looks like a nice spot HW.

good to hear from you.

Barb

Well H V I arrived last night at Chrisies Beach Echuca and today  Good Friday it is overcast and very chilly unlike many Easters gone bye...Still! I;m glad to be back amongst the smell of camp fires and Chain saws.....Am next  to a local sheep farming family kids and dogs and terrific chats around thecamp fire Roast Potatoes and many other goodies....This is definatly  the Life...And my Computer is going strong...Can't waite to see if mt Tv can get a signal  Collingwood and Essendon for Monday's Game

How is the Hiace going? I wish I was on the road, But a lack of that essential, money, keeps me working.Now is the time to be heading north, and having your own business ties you down. Have a great trip. Bill

All the best HW, I think a few people were starting to fret over missing you, Lol.

Have a great Easter and a fantastic trip......

Looks good mate, were you the only camper there for the night?

Woo hoo, the girl has hit the ground running.

Ok, Have recharged the battery at the Roadhouse cafe, lovely people. Last night in the photo was 39 ks north of jerilderie, a lovely spot and heaps of trucks, a bit noisy and as my inhouse battery has carked it I lay in the dark thinking of ways to rearrange the furniture in here and listening to the trucks go by. Didn't get a lot of sleep as soon as I started to doze off a very noisy one would go past or one would come in and park having its generator going all night. BUT being the first night it was good knowing there were people nearby especially Betty and mal in their caravan, who were parked just around the trees from me. It turns out they are great friends of Ken Thomas as I mentioned in the other thread.
Its very cold here tonight Wyalong Shell Roadhouse but good cafe and free showers so that has compensated for it. I took my Camps Wide book into study and make notes while havig a cuppa. A truckie called out asking where I was looking to go etc. He eventually came over and sat down, went through the book with me and found my next two stops to work around going to Dubbo Zoo.
So tomorrow I am going as far as Tomingly 1 ks north of Peak Hill, spelt wrong I think where he said there is a good stop, and not far before the dubbo zoo, then the next day do the zoo and go on to Gilgandra where he said there is a good road house each end .
This truckie lives in Gayndah which is not far from where my son lives in Biggenden. He's parked in a truck out hte back here. I'm the only camper parked out the front in a little siding, a little walk from the loos which stay open all night and plenty of light to seewhere I'm going.
Its really cold so won't be putting the top up and will be wrapping myslef in the 3 blankets I brought with me. Last night I froze with the top up but hadthe gas on for the fridge and always a bit weary about gas. Tonight I have just left the gas and fridge off, ok as I won't be openig it at all.

You will be glad for the new battery than Marj thats for sure.

 

We have a feather doona that is easy to store but really warm if need be. Its been a godsend on some nights as well. Your fridge will be fine in this weather mate.

 

Nice of that chap to help you out with a bit of "local knowledge" wasn't it. The truckies are usually in the know.

Shame about Punky Marj, but it was obviously the right thing for you to do at the moment.   Probably when you've had more experience on the road, and are more confident, you'll get another one.

Bummer about the Battery too.  Glad you've got a lamp to read by though.  Sounds as though you're meeting all the helpful people you need along the way.   Great isn't it ?

Take care,

Cheers,

Sheba. 

I have to disagree a little with Jim (sorrry Jim), I have found the most effective way to handle our laptops is via a cig plug adaptor which we also use to charge when traveling and also more power effective when parked up. I just purchased a new battery, 110 a/h marine deep cycle and start battery, wet cell but it also is cabable of starting the vehicle with 660 cca. It was $310. They also tested our other deep cycle batteries for $11 each but that wasnt charged on the purchase of our new battery. The est was done over a 36 hour time frame as deep cycle cant be load tested like a start battery. We dealt with battery world in Albany but they are every where
Happy travels marj
cheers
blaze

ps I also believe you should aim to evntually have every thing straight 12 volt and only use the invertor in emergencies. We havnt used ours yet

-- Edited by blaze on Saturday 23rd of April 2011 09:23:02 AM

Hi Blaze,

In general I do agree with your thoughts regarding charging the laptop and have often said as much on this forum, I fact I made this point a previous post in response to Happywanderer. I have also expressed my view that inverters should not be used with sensitive electronic devices unless they are pure sine wave. Like you I prefer to avoid using inverters and the only use I've given mine (a rather old 200 watt square wave type) is to power a soldering iron to do some urgent repairs.

Marj did recently purchase a 300w pure sine wave principally to power her TV so I took this into account in my response, also that she is out on the road and may wish to wait until she arrives at her SinL's place when she will then have the time to think through these issues. It was with this in mind I went against my normal advice as I felt the money would be better put towards a good quality battery.

On the subject of aux batteries in cars ("house" batteries in motorhomes/campervans) I also agree that a dual purpose battery is a much better choice than a deep cycle wet or gel battery. In addition to the advantages you mention they also can accept a higher charging current and and thus recharge much quicker. Several years ago a (then) professional tag-along operator I know used Yuasa "Overlander" (starting) batteries for their aux battery as they found from experience these were more suitable than "deep cycles". This was in the days before AGMs were readily available. One advantage of AGMs over wet (flooded) batteries is their better tolerance to deep (or total) discharges.

I currently use an Optima Red Top (starting) battery for my aux in the tug. (I don't have the physical space to install anything larger) This battery is 9 years old and during it's life it's been a starting battery, marine battery, caravan battery and now an aux battery in the tug. During it's life there have been times when it sat for lengthy periods without being recharged. My current battery in the Goldstream is on its "last legs" so I'll be replacing it before heading out again. (oops sorry about that terrible unintended pun)

Jim

-- Edited by jimricho on Saturday 23rd of April 2011 10:09:28 AM

jimricho wrote:

---

Marj did recently purchase a 300w pure sine wave principally to power her TV so I took this into account in my response, also that she is out on the road and may wish to wait until she arrives at her SinL's place when she will then have the time to think through these issues. It was with this in mind I went against my normal advice as I felt the money would be better put towards a good quality battery.

---

 

Also believe that the 12v-power source for the laptop is the way to go.

However from reading HWs posts one gathers due to the R/S battery she has no internal lights, power for the sine wave inverter so no TV or power for whatever else that a requires 240v.

So agree with Jim, particularly on a tight budget, that the around $70 for a 12v power supply solely for the computer (eg http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MP3476) would be better put towards a new good battery that will solve all immediate problems in the short term.

A few days or a week without the Internet will do no long-term harm, though maybe some short-term withdrawal symptoms, LOL.

 

Just a quick note on here tonight so don't waste the battery. Change of plans. Came right through to Gilgandra today and staying behind the Caltex that the truckie recommended. Did that and will see dubbo zoo on way back home t osave money as will have to get a new house battery and do want to get a ciggie charger as well for the laptop. So good to read all your comments on here to see what is the best etc.
Will sort all that out when I get to sons in Biggenden.
So need al the money I can now. The Shell roadhouse lat night kindly let me chargethe laptop so have a little power left on it now. Talking to a lady here whose son is managing this roadhouse tonight. She said take laptop in to the toilet or showers and plug into the power point there so may go do that now.
Its not too much of a problem as long as I'm not missed to much hahaha.
I can do without it for a few days, boought batteries for my radio cd player so now have some music. As long as I can have some charge to pay my bills next Wednesday, Maybe at Jules by then so will ask her nicely if I can have some power. Pretty please.
Ok, off here now, will read all the posts later when I have more power. All going well and its getting very warm, changing into light clothes tomorrow.

Hi guys, just on here quickly before curling up for the night with a book. Funny story and has to be told. Not sure if I told earlier the speedo jams on the 9s. at 699. 799, etc the little one that does the 10th comes around and then it struggles to get to the zeros.Well today it was at 194,899 took about 20 ks to get around to clicking over, most times between 5 or 10 ks. Then that one took over 20ks. THEN I get to 194999 waiitng for the big turn over to 195,000 ks. I'M STILL WAITING 200 ks later. I rang son in law, said Now I know why this has low ks. It has been losing anything from 5 to 20 ks at each turn over. Now over 200 ks on the big one. The true reading is likely to be anything up to 100,000 more.
He said Well at least it will have low ks if you decide to sell it. I find it very funny. After the battery incident you can't do anything but laugh. So I am using my camps wide book to see what I'm doing in mileage as Myrtle can't tell me.
Will be interesting tomorrow if it does manage to click over. The struggle is so funny to watch, the zeros come into view an d click it all goes back to the 9999. Every click I look to see if its made it yet. I wonder if it will ever move again.

Any ideas of cheap /free sites to look at on the way through Coonabraban, Narribri and Moree tomorrow, would be helpful. Will check in here briefly in the morning.