First of all today I arranged for a chap who fixes camper vans for a living to come out and have a look at Julian. I was hoping that he may be able to resolve the confusion regarding the electrics and also quote to fix the fridge.
It was a most satisfactory visit.
He arrived with his family in his car, hinting that he wasn't expecting to be long, but did not make me feel rushed as I explained my concerns and questions. First of all, regarding the electrics, he said that the 120v converter almost certainly had a step down transformer in it for the 240v mains. The reason that it did not appear to work when I tried it, he suggested, was because the battery was not connected at the time and it probably needed to have that attached to work.
If he said so.
He then explained that the mystery of the plug saying "inverter only" was quite a simple one; there had been an inverter which had been removed. This is now going onto the list of things to buy however I am not in a rush for this. Once I have that I will be able to draw 240v off the battery and run things like my laptop etc.
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| The mystery four way |
I expressed to him that I was wanting the battery to be charged from the mains so would I need to change out the converter to a 240v one; his answer was no, it should work and if it didn't then just get a mains charger for the battery when the mains is running. In retrospect I am not sure how useful this advice is as I'm not totally sure which plugs are running from the hookup. Oh well, something to investigate.
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| This is where the inverter was |
All in all this has cleared up a fair few things but I do have some more investigation to do. This will now be done next weekend when I have the battery.
He observed a few things about the bodywork of Julian which need looking at and this has focused my mind on something I have been considering for a while. I have always had the plan that I would be packing and preparing to leave in Blackpool and that I would be sensible to use one of the empty units on this estate to gather my stuff together and practice packing. Originally I thought I would only need a month but now I am thinking, as Julian is being left standing in the yard and there are always local kids to worry about, that I should arrange this early.
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| The control panel for the electrics and water pump |
This is really good news!
The other little thing is the straps which I ordered for tying the Laycorn boxes to the new framework on the front of the trailer have arrived and I had a little play with them yesterday and I am pretty sure they are perfect. I did order too few so I've put a new order in for the rest.
I still haven't played with the water supply as once again I forgot to bring a hose but I will do my best to remember this next time.
Liking the countdown clock, dude! If you buy a new fridge,don't go for one that runs of 12V only - you will kill your batteries. Gas is a good thing as you can be independent of 'leccy wherever you are.
ReplyDeleteOn the inverter front, have you thought of maybe a car-starter pack with inverter built in? http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_862345_langId_-1_categoryId_255206 Then you could run your laptop independent of Julian's batteries. Just a thought.
Haha I know... I get to check it every day :)
DeleteI'm thinking that I will get a little 12v can fridge... I'll only be using it for the drive and when I get to the school I'll be getting a full sized mains one anyway...
That's a good idea, I probably would have done that but I've already got a car starter pack :/ Most of the time I will be using Julian when he is hooked up to the mains so the battery will be a backup only I hope.
The can fridges are almost useless. I've tried several and the best they can do is let cold cans get warm, but slightly slower than leaving them out in full sun! Just as effective would be wrapping them in a damp cloth and using evaporative cooling.
ReplyDeleteJust remember that you need a full battery to start a vehicle, so unless you have a standby for 'leisure' purposes, you need to make sure you disconnect everything when you stop - think 'leaving the lights on'.
But hey, finding all this stuff out as you go along is all part of the big adventure!
Hah the one experience I have of one of those fridges was it froze everything :D
Deleteit'll only be for milk and for the journey :) obviously if I can get the one I've got already working that's best.
And yeah, I've got a leisure battery which is charged from the alternator but does not draw charge from the main normal car battery, so no risk of that happening ;)
just a suggestion, but you might want to look at native 12v devices, especially laptops and the like. Taking 12v from a vehicle battery then upstepping to 240v to then go back down to the 18.3 - 19v that laptops actually use is majorly inefficient and a surefire way of draining the battery in a few hours. There are 12v notebooks etc (not many admittedly) out there.
ReplyDeletecheck out equipment for boats as a great source of general low voltage/ low power usage equipment - the best way to use energy is not to use it in the first place
That is not a bad suggestion. I am considering a 12v fridge to replace the broken multi-source fridge. My laptop actually comes with a 12v adapter too :) I think I need to do a bit of a study one what I need to provide power for. The biggest thing I will do, though, is get the mains connector working so I can charge the battery while plugged into a hook up :)
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