The Camping Thread - Page 16

kinksta · 17-09-2018, 11:20 PM

Bloody hell another good idea. I'm going to end up buying 5 different types of power supplies thanks to you blokes haha!

prydey · 18-09-2018, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Perhaps one of these might be worth a look, will run your fridge and led lighting.

https://www.tentworld.com.au/buy-sal...h-battery-pack
.

That's a good price.

These guys always have a massive site at all the camping shows. There options are quite a bit more expensive
http://www.home12volt.com.au/thumper...ery-packs.html

They do complete packs too with inverters and solar panels included, but they aren't cheap.

BENT_8 · 18-09-2018, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

That's a good price.

These guys always have a massive site at all the camping shows. There options are quite a bit more expensive
http://www.home12volt.com.au/thumper...ery-packs.html

They do complete packs too with inverters and solar panels included, but they aren't cheap.

Yes, i had an interesting convo with the salesman at the caravan show a couple of years ago about the pro's and con's of the Thumper's V Arkpak.
I played dumb, well, i play the part too well for some, but i digress, anywho, i went in like i was clueless...ah ****, who am i trying to kid.
Ok, it went like this, the bloke took one look at me and figured he had a cash cow in front of him and went on to tell me how great the Thumpsters were.
So i listened for a while and then mentioned the Arkpak to which he turned up his nose and began rubbishing it for a number of reasons, so i said ok, how do you charge the Thumper, he said with a charger we can provide for a small fee, i said the Arkpak has a charger built in.
Then i said what happens if for some reason i kill the battery in the Thumpster, he said its stuffed, so i said i can just put a new battery in the Arkpak...
For some reason he got the ****s with me at that point and said i might aswell buy the bloody Arkpak then, so i did.
Haven't looked back either.

Trevor 57 · 01-10-2018, 04:28 AM

Back to work today after 2 weeks up the Buckland valley, in the first week (pre school holidays) we saw about 4 cars total for the whole week - it was terrific. We were joined on the the 2nd week (1st week of school holidays) by a few family members and a couple of friends

kinksta · 01-10-2018, 08:32 PM

Hey Big Trev, (if you are around) going back through this thread I saw you were making your own power supply, how did it all turn out?

In other news we are going to go for a camp tomorrow night spur of the moment.. but not really 100% on where to go. Rapid Bay was the go, until it looks like it will be 10 degrees cooler than everywhere else haha.

And it other OTHER news, we are headed to Cairns and the surrounding area then mosey our way down to Brisbane in December. Unfortunately not enough time to drive up which is sad. However we will fly up and get a camper or a hire car and stay as cheaply as we can.

sgt_doofey · 01-10-2018, 10:33 PM

For all of our talk earlier on in the year about Halls Gap, I saw on Facebook that the Lakeside Tourist Park have now renovated the bottom amenities block.
That was probably the only shoddy looking thing at the park when we were there in April.

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stefcio007 · 01-10-2018, 10:37 PM

Maybe not so much camping but 7 years ago we did the drive up to Coober Pedy from Melbourne in the Territory.

sgt_doofey · 01-10-2018, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinksta

Hey Big Trev, (if you are around) going back through this thread I saw you were making your own power supply, how did it all turn out?

Not sure if you mean the little box I built earlier in the year there kinksta?
Used it in Halls Gap in April and will be using it again at Bathurst. I've got a small 7Ah deep cell battery that I connect up and a 10w solar panel. It's enough to run the led strip lighting I've got.
Bathurst will be a bit of a test as it has to charge our phones too so will see if the battery capacity is large enough.

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kinksta · 01-10-2018, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

For all of our talk earlier on in the year about Halls Gap, I saw on Facebook that the Lakeside Tourist Park have now renovated the bottom amenities block.
That was probably the only shoddy looking thing at the park when we were there in April.

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Are you serious! I literally just booked that park haha!

kinksta · 01-10-2018, 10:45 PM

Oh yea it was you sorry! Does the car battery last??

prydey · 01-10-2018, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

For all of our talk earlier on in the year about Halls Gap, I saw on Facebook that the Lakeside Tourist Park have now renovated the bottom amenities block.
That was probably the only shoddy looking thing at the park when we were there in April.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

I really want to go back to the Grampians as we really enjoyed it when we were there a couple of years ago. We camped in the national park back then, but the long drop toilets left a bit of a lasting impression. Not really that keen on camping in caravan parks, but there isn't really many other options if you want a flushing toilet.

Lakeside is certainly very well reviewed, and very popular. Thinking of going over after easter next year... I believe you've stayed at the one near the swimming pool as well?? Do you think Lakeside is worth the premium over other caravan parks?

prydey · 01-10-2018, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinksta

Are you serious! I literally just booked that park haha!

ahh, good. look forward to your feedback. We were booked in there for xmas of 2016 I think but then my daughter got sick so had to cancel.

as above, would like to revisit halls gap.

kinksta · 01-10-2018, 10:59 PM

No no no. Wrong lakeside haha. We are headed to Lakeside Camping Ground on the Murray haha.

prydey · 01-10-2018, 11:11 PM

just checked booking for halls gap lakeside for week after easter next year and powered and unpowered sites already sold out.

sgt_doofey · 02-10-2018, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

just checked booking for halls gap lakeside for week after easter next year and powered and unpowered sites already sold out.

They were sold out in April when we were there as I asked about it then. It's easter week and vic school holidays too.

It's definitely worth the extra over the Halls Gap Caravan Park. Much nicer amenities and the heated pool to boot. Fires can also be had in your campsite there whereas the caravan park has designated spots that generally aren't on your site.

We'll definitely go back there over the Caravan Park. I don't think it's that much more expensive and I reckon it was actually cheaper than the Big4 park too. We were there for I think 7 nights and for the 4 of us, it was $270. Youngest child is 3 so he was free though.

sgt_doofey · 02-10-2018, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinksta

Oh yea it was you sorry! Does the car battery last??

It's not a car battery, just a small deep cell one. Most of the power packs you buy have 100Ah batteries. The one I have is only 7Ah.
It never went flat when we were in Halls Gap but we were only running LED strip lighting off it. That's all I need it for so only got a small battery.

Have used the same setup in my garden shed at home as well to light that up. Never had the battery go flat and the solar panel charges it OK.

I could connect a larger battery if I wanted to as it just has alligator clips on it if I were to run something a bit more substantial.

The box itself is very simple. It only has the on/off switch, a volt meter, a USB plug and a car cigarette lighter plug. There is also an simple push button which operates the volt meter to see how much charge is left in the battery.

All up, the box cost me a little over $50. Half of that cost was the actual box itself. That was $25 from Jaycar. Everything else was cheap from ebay. The plugs and volt meter was $15 though.
Solar panel and battery were about $20 each, so all up was about $90 in total.

If you wanted to run a fridge off it, you'd have to buy a bigger capacity battery and solar panel.

Trevor 57 · 02-10-2018, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinksta

Hey Big Trev, (if you are around) going back through this thread I saw you were making your own power supply, how did it all turn out?

It wasn't me who posted about that

kinksta · 02-10-2018, 02:26 PM

Lakeside Camping Ground. Just getting away for the night. Ribs for dinner!

prydey · 02-10-2018, 04:22 PM

I like how simple your setup is.

Any facilities there?

kinksta · 02-10-2018, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

I like how simple your setup is.

Any facilities there?

Yea one night means fresh jocks, socks and dinner is all we need haha

Yea there are toilets and showers about 300m away if needed otherwise just a drop dunny 50m away. We are the only ones here tonight but they were packed over the long weekend.

kinksta · 03-10-2018, 06:28 PM

Prydey the facilities are 1000% nothing to write home about.. more if you had to clean the smell of Murray mud off of you or if you ate a bad curry etc.

Pretty poor tbh, but the spot outweighs it.

Trevor 57 · 04-10-2018, 04:17 AM

Camping this weekend at a place where there is a car race on, Bathurst I think the camp spot is called

sgt_doofey · 29-10-2018, 08:34 PM

Just a question on solar for camping, anyone taken a solar panel from a house and used that to power their site?
My brother will be demolishing his house and I could probably get a panel from his house to use.
Any ideas on what to do to use it?

roKWiz · 30-10-2018, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Just a question on solar for camping, anyone taken a solar panel from a house and used that to power their site?
My brother will be demolishing his house and I could probably get a panel from his house to use.
Any ideas on what to do to use it?

Check the specs on the back to see what max voltage and amps it puts out. You'll need a solar controller (Jaycar electrics) of the same voltage and more than enough input to handle the panels amp output, wired (with appropriate size cables) from the Pos and Neg terminals to the controller.
From there wire the controller to a deep cycle battery(s) for storage.
I use Century "truck and farm" They are technically NOT deep cycle but are built with heavier, wider plates than standard similar to deep cycle marine.

stefcio007 · 06-11-2018, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Just a question on solar for camping, anyone taken a solar panel from a house and used that to power their site?
My brother will be demolishing his house and I could probably get a panel from his house to use.
Any ideas on what to do to use it?

The solar panels on houses are 48V each so you'll need to find a charge controller capable of handling voltages that high.

Stazza_Brendan · 18-11-2018, 08:15 PM

Picked up a soft floor camper trailer. Aussie made, built in 2006 but since it was my partners parents we knew it had been well looked after and had been in the shed since they upgraded to a huge caravan.

Before we bought it we took it for a test run up to Eungella Dam.

We were happy with it so bought it. It was in serious need of modernization though. Flouro lights and specific fittings instead of more universal anderson plugs.

Interior flouro replaced with LED strips on dimmer switch.

to

Kitchen flouro to rotatable LED

to

Changed the front storage compartment to LED.

Changed the power socket in the front compartment from Engel to Anderson.

Changed the rear Engel plug to an anderson plug.

Theres already 4x 12v cig sockets, volt meter, 500w inverter mounted there.

Then became time to update the electrics in the battery box. This old transformer style 240 - 12v charger had to go to make room. Kickass charger was much smaller and more advanced.

I then made a plate in the battery compartment to fit isolator, 240/12v charger, Intervolt DC/DC charger to charge from the car, fuse blocks and 2x 100AH deep cycle batteries.

The display of the charger still able to be read from the window from the previous charger.

Then put a 3x USB dock in the bed area. Good for charging phones, tablets etc when in bed. Glamping i know.

Changed the standard lights to LED.

3x 50L HD plastic boxes fit perfect side by side in the back with enough room for camping chairs to fit behind them. I also put an LED strip under the lift up section so you can see in there at night.

Camper is pretty well equipped. Fully galvanised frame with alloy body and a high quality tent. It has electric brakes, pull out table, Gas cooker, extra gas bottle, 80L water tank, 2 x taps, can be charged from car/powered site/solar, large storage compartment on the front, Boat loader and Treg hitch with rock tamers.

Have used it a few times since finishing the mods. With a little one on the way it will be used much more in the future as cheap family get aways. Ive got my Triton set up to tow it with dual batteries and anderson plug run to the rear to trickle charge the trailer batteries while driving. Next will be to set up the Missus Prado with a second battery and anderson plug in the rear for longer trips. 155kg ball weight ready to go with rear water tank full and extra 20l of water on the passenger side.

sgt_doofey · 30-11-2018, 08:19 AM

Just ordered one of the Adventure Kings 60L Fridges for myself for Christmas/birthday present to myself.
Anyone got one and what do they think of it?

Friends that we camped with in Halls Gap this year had one and were quite happy with it.

BENT_8 · 30-11-2018, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Just ordered one of the Adventure Kings 60L Fridges for myself for Christmas/birthday present to myself.
Anyone got one and what do they think of it?

Friends that we camped with in Halls Gap this year had one and were quite happy with it.

Sounds good.

I've got the Companion 60l which i've had for a little over 12 months now, my original one was stolen and replaced under insurance.
I use it solely as a fridge and hasn't missed a beat and its done a few trips.
I've also got a Waeco 18l which i use as a freezer, same story.

From what i've been told, many of the lesser known branded fridges run superceeded Engel or Waeco hardware, so if thats whats in yours it would be fair to say its tried and proven albeit older technology.

It would be something like the older CF series from Waeco.

prydey · 30-11-2018, 05:11 PM

Maybe it's my own ego or pride, but I refuse to shop on 4x4supacentre...

Nothing against those that do though.

sgt_doofey · 30-11-2018, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

Maybe it's my own ego or pride, but I refuse to shop on 4x4supacentre...

Nothing against those that do though.

Curious as to why Rob?

This is my second purchase from them now, first one being a 6x3 gazebo. The gazebo was a lot cheaper than other brands with better features. Have only used it once so far so can't really comment on the longevity of it but it seems to be of good quality.

Have seen the AK fridge in the flesh and the person who owned it was really happy with it.

If they were of crap quality then I'd steer away from them but the seem to be reasonable. You do see a lot of their stuff around the place these days.