-type camping spot on or near the beach somewhere. It’s just nice to out of the heat and back to a place where hoodies are comfortable and weather-appropriate.
Beautiful pictures! Here it is 96 with over 100 heat index and people are hiding indoors.
Touristing looks fun.