Drovers new Rig - "Big Mal"

[Drover]

Bum ...................... I see a drip of water dropping from front of van lower trim to ground, close inspection shows its coming from a tiny hole in the rubber stone guard, its been on for probably 7 years or so and replaced the original vinyl blanket thing Coromal fitted, which a branch came up off the road decided to impail ed itself into the front of van via the stone guard vinyl, great for stones, not so trees.

I grabbed my Stanley Knife, hoping it would be a simple cut out and replace a section, not turning into a Daisy Chain, of course by the time I had followed the water I had opened up a track from one side to the other, as the water had worked its way across and down to escape, easily lifted in some places but others its sticking like the proverbial, might have to use a heat gun it to loosen the Quick Grip, experiment time again .............

So far it looks like it was confined to between the rubber and the van wall a bit more poking around to confirm and then I think I will spray it with Stone Chip Paint, no chance of water leaks and if it chips easy enough to touch up.................... Using Alloy Chekka plate too hard to fit and still can get water behind , paint is just so much easier should have done it last time... Toss up if to just use spray cans or get out the body paint gun, one is more expensive and one the chance of making a big bluddy mess is greater.............

 

[Drover]

0600, notice freeezer is down to -4.2c , not good, check flu and pipes are warm but not burny, burny so fired it up on Gas and by the time I had finished my coffee, flu was Hot and so were the pipes .. Further checks showed the 240v element was throwing 249 ohms so my hope for a dud element was dashed as its within specs, couple of possibilities but they can wait till we get home when its nice and cold and I can do a good check of things and have my clamp to read what the power feed actually is ... Canberra is bluddy cold anyway.......

 

[Drover]

The Gods were smiling upon me, get home unload Big Mal and with fridge only running on Gas and the 240v heater element check inconclusive last week so before I start pulling things apart, I thought I will plug it into shore power for a good 12 hrs before I get out the tools, fridge being empty makes it a lot better ....................... At 1030 today I checked the fridge, freezer at -18c, fridge at 2c so either the last 1500kms shook something or the power at the park in Canberra had dropped off big time overnight and with a heater hanging off every power point in the park I wondered if poor supply but wasn't going to experiment with a full fridge as Gas was okay ........... Anyway all good now so a nice $$ saving .............. might just chuck my 240 line reader in bag next time, hate using my multi meter on mains stuff ......

 

[Hitting the road]

I reckon a fair chance of voltage supply being well below 230v...given the number of people playing with electric cars and demanding Caravan parks allow them to plug in, plus as you note likely dozens of heaters going and air conditioners.
If you were toward the end of the supply line voltage would definitely not be the same as if you were at the head...could well have been the cause of the fridge playing up...

 

[Drover]

I reckon a fair chance of voltage supply being well below 230v...given the number of people playing with electric cars and demanding Caravan parks allow them to plug in, plus as you note likely dozens of heaters going and air conditioners.
If you were toward the end of the supply line voltage would definitely not be the same as if you were at the head...could well have been the cause of the fridge playing up...

When I had the reading at the high end of the ohm scale with the element I was hoping that was the case and thinking back I did notice the ice cream was a bit soft on previous days but the temp was okay so I imagine it had dropped overnight, big reasonably new park with substantial power lines but when its 1c everyone has the heaters going full noise, being Canberra and 100% renewable no sun, no wind lol,lol ............... I'm just glad I don't have to pull things apart ...

 

[Drover]

Big Mals AC died end of last year , my diagnosis was compressor stuffed and that has been confirmed not worth trying to repair these things I reckon and today was a big clean and maintenance inside the Van, lost a few kgs and near died from drowning in sweat ...................
Was pointed out we might want to go away later in year and AC would be needed so with that command/incentive/permission I ordered a Freshjet FJZ Pro so we will again have AC, bought it from CaravanRVCamping a mob I've used before in Brissie, very nice discount, free freight and saved a good $300 on other quotes and it was under 2K with discounts ................... Picked the right time as Specials are now on all over the place...
and the fridge still works ......................

 

[jazzeddie1234]

Big Mals AC died end of last year , my diagnosis was compressor stuffed and that has been confirmed not worth trying to repair these things I reckon and today was a big clean and maintenance inside the Van, lost a few kgs and near died from drowning in sweat ...................
Was pointed out we might want to go away later in year and AC would be needed so with that command/incentive/permission I ordered a Freshjet FJZ Pro so we will again have AC, bought it from CaravanRVCamping a mob I've used before in Brissie, very nice discount, free freight and saved a good $300 on other quotes and it was under 2K with discounts ................... Picked the right time as Specials are now on all over the place...
and the fridge still works ......................

I had a look at the specs since my coolman is over 10 years old. Looks good. Will you post a bit of a review of the swap and new features?

 

[Drover]

@jazzeddie1234 I will do that, I do like the option of being able to control the power use and that it would be possible to run it while off grid , my Ibis Mk III ran okay on the LRPS which is only 2kva and this one should actually run better as it has the ability to be able to adjust the power settings ...........
Just using my batteries and an invertor for off grid, isn't an option I would like as only 240ah Lithium and 560w of solar I would need to up it to minimum 400ah and 800w at least along with a new invertor of 2500/3000w plus a bit of rewiring so give that a miss, would want to be able to run it and have the panels cover the power use at same time so by late arvo when you would shut it down the batteries are still at full noise, have seen folk running their AC during the day, she's all good they reckoned but that night ran out of battery .... salesman wrong again...

 

[jazzeddie1234]

Yeah, I looked at options to run the aircon on batteries and decided to give it a miss for now and put up with the frowns when I fire up the honda.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

A hybrid option could be to have enough battery to run the air con for 2-4 hours at night and use the generator with a grunty charger during the day to supplement the solar

 

[Drover]

When it gets that hot we usually go to town, nice pub/club will usually sort out the problem, it doesn't get run very often anyway and we don't camp near others, I have found the dog on her chain is a better deterrent for camping too close than a genny or country music ...... so running the LRPS is all good...

Mind you if fuel stays high a few more panels and a bit of wiring will happen..


Its coming today, 1 day from Brissie to Gympie (260km) and 2 days Gympie to Tin Can (55kms) ...................

 

[Hitting the road]

Running the air cond off batteries does need some serious electrical work. I thought about it as well, but would have to look at a 3000w inverter as a minimum rather than the 2000w I now have, plus upgrade some wiring. I'd like to do much more off grid camping but the bride still prefers the creature comforts a park offers majority of the time.

That said, even if I did buy and fit a 3000w inverter, I don't have the roof space to fit the extra solar panels I would need to pump up the batteries. But...I do have a 3kva generator so in the event I was heading off grid potentially in the stifling heat of a summers day I'd definitely be packing that in first...lol

 

[Drover]

Running the air cond off batteries does need some serious electrical work. I thought about it as well, but would have to look at a 3000w inverter as a minimum rather than the 2000w I now have, plus upgrade some wiring. I'd like to do much more off grid camping but the bride still prefers the creature comforts a park offers majority of the time.

That said, even if I did buy and fit a 3000w inverter, I don't have the roof space to fit the extra solar panels I would need to pump up the batteries. But...I do have a 3kva generator so in the event I was heading off grid potentially in the stifling heat of a summers day I'd definitely be packing that in first...lol

95% off grid with us and really only have needed to run the AC a handfull of times in the last 10 years, not really warrant the outlay , even last Xmas when it was certainly bluddy hot it wasn't that bad as we camped by a river in a valley, unlike surrounded by vans we had airflow but if the AC was operational the LRPS would have been in action ..
Did the plan a long time back for my mate from WA, he fell over when I showed him what was needed, he had a compressor fridge so the storage alone was humungous before you added the extra panels .....
An old workmate of mine who went into the battery game, has/had a mighty set up in his van, some 900w on roof, I think 750ah and a monster invertor to run everything, I couldn't have afforded the battery cables let alone the rest of it all but he still carried a LRPS ....
Thursday the fella is coming to do the fit out, it's a worry that I have to get someone to do the job though, my hands are stuffed and all my mates are too bluddy old as well and grandkids are in another state ............ Be watching like a hawk though ...

 

[DRW]

Last rally (my brand) I went to we discussed extra batteries extra solar inverters etc, one guy I actually get along with spent over $15,000 on a full setup and said it’s a pure waste of money. I’m in the middle of a two plus month trip from Bundaberg (my home town) to the gulf and return via western QLD. We did stop at a couple of parks we weren’t scheduled to but 38 degrees got me, $40 per night a few times seams less expensive than extra solar/lithium etc. don’t ask me about fuel though!!!!!

 

[Drover]

Okay Pay Day and I spent a good bit of it, the fellas turned up to fit the new AC in/on Big Mal, not really all that difficult but none of my mates here are limber enough to help, old farts all of them so paid someone to do it, something that doesn't come easy for me ... Must be getting old as I left the the old one where I would once keep it to dismantle, always some good bits, screws bolt, fittings etc .. Now its stuff it ....................................

It runs so quiet you have to check if its going, no window rattling, the interior lights are cool and it does have some nice functions, its not noisy so that wins me, Big Mal has had a B3000 in it, noisy shake the windows out affair then a Ibis Mk III, I thought it was fantastic, smooth operation, quiet but this FreshJet FJZ Pro is 3.4 cooling, and is so quiet the Sirocco on half throttle is noisier ...................... As for the WiFi/bluetooth bling, only interested in it for adjusting the power needs if running the LRPS off grid so we will see but I imagine the LRPS will have no dramas operating but may do a test run later just to see id=f any advantage to be had.... The remote stuff would be using precious data so I doubt it will be activated while off grid.

Since I was watching things unfold it came as no surprise to find a stuff up from the hail repair back in 2018, they cut the new roof panel before they fitted it, so much for experts, lay the new skin then do the cutouts of course, they did a good bog job as it has never leaked and I put these fitters on notice though, to which they asured me would be all good and they know if it leaks it won't bode well ............................. I even lent them some gear for the job and they will be making the same next week as it made their job so much easier ... and I got a discount ....

Good chance I'll give it a genny run in a few days unless I put the gennies fuel in the mower .................. might even plug the meter in to see..

All in all a tidy unit, lighter than the Ibis MkIII and I have no problems recomending www.caravanrvcamping.com.au as a supplier for this stuff, they have supplied my Fridge and now this AC and both times I have saved quite a few hundred $$, fast freight direct from Dometic in Brissie actually and hundreds of $$ cheaper than the manufacturers web site or other places ..


*** LRPS is a Honda 2kva ............... Little Red Power Station......

... RH side

.. rear view