Slow Build in Oz

[MickinOz]

I wasn't going to put an awning on the trailer.
They seemed very expensive for what they are, and it's been hard to find one the appropriate size.
Until today.
2m x 2m (6' 6" x 6' 6") seems just right for the trailer, so I ordered one.
$68 delivered to my door.
I think I will fabricate a full roof rack, and may even add my big solar panel.
I would still be aiming for less than 600kg total.

[MickinOz]

Exploring ways to mount my new awning. There are three options I can see:

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Mounting option two.JPG (14.22 KiB) Viewed 2372 times

Mounting option three.JPG (21.54 KiB) Viewed 2372 times

Leaning towards three - lots more work, but it will also spread the forces over the entire roof, and the two cross bars would make a good mount for my big solar panel.

[Shadow Catcher]

We have Kedar rail on three sides of the tear. We have tarps with Kedar welting sewn into one side, this allows a great deal of flexibility in set up.

[Onajourney]

Exploring ways to mount my new awning. There are three options I can see:

Leaning towards three - lots more work, but it will also spread the forces over the entire roof, and the two cross bars would make a good mount for my big solar panel.

I went through this a few weeks ago and also went with #3. I made the plates that I will get powder coated and bough 1x2" aluminum extruded stock for less than $100 US at TNUTZ.com. I used T nuts in the wall before closing them up.

[MickinOz]

I decided today should be installation day for the Dune 4WD awning.

Option three was chosen - install two roof bars and bolt the brackets for the awning to the roof bars.
The reasons for going this way:
Strong. By installing the two cross bars with careful attention to not building in any stresses, then attaching the Dune brackets, the load from the awning is shared to both walls.
Bracing the roof can't be a bad thing.

(Warmish today. It maxed out at 28 C. If I have my maths correct, I should see less than 1mm of expansion or contraction in the temperatures these bars are likely to experience. Engineering Toolbox says mild steel expansion coefficient is about 5.9/1000 millimetres per metre per degree c.
So, having assembled everything at a sort of median South Oz temperature, and assuming I loaded the calculator properly, I'm going to see almost negligible forces trying to pull the wood apart.)

I get somewhere to mount the solar panel.

So I got some 30mm x 30mm x 2mm galvanised square tube, aluminium was available but very expensive, and got busy.
The L brackets to attach the bars to the cabin came from Northern Caravans. They are now agents for Adventure Kings, and they had brackets on the shelf. $25 per pair, so $50 for 4 brackets. When I added up buying 30mm x 4mm flat steel to make my own, buying 8mm stainless steel bolts (included with the brackets I bought), and several hours of work to fabricate, they started to look quite cheap indeed.

So first job was to work out spacing and mount the L brackets to the camper.
The awning is 2m long, the solar panel is 1.65m long. The biggest spacing I could come up with and not run into clearance issues in the cabin for the bolt holes was 1.05 metres. That leaves 0.48m overhang at each end for the awning, and 0.32 overhang each end for the panel.
I figured that will work.

Almost finished, but ran out of steam. Job for tomorrow morning.


So I bolted the L brackets to the side walls, with nice flash whacko 8mm stainless steel bolts and nyloc nuts. Sealed the bolt holes with some 2 part JB weld polyurethane marine sealer I bought for my little catamaran.

Rearmost of the two rails

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Closeup of rear rail

Closeup of rear rail, awning bracket on port end

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[MickinOz]

Rail attachment starboard side. Short bolts through bottom face of tube.

Short bolts with washers and nyloc nuts

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Rail attachment port side.
This side also has the bracket that came with the awning. Refer drawing three a couple posts back.
Since this required through bolting, I cut "anti-crush" tubes to go inside the tube. With these in place, the nuts can be tightened with a spanner without crushing the square tube.

Port side. Tube is bolted to lower bracket, with the bracket supplied with the awning bolted on top

20221206_221806.jpg (14.78 KiB) Viewed 2276 times

[MickinOz]

Port Side showing the bracket bolted to the trailer wall, and the awning bracket mounted on top of the crossbar.

Port end of rear crossbar. Bolted to the bracket mounted to the side wall. One long bolt is also fastening the L bracket that came with the awning.

20221206_222508.jpg (15.28 KiB) Viewed 2277 times

[MickinOz]

Got the crossbars finished and mounted the awning. Pretty happy with how it all panned out.
I took the opportunity to touch up a few spots on the paint where there is a surprising amount of wear and tear for about 2 years use.
I took a look at my monster solar panel (250 watts) and decided I'd use the MC4 connectors, so I needed to fabricate a cable to come from the regulator to the fly leads on the panel.
Off to the wholesalers. MC4 connectors, when they recognise you from all your visits with your contractor son, are very cheap.
Then, they threw in some 4mm square (12 AWG) cable. They had some they can no longer sell for solar installations on houses, as new rules rendered the labelling on the cable obsolete.

[MickinOz]

Progress is fragmented.
Today's timeline:
Rise, shower, clean teeth.
Make pizza dough.
Join old work mates for morning coffee at local eatery.
Receive call from my son to go trim a kitchen benchtop.
People who need a new electric cooktop are finding that the new cooktops don't quite fill the old holes, typically by about 15 to 20mm.
If the budget doesn't run to a new countertop, they are in a little strife.
He offers them a solution whereby I insert a filler piece and seal it with the appropriately coloured caulk.
Typically it's an original kitchen in a say a 30 year old house, where it's worn but still presentable, and they are trying to keep it going for a few more years.
Cheers 'em up big time when I turn up with a filler piece, glue and screws, and do a half presentable job of reducing the size of the hole.

It has been a bit of a saga getting the panel connected.
Damned 12 gauge wire is hard to get to go around corners.
But tonight after dinner I got into it and got her done.
Itching to see if it worked. I had previously put my workshop floodlights on the panel and it generated enough voltage to check polarity.
So, with the +ve connected to the +ve and the -ve connected to the -ve, I hoisted the floods up into the rafters and shone 'em on the panel.
Only 70mA, but I actually got a charge happening.
So here's a sight to warm the cockles of me ol' heart.

MPPT regulating mode.JPG (26.44 KiB) Viewed 2147 times

[MickinOz]

So I wheeled the finished install out into what passes for a summer sun today.

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Got 7 amps from that gloomy low ceiling. At 14V, so under this very overcast sky still charging 98 watts.

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[MickinOz]

So I've got a power station currently cranking in boost mode at nearly 7 amps on a very overcast day.
Short circuit current from this panel is 8.55 amps. So the MPPT controller seems to be doing its job, extracting nearly 100 watts from a 250 watt panel on a day like today is pretty impressive.

[MickinOz]

So I woke this morning in the block behind the Flinders Rest Hotel at Warnertown, South Australia.
The pub was chosen as a convenient central meeting point for a bunch of retired, or soon to be retired, Sinter Plant veterans to meet for what we hope will be a regular "let's not forget our comrades from the trenches" get together.
It's 10 miles from home for me, and was certainly one event where I had no interest in counting drinks, etc, to avoid a DUI arrest.
So I asked the little sweetheart tending bar where I could park the trailer.
Hence being parked up behind the pub, a mere 50 yard stroll from the very clean public BBQ area and toilets.
i.e. Ol #1 was employed for the purposes for which she was originally conceived and constructed.
First light about 5:30, dawn about 6 am.
The overcast sky pretty much obscured the sun's location, but the big 250W panel and MPPT controller were putting in 2.5 amps by 7 am.
I made coffee and cereal and ate a leisurely breakfast with barely a hint of a hangover, and was home by 08:30. By then the sky was clearer, and the controller was occasionally showing a charge current north of 8 amps.
MPPT controllers are absolutely the duck's nuts for extracting the best from a panel in lower light conditions.
I backed the trailer in the shed about 9:30 am or so, by which time the controller said I had pushed in 10 amp hours against a usage of 8 AH.
Very pleased.
Next little project is to actually install the latches, catches, hooks that came with my doors that are used to hold the door in the open position.
I want these so it is more convenient to split the door, latch the glass leaf in the open position and sleep with just the security screen closed.

[friz]

You have to love the way a teardrop camper elevates public intoxication and vagrancy to enjoying a few cocktails with your friends and camping. A truly transformative device. Enjoy your season down under. We are looking at highs in the teens (Fahrenheit) next week.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[MickinOz]

The forecast is for 97F today. Should be cosy.
Funny thing - I didn't drink anymore than usual.
5 pints of mid strength beer over about 4 hours.
But yeah, very relaxing not worrying about potential aftermath.
I was a bit seedy in the morning, but I think its because I didn't sleep as well as usual.
The trailer was a little bit head down. I left it attached to the truck, and it's a bit of a rule over here that the draw bar should point down a little when hitched up, Definitely not supposed to be above horizontal. I think it is to do with the dynamic forces applied when braking.
Most places I camp I can just park to allow for it.
On rare occasions I disconnect it and level it with the wind down jockey wheel, but I thought I'd be lazy last night.
The tow ball is on a removable tounge, I'm going to see whether I can turn it over and get it closer to level.

Forecast is for only 94F for Christmas Day, should be quite comfortable.

[MickinOz]

You have to love the way a teardrop camper elevates public intoxication and vagrancy to enjoying a few cocktails with your friends and camping. A truly transformative device. Enjoy your season down under. We are looking at highs in the teens (Fahrenheit) next week.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

It is a wonderful thing, how vagrancy and intoxication becomes cocktails and sophisticated camping when you have a teardrop.
We are mid summer here, and it should be boiling hot as I type, but its only about 85F, with a forecast low of 53F at my intended sleeping spot.
The missus has been really busy at work covering for her absent manager, and is in no mood to do anything except grab a bite and an early night.
So tonight I'm leaving her to it, and heading to Mundoora, a very small country town about 30 miles away.
It has a small community owned sports club that is open for 5 hours tonight, serving fish and chips and cold drinks.
The free RV park is about 50 metres away from the clubrooms, so I'm off for a relaxed evening filling up on fish and chips and hopefully making new friends.