Ours is sitting in the front yard at present all forlorn and lonely...
We keep the batteries topped up by plugging in for a day or 2 monthly, otherwise, with everything turned off, it just sits. With a new van, I'd be testing out the solar panels... is the fridge 12/240v? If so, see if the solar panels run it, check the batteries while its running etc.
You might also want to fill the water tanks, test the pump, taste the water, flush if needed.
Play with your new toy! Sleep in it overnight in your drive, its amazing how much you learn about your van that way. (Also amazing what you learn about your neighbors!)
Enjoy.
-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Friday 12th of April 2013 11:34:04 AM
Les and I got our van about 3 weeks ago, it is sitting in our driveway atm until we go out in it. We connected the electricity to it, as we wanted to checkout the fridge to see it was working, but we also have solar and batteries....
So our question is:
Should we leave it connected, or leave it alone?
We have never had a van with batteries, solar plus the electric, so we are unsure what to do....
Having solar I think you should be ok in keeping the batteries charged. Unless there is another reason to keep plugged into power.
My son explained to me when I was down in Geelong if I kept the C-Tek charger connected to the power and the batteries it would trickle charge and keep them full. Thats when I get the C-Tek charger and the fact I don't have permanent solar panels out there yet.
Not sure if that helps but my give you some ideas.
Yes the fridge is a 3 way, so gas, electric and battery. Didn't think of testing the solar, so we will do that. We are waiting for our youngest to sleep over at friends so we can test out the van. We have tested the pump, but not tasted the water yet.
I personally use the baby bottle sterilising fluid Milton. I recently two thirds filled my fresh water tank,added a bottle of Milton fluid and drove around for ten mins.
I then disposed of the water and refilled the tank.Not a bit of an aftertaste and the water was as good as the house water.
Reason I use Milton is they consider it safe for cleaning babies bottles and teats so harmless.
To get long life from your house batteries, you should keep them fully charged. When not in use I keep 240 volts connected and I have solar. Being fully charged, the batteries get warm and the water evaporates slowly. Whether using my MH or it's sitting in the yard, I check the batteries weekly and top up with water if required. Use distilled water, not tap water which contains minerals and is harmful to the internal plates.
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Retired Airline Pilot and Electrician..
I'm not old, I've just been young a long time....Ken
Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
I find it is always wise to test new equipment before you leave home and I also make sure that everything in the van is working properly it save a lot of hassles when you hit the road ,,, cheers
If you find you need to run your 240v charger while sitting at home then I would take the opportunity to get someone to look at your solar system as it is not working well.
If you were Free Camping you would be running lights, tv, sat decoder, water pump etc etc and the battery should be on Float (fully charged) after 2 - 4 hours sunshine so, if at home with nothing running you should NEVER need to run your 240v charger. The Solar Controller should look after the trickle charge. Ovserve the battery condition, try to never let it get below 12.2 volts while camping.
When we got our last (current) new van we went on a short, week long trip away to sort out any bugs & discover what we had forgotten to pack. Well, we found many things, the first of which was a notebook & pen to write stuff down.
Regards
Neil
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Neil & Lynne
Pinjarra
Western Australia
MY23.5 Ford Wildtrak V6 Dual Cab / 21' Silverline 21-65.3
