Our "New to Us" Winnie

[Dot]

Yeah we do have a genny (6.5 kva Honda) Bruce but very rarely have to use it and when we do it is quieter than a lot of others and try to park away from other campers Wouldn't be without it to be honest. All this battery talk is way out there for me. In our Winnie there was a Kabuta ?? around a 5kva and it was so dam noisy we hated it.

[supersparky]

We have a 2.2 kva little red Honda. Rarely comes out to play, but when it does, it's worth its weight in gold. Not too noisy, but gets the job done. That's the downside of not having enough solar or dc/dc charging capability. One day, I'm gunna fix that problem.

[jon_d]

I only use solar, dcdc and a caravan park if needed.

[Shirley]

We have a Honda Outback Charger that we used a couple of times before Bruce put more solar cells onboard, never even use to take it with us after that addition, it is noisy & we always used it away from other campers.

IMG_0488.jpeg

[T1 Terry]

Must have been brain dead yesterday .... must have been trying to use the brain before the mandatory 2 cups of coffee
The problem is in the Winnie 240vac wiring somewhere, so not even the Onan was going to work .... but it is beside the neighbour's bedroom window anyway and I doubt I'd win any popularity contests if I fired that up ..... and a Victron inverter won't talk to them anyway, too many harmonics in the output so the Victron can't see a clear sinewave and simply ignores it as dirty power.

Margaret came up with a work around over dinner, can we run an extension cord in through a window ..... I just sat there wondering why that hadn't even entered my mind.

So, there is a spiderweb of power boards, running off a single powerboard so the 10 amp safety overload should trip, or at least the 16 amp RCD at the power box. The extension cords are 5mm sq conductor and 3.5mm conductor, so no worries as far as that part goes.

Looped the cables through the handles on the lid of the green waste wheelie bin to keep the plug out of the river/lawn, Margaret's huffer puffer worked fine for the night and I had coffee and toast this morning ..... no hot water and the fridge has been off for the last 24hrs, but plugged back in now that Margaret doesn't need the extension cord to run to the bedroom for her huffer puffer .....

The house battery is down to 11.2v, won't harm the sodium ion cells, but I'll have to find a workaround to get the inverter running as a charger so we can get some charge into it ready for a possible departure tomorrow .....

T1 Terry

[jon_d]

Margaret came up with a work around over dinner, can we run an extension cord in through a window .....  I just sat there wondering why that hadn't even entered my mind.

Wow, such a simple idea..... I wonder why too.

[BernieQ2]

I had Carol do that when I was at Taggerty this year, till they found out what was tripping the power to half the house... turned out to be the septic tank pump..
Bernie.

[supersparky]

Terry, our Winny has a 16A RCD in the dogbox where our power leads connects. And another one in the elec control box/panel above the house door. Either of them sometimes trip when I plug the power lead in. Especially if the fridge is on.
I think Winny 240v wiring is a bit of a mystery even to the bozo that wired them at the factory. Hopefully you have solved your problem by now and everything is back to your normal.

[Dot]

Geeezzzzeeeee that last post of the Prof's is a real head banger WTF I shall leave this with "Are you ready to leave tomorrow"?

[T1 Terry]

I found the easiest fix for the Winnie RCD tripping problem, wait till it stopped raining for a few hrs
Problem now is the battery being so flat it can't do the power assist thing when more than the 16 amps is required, so we are back on the extension lead work around till tomorrow.

Fixed the torn off trailer plug that I'd forgotten about, got ground off when the gooseneck ploughed a few trenches in the bitumen getting in the driveway when we arrived.

The other fix, twice, was the waste hose, ran over it with the MG4 and it wasn't long enough once I removed the squashed bit to reach the IO at our friend's place .... so had to make up a short hose to attach the macerator pump .... because the waste outlet is directly above the exhaust pipe .... so the pump couldn't be lock on ...... that wire wound stretchy hose is a real battle to get back on the fittings .....

Connected it all up, powered up the pump, pulled the black water drain valve ..... you guessed it, there was a split in the hose
It's one thing fighting with a waste water hose that has been hosed out, a very different thing when the hose has just been primed

At least those jobs were eventually a success .....

Would you believe, it's raining again

T1 Terry