Oops - Won't do that again. I hope.

An alchemy of sparks, copper wire and earth

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paulo999
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Joined: 08 Feb 2011, 22:05
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Location: London

Oops - Won't do that again. I hope.

Post by paulo999 »

So, I have a solar panel. That I haven't mounted on the roof yet, so it gets plonked outside the van, with a chunky cable leading to (loose) regulator in the battery box. The panel connects to the cable via some bullet connectors.

This morning, I pack down after overnighting up on the South Downs. As I leave some people are staring at the van. In a concerned way. I assume they are disapproving of me turning my music up for the road ahead, after being quiet as a mouse.

About 10 minutes later, on an A road with no-stopping White lines, there's this massively violent sound from right behind me.

A quick glance back - omfg, I've left the cable trailing out of the louvred windows and it's now just snagged under the rear tyre.

Thank f*** there was parking area right in front of me. And blimey I was lucky. The cable is chunky, and as such did a good job of trying to rip out one of the window panes.

Amazingly, the glass stayed intact, and (just about) in the mount.

A few minutes of cursing myself though. I had brief visions of a monster battery short - cable meltdown. There's now a nice little battle scar on the glass. It'll polish out, but I'm tempted to leave it a reminder. :)

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