Backup heaters and a dodgy fridge

We were 100 miles into an 800 mile 4 day round trip, and we pulled into a service station. It was very cold so I went to turn on the Truma heater.
It wasn’t having it.

There was no spark for the ignition.  I tried changing the battery in the igniter, but to no avail. So we faced several nights in the van at temperatures below zero without a heater. 

Oh the joys of motor homing.

But we have two other back up heaters in the van.

1. The engine. We found that leaving the engine running and switching on the heater fan helps, but the coolant temperature, and thus the heater effectiveness drops when idling for a while.It’s considerably better than nothing, but noisy, inefficient and expensive.
2. The cooker. We have a cooker with three gas hobs, a grill, an oven and an electric ring.We used the rings to heat the van. We found that alternating between one and two rings kept the van nice and warm. Although there was a very strong layering effect.

We would quite happily leave the Truma running on a low setting all night, but we were not happy to do that with the gas rings. So we just made sure we used the seat covers over the duvet at night and we stayed warm.

It's a handy thing to know.  The Truma is a wonderful piece of kit, but it struggles in windy conditions.  The direction of the wind makes a huge difference so we sometimes turn it around.  But if it's very windy, it just blows out continually.  But the cooker will be fine under those conditions.

The problem was the igniter.  I opened it up (I'm an engineer, it's what I do) but the inside is encapsulated.  I ordered a new one on line. It cost me £95 (bloody scandalous)  and it was waiting for me when I got home.  It's fitted now and we have a working Truma again. (That will be handy for doing the investigations below)

---

To add to the fun,

We got a surprise cold snap in the second week of December.  This does not usually happen in Cornwall. The loo hatch was frozen and it took me about 45 minutes and four kettles of boiling water to free it. I greased the rubber when I finally got it open. Hopefully fixed. 

I had not had a chance to winterise the van (i.e empty the water out) so we set off with the pipes frozen. We finally got running water after 4 hours driving at an outside temperature of around 3C.  But the tank does not seem to hold much water now.  I hope it's not cracked.

Investigation 1 24/01/2023

I poured 25 litres of water into the tank, and none ran out.  I think it's not a problem.  Maybe we had simply used more than I thought.

While we were away, the fridge stopped working on battery - it just gave out a buzzing noise, like a relay  switching in and out.  It worked OK on gas though.

Looking at the circuit diagram, if I have power to F1 then the problem is either in the fridge, the wiring inside the SPDU, or the wiring from the SPDU to the fridge.  But the van is parked 8 miles away on a farm so it will have to wait.

Investigation 2  24/01/2023

Here's the problem.

This connector takes the 12V to the fridge and it has overheated and burned out.  There is no connection between the yellow/red wires on each side of the connector.

The connector is at the back of the fridge and accessed quite easily from the outside of the van via the top vent.

The heat had also melted the plastic which had fused making it impossible to open the connector.  What is really need is another connector, but I decided to use a jumper across the connector.  The fridge is specified as 120W at 12V - so 10Amps. But when the engine is running so the voltage will be 14.4V. so closer to 12A. The line is protected with a 20A fuse in the SPDU.  I decided to us use blue bullet crimps which are rated at 17A.  I'll replace the entire connector when, and if, I ever have to take the fridge out.

And on the way home the fan in the van heater stopped working on anything but high (and very noisy) speed.  It was the connector to the little resistor block.  I wiggled it a bit and it worked, off and on, then settled down working after a while.

Investigation 3 22/01/2023

I disconnected the plug and found that the side of the socket on the cable could be removed allowing me to get to the connectors with a pair of needle pliers.  Squeezed 'em up a bit and job done.

It also seemed to struggle to start on the cold mornings.  The starter battery is now around five years old and when the van is stored only has our 40W solar cell to keep it charged.
Many years ago I had a Lada.  The instruction manual recommended switching the lights on for 10-15 minutes before trying to start the engine.  This was to warm the battery slightly. Crazy, I thought.  But all of the lights would have been around 120W and that would only take 2.5AH from a 90AH (Guess - it was quite big) battery.  Maybe I'll try that and see if it will last another year.

Hmm, does the solar panel keep it charged??  The meter only measures the leisure battery which has zero drain other than self discharge. The vehicle battery voltage could be lower if the solar panel was not compensating for the remote locking.
Maybe change the push button on the meter to SPDT  switch to look at either battery? Even connect both batteries together via a resistor so that they can share a small load.

Investigation 4 22/1/2023

I measured the batteries after three weeks standing. The starter battery was 13.03V and the leisure battery 13.1V. Both were fully charged off the solar panel.  The started battery was fitted in February 2018 so it is five years old.  Maybe a bit old for really cold days.  I'll change it next Autumn ready for the winter.  BUT I will measure its capacity and it may be my next leisure battery.  Although it'd cranking capability may be down it's storage capacity may be good enough.

I also measured the current from the solar panel.  At around 3:30pm the sun was too low to shine directly on the solar panel. All the panel could see was clear blue sky.  The output was 52mA.  This is not a lot, but the leisure circuit has NO drain, and the vehicle drain is around 50mA.  So when the sun was reaching the panel, around noon, it would have been supplying more.  Anyway the panel is keeping both batteries charged but starting is still a bit laboured.

So our normally super-reliable van was being a little temperamental this time.

Camping Clubs

We have been camping in our motorhome for a few years.  We have hardly ever stayed on sites, but the huge increase in motorhome numbers, and the animosity of the locals caused by inconsiderate owners is driving us to look at staying on recognized sites.

There are two big clubs we could have joined.  Here is my attempt to check them out..

The Camping and Caravanning club

Trust Pilot review   Not very good. 70% of 134 reviews rate it BAD.

Prices - hard to tell. It's £42 for one but probably only a few pounds more for two. I am not giving out my address telephone number and email just to find out the price,

The Caravan and Motorhome club

(formerly the Caravan club)

Trust Pilot Review   Not bad. 80% of 4178 review rate it GREAT or EXCELLENT.

Prices £54 per year for two people

SO it looks like the Caravan and Motorhome club is a no brainer.  We joined on August 11th 2020

First problems was that the documentation could not be downloaded so we had to wait until August 18 before we had the documentation.  We did try to book on a few certificated locations but there is no on-line booking system for them so we had to phone.  Non answered straight away.  Those that returned calls were all booked up, mostly for weeks or months ahead.

I guess we were wildly optimistic thinking we could book a site for the weekend on the Wednesday and Thursday of the same week in the peak of the Tourist season.  Staying on sites definitely takes away the spontaneity we have when wild camping.

We finally did get on our first CL in May 2022.  We were completely out of water, so we fell back on a CL.  Most were booked up but we found a one in North Lancashire. The Handbook said prices from £13 which I thought was expensive given they had no toilets or showers.  We were charged £20!  All we used was the water and waste disposal.  We did not use a hook up. We effectively paid £20 for 50 litres of water.

A good time to buy a motorhome?

We have had our van for nine years now and it has been wonderful. We have not used it a lot since the start of the pandemic, but we are out and about in it as I write this.  We are seeing hundreds of motorhomes on the road. Many more than we used to see.

We hardly ever stay on campsites, but this trip we got caught short for water, so we tried to book on a Caravan and Motorhome Certified Location.  It was not easy - most were booked up - sometimes for weeks.  We finally got on one with no loos and minimal services (we did not need the hook up) for £20 per night.  All we wanted was to fill up with water. The site owner wanted payment in cash, and I'm pretty sure the club, and the taxman will know nothing about it.

We were talking to a lady in a pub who was travelling in her motorhome.  She had been to Scotland, and said it was overrun with motorhomes.

I think many of these motorhomes were bought when travelling abroad was impossible or difficult due to Covid. Many will have become very disillusioned with motorhome life due to the difficulty in finding a place to park up and the congestion on the roads, mainly caused by increased traffic due to the huge increase in "staycations".  Also, international travel has opened up again. As a result many of their motorhomes will be up for sale at the end of the summer season this year. A surge in supply will cause a dip in prices, so the end of this year would be a good time to buy.

HOWEVER, don't expect the travelling situation to get any better soon. Many people will jump on these bargains and fill up the campsites and the roads again.  And, incredibly, many places are becoming more motorhome-hostile.  I am not now allowed to park my own motorhome overnight in the Cornwall council  car park where I have parked for five years.  Another car park in Lancashire where we have parked for a few days overnight for eleven years has suddenly decided that overnight camping is not allowed.  My (perhaps cynical) guess is that the councillors have connections to camp sites and want to maximise their profits - despite the fact they are fully booked. Many in-town car parks have height barriers.

The travelling folk do not help either.  It is their chosen way of life and I believe they should be allowed to continue in it, but some compromise in their strict hygiene rules, like not using in-caravan toilets would be a reasonable compromise.  A caravan parked by some woods and the users disappearing into the trees for a pee is not a problem, but a dozen or more caravans taking over an in-town site and leaving the surrounding bushes stinking of urine, and worse, results in bans for overnight stays or height barriers for everyone.

Ultimately the market will help as more motorhome sites open up to make some money from the situation.  But that takes time due to planning regulations, and the final consequence will be even more congestion.

One more battery for the road

The Varta was 4 years old.  I had got the feeling it was a bit down on capacity, but it's a bit immaterial. I managed to flatten it by leaving it for a few weeks with a light switched on.  I must have inadvertently left it on when we unpacked the van from a previous trip. Unfortunately the weather has not been good, and the solar panel with a few hours daylight per day could not compensate for the light on 24 hours per day.

I charged up from my wonderful little Ctec battery charger. It's only 5A and so it took quite a while. But it charged up fully. Then we headed off for a 3-4 week tour up North.  The battery was good enough for a couple of overnight stays, but the o/c voltage could only reach about 12.3V and the solar panel could only pull it up to 12.5 (as opposed to the usual 13.2V.  We really need to be able to last a week or more.

It looks like technology has moved on and the LDF90 is no longer made. My goto site recommended an Exide ES900, but it looks like a Yuasa L36-EFB (enhanced flooded Battery) is even better.

But sod's law raised it's ugly head.  When I drove the van back from the storage place, the brakes did not feel right. So we took it to our local garage. Fishers garage were amazing. Despite being really busy, they replaced my front brake discs in the morning and the rear ones after their normal closing time.  They also temporarily sorted the handbrake next morning and we set off in the afternoon. I cannot recommend them highly enough.  We entrust our car and the Nuevo to their care.

As we travelled, the battery charged up from the engine, but next morning it was down to 12.3V, or 60% charged.  With some more driving around it got up to 12.8V (fully charged), but  next morning it was 12.1V, or 40% charged.
Yep, it was knackered.  So we ordered a 100Ah Yuasa L36-EFB from Tayna, who in their usual style had it delivered to a relative in Lancashire next day.  Yuasa are selling this battery for £320, Tayna are selling it for £115.
It is now fitted.

It has been in two days, and the voltage is now showing 13.2V, which means that our short drive today (20 mins tops), and the 40W solar panel have, between them, topped it up from it's work last night powering the lights and charging 3 phones, laptop, and ipad. It's only 4:30pm. the sun is still shining and the solar panel controller has disconnected the panel to prevent over charging.

I think, but for my own carelessness, I could have got quite a bit longer out of the Varta.  Hopefully I will get longer from the Yuasa.