As the weekend draws to a close, it’s about 49 degrees with a light misty rain. The mist is making for some tricky driving, be especially careful outside of the cities as deer are running.

We got some good rain this afternoon, helping to overcome the rain deficit of recent. More rain tomorrow, in the 50s. Warmer, drier weather returns Tuesday into Wednesday.

This past weekend ordered a matching wheel and tire for my truck to use as a spare and rotate on as needed. This will ensure if I get a flat in the middle of nowhere I won’t be stranded. I also bought a big timber to use to raise the jack up when lifting my vehicle for a tire change. I also finally got around to listing the old wheels from my truck on Craigslist so hopefully I can get them out of my living room sooner than later and have $400 in my pocket, which will pay for about 60% of the spair wheel and tire.

The spare tire ain’t cheap but everything with a lift kit is expensive, not the least of which is those 35 inch tires. They’re cool looking but not cheap. At least the 18 inch rims have somewhat cheaper tires. At least a flat out in the wilderness won’t leave me stranded. It’s not like a tire shop in the boondocks is likely to have a 35 inch tire in stock if I really ducked up the tire.

I also had the dual battery in my truck rewired, hooking the ground between the batteries. This ensures the hall sensor (current sensor) on the ground line sends the proper demand for current to the truck’s computer. This ensures the alternator puts out the proper amount of current to charge both batteries.

I have for years had issues with the second battery sometimes discharging or under charging on long trips, especially in hot weather. This fix ensures this no longer happens and us properly topping off both batteries. It was a minor fix but due to my lack of tools, I had the shop do it. By the time I gave bought the wires and other connectors it would have been more expensive than the half hour of labor it took the shop to do it. And heck,  I only waited under 15 minutes to get it back. It works great now. Sometimes it’s best to leave it to the professionals.

Since making this wire change, the dual battery has been charging much better with significantly higher alternator output. Now when the battery is low, the alternator is kicking out a very healthy 14.7 or so volts, and when both batteries are fully charged is staying around 14 volts, with an occasional drop to 13.5 volts – quickly going back up to avoid excess discharge. Much better than before.

Besides spending a lot of money, spent a lot of time fishing the Hudson River at Henry Hudson Park. Didn’t catch much besides one small mouth bass out of season, but it was nice spending Friday and Saturday evenings down by the river. Cooked up a burger and had a delightful evening on Saturday, a great way to beat the heat.

Sunday spent a lot of time reading and sometime cleaning and working on the blog code. Nothing major, just a nice quiet day as the rain poured down.

Tonight should be nice sleeping as the rain comes down…. I hope you had a great weekend. Good night!