The Camping Thread

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Question for caravan owners.I have bought a project 5 th wheeler which among other upgrades needs a new fridge around 150-180 litre.Quandry is do I stick with 3 way system or should I go compressor type.I have had 2 other vans both with 3 ways and have been very happy with their performance and running cost (virtually always running on lpg)but it seems the go now is for compressor type.my concern is how much battery power would I need for a week or so bush camping

Bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' scenario, you need to consider ambient temps, fridge consumption figures, battery replenishment method(solar capacity etc.) and weather conditions.
Personally I'd stick with 3way simply because if you run in to trouble with your 12v you still have LPG option.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' scenario, you need to consider ambient temps, fridge consumption figures, battery replenishment method(solar capacity etc.) and weather conditions.
Personally I'd stick with 3way simply because if you run in to trouble with your 12v you still have LPG option.

Decided to only use solar for 80ltr built in F un *&%# Engel frig in the motorhome but this is rather inefficent.
Over winter bought a new large gas frig for my offgrid place. ("Warrior" from Coffs Harbour way) perfect 5th wheel alternative.
Can not believe how efficent it is at cooling in the heat, I'm running it on only 2 9kg bottles with switch over. Each bottle gives me 5 weeks of use, ts a very well made unit with a alternate shore power lead and 4 AA's running the inside LED lights.

In this heat its currently running on the setting of 1 (goes to 5) freezes ice cream etc.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Question for caravan owners.I have bought a project 5 th wheeler which among other upgrades needs a new fridge around 150-180 litre.Quandry is do I stick with 3 way system or should I go compressor type.I have had 2 other vans both with 3 ways and have been very happy with their performance and running cost (virtually always running on lpg)but it seems the go now is for compressor type.my concern is how much battery power would I need for a week or so bush camping

3 way all the way, you have the best of all worlds - mind you the 12v option is for travel only, it will run a battery flat in about 2 to 3 hours. Gas when free-camping and 240v in caravan parks

[MDS69]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Question for caravan owners.I have bought a project 5 th wheeler which among other upgrades needs a new fridge around 150-180 litre.Quandry is do I stick with 3 way system or should I go compressor type.I have had 2 other vans both with 3 ways and have been very happy with their performance and running cost (virtually always running on lpg)but it seems the go now is for compressor type.my concern is how much battery power would I need for a week or so bush camping

We have a 150L Dometic tropical rated 3way in our 2014 Expanda. I hate the POS thing. I can never get the temperature right when on gas. Always freezing things that shouldn’t be frozen. We will be upgrading vans in the next 3-5 years and will seriously consider a compressor fridge with the appropriate amount of solar and battery which will probably be lithium.

You are looking at around 70-80Ah of battery a day for a 180L 2 way fridge excluding what solar puts back in. As a general rule of thumb you want double the solar compared to battery capacity so 200W of solar for 100Ah of battery. Keep in mind an AGM battery should only be run down to 50% SOC. Lithium is far greater so you would nearly want double AGM capacity compared to lithium. There is a massive weight saving when using lithium compared to AGM but lithium is very pricey compared to AGM.
Having said all of the above we only have a 100Ah battery and 120W of solar and have never run out of power (LED lights, water pump, exhaust fan, 12V TV, charging devices) but with a 3 way fridge. When ordering our next van I will increase solar and battery compared to what we have now.

Please note this is easy telling you what you should be doing when it isn’t our money.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by MDS69

We have a 150L Dometic tropical rated 3way in our 2014 Expanda. I hate the POS thing. I can never get the temperature right when on gas. Always freezing things that shouldn’t be frozen. We will be upgrading vans in the next 3-5 years and will seriously consider a compressor fridge with the appropriate amount of solar and battery which will probably be lithium.

You are looking at around 70-80Ah of battery a day for a 180L 2 way fridge excluding what solar puts back in. As a general rule of thumb you want double the solar compared to battery capacity so 200W of solar for 100Ah of battery. Keep in mind an AGM battery should only be run down to 50% SOC. Lithium is far greater so you would nearly want double AGM capacity compared to lithium. There is a massive weight saving when using lithium compared to AGM but lithium is very pricey compared to AGM.
Having said all of the above we only have a 100Ah battery and 120W of solar and have never run out of power (LED lights, water pump, exhaust fan, 12V TV, charging devices) but with a 3 way fridge. When ordering our next van I will increase solar and battery compared to what we have now.

Please note this is easy telling you what you should be doing when it isn’t our money.

No don’t appogise I have taken all comments on board and have gone with a 190 litre 12v Bushman.We are running 4 97ah agm batteries and 4 roof mounted solar panel on the new project.7.25 mt 5 th wheeler.Spoke to a mate in Darwin and he tells me the gas fridges just can’t cut it in hot weather over an extended time

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Spoke to a mate in Darwin and he tells me the gas fridges just can’t cut it in hot weather over an extended time

never had a problem, but anyway . . . . . . . good luck

[slowsnake]

This may help, maybe!

https://rvbooks.com.au/make-caravan-...rk-as-claimed/

[Tonz]

fair crack of the whip, Ive never seen so many caravans, camper trailers, on the road before.
managing a camp conference centre part time position, if I take less than 10 ph calls day, 'yeah hi, need room for a caravan.....need room for 4 tents '
our website clearly states this but do these toe rags listen.... had a guts full last night one guy wanted room for 2 tents, I asked if he was from Adelaide, his reply was yes so I suggested he return home and take the blood y virus with him.

Not good for business I know, we have the place fully booked and its already fully booked for Christmas - January '23 & '24

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Tonz

fair crack of the whip, Ive never seen so many caravans, camper trailers, on the road before.
managing a camp conference centre part time position, if I take less than 10 ph calls day, 'yeah hi, need room for a caravan.....need room for 4 tents '
our website clearly states this but do these toe rags listen.... had a guts full last night one guy wanted room for 2 tents, I asked if he was from Adelaide, his reply was yes so I suggested he return home and take the blood y virus with him.

Not good for business I know, we have the place fully booked and its already fully booked for Christmas - January '23 & '24

You dont like the benefits of tourist dollars for local business Tonz?

[Tonz]

Mate when we have family groups 40 - 90 and they book 12 months in advance, I meet them on site, chat like old friends do, seriously why do I need the hassle of daily campers with their van that think they are the only ones on the road and very surprised we dont have vacancies.
Dont get me started on freedom campers,

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Tonz

Mate when we have family groups 40 - 90 and they book 12 months in advance, I meet them on site, chat like old friends do, seriously why do I need the hassle of daily campers with their van that think they are the only ones on the road and very surprised we dont have vacancies.
Dont get me started on freedom campers,

Fair enough, you didnt say you had no vacancies in the previous post, just that you didnt want city dwellers with their virus.
If you should catch covid though, and you will im sure, us city dwellers have a nice near new hospital for you to recover in should you need it.
You're welcome..

[Tonz]

and if that did happen we have easier access than you guys do, all thanks to Flying Doctor,
mate of mine ripped 3 fingers off in a farming accident couple of years ago, VERY fast trip to Lincoln hospital via chopper, got him stabilised, chopper up to airport, flying doc there, arrive Adel airport then chopper to RAH rooftop.

I know lesser serious cases that come in via Flying doc also get preferred treatment. Now if only they had a hotel next door......

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Tonz

Mate when we have family groups 40 - 90 and they book 12 months in advance, I meet them on site, chat like old friends do, seriously why do I need the hassle of daily campers with their van that think they are the only ones on the road and very surprised we dont have vacancies.
Dont get me started on freedom campers,

I suppose you mean people who do a lot of free camping sites.I am one of those along with many others.people on a smaller fixed income just cannot afford to pay $40 and more to rent 30 sq mtrs of paddock for 24 hours and get to use a $3 toilet and shower and get maybe $2 worth of electicity

[prydey]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Fair enough, you didnt say you had no vacancies in the previous post, just that you didnt want city dwellers with their virus.
If you should catch covid though, and you will im sure, us city dwellers have a nice near new hospital for you to recover in should you need it.
You're welcome..

Covid is still rare if you keep it in perspective (compared to total population) and even rarer to need a hospital to recover in.

[BENT_8]

Just completed the rear drawer install in my Ranger ready for my camping trip to Lake Bonney next month.
Bought them with the wing kit from 4wd Supacentre and then had to fabricate the two pieces behind them as the 1300mm set leaves a 100mm gap to the front of the tub.
Just got to reroute one of the Anderson plus from the towbar up into the tub for charging the Arkpak and Im good to go.

[prydey]

So....

I sold my van on the weekend. Got an expensive year this year, not least of which is paying for a wedding (eldest is getting married in December) and we weren't planning on using the van much this year anyway. Given my eldest no longer is keen to camp with us either we've been thinking about upgrading to a pop top in the near future anyway. So given the market is high we decided to cash in.

Put the ad on gumtree Saturday and it went live around midday. Got a call around 4pm, someone wanting to come and look. Sunday morning they rang back and offered a price I was happy with. Sold in less than 24hrs of uploading the ad. Wow. Very happy with that. Basically got what I paid for it roughly 6 years ago.

Hopefully in a years time, international borders will open up and the market will ease and I'll find a nice pop top for the 3 of us left.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Just completed the rear drawer install in my Ranger ready for my camping trip to Lake Bonney next month.
Bought them with the wing kit from 4wd Supacentre and then had to fabricate the two pieces behind them as the 1300mm set leaves a 100mm gap to the front of the tub.
Just got to reroute one of the Anderson plus from the towbar up into the tub for charging the Arkpak and Im good to go.

image

image

Looks tidy.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by prydey

So....

I sold my van on the weekend. Got an expensive year this year, not least of which is paying for a wedding (eldest is getting married in December) and we weren't planning on using the van much this year anyway. Given my eldest no longer is keen to camp with us either we've been thinking about upgrading to a pop top in the near future anyway. So given the market is high we decided to cash in.

Put the ad on gumtree Saturday and it went live around midday. Got a call around 4pm, someone wanting to come and look. Sunday morning they rang back and offered a price I was happy with. Sold in less than 12hrs of uploading the ad. Wow. Very happy with that. Basically got what I paid for it roughly 6 years ago.

Hopefully in a years time, international borders will open up and the market will ease and I'll find a nice pop top for the 3 of us left.

I saw that, I was like hmm Woodcroft, I wonder if that's Robs camper.

Congrats on the sale, I sold mine in November, we bought it as the Wife wanted more comfort but in the end she never wanted to go so I figured what's the point in just me using it, rather tip the money into a house deposit which we've since done.

I was at West Beach from the Friday until the Monday, put it on Gumtree on the Saturday afternoon, had a few messages that night and one early Sunday morning who asked to view it Monday afternoon so I booked an extra night.
They came by, didnt even hesitate to buy and dropped a deposit on it there and then, I dropped it off for them on my way home on the Tuesday.
Got 3k more than i paid for it but I spent a little on modifications so not all profit.

Im thinking the same thing, get the house build out of the way and hopefully the market will start to settle as people begin holidaying overseas again.

Best part is, I can polish up the factory mirrors for the Ranger now and take those Clearviews off for while as although they are a great towing mirror they look bloody ugly.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Spoke to a mate in Darwin and he tells me the gas fridges just can’t cut it in hot weather over an extended time

Geeze the amount of times I hear people complaining about their terrible gas frig. Living offgrid for 25 something years on boats, motorhomes and now a cabin. We are running our large upright gas frig all year round.
Victorian inland gets bl**dy hot, works beautifully, I have icecream in the freezer at -19 with the rest of the frig running at 4 deg. As it should be.

Biggest problem I have seen with caravan/motorhome installations is there is not enough inlet and more critically, lack of outlet ducting. I've seen crap installations with the entry door opening over the main inlet and outlets on well known builders, others have some vent grille's and thats it, no heat ducting to take the hot air out with the usual cause being frig running to hot.
Others I've seen have big vents just cut into the side of the wall, thinking this will pull the heat out....nah it won't.
Some motorhome/5th wheel installs are totally crap, just airspaces running up through a pantry or cupboard to a vent that usually sited to low.
With gas the ducting has to literally start directly above the heat source and run in a direct line (or slightly curved) to the vent. This along with the lower vent (better in the floor not wall) will allow it to draw properly. (bit like a well built chimney.)
Its worth the extra time to get the ducting right first time than just shove it in with some vents and complain how it won't chill your beer for happy hour.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Tonz

Dont get me started on freedom campers,

When there was talk of a campaign to stop free campers from staying within 20km of a caravan park in QLD, I wanted to start a cause for all those small country motels where their business was stolen away by greedy caravan parks changing out all their sites with cabins.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Just got to reroute one of the Anderson plus from the towbar up into the tub for charging the Arkpak and Im good to go.

So I got under the Ranger last night to reroute one of the 2 Anderson plugs into the tub and discovered that neither of them run through a battery isolator, they just come off of the + battery terminal, run through a fuse and down through the chassis rail to the rear.
Neither had a return earth and we're instead earthed to the chassis at the rear.
Not sure I like the idea of no isolator as it may lead to a flat starter battery.

Decided to strip both Anderson runs out of it and start from scratch. Plan is to run 2 new cables down the back through a couple of fuses and Redark isolators, one to the towbar for future use and another into the tub connected to a Redark 25a DC-DC charger and then to the Arkpak to harness the best charging capabilities.
Will probably mount the charger on one of the Kings control boxes and turn it into a complete power hub.
Will have to be an ongoing project as thats about $1k worth of equipment required for the install.

[b0son]

$1k? sheesh, but then, I'm on one of the camper trailer FB groups and the amount of money people are spending at the moment on BMS's and Li batteries makes my eyes water. Meanwhile, I just have a basic Traxide dual battery setup, my trailer draws from the aux battery, and there's a MPPT/blanket if I'm not going to be driving at all when camped. Alternator takes care of the charging on the way down and back up. Seems to be doing the job.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by b0son

$1k? sheesh, but then, I'm on one of the camper trailer FB groups and the amount of money people are spending at the moment on BMS's and Li batteries makes my eyes water. Meanwhile, I just have a basic Traxide dual battery setup, my trailer draws from the aux battery, and there's a MPPT/blanket if I'm not going to be driving at all when camped. Alternator takes care of the charging on the way down and back up. Seems to be doing the job.

Problem with the Ranger is it has a smart alternator designed to cut power output when it senses the starter battery is charged so its pretty much useless at charging a secondary battery without using a DC-DC charger with ignition feed to 'trick' the alternator into keeping up tbe voltage output.
A DC -DC charger is $400 alone, the Kings power board is another $130 but comes into its own for its 'all in one' ability to provide a location to mount the charger and its fuse protected sockets.
Then tbe 2 isolators are $180 each and then youve got 2 lengths of cabling, 2 anderson plugs, lugs, fuses and split tubing.
It all adds up but the finished product is worth the effort.

[b0son]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Problem with the Ranger is it has a smart alternator

Not a problem with the right isolators. The poster 'drivesafe' is the guy that makes the traxide kits BTW...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-disc...ml#post2111211

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by b0son

Not a problem with the right isolators. The poster 'drivesafe' is the guy that makes the traxide kits BTW...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-disc...ml#post2111211

Problem with those is they only do 1 fuction that being controlling flow between batteries and alternator, you still need a MPPT regulator for the solar input as a minimum.
I called into Home of 12v today and asked for advice, was told a Redark 25A charger eliminates the need for both an isolator and a solar regulator as it does both and is compatible with the Rangers smart Alternator.
So its an all in one neat package.

I can either buy it already fitted to one of their battery boxes with 8mm cabling and all fittings for $849 that includes 3x12v sockets and 2x50A plugs and 2xUSB sockets or buy it individually and fit it to the Kings 12v control box and cable kit for $672 to charge my existing Arkpak giving me 7 x12v sockets and 3x50A plugs plus the 300w inverter and USB charging.

Not sure which way I'll go yet, probably option 2 for versatility.

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Problem with those is they only do 1 fuction that being controlling flow between batteries and alternator, you still need a MPPT regulator for the solar input as a minimum.
I called into Home of 12v today and asked for advice, was told a Redark 25A charger eliminates the need for both an isolator and a solar regulator as it does both and is compatible with the Rangers smart Alternator.
So its an all in one neat package.

I can either buy it already fitted to one of their battery boxes with 8mm cabling and all fittings for $849 that includes 3x12v sockets and 2x50A plugs and 2xUSB sockets or buy it individually and fit it to the Kings 12v control box and cable kit for $672 to charge my existing Arkpak giving me 7 x12v sockets and 3x50A plugs plus the 300w inverter and USB charging.

Not sure which way I'll go yet, probably option 2 for versatility.

Why is camping so damn complex nowadays, it used to be so simple and cheap!
And that was the whole point, getting away from all the new gadgets at home and simplicity was the key, not any more, when I stopped for a few hrs sleep driving Sydney to Perth on the Nullabor I pulled in at midnight on the edge of the Great Australian Bight, there were 2 camper's there, one had a satellite dish about a metre dia on the ground, held down with sandbags, the other a small dish on top, I got going early, to keep the sun at my back, the sun was rising in the East and I was looking South across this massive ocean, got some good sunrise pics, but the folk in their vans were watching TV? I wondered why they dident stay home and watch TV, stop clogging the roads up, I know there will be opposition to that viewpoint, but you go away to get away from the luxuries of home, isn't that the point of camping

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by slowsnake

Why is camping so damn complex nowadays, it used to be so simple and cheap!
And that was the whole point, getting away from all the new gadgets at home and simplicity was the key, not any more, when I stopped for a few hrs sleep driving Sydney to Perth on the Nullabor I pulled in at midnight on the edge of the Great Australian Bight, there were 2 camper's there, one had a satellite dish about a metre dia on the ground, held down with sandbags, the other a small dish on top, I got going early, to keep the sun at my back, the sun was rising in the East and I was looking South across this massive ocean, got some good sunrise pics, but the folk in their vans were watching TV? I wondered why they dident stay home and watch TV, stop clogging the roads up, I know there will be opposition to that viewpoint, but you go away to get away from the luxuries of home, isn't that the point of camping

One of my camping companions says camping is simply spending a fortune to live like a homeless person.

Id be right next to you taking in the scenery SS, with a cold beer for us both and not a bag of ice in sight.
Convenience costs money.,

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

One of my camping companions says camping is simply spending a fortune to live like a homeless person.

Id be right next to you taking in the scenery SS, with a cold beer for us both and not a bag of ice in sight.
Convenience costs money.,

Got to wholeheartedly agree with that!

[slowsnake]

Had a 40L Waco fridge, I put 2 light beers in cans in it at noon if I was prospecting, my need for cold meat was vital, but at the end of a day driving on the blacktop I would get my beer from the Roadhouse I fuelled up at, at the bar

[prydey]

Why does it bother some people so much how others live their lives?