Day 15

We woke up at 8 today, but we stayed in bed with the dog until 10. After we got up I decided to do some installing. I installed the solar motion detector light that we had bought for the front sidewalk. It was a conceptually simple job that turned out to be harder than it needed to be. That's because the mounting bracket was very difficult to install.

Once that was done I hung up the butterfly lights on the porch. We'll see how they look after I get a cord so I can plug them in.

I collected a whole bunch of garbage and put it in the can. When I was moving the can out to the street I noticed that the gate opener was generating an audio error code. After I tracked down the documentation I found out that it was a low battery alarm. I took what I thought was the control box apart. It had a battery and circuit board in it. However, the only wires connecting to the box were +/- to the battery. Outside the box is a rat's nest of wires all cable tied together.

After puzzling over this for some time, I realized that the control board mentioned in the documentation must be in the actuator arm. It seems that the circuit board was for an older opener that was no longer used. Taking the arm apart required getting down on my hands and knees and unscrewing the bottom of the housing. Then I had to peer back up to see the circuit board.

The board status lights indicated that power was OK and the battery was being charged. So I confirmed what I'd already guessed, that the battery was toast. Some surfing showed that a new one would cost $40.

We went out to get a new battery and check the mail. Ellen had a hassle because the box hadn't been paid for. I got a new battery. We also stopped at Tomlinson's for some cat food and to fill up Lucy's treat container.

When we got back I installed the new battery. As expected it fixed the problem. I then went to unpack the last plastic container that I'd unloaded yesterday. It turned out to have mostly house stuff in it. So I took it to the house and put away its contents.

I had to take a piss, and that showed up the second failure of the day. The toilet in the master bath won't fill with water. That's not too surprising, since the hard water here has really crapped up the mechanism. So it's off to Lowe's tomorrow for a new one. I really love that job since it's guaranteed that water is going to get all over the floor. I also love laying down by the toilet.

We've been back two days. I hope the one failure a day rate doesn't continue.