Kedron Compact XC3
- Thread starter yabbietol
- Start date
Not exactly, I did ask and was advised that 3.2m clearance would be fine (I have 3.3m opening in my shed). I am getting 17" wheels which obviously increase height more than 16" which are the more common wheel size. I looked at the same model van in the factory which was about 95% assembled, 3.1m does appear to be the typical Kedron height.
Currently they have quite a few vans assembled (18) and at the factory ready for the Brisbane Caravan Show so it should be possible to contact them and get them to give you a height for a particular model van. Don't forget to ask what size wheels they have fitted, it is only a small height difference, but could be important if tolerances are close.
Regards
Terry
PS I should add I got swing doors made for my shed by a Colourbond fence supplier in Queanbeyan, they are really garden gates max height 3.1m, so I have yet to add 0.2m of Colourbond on top of gates (doors), they cost $1500 to get made, but are real solid and well made.
Currently they have quite a few vans assembled (18) and at the factory ready for the Brisbane Caravan Show so it should be possible to contact them and get them to give you a height for a particular model van. Don't forget to ask what size wheels they have fitted, it is only a small height difference, but could be important if tolerances are close.
Regards
Terry
PS I should add I got swing doors made for my shed by a Colourbond fence supplier in Queanbeyan, they are really garden gates max height 3.1m, so I have yet to add 0.2m of Colourbond on top of gates (doors), they cost $1500 to get made, but are real solid and well made.
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Thanks @yabbietol I have spoken to them and they are non committal and same as you suggest 3.2. I can get about 3.2 outta my shed with a panel lift so that's cool. I am just forecasting for the next van, totally happy with the 17.6 starcraft for now.
June 3 to 9, Kedron now have 20 vans for the show.
Have a good time at the show.
http://www.kedroncaravans.com/layouts.html
Have a good time at the show.
http://www.kedroncaravans.com/layouts.html
Just committed to getting the 200Ah Kedron (Enedrive) Lithium battery system in our new van, it includes a Battery Management System (BMS), a fancy 40A charger (ePOWER) and a DC to DC converter (for charging from our tows Anderson plug). It is set up with 300W of solar and will have an additional Anderson plug for charging from folding solar panels.
We have now committed to having Kedron fit a Xantrex 1800W inverter, it will be hard wired into all power points and will have the appropriate breaker for safety and an automatic 240v bypass for when we have a powered site. So we are now looking at the ability to free camp and still use the microwave and our bread maker.
I am a celiac and so we need to bake our own bread every few days. I did some tests at home with our bread maker and a cheapo Aldi power meter and worked out conservatively our bread maker should use around 40Ah to bake a gluten free loaf. This should be fine on a sunny day with our 300W of solar and 200Ah lithium. So hopefully we can do more free camping for extended periods. In the longer term we will consider if we need more solar or a small generator for battery charging (not too keen on generators), eventually some real world testing will tell us if we need more power generation.
We also have a slight delay on our van pickup, due to Kedron getting a few weeks behind in their orders. We are now hoping for delivery last week of August or early September.
I am a celiac and so we need to bake our own bread every few days. I did some tests at home with our bread maker and a cheapo Aldi power meter and worked out conservatively our bread maker should use around 40Ah to bake a gluten free loaf. This should be fine on a sunny day with our 300W of solar and 200Ah lithium. So hopefully we can do more free camping for extended periods. In the longer term we will consider if we need more solar or a small generator for battery charging (not too keen on generators), eventually some real world testing will tell us if we need more power generation.
We also have a slight delay on our van pickup, due to Kedron getting a few weeks behind in their orders. We are now hoping for delivery last week of August or early September.
We have 340w of solar and 235ah worth of batteries and have found that if you get a few bad days of no sun shinning and are a big power user you still struggle with just solar . If it's sunny then never a problem .
That's why we have a Yamaha generator just in case .
We find water our biggest consumable
That's why we have a Yamaha generator just in case .
We find water our biggest consumable
A generator is a possible purchase for us, but we will wait till we pick up out van and test out its solar and battery systems. We are thinking of possibly a 1Kw Yamaha (or Honda) for charging batteries, nice and light <13Kg, but a 2Kw generator may also be an option. This possible purchase will have to wait a little while and will need a whole lot of research by us.
It is interesting water is your limiting factor for free camping.
It is interesting water is your limiting factor for free camping.
Our chassis has now arrived at the Kedron factory and it is in the production process which takes about 7 weeks. This puts us with pick up at around the 7th of September.
Starting to get excited.
Starting to get excited.
The way I understand it is that they always use the same firm and have for many years. I think it is a Queensland company called Opal Fabrication a steel fabricator in Brisbane. The chassis is made off site and ours was ordered from their supplier in May and delivered to Kedron Factory this week. Once the chassis is on site Kedron put the floor down on it and then move it through 12 separate production stations and then hopefully we get our finished caravan
Caravan now clad, a photo below. Getting soon hopefully in next couple of weeks a trip to Brisbane to pick it up.
Hello Shane
The box is the 200Ah Lithium Phosphate Battery from enedrive. After much thinking, research and asking on forums, etc we decided to go Lithium mainly to save weight. The battery box is steel and apparently very strong and is OK to put under our bed (unlike Lead Acid batteries), it is also good placement for weight distribution. The two main advantages are 200Ah at about 32Kg which is a lot lighter than the 240Ah AGM we were originally going to have and the Li can be discharged down to 80% which means we have equivalent to about 320Ah AGM. The main disadvantage is cost, hopefully we will get 10 years plus from this battery so the initial cost will be spread over a long time.
We think Lithium Phosphate is a good option if you can afford it, especially in a new van when the whole system including Battery Management System (BMS), DC to DC converter (for charging from tow) and suitable Lithium battery charger are installed in one go. We also opted for 300W of solar and an inverter wired (and suitable breaker) wired to the power points, so hopefully free camping should be very comfortable. We think Lithium batteries are the way ahead and I am sure over the next few years they will come down in cost and be standard on most vans, at the moment it is a bit expensive, but we plan to keep this van for a few years and we intend to enjoy it while we have our health.
Regards
Terry