The solar saga continues. I called Outback on Friday morning and spoke to one Katie and she was helpful. She explained how to reset the mate (which involves disconnecting it and the flex-net, reconnecting the mate, charging the batteries to full, then reconnecting the flex-net). She told me that I could equalize the hell out of the batteries and that is what I started to do. In regular charging mode, the amperage coming in was between 2 and 3 which meant that it would take me months to charge the batteries. Even in equalizing mode, I could only get 13 amps coming in before the generator kicked out. I called Bryan and he said that the instructions that Katie gave me were for the solar controller only, not the generator. I had to call Bryan back a number of times and finally yesterday morning I got the batteries bubbling like I have never heard them, this time from equalizing them from yesterday’s bright sunlight. I actually got scared they were going to blow up, so I turned off the equalization (which was coming in at around 17) and the rate dropped to between 2 and 3. The first three cells are at 1240, 1250 and 1260 and I am going to try to do more tomorrow. I called Katie back and she said that I have to follow the equalizing instructions from the battery company (Rolls batteries) but they didn’t return my call. I have to admit, when I finally leave the hollow, I won’t miss the solar system at all. I have paid more than my dues to be environmentally sane.
After my battery duties, and practicing my sax, riding the bike and cleaning up the house a little, I headed off to play golf and shot quite well from the red tees (55 for ten holes). I wore the winter gloves and the wrist braces and swung pretty well. After that I stopped at my office to pick up some books and I headed for Wolf Creek but when I got to the flooded Walker I saw that there was no chance Wolf would be down so I headed up to the Cascades and stopped just outside the entrance. Though the water was fast it was rather clear and there were some decent pools. I fished a number of them with a wooly bugger and though I didn’t get a hit, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
The wildflowers are certainly beginning, and coltsfoot is getting close to peak, and I saw the cress at the gate. I need to do a flower walk tomorrow to see if any hepatica is up and perhaps other things.
Kelly and Alfredo both liked the poem for Liam and I will be reading it on Sunday at the service. I spoke with her for a long time and though she has planned it well, I think it is going to be very emotional for all of us.
I am up to 100 mg of allopurinol (Rob thinks I may have to go up to 300 mg) and I think it is making my hands hurt a little more, which is to be expected. I don’t want to increase the prednisone past the 5 mg I am taking but if the pain gets much worse (it is 3 out of 10 right now) I may have to for a short time. It is great to be able to use my hands as much as I am, so a little more pain is a very cheap price.
Tuesday morning and my equalizing efforts continued. The batteries read slightly higher but I got some battery instructions online from Rolls and they hinted that the batteries might stay the same for a time. I did my practicing and bike riding and I am headed off to see Jeff and then have a late lunch with Gyorgyi.