StarLink "Service"

 I've been remiss in making recent blog posts.

My StarLink died in my absence on the Yukon trip.  That, apparently due to a thunderstorm.  That failure left me with no internet access at the house.  Since about June 9, I've been struggling with SpaceX to get repair/replacement parts.  In case you have not heard, SpaceX/StarLink has TERRIBLE customer service.  Which I will recount here.

After I returned from the trip in late June, I fiddled with things and confirmed it was a StarLink problem.  With some difficulty, I contacted StarLink "support" and described the problem.  They decided it was a bad cable from the outside antenna to the inside router.  It took about two weeks for the cable to arrive but the cable did not resolve the problem.  Meanwhile SL closed my "ticket" which made continuing the dialog more difficult.  They then sent me a router.  That router resolved the problem.  But for only about half an hour.  Then, that router died.  Again, I had to go through the rigmarole again.  They said they were going to send me another complete SL kit containing all parts needed for SL service.  I waited about three weeks for the parts to arrive.  So, I go through all the rigmarole yet again; they knew nothing of the commitment to send a new kit but promised again to send one.  I wait another several weeks before contacting again.  This time, they actually did send a kit which arrived about November 20.  The router out of the kit fixed the problem; the fix has now lasted several days and I have been enjoying internet access at the house for the first time since the June trip,  SL did refund several of the monthly service fees which I had paid.   In consideration of the low level service I was receiving.

My intent had been to pretty up my trip posts and add a photo album.  But, that fell by the wayside and I have not done it because I had internet access only through my phone or out in the pool area where SL was providing only local wifi rather than wired service into my extensive LAN.  I have had no access to my PowerWall since.   The PowerWall (installed at my house) continued to work, charging in the day from PV and discharging to provide night time power.   That is, no grid power used, day or night.  A few weeks ago, the PW quit working and I am minimizing night time power use.  I am just beginning to address the PW problem.  In the past, I have been forced to fix PW problems myself because I have been unable to get ANY PW service from Tesla. 

12/16/23

Last week, I spent around a day twiddling with at least two different ways to "reset" the PowerWall.  I thought that I had failed and put the project aside.  BUT, while traveling the past few days, I discovered that the PW was working and talking to my Tesla app!  Everything seems to be working properly and I can, in real time, look at current power levels.  As well as looking at historic power and energy levels.  So!  After nearly SIX MONTHS of pain over failed StarLink and PowerWall, my trial seems over.

12/17/23 

 https://www.google.com/maps/@26.3230503,-97.4405342,4006m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&entry=ttu

On the way back from South Padre Island, we drove by this place.  The take-away is that a 2300 acre shrimp farm in Arroyo City was abandoned in 1990s due to a shrimp virus.

My last Flo visit

 I arrived at the Flo station in Ft St John.  It is behind a GM dealer.  I found myself unable to charge because the GM shuttle Bolt was plugged into the CCS side.  I went into the show room to see if they wanted to remove the connector to the Bolt.  Shortly, TWO Ford pickup EVs arrived.  Apparently belonging to the same guy from Vancouver or somewhere in the area.  Complete EV newby.  I was unable to convince him/them that the charger would work on only one (CCS or chademo) at the same time.  The Flo girl on his phone apparently did convince him.  After quite a bit of pain, I eventually got a charge session started after a GM salesman removed the connector to the Bolt.  ~15 minutes later, my charge errored off.  More pain.  More phone calls.  Flo eventually remotely rebooted and I got another charge session started.  Meanwhile, a Canadian Model Y arrived and hooked to the CSS cable.  Amazingly, that did not screw up my charge and I got charged above 90%. 

So, over a short period of time, we had FIVE EVs contending for that single fast charger.  The Bolt, my car, TWO Fords, and the Model Y.  I was the only one that got a charge while I was there.

Most interestingly, the Model Y had a CCS adapter and reported no problems using it on several Flo stations.  So, most of my Flo problems may be associated with my chademo adapter.  I did not get to observe his CCS actually working, though.

I hope to be done with Flo.  Tomorrow, I hope to reach the Edson SuperCharger.  But first I will have to do a slow charge probably at Shrek's RV Park about half way between here (Dawson Creek) and Edson.

I'm thinking this:

https://www.maxwellvehicles.com/campers.html

may be the answer to the troubles.  A Maxwell (Fiat/RAM converted to Tesla  running gear).  I would want at least a 300 mile battery with significant deployable PV.  I'm thinking at least a total of 3kw in PV.  Maybe flexible that can be rolled up when not deployed.

I am a Banana Eating Fool

 As I approached Liard (lee ard) Hot Springs Lodge around noon day before yesterday, I decided I could go no more.  Going in with the attitude that they could screw me over any way they wanted,  I got a room for about $200C and told them I would like to charge at one of their "30 amp" RV stalls.  Another ~$70C.  The next morning, I found the RV park full so they were justified in charging the $70C.  I stayed in bed for about 20 hours there but recovered little.  I subsequently learned that they have a poor reputation.  Something about "First Nation" land.  "First Nation" seems to be Canadian politically correct speak for Indian / Indigenous Peoples / etc.  Since most such lodges in the area have gone to StarLink, I was surprised to learn that I could not immediately get a wifi password.  Why?  They were in the middle of a daily password change.  That lodge seemed to be trying to squeeze customers for every dollar possible without regard to customer inconvenience.  The daily password change was to minimize the number of drop in customers using wifi but not paying.   I later learned that they are still on geosynchronous satellite service.  StarLink data is MUCH cheaper so that there is no incentive to squeeze customers.  Changing the password is a significant labor cost.   I was not permitted to hook the car to wifi so the car had no internet presence.   The car was nearly visible from my room but I could not access it.  Normally, I leave raising car windows and locking to be done from the comfort of my room.  To do that in areas with no cell service, hooking car to wifi is required. The walk to the car was arduous in my condition so I left the windows down during an overnight rain.   They were on a boil water notice so they gave me two pints of bottled water to carry up the stairs to my room.  Over the night, I drank all that water and could find no more even though I looked. 

I left just after dawn and was surprised that I was doing so poorly.  I attributed to my two week diet of almost exclusively junk food.  Normally, I eat one or more bananas each day.  I could not find a comfortable driving position.  All limbs hurt.  Normally, only my left leg hurts significantly.  After a few ~40 mile stops to walk a bit, I got to a place I had stopped on my way up.  It was quite a contrast to Liard.  On the way up, I was allowed to charge off of a normal 120vac outlet.  But, generator voltage fluctuations limited charge rate to about 3mph;  "normal" is about 5mph.  That place is Testa River Lodge (as I recall).  The first time through, the guy did not want to charge a fee but I made him take $10US.  I later learned that the fee for charging in that area was $60-$70C.  This time, I asked the guy if he had any bananas and/or Tylenol.  He gave me two slightly old bananas and three sample packs of expired Tylenol.  I took Tylenol and ate both bananas in short order.  And, immediately felt a lot better; little pain in three limbs.  I was able to drive normally without un necessary stops.

I had to seek a charge going up at Testa because a Rivian was sitting on the 6kw J1772 charge station provided at the Ft Nelson visitor's center.  In Ft Nelson, I had stayed at Blue Bell Inn which is probably the cheapest of the Ft Nelson options.  By my standards, completely acceptable at $80C.  So, I'm staying with them again tonight.  Between my two stays, I had acquired a TT30 to normal 120 adapter which allows me to charge off of "30 amp" RV outlets.  Right now, I am charging at 9-10 mph at the hotel.  Should be ready to roll about 4am.  I did the same at Liard and, charging to 95%, brought it up to about 250 miles.  About 260 miles should be a 100% charge.  When the car was new, 100%  was 315+ miles.

Tomorrow I hope to get to Ft St John early enough to get my cell phone glass replaced by the guy that saved the trip last time through.

Edson is the closest SuperCharger.  I have a report that Edson was evacuated because of fires.  So. I'm eager to hear more news on that situation. 

The End

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXqPNlng6uI

I decided this morning, in the large town of Whitehorse, capitol of Yukon Territory, to go ahead to Dawson City and then, perhaps make a loop in Alaska to return on the more southerly route.  I did three successful Flo/chademo charges during the day.  When I arrived at Dawson City, I could not get the Flo/chademo started.  After about an hour on the phone with a nice and helpful Flo girl, she admitted that it was broken.  And that Flo would have a repair person out within 5 days.   Enough of this Flo horseshit!  I'm turning around in the morning.  Fortunately and unexpectedly, The Triple J Hotel has several cabins with J1772 charge stations.  I am getting 30amps/30mph out of it "as we speak" so I should be fully charged in the morning.

Dawson City is of interest to me because it is one of the settings in the TV series "Yukon Gold".  YouTube has at least several episodes.  Here is one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAD-3GFvgKU

Reading my "Alaska" trip odometer, I see I have traveled 4172 miles since departing Dale.  I need to do a summary but Triple J Hotel has weak wifi in my cabin.  I should mention that this is the fartherest north I've been.  In mid June here, the daylight hours are about 4am until about mid-night.

Milepost 918

I've about decided that I've had all the pain that I can enjoy. That is, I may be turning around in the morning.  Or in a few days. I'm contemplating making an excursion perhaps to Dawson City or Prince Rupert or somewhere else. I see in the Canadian news that Edson may be evacuated due to forest fires. You might recall I spent a night in Edson a few days ago. I imagine the fire threat will be over by the time I get back there.  I've seen no evidence of recent fires since I left Fort Nelson.  But, there was a lot of evidence of fire in the Edson area when I was there and for a hundred miles or so in any direction of Edson.

Venting at Milepost 635 Watson Lake

 I arrived at Watson Lake yesterday evening after a harrowingly slow drive.  As slow as 30mph in order to maximize range.  I arrived at the Flo charger with 9 miles of range left.  That meant no stopping at roadside attractions.  I found a conveniently located very pricey hotel that specializes in dim room lighting.

The Flo charger initiation was even more aggravating than expected.   About half an hour on the phone to get charging started.  So far the sole redeeming feature of Watson Lake is the spectacular Northern Lights planetarium type show; I had never before been to a planetarium.  With about 100 miles put in the car at the chademo station, I decided to charge at hotel from a block heater outlet.  Which gave me a solid 5 mph at 120vac all night.  The problem with many grid voltage charging opportunities up here is low voltage of 100-110vac.  That's usually a result of three phase power which is nominally 100/208 where split phase is 120/240.

On the road from Muncho Lake yesterday, I saw bear and buffalo at several locations.  When I get an album put together, I'll post the URL 

I'm thinking of turning around at Whitehorse where I hope to find a/some TT30 adapters.  Connecting to RV parks "30 amp" outlets would make such charging more palatable.  I think I'd would rather deal with 200 mile days charging at RV parks than deal with the Flo nightmare that might give me 300-400 miles in a day.  Probably more BrandX charging venting later.  Right now, I will just say that Tesla has solved the charging problems but the various BrandXs have refused to adopt Tesla's strategies on billing, navigating, and maintaining.

A light rain this morning in Watson Lake so I'm waiting a bit before I  depart to do battle with Flo chargers in Testlin and Whitehorse.  Fellow travelers have warned me that Whitehorse is not a good overnight stop but I will likely be forced to stay there tomorrow night.  215 miles in the car right now.  I think Whitehorse is 300+ miles so I can not hope to skip the Flo in Testlin.

Muskeg

 One of the few tales that my father would tell is how they dealt with Muskeg in building the Alcan Highway in 1942. He told of how bulldozers (they used hundreds or maybe thousands of bulldozers) would push trees over the Muskeg and then build the road surface on top of the downed trees.   With trees subject to rot, I imagine that was a fairly short term solution of 10-15 years before reworking/repair was required.

Until recently, I had little idea of what Muskeg is and where it is found.  I had the impression that Muskeg was associated with permafrost and that it would be found farther north.  Today, I chatted with a fellow patron of the Tetsa River Lodge who was wearing a T shirt that mentioned Muskeg.  He informed that Muskeg is soft marshy ground that can swallow both people and vehicles.  Once swallowed, neither is likely to be extracted.  This guy works oil projects.  He said that Muskeg is not much of a risk if trees growing on top are large; small trees are likely to be found growing in Muskeg.  He said that there is a lot of Muskeg around Fort Nelson which is near the beginning of the Alcan.  The guy also said that Muskeg might catch fire in a forest fire.  If so, it can smolder through out a winter and burn again the next season. 

I'll stick in some electric power comments here.  I noticed what might have been some wood power generation plants in the vicinity of Edson.  Here in northern British Columbia many areas are supplied from diesel engine generators, both utility owned to supply entire communities and small private off grid diesels.  I was greatly surprised with the dearth of PV.  I talked a bit with the owner of Tetsa River Lodge who operates his own diesel powered micro grid.  In order to provide for some diesel down time, he has a small battery setup.  He was using 12 large single cell sealed lead acid configured in two banks of six in parallel.  I guessed that each cell was about 300 amp-hours but he informed me that they are about 800 ah.  He charges the battery while the diesel is running rather than from PV panels.  That got me to thinking about how PV panels might be used in the far north.  Even though summer is their primary season, I heard several comments that the problem with PV is low winter production.  My current thinking is that panels should be near vertical, perhaps 10-20 deg off vertical and pointing several directions.  They could not rest on the ground as mine do because of snow ground cover.  I've heard it said that they have knee deep snow coverage for around 7 months.  Near vertical would likely allow snow to slough off.  The ground mount would have to hold the panels several feet off the ground and allow snow removal equipment to operate.

Another aside.  While passing through burned areas, I was thinking what a good opportunity for some carbon sequestration that would be.  Neighbor Ray has long experimented making charcoal for soil amendment and sequestration.  But, he is not oriented to low cost and efficiency.  I offer the idea of, in burned areas, bulldozing trenches and pushing fire debris into the trenches.  Then, making charcoal in place and leaving it.  Details are left to the reader.  Maybe I should do another blog post on charcoal.

With less than 100 miles in my battery, I leave Toad River Lodge for expected better charging 40 miles down the road at Northern Rockies Lodge.  If I get a good charge rate there, I will make Watson Lake later today.  I look forward to seeing the Northern Lights facility that is there.  Watson Lake is supposed to be the end of a string of Flo 50kw chademos that go toward Alaska.  This "charge for 10-15 hours in order to drive less than 100 miles" sucks.

Here I am at Northern Rocky Lodge charging at 5 kilowatts I think. Paying dearly for both charge and Wi-Fi access. I think around $70 Canadian. Their silly web-based Wi-Fi access prevents the Tesla from hooking up. So I have cell phone access but not car access nobody knows where the car is. To kill some time I just loaded up blogger on this cell phone on their Wi-Fi and an experimenting. That is expanding on this post with voice to text. Seems to be working very well.

To reach Watson Lake where there is supposedly Chademo   charging, I will need four or five hours of charging. Watson lake is abouOne attraction to Watson Lake is the Northern lights facility they have there; I'm eager to learn more about the Northern lights.

Let's see if I can insert photos directly from phone.

not what I wanted.  The \above is block heater outlet charging maybe at Ft Nelson. Trying again:

Better.  The above is charging at Northern Rockies Lodge.  Let me set up an album where higher resolutions can be used:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ucvzV3PwaaJbhrkKA