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