YARRALIN NT LIFE - (was - time to hit the road... pack up your swag lets go)

[Fizzie]

Jeez, what'd you hit to do that to the tyre!!! 

[wakychapmans]

Jeez, what'd you hit to do that to the tyre!!! 

oh it's *not* a tyre...

that's a "bloomin' onion" from Outback Steakhouse ...

(also... we didn't notice it for like 40klm...)

and yes... we need a TPMS, we have one on the Troopy and I did buy the range extender and extra sensors for the van, but we've not been near our mechanic to get it wired in...

[wakychapmans]

so after the Duncan road trip, we knew that we need to do a few things to the Kedron.

Number one is a dust leak under the cafe seat (probably coming from the wheel arch, some sika will fix that).

But number two is the electrics.

electrical thread here...

https://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=59427.msg1071260#msg1071260

[wakychapmans]

we generally have the Kedron running on 240v via an Ampfibian plugged into the house when we're home. All the vans external lights are left on 24/7 (to deter those that might be considering inspecting it at night). The air con is left on (as Kyria likes to sometimes take her laptop out and work from there) and the fridge is running.

being in a community that runs off diesel generators... we occasionally have brown outs and blackouts... usually only 15-20 mins or so.

About 3 weeks back we had a few of them back to back. A day later, I noticed that the air con in the van was off and checked the circut breaker on the Ampfibian. Sure enough, it had done it's job and tripped.

Flicked it back on and the air con fired up just fine. A few days later another 15 min black out. We were at a friends house and forgot about it.

2 weeks later... I head to the van and the air con is off... aha... check the circut breaker. Sure enough... it's off. Flick it back on and think nothing more of it.

a week ago. head into the van to grab some frozen chocolate from the freezer. Odd... the freezer is off.

air con is on. Microwave light is on. Fridge is off.

I then spend 2 days chasing fuses etc for the fridge before I realise that the exterior and interior lights are not working. In fact... no 12v systems at all are working. even the battery and water monitors are blank.

start chasing it down... is the AC/DC charger dead? is the master fuse gone...

a lot of quiet time last night thinking and i recalled the blackout, and the circuit breaker being off for... two weeks??

ok. realisation.

the van was running on battery only for a full two weeks. All lights were on (no... not LED's either) and the fridge is 190L. There are three 130w solar panels but I know that two of them are cracked. So the van was trying to recharge each day from one measly 130w panel. And under some big trees no less.

The batteries are dead. Search online. Invicta 200ah (even from 2021) have a bluetooth app feature. Download the app, but it can't find the batteries. Phone Invicta for advice. AMAZINGLY helpful lady and then a tech guy run me through it.

The batteries BMS shut them down into sleep mode when they got too low. Being older, they don't have a button or a key to "awaken" them. They need a proper lithium charger with a "wake up" mode. (this why the app can't see them)

Off to katherine this weekend to see my mechanic (who is also an auto electrician) and then to Darwin to pick my wonderful wife at 1.30pm (Darwin time) from the airport after a conference in Melb the last week.

then back to Katherine and a large screen TV in time for the NRL grand final to watch NEWCASTLE SMASH THE ROOSTERS!

(we'll be dining on Red Rooster to assist the cause)

also getting 6 new Toyo MT's fitted to the Troopy as the Nitto MT's lasted less than 27,000 klms. This time with the 6 x Toyos we'll do a 6 tyre rotation every 6 weeks to hopefully extend their life. But I need to be in Katherine at 9am Saturday... so we're (three dogs and I) leaving Yarralin at 3am.  With the state of the Troopy rear tyres... and the sate of the 127klm track to the hwy, I'm allowing an extra 1.5h to get there,

Hopefully Badger (my mechanic) can get life back into the van batteries for me on Saturday.

[Pottsy]

Never a dull moment, safe travels.

[Rhojef]

Go the Knights 

[wakychapmans]

Go the Knights 

[MattNQ]

"The batteries BMS shut them down into sleep mode when they got too low. Being older, they don't have a button or a key to "awaken" them. They need a proper lithium charger with a "wake up" mode. (this why the app can't see them)"

I had that problem on our last trip. The van didn't have a DC-DC converter set up on the car feed, and just has an older solar controller. So when our van batteries went flat when sitting unused for a few rainy days visiting family in Toowoomba, neither the solar nor car feed could wake them up again. Had to juice them up again in Stanthorpe

[wakychapmans]

"The batteries BMS shut them down into sleep mode when they got too low. Being older, they don't have a button or a key to "awaken" them. They need a proper lithium charger with a "wake up" mode. (this why the app can't see them)"

I had that problem on our last trip. The van didn't have a DC-DC converter set up on the car feed, and just has an older solar controller. So when our van batteries went flat when sitting unused for a few rainy days visiting family in Toowoomba, neither the solar nor car feed could wake them up again. Had to juice them up again in Stanthorpe

same here... No DCDC charger was apparently fitted back in 2011. (I see Victron in my future)

[wakychapmans]

Had 6 new Toyo MTs in 285/75/16 fitted to the Troopy on Saturday morning.

I just had to make it the 500klm from Yarralin to Katherine with 127klm of Buchanan hwy at the start. (oh and I was towing a 3.5T Kedron van)... and I had to be there by 8am. (and I couldn't leave Yarralin on the Friday either)

Rear right Troopy tyre was toast. Knobs missing and tread blocks gone. Rear left isn't *as* bad (only one tread block torn off. Both front's are at the "I should replace these really soon" level but... they were all I had.

The swaps went: left side, swap front to back/back to front.
right side... front to back.

the only spare available now for the front right is the brand new Toyo AT spare off the Kedron. It's also a 265/75/16...

Surprisingly... the massively worn down 285 MT and the brand new 265 AT are really close to the same height. (See pic)

I set the alarm for 1:05am, woke up neatly at 1:02am, was on the road at 1:30am. (with three dogs and the van) Nursing three trashed tyres, *with* the van on the back meant taking the Buchanan section really slowly... 3.5 hours. and I allowed 3H for the 279klm to Katherine cruising easy.

Couldn't afford another blowout... Cruised the gravel section at 40kph... dodged every rock I spotted. Was seriously stressed out the entire time as... no actual spares. I had a very old 265/75 on the van and the original really trashed 285/75 MT with half a dozen knobs missing as my only Troopy spare.

Once I made it to katherine I breathed a long sigh of relief...

Made it at 7:30am. Dropped the van at Badgers so he could put his "wake up" lithium charger onto the van batteries and bring them back to life...

Dropped the two bois off at Rellams (air conditioned) pet boarding at 8am and had plenty of time to make it to Tyrepower by 9am for the new Toyo MT's to be fitted.

Then back to Badger to continue charging the 400ah of batteries in the Kedron and to remove the 15yo 130w panels and replace with one large 440w new panel (there is still space another of the 440w + a further 1,000w of panels).

I've actually kept the two 285/75 Nitto MT's that were originally on the front of the Troopy (and had swapped to the back for the day) as 3rd spares "just in case".

So the Troopy now has two brand new spares for the first time since we've owned it. The plan now is to rotate the tyres every 6-8 weeks to extend their life a little.

plan number 2 is to swap the Kedron over to 285/75 Toyo ATs. The wheels are matched (5/150, 0 offset 16") so I'll fit the 3 x ROH steel sunraiser from the old Getaway van to the Kedron (with a ROH that i already have and then buy two more) and swap the Kedron alloy wheels and the curtrent 265/75's over to the Getaway to be sold with it.

I'm a huge fan of wheel interchaneability out here

[wakychapmans]

work with me here oh assembled brains trust ok...

The charging systems in the Kedron date back to 2011. Only the batteries and the AC charger are from 2021.

to totally upgrade the charging systems in the Kedron with nice new (blue) Victron gear will set me back around $3900... that I don't have available (at least not all at once)... I did check down the back of the lounge... but only Samoyed floof

the planned upgrade entails:
1 x Victron Multiplus II 3000w inverter and 120a AC charger - $1600 (ish)
1 x Victron Orion 70a DCDC charger for the inverter (turns out the vans of this era' never had any form of inverter charging) - $590
3-4 Victron MPPT 100/50 solar chargers - $235 (each - but only need one right now)
1 x Victron Cerbo GX 70 with screen to monitor it all - $850

the van has 400ah of lithium currently. And as of last weekend a 440w solar panel on the top. There is a 2nd 440w to be fitted but time got away from us. We also have 4 x 250w panels from the Getway to swap over. and they will all fit.  We'll have 1880w all up. I know... that sounds like overkill, but at this time of year, we need to be able to run the air con for up to 10-12 hours. At it's not gong to get much below 30 overnight so...

This is the reason for allocating 4 x Victron MPPT chargers. 1 for each for the 440w panels and then 1 for each "pair" of 250w panels.

As I see it... right now the only thing stopping us being able to run the air con when off grid on the 12v (only) is the inverter. (the existing one is only 2000w and the air con needs a 3000w for the start up cycle)

At this time of year it's often 37 degrees up until 9pm and doesnt drop below 30 until midnight (if we're lucky). So weekend trips to Katherine with wife and dogs means air con is needed for the overnight trip in and home again.

my thinking is charge the batteries up in Yarralin with the 240v, drive to a rest area on solar and then camp for the night and use the air con as sparingly as we can. Head into Katherine the next day and charge the batteries up again using 240v at Badgers (our mechanic). Then home again that night.

So in terms of what Victron gear I need... in what order...

1) short term... I need the Multiplus inverter up front. The other existing systems in the van, while 15 years old... are not actually stopping the running of air con off grid. But the current 2000w inverter is a stop point. I need the Multiplus II to get around that.

2) next, would probably be the DCDC charger to load up power via the alternater while driving as we do a lot of driving... may as well charger the batteries from it.

3) the MPPT charger(s)... while the existing solar charger is old... it will do the job in the short term.

4) the fancy touch screen I can bypass with a phone app.

(does that seem logical to you guys?)

[xcvator]

Do you really need a dc/dc charger ? what about fitting a battery isolator and just run a cable to charge the batteries. The isolator will stop any unwanted draw from your starter battery .