How did Santa Treat Your T@B?

Cyclonic

Santa treated the T@Bpole fairly good this year. 

I got a new outdoor rug, smaller then the Wal-Mart one I had (and without the hole) and it will neatly fit under the awning.  Stake came with it.

Also got some ever useful Yankee Candle firestarters, which work great.



Finally, I got a Death Star bluetooth speaker.  While not specifically for the T@B, it will see a lot of use there.

judymac

Shade for the door window.  Such a surprise after hand stitching a curtain.

peakapril

My T@B  got a "Claw" and a small rug at the door.

Wanderoo

Weather station with outdoor wireless sensor. . . nice to tell what's going on outside while in T@B.

radren

Deathstar, very cool. I got a back to the future "Flux Capacitor" USB charger. It is a perfect fit for the 12V outlet. 

Michigan_Mike

Santa dropped off some nice presents in the Silver Shadow this Christmas and spared me the coal this year, so things are looking up!  

jkjenn

I finally got my T@b Christmas present set up today. In an unusual scene, we had bright sun today. It is the Goal Zero Maintainer 10 solar trickle charger. The voltmeter was reading above 13.0, so that is not bad and according to other Amazon reviews, not uncommon. We will see how it works out.

jkjenn

I finally had a chance to set up my Goal zero Maintainer 10 solar trickle charger today. The 12v voltmeter was showing 13.0 or better today in a rare scene with bright sun late this afternoon. 

I also received a Snowpeak titanium mug that can double as a cooking pot for backpacking or other uses. I am thinking this, plug a tiny stove might be a good option to help me not be eating after 9:30 at night during all day shoots, to grab a quick hot drink before I head into a football game or other uses. I am not in backpacking shape, but it is one of my goals in 2015 to work towards getting back in shape so that planning my first backpacking overnight adventure can occur in 2016.  

RollingLagrima

Hi Jenn. I too have a solar trickle charger that looks a lot like yours, however, mine did not come with suction cups. Did yours, or did you come up with that yourself? Mine sits on the flat topped diamond plated tongue box (SS not T@B) but it would be nice to be able to stick it to the trailer sometimes (when I need to get into the box).

The mug looks a great find. I have the same keurig mini, just cobalt blue.

jkjenn

Sally, it came with the suction cups. They seem like good quality suction cups but time will tell.

RollingLagrima

Ok, thanks for the reply. I will see what I can do about rigging corner mounts for mine.

Cyclonic

Beth, the whether monitor you have looks very nice.  I have been thinking about one too, Becky always likes to know what the temp and all is, where as I am like, "Oh, it is sunny and chilly, I'm good!"

Radren, just remember, us geeks gotta stick together!

Jenn, the solar unit looks very nice, looking forward to hearing how it works out for you.  Sadly, I don't do enough boon docking to justify the investment, but it looks like it will be a very good one for you.

jkjenn

Nathan, actually, this solar hookup is just to act as a battery tender for the back yard.

Cyclonic

Ahh, OK, missed that.  Good idea.

jkjenn

Short-term follow up: battery is still showing full. Checked the charge today, a dark rainy day, and was still showing 12.69 at the voltmeter with a fully charged battery. Short term is encouraging.

leenscottfl

Jenn, please indulge my ignorance but I need a little info. My T@B has a connection for a Zamp panel and says only connect Zamp to it. Do you connect to the Zamp connection or directly to the battery?

Michigan_Mike

You can adapt most any solar panel and plug any of them into the Zamp port (it's connected to the battery) as long as you have the quick disconnect male fitting on the unit you're plugging into the Zamp solar port.  

jkjenn

The Maintainer cones with the 2 pin connector that feeds into the Damp port, like Mike showed above. Nothing additional is needed.

leenscottfl

Thanks... Looks like a winner!

Marceline

@jkjenn
I need to get a solar trickle charger for a 2013 T@B CS-S that doesn't have a cut-off switch.
I have a couple of questions about the Goal Zero 10W maintainer

Are you still using this charger? Still happy with it?
Does it generate enough power that you don't need to cut-off power to the trailer (i.e. enough power to overcome parasitic drains)?
Did you need to get an adapter to reverse the polarity to use the Zamp socket on the T@B propane/batter cover?

Thanks!

jkjenn

Marceline said:

@jkjenn
I need to get a solar trickle charger for a 2013 T@B CS-S that doesn't have a cut-off switch.
I have a couple of questions about the Goal Zero 10W maintainer

Are you still using this charger? Still happy with it?
Does it generate enough power that you don't need to cut-off power to the trailer (i.e. enough power to overcome parasitic drains)?
Did you need to get an adapter to reverse the polarity to use the Zamp socket on the T@B propane/batter cover?

Thanks!

If you don't use the Zamp port, than no. If you do use the Zamp port than you can either get an adapter or change the wires on the battery, assuming that you are not using a Zamp solar panel. 

It worked well enough, except in the dead of winter. But, I am in Pittsburgh, where we get the second most cloud cover in the US (second to Seattle.) Your experience may be different. Our winters are mostly overcast and dark days.

I think it is worth having a battery cut off installed, however. You can also pull the fuse and it will kill the power.

Marceline

Thanks for replying. I have been pulling the fuse but I was thinking maybe this charger would make that unnecessary. I'm in California so maybe it will work. Or maybe I should just get a cut-off switch. 

jkjenn

Marceline said:

Thanks for replying. I have been pulling the fuse but I was thinking maybe this charger would make that unnecessary. I'm in California so maybe it will work. Or maybe I should just get a cut-off switch. 

Getting a cut-off switch was one of the smartest mods I made.