Slow Build in Oz

[MickinOz]

It did work well Tom.
I've only met one of these once before, on Gillies Downs, a sheep station on the Eyre Peninsula.
That one is pretty big, as it needs to provide hot water for a full shearing crew morning and night. The first person awake in the morning lights it up, and its usually still warm from the day before.
This smaller one actually took quite a while to heat. There weren't many campers, and most of those who were there had big self contained RV's.
So it had not been lit for some time, there was a lot of stone cold masonry to heat and the weather was wet and cold. But, by ignoring the sign that said light a small fire, and cramming in a fair bit of the wood I brought with me, we got her hot before lunch. I suppose everyone enjoyed a hot shower that night.

We drove part way home yesterday, and camped overnight. Woke to a condensation issue this morning. Walls dripping.
Our trailer is vented with high and low vents in each side wall. I have butterflies so I can close them off for travel.
I've always wondered how effective the high/low convection thing was.
I've never had a condensation issue, but I've usually camped by myself with the vents or even a door open, and this is the first time it has rained continuously for the whole trip.
Well, now I know.
If you forget to open the high vents to get the circulation happening, like we did last night, you are going to be damp next day.
The rain stopped for the drive home, which is all paved roads, so I left all the vents open while travelling. By the time I'd driven 3 hours at 55-60 miles per hour, the cabin had dried right out.

[MickinOz]

I've begun to take steps to address the condensation issue that showed up a couple trips ago.
I built the trailer with framing in place for a fantastic fan, but after a couple years of use, I'm not in favour of cutting a hole in my roof.
So I thought about it for a while and decided that, for those nights when you just have to shut the doors and keep the weather out, I would fit exhaust fans where my existing vents are.
Starting out with just one, a ball bearing computer fan.
I chose one with mounting hole spacing close to the spacing of the screw holes on the vents.
12V DC, naturally.
I cut out a circle of plywood just bigger than the vent, and the right thickness for the fan.
Mounted it so that it i blowing air out, not in. It's not my best work, but it's functional. Still have to get some clips to secure the cable.
It pumps air, though not completely silently. Current draw is ridiculously low - 0.16 amps.
I'll have to do an overnight trip to see how I like it.

Collar with Fan.JPG (30.07 KiB) Viewed 2534 times

Fan Installed.JPG (35.22 KiB) Viewed 2534 times

[featherliteCT1]

I cut out a circle of plywood just bigger than the vent, and the right thickness for the fan.

Great idea!

[edgeau]

Nice solution. New or old fan? Once the bearings go they get noisy but easy to change the whole fan out the way you have done it.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[MickinOz]

New fan. I searched for one that specified a ball bearing, many are "sleeve bearing", whatever that is.
It is mounted in the front lower vent on my side, so it's the closest vent to my head. If it pumps anywhere near the rated 54 cubic feet per minute, it should simply draw my exhaled moisture away.
I think it will last a while.
I run a computer fan on my biltong box, typically non-stop for a week, so I expect this will last long enough to justify the couple hours of messing about to design and fabricate.
I have a nice batch of biltong on the go at the moment.

Biltong.JPG (100.93 KiB) Viewed 2495 times

[MickinOz]

Getting ready for a weekend away.
Leaving tomorrow afternoon (Saturday), coming home Monday arvo.
First job, drag the old Yamaha 500 out of the shed.
Put her in first gear and drag her back and forth a couple times whilst holding the lever in, to unglue the clutch plates from each other.
Pump up the tires, use the fencing pliers to turn on the fuel, wriggle the tap back and forth a few times to wet out the gasket and stop the leak.
Set the "choke" and ease her over dead centre with the decompression lever, bring the kickstarter back to the top and give her a decent boot.
She fired up on 2 year old fuel! I forgot myself and did it with thongs (flip flops?) on my feet. No damage.
Good omen for the trip away I hope.
Loaded her up in the dark tonight.
Tomorrow reserved for stocking the camper, fuelling the truck and hitting the road.

500.JPG (61.41 KiB) Viewed 2480 times

[MickinOz]

Didn't take a lot of pictures of my weekend away.
The view out the cabin door last Sunday at 4 am was kinda memorable.

Full Moon Tarlee.JPG (41.41 KiB) Viewed 2439 times

When I travel toward the Barossa Valley, the little town of Tarlee on the Gilbert River always figures in my plans.
They offer donation based RV camping, around the old footy oval.
And the pub, built in 1869, is a great place to socialise and eat.
I planned to camp and eat on Saturday night.
Which provided a second photo.
When I was a kid in the 1960's, a staple of the hotel counter meal menu was the humble ham steak and pineapple.
The epitome of "cheap and cheerful", and something us kids always looked forward to whenever Mum and Dad decided we could afford a night out for dinner.
So when I set up camp and wandered up to the pub to see what was for dinner, I was much impressed to see it on the specials blackboard.
Talk about a blast from the past - you very seldom see it anymore.

Tarlee Pub.JPG (103.67 KiB) Viewed 2439 times

Two thick slices of grilled ham, topped with slices of grilled pineapple, and melted cheddar cheese over. Served with good hot chips and a very good salad.
A proper old fashioned pub meal, served at the bar and eaten on the counter, like the good old days.
In this era of $40 steak dinners and $30 schnitzels, the other blast from the past was the price. $18 in this day and age is a steal.
I celebrated the unexpected boost to the budget by staying to watch the game (Australia v New Zealand) and have a couple of pints.

[pchast]

[MickinOz]

More than a year since I posted on my build diary. It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride, but through to the other side now.
Spent today adding the other exhaust fan to the vent on the right-hand side of the trailer.
Now have an exhaust at just above head level on both sides. Should drag moist air out of the cabin space OK.

[MickinOz]

Well, time for an update.
In the latter part of last year, after a couple of trips in the rain, I noted quite a few splits in the paint and "checking" of the plywood.
I did nothing for a while, takling the time to think about it all.
During the Christmas/New Year period, I took off the roof rack, the exterior vents, front stone guards, mudguards, etc, and commenced sanding the paint.
With it all scuffed back to a matte finish, I have applied a liberal layer of exterior grade acrylic waterproofing membrane called liquid flash.
Protection of timber decking from the elements is listed as one of its intended uses.
I consulted a technician in the manufacturers technical department who said it would be fine for the job.
I said I had not been able to achieve the recommended layer thickness and application rate with the recommended two coats.
He simply said, "Just put on more coats."
So, I'm fairly confident that I will achieve a fair measure of water resistance.
However, there is now another fly in the ointment.
After the prolonged period of inactivity, my battery is flat and refusing to charge yesterday with my fancy electronically controlled charger.
So, this morning, I went 'ol skool.
I have an 18V ten amp transformer, to which I have added a couple of bridge rectifiers, and a 1 ohm wire wound 40watt current limiting resistor.
I clipped it on, switched it on, and crossed my fingers.
An hour or so later, the resistor is smoking hot, the battery terminal voltage is showing 12.8 volts and I'm too scared to continue.
I've put the fancy charger back on. We will see if we can get a full charge in it now that is had the shock treatment.
Otherwise, I've identified a $200 50 AH lithium iron phosphate battery that should deliver as much usable power as the 105AH lead acid.

[MickinOz]

Well, this morning the battery didn't even have enough voltage to turn the charge controller on.
Kicking myself for forgetting to maintain it.
I'll get a few bucks for the battery at the scrap dealer, I suppose.
Pulled the trigger on a 100AH lithium battery that has a couple of decent reviews online. Should be here next week some time.

[MickinOz]

So yeah, yesterday I bought a lithium iron phosphate battery.
Today, the missus shows me a FB post by one of the volunteer fire brigades.
Sure enough, about 90 miles down the road from me, a caravan is burning to the ground, and its lithium batteries are getting the blame.
How to make a man second guess his decisions.
Though they did describe them as lithium-ion batteries.
That's probably simply a typo/misidentification.
So, I reviewed the manual for my Renogy controller and concluded there is enough flexibility to set the supplier's required parameters.
I also found a you tube video where the guy disassembled the same battery and found it seemed be a genuine LiFePO4 battery, not falsely labelled lithium ion.
Here's hoping I never have a problem.

[edgeau]

I have been running one for a long time now with the Renogy charger set to Lithium. No problem. As long as you buy quality and don't mistreat it by charging wrong it is fine

Sent from my Pixel 8a using Tapatalk

[MickinOz]

Thanks mate.
The default Lithium settings on my Renogy charger are within the ranges set by the battery supplier.
And it does have a built-in management system.
Whether it is a quality battery, I simply could not say.

It is this one.
https://powmr.com/cdn/shop/files/100ah- ... width=1000

[MickinOz]

LiFePO4 battery has arrived. Looks good, but don't they all. I'm ready to fit it. Just pondering whether I can delete the vent hose, now I'm going away from flooded lead acid.