Many California Left Coasters will probably remember yesterday's storm
for awhile. I know it will go down in my EV lifetime memory banks.
It started getting very wet here in Marin yesterday evening. I was at
work, and the rain was coming down heavier and heavier with lots of
wind. Lakes started forming in the parking lot, and water started
heading towards the office. It was time to go home, and I felt there
was a halfway decent chance of remembering this EV drive for some time
to come.
I dropped into my very soggy (on the outside) VoltsRabbit. It
immediately started fogging up inside from my rained-on clothes, so I
unleashed the RUSSCO heater and waited for several minutes. Batteries
going down - thankfully the pack is in good shape. Eventually got
things defogged well enough to head back home in the storm.
I figured the right hand turn onto Sir Francis Drake near San Quentin as
it comes up over the ridge would present me with some wind and rain.
The scene was in fact somewhat eerie. The road, curves and all,
basically disappeared under a sheet of wind-driven rain. Normally I do
this set of curves at 40-45mph, letting gravity take me down the hill
and around the corner. This time, I did not want to be an EV in the
drink (the Bay), so I kept the speed down to a more conservative 30 mph
or so. Following west headlong into the storm, my wipers were going as
fast as the little motor could push them. Kept going on SFD, got to the
Bon Air turnoff, dropped down the grade, on gravity as usual (I like
that FREE coasting feeling in an EV, letting my batteries rest). I knew
there would be some wheel-well cleaning puddles here; it was in fact a
bit more exciting than that, with semi-deep water sending two large
sprays of water several feet in the air from the wheel wells when I went
through the last Bon Air puddle.
The best was saved for the end, though. After doing the usual Skylark
hill climb, I stopped by my mom's apt, then drove over across the
complex to my area. Dropped down the little hill and around the little
corner, and I was immediately presented with a vast lake covering the
parking deck. I'd never seen this in my 18 years here. As I proceeded,
it kept getting deeper and deeper - not so good, as I'm wondering where
is all this water coming from. Is the hill flowing with water or what?
Hung a right up a slight grade and into my carport under the building.
Ankle-deep water, about up to the bottom edge of the wheel rims.
There was only one other time I'm aware of that we had water in the
carport anything like that, in Jan. 2006 when mud came down into the
carports (I was snoozing and my car was charging - I saw the aftermath).
In this case, I eventually determined that things were fairly stable
in terms of the building. Apt. mgmt was over, and we tried to clear the
drains, but no go. Water depth was constrained by flowing in several
waterfalls over the edge of the parking deck into free space. So it was
going to be charging overnight in what was basically a pond.
When it came time to do my usual plug-in routine, things were going to
have to go a little more carefully. My feet were immersed in water, and
I was basically quite wet. I set my step-chair down, its bottom part
disappearing into the brown murk. After getting the timer and KillaWatt
meter plugged chained in inside the car, it was time to do the deed. I
wasn't worried to any great degree - I knew what I was dealing with.
Here's where the safety issues matter. My car's chassis is grounded,
and I'm using an isolated charger (Zivan K2 / 120VAC). It is unlikely I
could've brought myself to plug in an unisolated charger in this
situation. Only thing I'm missing of the Safety Big 3 is a GFCI outlet.
I've been keeping an eye peeled for a GFCI 20A adapter I could plug
into my current outlet in the ceiling, but I haven't been actively
searching. Plugged 'er in, the timer due to start the charger within a
half hour or so. Shut the car up. Went upstairs to the kitchen, turned
on the voltmeter watching that line. When the appointed time came, the
voltage dropped on the line about the usual 2-3V. Everything looked
cool to the extent I could monitor it remotely (my laptop that was
running bluetooth to the car had a hard-drive failure a few months ago).
My usual routine is to check the car a last time before I turn in for
the night. Waded back into the pond at the bottom of the stairs, and
everything was hunky-dory, charger humming away. I've never charged in
such a scene before, in water like that. By morning, the rain had
faded, and enough leakage had occurred at the drain so the water had
emptied out. Apt. staff were rescuing their soggy refrigerators and
dishwashers from the water-logged area at nearly the same level (within
a couple of inches) as the carports. My charger was turned off via the
timer at 7AM (end of E-9 TOU), and I had my KWs according to the
KillaWatt meter.
Before I head to work this evening, I think I'll give the car a quick
check to see the potbox is happy, DC-DC is go, etc. Did get some water
under the hood. Haven't had a problem before, but as I said, the car
was soaked.
Drip drying in Marin,
Chuck
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for awhile. I know it will go down in my EV lifetime memory banks.
It started getting very wet here in Marin yesterday evening. I was at
work, and the rain was coming down heavier and heavier with lots of
wind. Lakes started forming in the parking lot, and water started
heading towards the office. It was time to go home, and I felt there
was a halfway decent chance of remembering this EV drive for some time
to come.
I dropped into my very soggy (on the outside) VoltsRabbit. It
immediately started fogging up inside from my rained-on clothes, so I
unleashed the RUSSCO heater and waited for several minutes. Batteries
going down - thankfully the pack is in good shape. Eventually got
things defogged well enough to head back home in the storm.
I figured the right hand turn onto Sir Francis Drake near San Quentin as
it comes up over the ridge would present me with some wind and rain.
The scene was in fact somewhat eerie. The road, curves and all,
basically disappeared under a sheet of wind-driven rain. Normally I do
this set of curves at 40-45mph, letting gravity take me down the hill
and around the corner. This time, I did not want to be an EV in the
drink (the Bay), so I kept the speed down to a more conservative 30 mph
or so. Following west headlong into the storm, my wipers were going as
fast as the little motor could push them. Kept going on SFD, got to the
Bon Air turnoff, dropped down the grade, on gravity as usual (I like
that FREE coasting feeling in an EV, letting my batteries rest). I knew
there would be some wheel-well cleaning puddles here; it was in fact a
bit more exciting than that, with semi-deep water sending two large
sprays of water several feet in the air from the wheel wells when I went
through the last Bon Air puddle.
The best was saved for the end, though. After doing the usual Skylark
hill climb, I stopped by my mom's apt, then drove over across the
complex to my area. Dropped down the little hill and around the little
corner, and I was immediately presented with a vast lake covering the
parking deck. I'd never seen this in my 18 years here. As I proceeded,
it kept getting deeper and deeper - not so good, as I'm wondering where
is all this water coming from. Is the hill flowing with water or what?
Hung a right up a slight grade and into my carport under the building.
Ankle-deep water, about up to the bottom edge of the wheel rims.
There was only one other time I'm aware of that we had water in the
carport anything like that, in Jan. 2006 when mud came down into the
carports (I was snoozing and my car was charging - I saw the aftermath).
In this case, I eventually determined that things were fairly stable
in terms of the building. Apt. mgmt was over, and we tried to clear the
drains, but no go. Water depth was constrained by flowing in several
waterfalls over the edge of the parking deck into free space. So it was
going to be charging overnight in what was basically a pond.
When it came time to do my usual plug-in routine, things were going to
have to go a little more carefully. My feet were immersed in water, and
I was basically quite wet. I set my step-chair down, its bottom part
disappearing into the brown murk. After getting the timer and KillaWatt
meter plugged chained in inside the car, it was time to do the deed. I
wasn't worried to any great degree - I knew what I was dealing with.
Here's where the safety issues matter. My car's chassis is grounded,
and I'm using an isolated charger (Zivan K2 / 120VAC). It is unlikely I
could've brought myself to plug in an unisolated charger in this
situation. Only thing I'm missing of the Safety Big 3 is a GFCI outlet.
I've been keeping an eye peeled for a GFCI 20A adapter I could plug
into my current outlet in the ceiling, but I haven't been actively
searching. Plugged 'er in, the timer due to start the charger within a
half hour or so. Shut the car up. Went upstairs to the kitchen, turned
on the voltmeter watching that line. When the appointed time came, the
voltage dropped on the line about the usual 2-3V. Everything looked
cool to the extent I could monitor it remotely (my laptop that was
running bluetooth to the car had a hard-drive failure a few months ago).
My usual routine is to check the car a last time before I turn in for
the night. Waded back into the pond at the bottom of the stairs, and
everything was hunky-dory, charger humming away. I've never charged in
such a scene before, in water like that. By morning, the rain had
faded, and enough leakage had occurred at the drain so the water had
emptied out. Apt. staff were rescuing their soggy refrigerators and
dishwashers from the water-logged area at nearly the same level (within
a couple of inches) as the carports. My charger was turned off via the
timer at 7AM (end of E-9 TOU), and I had my KWs according to the
KillaWatt meter.
Before I head to work this evening, I think I'll give the car a quick
check to see the potbox is happy, DC-DC is go, etc. Did get some water
under the hood. Haven't had a problem before, but as I said, the car
was soaked.
Drip drying in Marin,
Chuck
_______________________________________________
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| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
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