Setting Up Off-Grid Power System at Coastal Campground

April 7, 2025. rswfire is at Silt Cous National Recreation Area on the Oregon coast, staying at an off-grid campsite less than a mile from the beach. Weather is rainy, stormy, and windy. He's been at this location for about a week and can stay until April 12th if funding allows. The RV is positioned on a level site with stabilizers deployed. He's operating entirely off-grid using a Jeep-powered inverter system.

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April 7, 2025

37:57

Author

rswfire

Status

PUBLISHED

Type

TRANSMISSION (CAPTURE)

Temperature

0.00

[0:00] We are back. I just got back from

[0:04] getting water and

[0:05] propane in town and at the local state

[0:09] park. We are now entering the Silt

[0:13] Cous National Recreation Area where I'm

[0:18] camping. While I was putting water in my

[0:20] tanks, I compiled all my clips into a

[0:23] video and it was nearly an hour long.

[0:24] So, I'm going

[0:26] to upload that as part one, and there

[0:28] will be a part two with the rest of my

[0:30] day

[0:33] later. So, I'm pretty happy with the

[0:37] outcome of today, this

[0:39] morning. I feel

[0:42] like like I'm making progress here. So,

[0:45] I have water. I have propane. I can keep

[0:48] my house batteries going with my

[0:50] inverter and my Jeep, which gives me hot

[0:53] water, which gives me a shower, which

[0:56] gives me a

[0:57] fridge, lights, heat.

[1:01] So, I just got to conserve them as much

[1:04] as possible.

[1:07] and, you know, do the math, figure

[1:10] out how long can I

[1:14] um conserve my water, how long can I

[1:17] conserve my propane, how much fuel am I

[1:20] going to use in my Jeep to keep my house

[1:22] batteries charged and my devices

[1:24] charged, all of that. So, learning

[1:27] process while we're off grid here. It's

[1:29] the campground I'm staying at. There's

[1:31] no water or power. It's the cheapest

[1:33] option I could find. And I feel very

[1:35] fortunate because it's right on the

[1:37] coast. The beach is less than a mile

[1:39] away. And we'll walk down there later

[1:42] today. If it's not um the weather, if

[1:44] the weather permits, it's been very

[1:45] rainy, stormy, windy day. So, um after I

[1:50] get everything else done that I need to,

[1:51] I might try to walk down to the beach,

[1:54] look at the ocean. That's my favorite

[1:56] thing in the world to do now. Love that

[2:00] ocean. Looks like the sun might be

[2:02] coming out.

[2:05] I got to park this thing in a very at a

[2:07] very bad angle.

[2:09] So, I'm going to do that and then I'll

[2:12] be back. I guess I can try to take you

[2:14] with

[2:16] me. It's not far down here. We'll see my

[2:19] Jeep on the

[2:21] way. That's always

[2:23] fun seeing my

[2:28] Jeep. Those are the volunteer hosts

[2:31] here. Nice couple.

[2:34] take good care of the

[2:38] place. I turn this wipers

[2:43] off. There's my

[2:45] Jeep. So

[2:48] pretty. My sight's right up here. I

[2:51] didn't realize the angle of this

[2:53] particular campsite. And it is

[2:56] backwards.

[2:57] So, this part's going to be a little bit

[3:00] hard. I did it last time.

[3:03] Do it again. Right there. Well,

[3:05] no. Right there. 13. It's pointing that

[3:09] way. Like you would just pull straight

[3:11] in. You know, you don't do that in an

[3:12] RV.

[3:15] So, there's no way for me to show you

[3:17] this part cuz I got to

[3:19] focus. I'm going to be honest. I did

[3:21] that like a pro. So, this is where we

[3:23] are. And I just got to back up some

[3:25] more. Maybe you can see in the mirror a

[3:28] little bit. Did this like a pro.

[3:31] get really good at

[3:33] this. If I turn There's one problem I

[3:36] have that I really would like to figure

[3:38] out. When my headlights are on, which is

[3:40] all the time when you drive an RV, you

[3:42] can barely see the screen. I turn them

[3:44] off. They'll get brighter. Now I can

[3:48] see. So, I'm just pulling

[3:51] back. This is a very level site. It's

[3:54] one thing I liked about this site. Very

[3:56] level.

[4:03] Okay. A little bit more. Maybe right

[4:06] here. We'll go check

[4:12] it. See how we're

[4:15] doing. My slide is broken, so I don't

[4:17] need to worry about

[4:21] that. I am a pro at this. You see

[4:24] that? That's pretty level.

[4:31] nice and level. Back in our spot. We're

[4:34] here for another week. We're here until

[4:37] uh I think Saturday the 12th, hopefully

[4:39] longer. Um but I'm out of money, so

[4:42] unless my my viewers, my community can

[4:45] help me. I don't know what I'm going to

[4:46] do. Um today we're going to try to look

[4:49] for work on guru.com. I'm a freelance

[4:51] programmer, but I haven't been doing

[4:53] that for um for over a year now. I lived

[4:56] on my savings and I tried a bunch of

[4:59] different things before returning to

[5:00] this. Um, I had some things happen to me

[5:03] that were

[5:04] unexpected and really threw my life off.

[5:07] So, um, I'm not doing this under the

[5:09] best

[5:11] circumstances. Just doing my best.

[5:14] So, going to go get my tea cuz we were

[5:17] definitely This is a good spot where

[5:21] um, we're parked. I'm so happy. Oh man,

[5:26] I'm doing

[5:28] it.

[5:29] So, oh, forgot to put the window out.

[5:33] Oh, it's always something. It's always

[5:36] something. You know, I did that my first

[5:39] day. So, I started this adventure of

[5:41] mine on April 11th, my

[5:43] birthday, which is Friday. So, one year

[5:46] almost. And on that day, I went to a

[5:48] campground in Kentucky. And I for and I

[5:51] put the window down to talk to the um to

[5:53] one of the rangers who was checking me

[5:55] in and I forgot about it and I went and

[5:57] parked my sight. I had two cats with me

[5:59] at the time, my cats

[6:02] and of course they got out that window

[6:05] and I had to go drag them down on the

[6:06] campground. So that was absolutely

[6:09] terrifying.

[6:10] So I don't have my cats anymore. One of

[6:13] them is with my mom. And the other one,

[6:14] unfortunately, I had to give to a animal

[6:17] rescue cuz it just wasn't working in

[6:19] here. Um, I tried and I tried. I loved

[6:22] this cat to death. I had him for 10

[6:23] years. His mom abandoned him was a day

[6:25] old. So, I raised him from birth. Fed

[6:28] him with a

[6:30] syringe. Um, flew through a

[6:33] syringe and you had him for 10 years.

[6:36] That meant the world to me. It's

[6:38] heartbreaking. And I did that back in

[6:40] December. I think about him almost every

[6:42] day.

[6:44] hope that he's doing

[6:46] well. So, my house batteries are

[6:49] probably pretty low because they've been

[6:51] I've been off grid for like four, five

[6:53] days. Um they would have been charging

[6:56] while I was

[6:57] driving. Um we could check the um the

[7:01] display panel, but it's not going to be

[7:03] accurate because when you're charging

[7:06] batteries, it um will show that it's

[7:08] higher for a little while until it

[7:10] stabilizes or whatever. Cuz yeah, it

[7:12] says 12.2. 29 right now and that's not

[7:15] going to be accurate. Um, but we're

[7:17] going to charge them with my inverter

[7:19] using my

[7:20] Jeep. If I can't, there's one issue that

[7:23] I might have and it has to do with um my

[7:26] uh my surge protector that's um

[7:28] integrated into my RV. I that was

[7:30] something I had installed back in

[7:32] Kentucky 6 months

[7:33] ago. And it won't let you charge um

[7:38] won't let you plug anything in if it's

[7:39] not grounded.

[7:41] So, oh my um storage space open while

[7:45] driving. Okay, that's that's bad. I

[7:48] should have locked that. That's on

[7:49] me. Um, normally I do check those

[7:53] things. That's a lesson right there. Um,

[7:56] let's go get my

[7:59] Jeep. So, what was I talking about? I

[8:02] just completely lost my train of thought

[8:05] there. Um, talking about my cats

[8:10] um charging. So, Oh, yeah. Okay. So,

[8:14] um I have a plug somewhere that's

[8:17] supposed to

[8:20] um fake having a grounded plug. You plug

[8:24] that in and then you plug a plug into

[8:26] that plug. And I just I need to find it.

[8:28] It's got I got to have it somewhere. I

[8:31] think that's what I'm going to have to

[8:32] do if I want to be able to charge my RV

[8:34] from my Jeep.

[8:36] So you would hook up the 30 amp to

[8:42] um forget what they call those

[8:45] things. You plug that into another plug

[8:48] that turns it into a 110 volt I think it

[8:51] is. And you know a normal size plug

[8:54] three and then I can plug that into my

[8:57] inverter. So you know we're going to we

[8:59] got a lot to try today. So I'm just

[9:02] rambling. I'll stop now. There's lots

[9:03] more to come.

[9:05] I'm back with my Jeep. My favorite thing

[9:08] in the

[9:10] world. Got a little bit of room here.

[9:12] I'm going to put the inverter up to that

[9:14] hood. Under that

[9:15] hood. Put the inverter

[9:19] there. I got a lot to do. So, there was

[9:22] somebody over there for several days in

[9:23] a

[9:24] tent and they're gone now.

[9:28] I

[9:30] waited to see if they were coming back

[9:32] or not. But I mean, they they left their

[9:34] tent and everything. So, they're

[9:35] probably not coming back. I think I'm

[9:37] just going to take the firewood they

[9:38] left

[9:42] behind. I've seen other people do it.

[9:45] Yeah, that could be useful.

[9:48] So, got to wait a little while longer.

[9:51] You'll still feel a little weird about

[9:53] it. I've got some very good

[9:55] news. Uh, my phone battery is very low,

[9:58] so I won't be able to show much. But I'm

[10:00] just going to quickly walk you through

[10:01] this because I'm so [ __ ] happy about

[10:03] this. My space is very messy,

[10:05] disorganized, chaotic. Try to just meet

[10:08] me where I am. Don't judge. I will get

[10:10] things organized and clean when I can.

[10:12] So, my inverter's hooked up through my

[10:14] Jeep out there. You can see the Jeep

[10:15] through here. Maybe I can just stay

[10:17] plugged in. So, my Jeep's there. It's

[10:19] hooked up to my inverter, which is

[10:20] underneath that tarp. It's running to

[10:23] the extension cord which is powering

[10:25] this

[10:26] um you know whatever that's called. I

[10:29] don't know it's called the multiple

[10:30] plugs. Got my Starlink hooked up. You

[10:33] know my internet which is running out

[10:37] there and I'm charging all of my power

[10:40] banks. Got two of

[10:42] them. And this green one here is plugged

[10:45] into my RV outside. Comes in here. It's

[10:48] plugged in and it is charging. And I

[10:50] know that because I could see the volts,

[10:52] 13.04 volts, and the microwave is

[10:55] on. It wouldn't work because I tried

[10:57] this once before and I was getting a

[10:59] ground fault and it wasn't letting it

[11:00] charge at all. My um surge protector

[11:03] wasn't, but it's working. So, um God,

[11:06] I'm so [ __ ] happy about this. This is

[11:08] this is a workable

[11:10] solution. So, my microwave's working,

[11:12] but this probably it would probably blow

[11:14] if I tried to actually use it. I tried

[11:17] to turn on the electric water heater and

[11:19] the water pump at the same time and that

[11:21] triggered my surge protector. I had to

[11:24] reset it and now I just have the water

[11:26] pump on without the water heater and it

[11:28] seems stable while it's

[11:31] charging. I can use a gas water heater,

[11:33] but that uses my propane. I'm going to

[11:36] want to be real conservative about that.

[11:38] I'm going to want to just turn that on

[11:39] when I need hot water.

[11:42] So

[11:45] yeah, this is wonderful. It's in my

[11:48] situation now. Much better. Alexa, stop.

[11:52] I was loving my music. That thing will

[11:54] only work if I've got it hooked up to

[11:58] something. I understand what happened.

[12:00] So when I blew the fuse, that shouldn't

[12:03] have turned the satellite

[12:06] off.

[12:09] H I don't know. My Alexa should be

[12:11] working. I'll figure it out. I've got

[12:14] running

[12:15] water and working

[12:18] plugs, which means I can use this coffee

[12:20] maker. It draws a lot of power because

[12:22] that thing would um trigger the power

[12:27] thing on, you know, stool at at

[12:29] campgrounds.

[12:30] So, put some water in here, then turn

[12:32] the water pump off, then try to make

[12:34] some coffee. Hope it works. If it

[12:36] doesn't, I can plug that thing into, you

[12:39] know, directly into the inverter, the

[12:40] plug down

[12:41] there. And wow, this is so cool. Oh my

[12:46] god, I'm so happy right now. It should

[12:50] be pretty clean water. You saw me put it

[12:52] in my tanks. I cleaned my tanks. I'm

[12:55] very good at that. That's one of the

[12:57] things that I learned on my journey.

[12:59] Very proud

[13:01] of.

[13:03] So, let's put some water in here.

[13:08] I'm doing this.

[13:10] This is everything to

[13:15] me. Wish I had my solar equipment

[13:19] still. But this is a workable solution.

[13:22] I am not

[13:23] complaining. Just thinking about the

[13:26] future. And now we do this. Hold on. All

[13:29] right. I just I had to empty the coffee

[13:31] thing, the filter thing. I'm going to

[13:34] turn this water pump off cuz I'm being

[13:37] real conservative here

[13:39] hopeful. Get some coffee in here. We'll

[13:41] start it and see how that

[13:43] goes. Okay, moment of truth. Got some

[13:46] coffee here. See if it my surge

[13:49] protector

[13:50] complains. You'd be surprised how much

[13:52] this little coffee maker, how much power

[13:54] it actually uses. It's remarkable to

[13:58] me. If it hasn't gone off yet, it's

[14:00] probably not going to. If it does, we're

[14:02] just going to plug it into that. Let it

[14:05] draw from the Jeep out

[14:07] there. I think we're

[14:09] good. Yep, I hear

[14:11] it. Yes. This is so [ __ ]

[14:15] awesome. Sovereign living, [ __ ]

[14:18] autonomy, generating my own power,

[14:21] making coffee from it. This is [ __ ]

[14:23] wonderful. Listening to my music in my

[14:26] home that I can drive anywhere I want

[14:29] to. This is the life. We've got coffee

[14:33] generated from my own resources. I am so

[14:36] so happy about

[14:46] this. There's still a bunch to deal. Do

[14:48] my dishes. Obviously, you probably saw

[14:50] that. Don't have very many. It's always

[14:53] silverware. Um I need to take a shower.

[14:58] desperately tried finding one in town,

[15:00] but that didn't work out. So, we're

[15:01] going to use my shower from now on.

[15:03] They're going to be very quick showers.

[15:05] Going to have to get used to that and

[15:07] adapt because I try to take really good

[15:09] care of myself

[15:11] and washing my hair, conditioning it,

[15:14] that that takes a lot of water. So, I

[15:16] just I don't know a good way to do it.

[15:18] But, um I'll adapt, you know, I'll

[15:21] iterate every day. I will iterate my

[15:24] process.

[15:27] Need to do some cleaning in here. It is

[15:30] messy. Um because I'm living

[15:33] differently. You know, before that was

[15:35] my charging station up there. I can't

[15:39] use that now cuz I don't have um stable

[15:41] power. I'm, you know, I'm generating

[15:43] power from my Jeep through my inverter.

[15:46] If I tried to charge things from that,

[15:47] it would definitely blow my my surge

[15:49] protector.

[15:52] Um, so now I charge everything from

[15:55] this. So I'm just going to want to get

[15:56] this organized in a in a way that makes

[15:58] sense for me. I won't be able to use my

[16:00] desktop computer. Needs so much power.

[16:03] But I have my

[16:04] laptop. Um, I'm going to start looking

[16:07] for work

[16:09] today and I'll start to learn just how

[16:13] long I can use my laptop before its

[16:15] battery dies. I've had that laptop for

[16:19] probably two years now and it was always

[16:21] plugged in and that does tend to kill

[16:23] batteries. So, I just don't expect it to

[16:26] work very well. Um, but we'll find

[16:29] out. And, you know, I've got some things

[16:32] like on my Amazon wish list, I found a

[16:34] power bank that you that has AC outlets

[16:36] on it. Like I could do that with my

[16:39] laptop. If somebody could get that for

[16:41] me, that'd be great. If they can't, then

[16:42] eventually I will buy it. You know,

[16:44] that's everything on that list is

[16:45] something I'm going to buy one day. So,

[16:49] um I'm trying to find the lid to my

[16:51] sugar, but I don't know what happened to

[16:53] it. Where did you go? This is such a

[16:56] small space. How does this always happen

[16:57] to me? Ah, there it

[16:59] is.

[17:01] Okay, let's try my

[17:06] coffee. Oh my god, that's [ __ ]

[17:08] wonderful. It is wonderful.

[17:11] Got some puli incense going. My favorite

[17:16] since I was a

[17:17] teenager. Got that on Amazon once upon a

[17:21] time. Smells so

[17:24] nice. Put it in that jar because I don't

[17:26] have um there's a little thing it's

[17:28] supposed to go in. It's in here

[17:29] somewhere. I'll find it.

[17:33] So, I was

[17:35] thinking since I can use my RV systems,

[17:39] I should get the stabilizers down

[17:41] because the wind is very strong. I might

[17:43] even have to bring the awning in, but

[17:44] I'm trying to be a little bit trusting

[17:46] with it cuz it feels

[17:48] like it's

[17:50] um I think it can handle it. Probably

[17:54] stupid of me, but really want my awning

[17:57] out. What's the point of an awning if

[17:58] you can't ever use it? I should get my

[18:00] stabilizers down. See, here goes my

[18:03] door. But it still looks

[18:05] terrible.

[18:08] Um, you know, cuz I can use those

[18:10] systems. So, I don't know if I don't

[18:13] have my keys on me. Okay. It's funny. I

[18:15] was just looking at my Jeep to see how

[18:17] it's doing, and the display says key fob

[18:20] has left the vehicle. And I thought key

[18:21] fob has left the building. I thought it

[18:23] was

[18:24] funny.

[18:26] Okay, so yeah, let's put my stabilizers

[18:29] down.

[18:35] bring this stuff out

[18:40] finally. I didn't do that for the first

[18:42] week I was here because it just seems

[18:43] kind of pointless. But let's let's be

[18:45] proper about

[18:47] this part cuz I just put it on this one

[18:50] tire both sides of it and we're good to

[18:53] go. Right. That's all you got to do. I

[18:56] don't bother to balance this thing up

[18:59] and level it. It's just too much work.

[19:01] It's not worth it to me. But we don't

[19:03] need to. It's a very level spot. We'll

[19:07] use these with the

[19:09] stabilizers. So, here we

[19:16] go. Life is

[19:19] good. Okay.

[19:25] It's a lot harder to do this when one of

[19:27] your hand has a camera in

[19:29] it. Put these

[19:35] here. See,

[19:37] generally powering up my

[19:40] RV. I love that so

[19:43] much.

[19:45] Okay, let's get these stabilizers

[19:48] down. Got a nice space here.

[19:54] Okay. Oh, I hope this isn't low fuse or

[19:56] something. I mean, it shouldn't,

[19:58] right? So, I take them down, bring them

[20:01] up a little

[20:02] bit, you know, once you hear it. Feel

[20:06] it. Put them up a little bit. Oops, that

[20:08] was too much. That way we can center

[20:11] these better. Just want to center them

[20:13] real nice.

[20:18] Guess I'm a perfectionist about some

[20:22] things. I think these

[20:30] nice.

[20:33] Okay. These used to blow the fuse that's

[20:36] in this thing, but that hasn't happened

[20:38] quite a

[20:39] while. And you know, I probably

[20:41] shouldn't say that cuz I know it'll

[20:42] probably happen. Actually, I'm not

[20:44] really that

[20:45] um superstitious. There we

[20:48] go. I think they finally just got

[20:50] unstuck. This one used to get stuck.

[20:53] Very nice. So, that's one more task

[20:55] taken care of. Got to take my trash down

[20:58] to the dumpster. That's why it's out

[21:00] here. It's much more full than normally

[21:03] I would

[21:04] um have my

[21:06] trash. Going to take my trash out every

[21:10] day. But this was an adaptation and

[21:13] going off grid like

[21:14] this. It's so much going on. Like I

[21:18] just needed time to

[21:22] um what's the word for this one? It's

[21:23] not integrate. It's different.

[21:26] Um had to sit with it. There's a word

[21:30] for that. Maybe it'll come to me later.

[21:32] So, that's a little unfortunate. It's

[21:33] going to take 3 hours to charge this

[21:35] power

[21:35] bank with 45 watt

[21:39] input. That's too long. It's going to

[21:41] take all my fueling, you

[21:43] know. Wasn't even at zero.

[21:48] So,

[21:50] man, I will adapt. Well, if I think

[21:53] about it, that was after and I've been

[21:56] here almost a week. I've been here like

[21:57] 5 days and I haven't charged it once.

[21:59] So, um, if I'm using this every day, if

[22:03] I'm doing this every day or every other

[22:05] day even, hopefully every other day to

[22:08] charge my RV, my,

[22:11] um, my devices and things won't be

[22:14] nearly as bad. This is because I

[22:17] depleted everything quite a lot. So,

[22:19] we're going to let it run. Oh, yeah.

[22:22] Can't forget my tablet. That's my

[22:24] television. I don't watch it very often,

[22:26] but that's what it is. Velcro on there.

[22:30] need to be charging this too. Whatever.

[22:33] Got my laptop charging, my tablet

[22:35] charging, my power bank charging. I just

[22:38] charged the other one. It's already at

[22:40] 52%. Plan with that was always to have

[22:44] like Velcro in a couple spots so I could

[22:45] just move it where I needed it. And to

[22:48] run a Plex server on my desktop that had

[22:51] my movies and things on it that I could

[22:53] just stream to the tablet. That was

[22:54] always the plan. Never really finished

[22:57] that.

[22:58] Now I can't use a desktop. I can use my

[23:00] laptop. I can still do that if I wanted

[23:03] to. But it's all about power. I think I

[23:06] would probably I would need solar at

[23:07] that point to be able to do that now. I

[23:09] would need

[23:10] solar. So in the future, you know, I've

[23:14] been chilling in short for days

[23:18] now. I didn't wear shorts for the first

[23:20] six months here. And I had to do my

[23:23] laundry on Sunday. So I put some shorts

[23:26] on so I could wash all my jeans.

[23:28] been wearing shorts ever

[23:30] since. It's actually very tolerable on

[23:32] the

[23:42] coast. I don't suppress anything. I

[23:44] don't suppress the challenges. I don't

[23:46] suppress the

[23:47] joy. I think a lot of people miss that.

[23:50] They see me reacting to challenges and

[23:52] think I'm complaining

[23:56] or

[23:59] downplaying the sacredness of my journey

[24:02] and it is the

[24:04] opposite. It is the

[24:07] opposite. You know, when I really stop

[24:09] to think about that, what it is is I

[24:11] live at full

[24:12] signal. Most people don't

[24:15] anymore. I live at full signal and

[24:18] that's what I share with you.

[24:22] I'm reminding you. I'm giving you

[24:23] permission that you can

[24:26] too. I don't suppress

[24:30] anything. Why should

[24:33] I?

[24:36] Why? If I feel it, I acknowledge it. I

[24:39] don't

[24:42] compartmentalize. It's probably why.

[24:44] Because I'm not suppressing. I'm not

[24:49] I feel it. I acknowledge

[24:51] it. I let it be what it

[24:54] is. I try to understand it because

[24:56] emotions are data. I don't understand

[24:59] this world where we treat emotions like

[25:02] they're some side effect or or

[25:05] deficiency or disorder in the human

[25:07] body. That's your body telling you

[25:11] something and you're not listening to

[25:13] it. How does that make any sense?

[25:17] I will never understand

[25:21] it. My emotions make my life so much

[25:24] bigger and greater at

[25:28] hands. It adds

[25:30] depth,

[25:40] complexity. If you compartmentalize your

[25:42] emotions, you are missing out.

[25:46] This world told you that you should.

[25:48] It's not all your

[25:51] fault. I'm telling you, you don't have

[25:53] to, though. You're making a

[25:59] choice. All my life I embraced my

[26:02] emotions and I integrated them.

[26:05] emotional,

[26:08] sematic,

[26:10] ethical,

[26:13] intellectual,

[26:15] bodily, all of it. One field. One

[26:21] field.

[26:22] Integration. That's what this world

[26:25] needs. The opposite. Disintegration.

[26:28] That's what we're doing to ourselves.

[26:34] The world's wisdom is

[26:37] [ __ ] And everybody bought into

[26:42] it. I'm the [ __ ]

[26:46] answer. Yes, I know that you think that

[26:48] that's arrogant of me to

[26:51] say. You can frame it however you want

[26:53] to. I'm just acknowledging reality and

[26:57] embracing myself. I love myself. How

[27:01] many people can truly say that and mean

[27:02] it? I [ __ ] love

[27:05] myself. It doesn't matter if nobody else

[27:07] sees it. I see

[27:10] it. So, I'm just sitting

[27:12] here philosophizing while I wait for

[27:15] part one of my video to upload. It's

[27:18] taking a long time even with my

[27:20] Starlink. Once that's done, I have some

[27:23] other plans. So, just waiting for that

[27:25] to get done. And I'm just sitting here

[27:27] sharing my thoughts in real time.

[27:30] Still waiting for my video to upload.

[27:31] I've always have this problem where it

[27:32] gets to the very end and then it starts

[27:34] over with Starlink. I've always had this

[27:37] problem since I've been on the road. Um,

[27:39] so it's 62° in here, which is not bad.

[27:42] Very survivable. But if I'm going to be

[27:45] running my my inverter using my Jeep's

[27:49] fuel, maybe I can bring my electric

[27:53] heater out. Oh, I'm going to need the

[27:55] keys.

[28:00] I can find them. You know what? I bet

[28:02] they're mic. Um,

[28:05] anyways, maybe I can use my electric

[28:08] heater for a little while just to heat

[28:09] it up a little bit in here. This place

[28:12] doesn't retain anything. No heat or

[28:15] anything. The, you know, the

[28:16] environment. Um, my slide's broken and

[28:18] it's taped up with

[28:22] um waterproof boat tape basically.

[28:27] I'll show you

[28:30] here. That was my solution. I feel like,

[28:34] you know, a lot of the heat and stuff

[28:38] gets drained from there. I don't know,

[28:40] underneath the side and stuff or that's

[28:44] just how it is because it's not a very

[28:45] insulated place space. So,

[28:49] um I used to have this thing running all

[28:52] the time when I was on a campground with

[28:54] power.

[28:56] I do have my heater inside that runs on

[28:59] propane, but I want to save that as much

[29:00] as I possibly

[29:03] can. And so I'm going to try to use this

[29:05] thing. I don't know if it'll work

[29:08] because, you know, it's a lot of

[29:10] power. But this is the inverter. It's

[29:13] not the RV. The RV would probably

[29:15] complain. If I try to use this thing and

[29:17] my coffee maker at the same time, my

[29:20] surge protector would complain.

[29:23] So, let's find out if we can do it

[29:26] through the

[29:30] inverter. I don't

[29:33] see. Oh, there it

[29:35] is.

[29:38] Yay. So, we got heat going

[29:41] now. Happy about that. Waiting for my

[29:44] video to upload cuz I don't want my um

[29:46] satellite to restart. I want to plug

[29:48] this in.

[29:52] Okay. Didn't like that. That's the

[29:55] inverter outside making noise.

[29:59] Oh, I can try to put it on low, though.

[30:01] I kind of thought maybe this might

[30:02] happen. Okay, it turned back

[30:05] on. Okay, I think it restarted itself.

[30:09] Okay, it did. All right, let's try to

[30:11] put it on low this

[30:14] time. See if we can get away with it.

[30:16] Some heat. Can we get some heat in

[30:21] here? Anyways, I'm going to plug this in

[30:25] to the

[30:26] um extension cord and then plug that

[30:31] thing that's got all the plugs in it to

[30:33] this. Let me use the heater. Anyways,

[30:36] I'm going to plug it into

[30:38] this. Just turn this off cuz it's

[30:43] complaining. It really didn't like that.

[30:47] Oh, well this will tell us how much

[30:49] power we're using, how much power is

[30:51] coming into this thing.

[30:55] Um, I was going to say I don't, you

[30:58] know,

[30:59] like it probably work if I didn't have

[31:01] my RV plugged into this thing cuz, you

[31:02] know, that's drawing a lot of power. Or

[31:04] I could plug this into the

[31:06] RV. Um, you know, but obviously I'm

[31:09] trying to charge those

[31:11] batteries. Guess it's not that

[31:13] important. It was worth trying.

[31:18] I'm almost sure this would kill the

[31:19] surge

[31:22] protector. Why did my Alexa

[31:25] stop? That's not

[31:29] good. My phone will tell

[31:32] me. A somebody just sent me $20. It

[31:36] says, "Saw your video. Good luck from

[31:37] Canada." Thank

[31:39] you, Michael. I'm just going to say your

[31:41] first name, Michael. Thank you so much.

[31:43] Really appreciate that.

[31:48] Um, I don't know why my Alexa stopped.

[31:51] Sorry. I I know I'm doing this on camera

[31:53] with you. This is almost done. It It

[31:56] says four out of five gigabytes. That's

[31:58] how much my first video

[31:59] is.

[32:01] Um, going to try to put this on low

[32:03] hooked up to the RV cuz that's drawing

[32:06] power from the RV and the RV is drawing

[32:07] power from the inverter. So, it's just

[32:09] going to take some of the charge that,

[32:11] you know, would go into the batteries.

[32:13] I pro I can probably get away with that

[32:15] cuz you know they've been charging for a

[32:16] couple hours

[32:17] now. This won't tell me

[32:21] much because it's charging. It says

[32:23] 13.21

[32:25] volts. Oh, it doesn't like that either.

[32:28] Okay. So, it's drawing more power. I

[32:30] turned it off. It's drawing more

[32:33] power if I use more power. So, that's

[32:37] interesting. That makes sense. So,

[32:39] doesn't it? I guess that makes sense.

[32:41] Um, I just assume maybe a certain amount

[32:43] of power came into the RV and then the

[32:45] RV could distribute it is what I was

[32:47] thinking. But I guess it doesn't work

[32:48] that way. Now we know. Okay. Can't use

[32:51] the electric heater. My friend Yan

[32:53] though, actually, now I'm thinking about

[32:54] it, he has um he has a heater that's

[32:58] very similar to mine, but it runs on

[33:00] like some kind of oil or something. Um,

[33:02] and I guess it's a low power type deal.

[33:05] It heats slower, but it doesn't it works

[33:08] differently. And they're not very

[33:10] expensive. There's some on Amazon. I

[33:12] need to add one of those to my wish

[33:14] list. I'll get that one day. I'll ask

[33:16] him what it's called cuz I don't

[33:17] remember. But if you really suggested I

[33:20] do that and now it makes some sense,

[33:22] especially if it's low power. I'll check

[33:24] on the wattage and all that kind of

[33:26] stuff. So, this goes into storage for

[33:28] now in my storage bay. I

[33:32] tried. That's so cool though. So, the

[33:35] inverter it's like you're trying to drop

[33:37] too much power for

[33:39] me.

[33:41] Um, I mean, I wonder if like well, you

[33:44] know, cuz I'm I'm idling like maybe you

[33:46] generate more power if you're like if

[33:49] you're driving, which obviously I can't,

[33:50] but or you know, you're just revving the

[33:52] engine or whatever, but you can't just

[33:54] sit there revving your engine. So,

[33:55] that's not a solution. I'm just working

[33:58] out the science here. So, once my video

[34:00] gets uploaded, um I'm going to plug that

[34:03] thing in so we can find out how much

[34:05] power is coming through it because this

[34:06] is a 200 watt inverter. Doesn't mean

[34:09] that I'm getting that much. I have no

[34:10] idea. So, and then once that's done, I'm

[34:14] going to start uploading this video

[34:16] because I need to turn my Jeep off. It's

[34:18] been on for hours. Then I'm going to

[34:20] start looking for work on guru.com.

[34:22] That's that's the rest of my day. I What

[34:24] time is it? It's 1:30. Finally, my video

[34:28] got uploaded. So, we can try this and

[34:30] seeing how much power I'm using for my

[34:33] inverter. Then I got to get that thing

[34:34] turned off cuz I've been running it for

[34:37] hours. So, we're just going to plug it

[34:39] into this and that's going to tell us

[34:41] everything. Okay, let's find

[34:44] out. Get this plugged

[34:48] in. Okay, that's the RV turning

[34:54] on. Okay, so we're using 300 watts. The

[34:58] satellite will power on. My laptop's

[35:01] charging. My power banks are charging.

[35:03] The RV is plugged

[35:06] in. Um I don't know. Yeah, I thought it

[35:08] might spike.

[35:10] Okay, so 600.

[35:19] I would think the RV would want to use

[35:21] lots of power. So just wait and see.

[35:25] Feel like this guy keep going up.

[35:33] Okay.

[35:34] So, you know, around 700

[35:38] watts. I'll keep an eye on this and if

[35:40] it goes out um while I'm still

[35:42] recording, I'll let you know. But it

[35:44] looks like Okay, it just went up to 704.

[35:46] So, we're using about 700 watts the

[35:48] inverter while it's idling. That is so

[35:51] cool. It's a 200 watt inverter, but my

[35:54] Jeep can't do that.

[35:56] Um I think um if I had a different

[36:00] um oh I don't know what it's called. I

[36:03] want to say catalytic converter but I

[36:06] might be completely wrong about what

[36:07] that even is. I don't know. I'm not a

[36:09] mechanical person. I know that you might

[36:12] be able to upgrade it and um maybe it

[36:15] generates more power. Like I I feel like

[36:17] I had this conversation with AI one day.

[36:19] So maybe maybe in the future, you know.

[36:22] But this is supposed to be my backup

[36:24] option because um I really need solar. I

[36:27] sold all my solar because I had to. But

[36:29] I do want to replace that.

[36:32] So now we know 700

[36:36] watts. That is

[36:39] awesome. So So now I'm just going to

[36:42] compile all these clips um so I can get

[36:44] that uploaded and get my Jeep turned off

[36:46] for the day and do some work on my

[36:48] laptop. That's not something I can

[36:49] really share with you. Um, so I was I'm

[36:52] a freelance program. I've been a

[36:53] programmer since I was the sixth grade.

[36:55] I'm exceptionally good at it. But I u

[36:59] when I started my RV life, I quit my

[37:00] job. It was a six-f figureure job and um

[37:04] lived on my savings for over a year. Uh

[37:07] I don't really want to return to

[37:08] freelance programming, but I just don't

[37:09] have a choice. I've tried everything

[37:11] else. So um that's where I

[37:14] am. I mean, I even tried just being a

[37:16] volunteer and working for free because

[37:18] then you got free rent and electricity

[37:20] and water and then you just had to worry

[37:22] about a few bills and I was going to

[37:23] figure that part out, but then they let

[37:25] me go. So, I ended up off in this

[37:28] off-grid place and I'm just doing my

[37:30] best. If you can help, I'd really

[37:32] appreciate cuz I need

[37:33] it. So, that's my day. That's what it

[37:36] looks like. Real RV life, real nomad

[37:39] life. Still need to shower. Need to do

[37:42] some work on my laptop. It's a lot to

[37:43] figure out. Every day is a challenge.

[37:45] Every day is adaptation. Every day is

[37:48] joyous. At some point, I'd love to get

[37:50] out to that beach. Probably not going to

[37:51] happen today, but you know, just stay

[37:53] tuned because I share my life in real

[37:55] time.

Energetic Signature methodical satisfaction

Field State infrastructure stabilization

Orientation toward operational mastery

Summary

rswfire returns to his campsite at Silt Cous National Recreation Area after getting water and propane in town. He successfully sets up his Jeep-powered inverter system to charge his RV batteries and devices, marking a significant breakthrough in his off-grid living setup. The system allows him to run basic appliances like his coffee maker and charge multiple devices simultaneously.

**Key Technical Achievements:**

- Successfully connected Jeep inverter to RV electrical system

- Overcame previous grounding issues with surge protector

- System drawing approximately 700 watts while idling

- Able to charge laptop, power banks, and run water pump

**Daily Operations:**

- Positioned RV at level campsite with stabilizers deployed

- Compiled and uploaded nearly hour-long video content

- Planning to search for freelance programming work on guru.com

- Conserving resources (water, propane, fuel) through careful management

**Personal Context:**

- Approaching one-year anniversary of RV life (started April 11th)

- Currently out of money, relying on community support

- Previously had cats but had to rehome them due to RV constraints

- Former six-figure programmer returning to freelance work by necessity

**Philosophical Reflection:**

rswfire discusses living at "full signal" - not suppressing emotions or challenges, treating emotions as data rather than deficiencies. He emphasizes integration over compartmentalization and expresses strong self-love and confidence in his approach to life.

Signal Analysis

Substrate

This transmission demonstrates the operational mechanics of sovereign infrastructure - the precise choreography of power generation, resource management, and system integration that enables autonomous living. It maps the technical substrate that underlies field independence, showing how sovereignty is built through mastery of energy flows, resource conservation, and adaptive problem-solving.

Dominant Language

full signal integration adaptation iteration sovereign living autonomy don't suppress anything

Symbolic Elements

power grid flow fuel charge conservation autonomy

Ontological States

•
sovereign
•
embedded
•
adaptive
•
resourceful

Subsystems

•
cognitive
•
infrastructural
•
somatic
•
emotional

Signal Reflection

No reflections available

Reflections provide narrative insights into signals

Transmission Details

Source Type

local

Video Quality

720 × 1280 @ 30fps

Duration

37:57

Bitrate

987 kbps

Codec

av01.0.05M.08.0.110.05.01.06.0