Fitted extra solar before we left on this trip. Decided to have a weeks test run at home before we left to make sure everything was running ok.
First day everything seemed OK until the cook tripped a 12v circuit breaker, I went to the panel to reset the breaker & noticed the 4 x 25amp blade panel fuses had melted all the plastic off. A little concerned as they have a peak input of about 15amps I asked my young bloke where he got them from? Out of that Supercheap grab kit dad. Lesson learnt, replaced the with quality fuses of the correct rating from my Hella kit & the problem was solved.
Three weeks into our trip & the 15ltr Engel drinks fridge stops working, check to see if the green light is activated on the cigarette lighter plug & it's all good, checked the power light on the fridge & it's also lit up but still no fridge. Stopped at Ayres Rock camp & broke out the multi meter to try and find the problem. Cheap fuse in the power cord was the culprit, had 14v at the ciggie socket but only 7.2v at the plug end of the cord. Fuse looked intact but had failed inside the metal end giving reduced voltage & no amperage.
First thing I do when I get home is bin EVERY fuse kit that is not Hella or Narva as I'm over the constant little issues they throw up. We changed all the fuses in the motorhome to manual reset thermal breakers after our last trip after having constant problems as we travelled, trying to find the right fuse in the middle of the night has knobs on it.
The old adage of you get what you pay for definitely applies here.
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The government cannot give anything to anybody that the Government does not first take from somebody else.
With more than 30 years working full time on extra low voltage systems I have picked up the odd clue on what works best. My point was this cheap crap being put on the market can & will catch you out, even for someone with my experience.
I keep telling my clan "don't bring this stuff into my workshop" it gets mixed with reputable brand gear & problems like we have had keep arising.
Stopped into Autopro in Tennant Creek to source replacements & he offered another brand at half the price, told him thanks but no thanks as at that stage I had replace the fridge fuse 7 times. Put a 30 amp fuse in the fridge cord as the outlet is protected by an 8 amp breaker, problem solved. There is nothing wrong with the fridge, just crap fuses in my spares kit.
Aus-kiwi: Have rewired & relocated most of the house wiring, was a professional fit out on this Coaster when new & the auto sparky needs a pineapple !! Cabinet makers had drilled securing screws through the Toyota wiring harness, & I only found this out after fault finding the LHR taillight not working when it went for roadworthy.
Can't beat circuit breakers, & beats looking around for a fuse in the middle of the night.
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The government cannot give anything to anybody that the Government does not first take from somebody else.
