Hermit

Hi all, I know there are a lot of posts about AGM batteries, but my 3 year old batteries in my TE may be on the way out. I am still investigating and just want to be prepared just in case I need new ones. We are permanently on the road and would need to replace them quickly. Yestersday/last night we free camped and in the morning we were down to 79% SOC and the volts were down to 11.2 and got down even further, in the morning, to 10.5v when the alarm symbol came up on the Enerdrive. We have sometimes been down around 70 to 80% SOC and the volts have remained above 12.2. Not sure if the batteries are on the way out or not, they are only 3 years old and we don't free camp very often, most of the time we are on 240v power in van parks. We are in a van park for a few days now so I will monitor the batteries and try them out with the 240v disconnected and see how they hold up. I have noticed that the "synchronise", on the Enerdrive, has not appeared for quite a while (months) - Is this a problem, I thought that it does a synchronize automatically, without having to do it manually. I assume 120ah/130ah is ok (currently have 3 x 120ah). What brands are good, or more maybe which brands should I steer clear of? Any ideas where I can get them, maybe purchased online? All ideas and advice appreciated. Regards and thanks in advance Rob

Hi Ian and Jill, Have a look at my post, further down the forum, "Hermit" "Anderson plug/battery charging", the comments might help you out. Regards Rob

Hi Deb B, we are currently in Gumeracha, but will be in Adelaide for most of August. Not sure yet which van park, possibly "West Beach" or "Levi". Would love to catch-up. Will let you know. Rob

Hi all, we are currently staying on a farm in the Adelaide hills near Gumeracha. Very cold and wet up here. Yes, I know we are a bit silly travelling down south in the winter, but, we are catching up with family. My problem is that we are getting a lot of condensation inside the van every night. It literally drips from the hatches and runs down the walls. Has anyone had the same thing happen? Is there anything we might be able to do to reduce or stop the condensation? We are living in the van full time but had not experienced this until we left Queensland and headed south. I can't imagine this is much good for the interior of the van (2012 Top Ender). We do run the reverse cycle A/C at night to keep warm, it's quite cold here. Any advice or suggestions appreciated. Rob Recently retired and travelling around Oz.

Hi all, I think I found the problem. The hidden 30a fuse behind the Breakaway was not blown, but it was broken. The fuse element had broken away from one side of the spade. It looked ok but if you jiggled it around with a multimeter across the spade connectors it had intermittent contact. That's a tricky one to find. I'll now see how it goes charging while travelling. Thanks for everyone's input. Regards Rob

Hi Ian, had same problem, try resetting solar controller as Brian did. Regards Rob

Hi guys, thanks for all your advice. Jacky Jacky, I'll try your test and see what happens. Spoke to Tom at Kedron, he was very helpful as usual, he has indicated where the Pos and Neg cables are connected, so I will check. The Pos is connected straight to the battery via a 30a fuse and the Neg is connected via a 30a fuse (found next to the Breaksafe) to the SHUNT. Tom said, with the DC-DC charger the batteries should fully charge while driving. Thanks all Rob

Hi Colin, I checked all the fuses are ok. I have an aux battery in the rear of the tug for the Engel, it is charged from the alternator via a DC-DC charger, the anderson plug for the van is also connected via the DC-DC charger. The Engel battery gets fully charged after an hour of driving, I would think the van batteries would charge up to near full after 4 hours driving. Anyone got any other suggestions please. Rob

Hi all, we recently travelled the Birdsville track from Birdsville to Marree. We are now at Rawnsley Pk near Wilpena Pound, having a great time. I might have a little problem with the charging of the on-board batteries. We have a 2011 TE. After 1 night free camping the batteries are usually down to about 87%, we then travel for approx 4 hours but the batteries then only show about 91%. I would have thought that they would have charged much more after driving for that long. By the way, it has been overcast during the day, so the solar input would be minimal. I am wondering if the anderson plug wiring is faulty. Can anyone tell me where the Positive and Negative cables are connected inside the van? The anderson plug is ok, I have checked it and there is volts at the rear of the plug (on the van plug) when connected to the car. I used a multimeter to check the Red and Black cables and the Black cable shows no connection to the negative on the van fuse block. Where is it suppose to connect to the vans 12v system? Any help or advice appreciated. regards Rob

Hi all, we have a TopEnder with a combined shower/toilet. When we use the washing machine we occasionally get water from the washer pushing the shower floor plug up and spewing water over the shower floor. It doesn't do it every time but probably every 3rd-4th wash. Has anyone had this problem and how have you solved it? The drain from the washing machine connects directly below the shower drain vent and then out to the side of the van. I thought maybe having 2 separate hoses, one from the washer and one from the shower running to the point on the side of the van. This might provide enough resistance to the water to prevent it from back tracking up the hose to the shower drain. Any thoughts/ advice? Rob P.S. We have recently retired and hit the road for an indeterminate time, possibly 5 to 10 years.

Hi all, thanks very much for your input into this product. I have decided not to purchase the device and put the money towards something more practical, maybe a winch!! Thanks again Rob

Hi all, I am considering installing the "Couplertec" rust protection system on my cruiser. Does anyone have any experience with this product, or know if it actually works. I believe they use a "capacitive coupling" technology instead of the old "sacrificial anode" types used on boats. Any help with this product is great fully appreciated. Rob Townsville

Hi all, thanks for the suggestions and advice, we will just have to continue removing any non essentials and cutting down on the water we carry. Still have not decided about the spare wheel, will think about it. Cheers Rob

Hi Richard, Lots to see in SA, I suggest after Birdsville go on to Marree then Leigh Creek then on to Parachilna. From Parachilna you should go into the Flinders Ranges NP. Lots of places to see and camp. Wilpena Pound is a great camping spot and has good bushwalking. The Eyre Peninsula and York Peninsula's have lots to see also. I envy your trip....wish I was tagging along. Rob J from work SA is where I grew up, give me a call if you want more info

Hi all, we are about 400kg over weight on our 21'6" TE with all tanks full (300l). I know we have to reduce the amount of water we carry, so we have decided to try travelling with about 150l in total. We have also been reducing weight other ways, but we are still overweight. I am considering removing one of the spare wheels, this would help reduce weight by, I guess, about 50 to 60kg?? My question is, has anyone done this? Most vans only carry one spare wheel. We are not planning on going too far off-road, but, I guess you never know. Just wanting some thought/advice from other Kedron owners. We are struggling to reduce weight, I'm not sure what else we can do. Regards Rob

Hi Richard, we stopped in at Kedron for a small repair and they weighed the van. I had weighed it correctly. The van was 3865kg with a ball weight of 240kg. That makes it 365kg overweight. Kedron moved one of the tanks to the front, to increase the ball weight. Now the ball weight is 335kg, BUT, I now have to lose some weight out of the van when we get back home. I'm thinking of removing one of the spare wheels, this will decrease the overall weight and add more to the ball. We obviously have packed too much into the van, so we are going to be much more ruthless with what we take. Will catch-up when we get back. Rob

Hi all, I have just weighed the 21' TE (Tare 2900kg) fully loaded for a trip, including all 3 tanks full (300L) and was shocked. Maybe I've made a mistake with the calculations or the way it was weighed. Can someone confirm that I have done it right. This is how I did it... I weighed the car with the van still hitched - car on the weigh bridge with the van off the weigh bridge - this weighs the car with the ball weight included = 3320kg Then, I unhitched the van and weighed the car by itself = 3100kg. Then I weighed the van while still hitched to the car, with the car off the weigh bridge = 3680kg. So, 3320kg - 3100kg = 220kg ball weight. 220kg ball weight + 3680kg van = 3900kg. Does this sound ok or not. If I see another weigh bridge in my travels, I'll give it another go. Any comments or advice appreciated. Rob Townsville

Hi all, I have noticed that when either of the roof fans or stove exhaust fan (Rangehood) is running, that they sometimes "hunt". What I mean is that they seem to randomly change speed up and down slightly. I guessed that it has to do with wind outside the van and the difference of air pressure inside and outside the van. I just wanted to confirm my suspicions. Has anyone else noticed this happening? Also, how do we clean inside the Rangehood? It seems that the whole stainless steel cover has to be unscrewed to gain access inside. Regards Rob Townsville

Hi Colin, great rotation chart, just what I needed. How often should the tyres be rotated? Rob

Thanks for all the advice. I have spoken to the manufacturer of the Break Safe system, Colin at RV Electronics, and he has advised me that it is ok to charge the Break Safe continuously from the on-board solar/battery system. He said that the Break Safe has a charge monitoring circuit, so it's ok to leave it permanently on charge. Rob

Hi all, four weeks ago we picked-up our new TE from the Kedron boys and have just returned home to Townsville. Well, we are absolutely rapt with the van. Have spent the last 4 weeks on the road in CP's and free camping. We can't wait to take it out again for another trip. Last week in Oct we are going to the Tinnaroo Dam near Atherton. I have a question about the Break-Away system.....Tom at Kedron advised me that my van plug on the car dose not have a 12v charge wire connected to pin 2 for charging the Break-Away battery. My question is - Could I connect a 12v wire from the caravan internal battery system to keep the Break-Away battery charged? Tom said the charge needed to come from the car, BUT, I can't understand why. Is it a legal requirement? I can understand for a trailer/van without solar panels and a battery system, but, the TE has it's own 12v system that is self maintained. I could simply connect up a charge wire from the internal batteries to the Break-Away battery for charging with a switch to open the cct when testing (just like disconnecting from the vehicle). This would seem much more reliable and self contained. Any advice from the more informed forumites!! Rob Townsville

Hi all, We will be taking delivery of our new 21' TE at the end of this month and before we pick it up I want to buy a couple of plastic tubs with lids for under the bed. Can anyone tell me how much room there is, how high can the tubs with lids be? I know we could wait until we get the van, but ,we want to take some items in tubs with us, in the car, when we go to kedron. Also, we are having the reversing camera fitted to the van by the Kedron guys, what sort of access inside the car, do they need, and do they connect it up to the existing screen in the dash (we have a 2011 200s Landcruiser GXL). Thanks in advance for any advice/ideas Rob Townsville

Hi all, before I pick-up my new 21' TE I need to get some wheel chocks and I'm also thinking of getting a pair of those levelling ramps. Can anyone assist with any ideas etc. I haven't had a good look yet, but, how do those long levelling ramps work when you have dual wheels? I've seen wheel chock and leveller ramp sets (yellow) for around the $70 to $80 mark, are these ok to use with dual wheels. Any ideas or thoughts appreciated. 7.5 weeks to the big day at Kedron!!!! Rob Townsville

Thanks to everyone for the info, I am now confident and happy that my tug aux battery will not go flat and the engel will continue to keep the tinnies cold when we are away from town power. Just under 3 months to go before we pick-up our new 21' TE. Can't wait. Regards Rob

Hi all, I've searched the forum but was unable to find an answer to my question. So, when I am free camping will I be able to keep the car aux battery charged up and supplying the Engel just by leaving the van connected to the car via the anderson plug? I imagine the solar charger/battery system, in the van, will be able to keep the Engel going and possibly also charge up the aux battery. Am I correct? Thanks for any advice. Rob Townsville.