Storm Tests New Batteries

Once again we lost electricity the other night when a major storm blew through and downed the power lines to the RV park. Crews were here most of the night reconnecting the lines and trimming the trees from around the lines. We were warned to get everything inside that we could and batten everything down. We had to take in the awning and helped our absent neighbor by taking her awning down as well with the help of others. The wind was blowing so hard that it was hard to walk. We all got lots of dirt blown on us. Even with the wind it was still very hot outside and inside. The wind also stirred up every mosquito for miles. Eventually, the wind died down but it became clear that we would not be getting shore power back before morning. We finally gave up and went to bed with the doors and windows open (screens were in place). It was pretty hot with no air conditioning or fans but we managed to get some sort of sleep.

On the plus side, our new 6V 235 ah golf cart batteries worked splendidly! We had satellite TV, our laptops, internet service, refrigerator, and lights all evening with no problems at all. My brother had previously configured everything to run off inverters and the batteries in preparation for boondocking or emergencies such as this. It was very nice to at least have that and even when we went to bed they were still working fine. It was a great test of the new batteries and excellent preview of boondocking. We still need to get the solar panels and controller. Until then, we do have a small generator to recharge the batteries.