Drovers new Rig - "Big Mal"

[Drover]

A flurry of fix it's, hardly use my bed lamp and for some reason there is only one reading light at the table and of course you can guess who claims that so I thought I will relocate the bed lamp to the table and fit a USB socket by the bed which can charge phone but also plug in a USB led light which I have, brilliant so away I went just forgot to check if the USB will fit, now waiting for new lamp from eBay to arrive to fill hole by bed.......fitted new 35amp fuse to fridge and very nearly fitted fan inside fridge, pulled apart 240v charger and cooling fan seems stuffed so unit is cooking and chucking a wobbly, 6 fans in box and none the right size...


Can now read paper

Works in theory but not enough room between the walls.........

 

[Drover]

3 days of rain here so enabled a good test and check of recent leak repairs and pleased to see no leaks, confirmed the window leak was actually a loose rivet higher up from window, replacement of a heap of them ensured success, pity I had removed the damn window twice chasing the leak..........have done a good 600km since the fix so that should have given it some flexing so now rain to prove it and all good.

 

[Crusty181]

3 days of rain here so enabled a good test and check of recent leak repairs and pleased to see no leaks, confirmed the window leak was actually a loose rivet higher up from window, replacement of a heap of them ensured success, pity I had removed the damn window twice chasing the leak..........have done a good 600km since the fix so that should have given it some flexing so now rain to prove it and all good.

Where are you hiding ??

 

[Drover]

Where are you hiding ??

Not away, at home, just did a small run the other week and this is the first bit of rain for ages, that could check repairs......another few weeks till we hit the road.

 

[Drover]

Well, Big Mal now has 200amps of battery capacity (fitted another 100ah GEL to the system), so the 200w of fixed solar and 120w of portable should be able to keep the readout in the high 12's and give a bit of leg room on those cloudy days, only need the LRPS for the washing machine............

 

[Drover]

Cleaning out a box of stuff and found a set of USB speakers that I used to use with a laptop and since I use the vans stereo for the TV sound as these little TVs have crap speakers these USB units works heaps better, better still I save a bit of power as the stereo is a bit hungry.
They might get a spray job before mounting them up out if the way.



Actually got the power station tidied up and working well.



Solar Do Hickey with 240 gizmo on the left, switches for boot light and one to turn power on for the heater unit.



Nearly forgot, follow up from earlier here's my $19 bed lamp from eBay, smaller than the others but comes up good......

 

[Drover]

Bum, the repair to my Projecta Charger to fix the non functioning fan was only a partial success, where before it didn't work now it only runs for about an hour then shuts down so the thermo switch is cactus I would say, might just wire it up to 12v so it runs all the time which I think it would be doing anyway in a cupboard.......in the fullness of time anyway as solar does it all most of the time........................

 

[Drover]

3 hrs running, no fault, unit is cool so the temporary fan works, double sided tape holding it over the built in fan vent ,drawing power from my boot light.......see how it goes and if all good will open the unit and just disconnect the fan and plug in to external 12v supply might be easier than finding a supply in the box.....never know.....

 

[Drover]

We are on a roll today, fixed van battery charger, gave the AC a run to make sure, ran Genny , so Big Mals check nearly complete, so thought it may be 4 or 5 days before we roll, will run up the fridge early, all good and suddenly I was inspired to fit the fridge internal fan, after sitting on the bench for at least a year or so, 30 mins later and she's humming away...... Was going to fit a switch so it would shut down when door opened but why ?? door isn't open long enough to warrant the effort, may fit a switch later as once you turn the fridge on its going, will see how things go, may have to move it lower, who knows...... @Boots in Action I've got it done at long last, fan higher or lower ??????? ....what do ya reckon ??

 

[Crusty181]

We are on a roll today, fixed van battery charger, gave the AC a run to make sure, ran Genny , so Big Mals check nearly complete, so thought it may be 4 or 5 days before we roll, will run up the fridge early, all good and suddenly I was inspired to fit the fridge internal fan, after sitting on the bench for at least a year or so, 30 mins later and she's humming away...... Was going to fit a switch so it would shut down when door opened but why ?? door isn't open long enough to warrant the effort, may fit a switch later as once you turn the fridge on its going, will see how things go, may have to move it lower, who knows...... @Boots in Action I've got it done at long last, fan higher or lower ??????? ....what do ya reckon ??

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Hot air rises, cool air falls .... lower is my baseless uneducated guess

 

[Drover]

That's what I was thinking but it fitted better.

 

[Boots in Action]

We are on a roll today, fixed van battery charger, gave the AC a run to make sure, ran Genny , so Big Mals check nearly complete, so thought it may be 4 or 5 days before we roll, will run up the fridge early, all good and suddenly I was inspired to fit the fridge internal fan, after sitting on the bench for at least a year or so, 30 mins later and she's humming away...... Was going to fit a switch so it would shut down when door opened but why ?? door isn't open long enough to warrant the effort, may fit a switch later as once you turn the fridge on its going, will see how things go, may have to move it lower, who knows...... @Boots in Action I've got it done at long last, fan higher or lower ??????? ....what do ya reckon ??

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Wonders will never cease @Drover . IMHO, where you have placed the fan, in theory , it would be just moving the colder air dropping down from the evaporator above. Will certainly move the air around, but I have the feeling that the cold air will tend to settle at the bottom where circulation is almost non existent. That might not be the best for your health as the "Boss" (yes, I have one too!!!!) does not like the lettuce or cucumber or tomatoes frozen. If you have enough length, try it is both positions. Some things look wrong in theory, but in practice can be successful. As you know, I have a bet BOTH ways - larger fan at bottom and a smaller one just to side of evaporator above. I am still in the "good books" at this stage and my beers still get cold. Certainly better than no fan, but the case for an inline switch is strong. Good luck.

 

[Boots in Action]

Hot air rises, cool air falls .... lower is my baseless uneducated guess

Don't UNDER-RATE yourself @Crusty181 , remember you are almost a "Tech Head" now!! Cheers

 

[Drover]

I was also of a mind that lower down because the items are closer together the fan would not be circulating the air over a large area, higher up there nothing in the way so the air will have movement and cause movement over a larger area.... I think a penguin fridge would fit inside mine.....................if it passes the lettuce test then all is good.

 

[Boots in Action]

I was also of a mind that lower down because the items are closer together the fan would not be circulating the air over a large area, higher up there nothing in the way so the air will have movement and cause movement over a larger area.... I think a penguin fridge would fit inside mine.....................if it passes the lettuce test then all is good.

Hi @Drover , as long as the cold air is not allowed to settle undisturbed in a pocket lower down, it should pass the all important "lettuce test". I trust that you have some sort of stand off from the wall BEHIND the fan to let it drag air into the rear of fan. Not much happens if fan attached flat against wall of fridge! Yeah, close about the size of your fridge compared to my 91 litre Penguin fridge. The bottom part of my fridge would easily fit into the area your fan is trying to move air around . Good luck. Remember, happy wife (no frozen lettuce) means happy life (to consume cold beverages in peace). Cheers

 

[Drover]

Well as a catch up 3 mths of fan testing in autumn and again in winter near Antartica resulted in no frozen lettuce or tomatoes so the fan position is good, just need to add a switch.

I recently stopped at the Van Hospital to check up on Big Mal who's getting a skin graft, I checked him out while he was naked and was surprised at the level of insulation that Coromal had fitted, very few gaps, still doesn'ty seem to do much really but after looking at some other rigs younger than Mal I am so glad Big Mal has a metal frame, the Van Doc is happy also as wood ones can be problematic, today I dropped a spare vent off that I had, seems this small vent is a bugger to source and Coromal has to get it from the USA so Big Mal may have been sitting there all finished bar this small vent, so smiles all round when I said I had a spare, if it hasn't turned up they will use mine, I'm happy and the new skin is being put on today so I'm really chuffed, just hope it's a good job, it will be off on a quick shake down trip and park under a fire hose to check for leaks....................

I would have loved to be able to put all those cables in cable runs or conduit and add a bit more styro, run a few extra data cables around as well, glad I took photo's, feel safer later on when I do the odd Mod.....

 

[DRW]

It will be like a new van without the loss of the bank balance, where is your "shake down" Ian?
We are supposed to pick ours up on Friday, we will see where that goes, if it happens we are going to Elliot heads for a long week end the following week or Miara just depends on the weather, not sure if the fires damaged Miara.

 

[Drover]

I've been thinking of EH, can visit my brother in law, Chris can do a Kmart resupply and I might give the fish population a hammering (or not) just depends on when Big Mal gets home, we have free loaders arriving in a few weeks...of course hairdressers, doctors and clubs things may take priority.

 

[DRW]

Let’s wait and see, our van is in Sydney on a broken down truck..................

 

[Drover]

Oh crap....