Got the Alternator to Work, Rode the Dirt Bike and a Rodent Control Solution, Maybe

Tuesday August 23, 2022 Guerneville CA.

Getting the new alternator to work on the van

That was my first project today, to finish getting the new alternator to work on the van. The directions said to just put 12 volts on the connector for a second and it should work. I did that and it still didn’t work. It might be because the van has a battery isolator on it.

So, I wired it back the way it was on the old one and I tried that and it works. Good, that’s taken care of.

I did some chair hopping and eating grapes that are getting ripe, for a few hours, just enjoying the day.

Ride in the hills

Eventually I took the dirt bike up into the hills for a ride ending up at the trail work area where I sat in the chair for a break before taking off on the dirt bike to continue my ride around the hills.

Chair view

It was a nice blue sky day again looking out over the forest.forestfivew

 

I took this trail on the way home as it’s always a nice one to take through the old apple orchard.trail

 

Rat control, Baking Soda and Flour

I’ve been watching some YouTube stuff on rodent control and this farmer said this works. Mix half baking soda with half flour or muffin mix or whatever and put it out for them. It’s safe to other pets, because rats and mice can’t burp or fart so when the ingest this, they blow up and die. The other critters can fart and burp so it’s supposed to be safe for them.The baking soda sorta tastes like salt so I thought it might work as the people’s comments on his video were very favorable on using this to control pests. From my experience nothing will kill all of them as some are real smart. This doesn’t kill most other critters so it seemed like a good idea to give it a try in my chicken pen.

I used what I had, baking soda, and I ground up some instant onion soup mix I had for the occasion that I’d bought some time back for this purpose. I also added a bit of honey to help attract the pests and put it in a big peanut can that I put a hole in the top.baircan

 

Here’s the assembled unit that I put out in the chicken pen just before dark. I have a motion detection cam set on it to see what happens.bait

 

These guys were watching me as I  set the can in their pen.peeps

 

And these are the big guys on their roost in an adjoining pen.roost

 

That’s was pretty much my day.

Nice day.

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Replacing the Van’s Alternator and Working On Some Other Stuff Too

Monday August 22, 2022 Guerneville CA.

Van work

Today was the day to get the new alternator on the van. I had it all prepped and ready to work on so I just needed to do the work with the tools, but I wasn’t into it.

Chair hopping instead

Instead I did some chair hopping around the yard until a bit later in the day when I finally grabbed the wrenches and started to do the work.

Finally got started on the job

I had to remove this old alternator to start out with so I got under the van and started wrenching things, removing the belts and the wires.. Things were a little tight to work in the space.project1

 

It took a bit of persistence but I got all the stuff off it and was able to remove the old one.out4

 

And getting the wires back on starting the nuts was a bit difficult but more persistence got that done. All adjusted and tightened up.new5

 

Fluid leak

While I was under there I noted the small fluid leak at the radiator hose.hose2

 

Not a big leak but it needed the clamp tightened up which I will do.leak3

 

I tightened the clamp up and that should stop that leak, I hope.clamp9

 

Gas cap

And I needed a new gas cap. I made a  hole for the chain so I don’t leave it someplace like I usually do.cap6

 

Checked the oil

I checked the engine oil and it needed a half quart so I added the oil.oil10

 

Ready to test out the new alternator

To do that I needed to hook up the battery so I did.batteries

 

Battery clamps

I like these quick clamp battery terminals as it’s much easier to deal with hooking things up or changing the batteries. They seem to be holding up well.

This is the extra battery for living in the van which also has solar panels hooked to it.clamps8

 

The test

I started the van and checked the voltage gauge to see if the new alternator was working and it wasn’t.,,,,,,,,,,, but.

I had read the directions before I started and it said if there’s no output from the alternator to hold the plus wire on this one screw for a moment and it should start to charge, but it was getting late so I didn’t get to that part yet.

Instead I went in the house for the day and called it a day.

Nice day.

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