One week, no power, no water (a little bit maybe), overcast, raining, blowing and stormy.
Grey water system worked well and as expected. The 40 litre trundle tank is a little heavy to lift on the ute though and needs a handle at the wheels end. We went through too much water, and will need to conserve more when we do this again in the future.
300 watts of solar and two 100AH batteries in the van would not have lasted us, but I am able to connect up an aux. battery in the ute to run the van when ever possible, charging it via the vehicle charging system (whether on the road or stationary), together with a 12volt fridge we managed power wise.
All in all the week free camping was a good shake down and learning exercise. Apart from mud it was a pleasant stay.
Well done Ian. It's always good to get away and find out the little things that can be improved on ready for the next time. If you ever decide to get out here full time it will all go like clockwork. Most of the time anyway.
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DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
I thought the 12v Waeco fridge was cycling on more than should be, put it down to poor door seals and perhaps poor insulation around the box. I don't know if more solar would have helped, you need sunshine to make it work :), I believe the maximum time one is allowed to free camp at a spot is three days, we would have managed that easily. Anyway according to the campers at the van rally, this was the worst weather they had struck, so it can only get better.
The sun still shines during the day when your not camping also . Yes have to account for overcast days . With enough battery storage and solar to both keep supply and "charge" batteries !!
In summer if u run an external 60l freezer (evacool) ,,200w of panels and 100amp of batteries is a minimum ,,, a generator is the way to go to top up for o/night peace of mind,,,and dont worry about the donkeys who whinge about gennys u generally only need an hour to top the batttery up even using a small 7amp charger
In summer if u run an external 60l freezer (evacool) ,,200w of panels and 100amp of batteries is a minimum ,,, a generator is the way to go to top up for o/night peace of mind,,,and dont worry about the donkeys who whinge about gennys u generally only need an hour to top the batttery up even using a small 7amp charger
Hi turbopete,
The figures do not add up here. " u generally only need an hour to top the batttery up even using a small 7amp charger" That is exactly 7 amp hours. Top up a 100amp hr battery??? Hmmmm
One week, no power, no water (a little bit maybe), overcast, raining, blowing and stormy.
Grey water system worked well and as expected. The 40 litre trundle tank is a little heavy to lift on the ute though and needs a handle at the wheels end. We went through too much water, and will need to conserve more when we do this again in the future.
300 watts of solar and two 100AH batteries in the van would not have lasted us, but I am able to connect up an aux. battery in the ute to run the van when ever possible, charging it via the vehicle charging system (whether on the road or stationary), together with a 12volt fridge we managed power wise.
All in all the week free camping was a good shake down and learning exercise. Apart from mud it was a pleasant stay.
Great to hear that for the most, things worked ok.
The biggest problem I found was getting in and out of the van, as most of the time it was wet, we had no gumboots (Wellingtons), they are now on our shopping list. But also that the awning was retracted as we didn't dare leave it deployed in that weather. I was wishing for a small annex over the doorway where we could hang out coats and take off our shoes before getting in the van.
We had four water leaks, one from a basin hot water hose, which I fixed, two through the roof, and the third I was unable to trace. The rotating aerial came adrift when I was turning it, and as it came away, I broke the turning (aligning the aerial up with stations) part. The water pump switch on the water level unit also went faulty.
Hi Aus.- Kiwi Correct... Cloudy, ,,Load ,,Ambient Temp,,,Freezer or Frig..or combination,,,the generator is a must to keep food frozen in the event of a few days of
cloudy weather....in cloud an intermittent 3amps is as much as u can expect,,,.it follows that in o/cast weather less amps are needed to keep the
frig freezing during the day and less amps are used o/night ,i give an opinion from my own experience with the weather from 40deg +to -whatever,
Managing yr frig and power production is not complex,,it is a matter of having plenty of solar and batteries to store it,the more solar you
have the less managing u need to do,it costs $$$$... but solar has dropped dramatically in price recently unfortunately batteries have not. ,,,a
