MotorHome

TV for the van

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We don’t have a TV in the Van, and we don’t miss it.  When we are away we tend to be out and about or, if we are in for a while, we read quite a lot.  But it would be nice to occasionally watch something.
I have recently bought another tablet, a Samsung Tab A 10.5.  I bought from Amazon as “renewed” for £145.  It looks brand new  to me.  My other tablet, a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1,  is still working very well but many newer apps won’t work on the older operating system.
So I looked at the possibility of downloading programs or films from our streaming services (BBC Iplayer, Netflix, and Amazon Prime) to look at in the Van.
Firstly I needed to see how much memory I’d need. Read more

Back up heaters

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We were 100 miles into an 800 mile 4 day round trip, and we pulled into a service station. It was very cold so I went to turn on the Truma heater. It wasn’t having it. There was no spark for the ignition. I tried changing the battery in the igniter, but to no avail. So we faced several nights in the van at temperatures below zero without a heater. Oh the joys of motor homing.
But we have two other back up heaters in the van…. Read more

Finally – battery charging

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When I replaced the PDU with my version I did not bother with a battery charger.  As we never had a hook up, there was no point But last week we spent a few days on a campsite – with a hook up!!! Maybe we are getting old. 

We didn’t really need it, but I reckoned on a campsite nowadays you have to pay for a hook up whether you use it or not, and so it’s best to use the site’s electricity rather than my gas for heating.  We also found out, after nine years ownership, that the hook up also heats the water. This is good but there does not seem to be any control of the water temperature and its gets very hot.
The little solar panel kept the battery charged, but I thought it would be good to be able to charge the battery conveniently from the mains. Read more

Camping clubs

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We have been camping in our motorhome for a few years.  We have hardly ever stayed on sites, but the huge increase in motorhome numbers, and the animosity of the locals caused by inconsiderate owners is driving us to look at staying on recognized sites.
There are two big clubs we could have joined.  Here is my attempt to check them out… Read more

One more battery for the road

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The Varta was 4 years old.  I had got the feeling it was a bit down on capacity, but it’s a bit immaterial. I managed to flatten it by leaving it for a few weeks with a light switched on.  I must have inadvertently left it on when we unpacked the van from a previous trip. Unfortunately the weather has not been good, and the solar panel with a few hours daylight per day could not compensate for the light on 24 hours per day. Read more

A good time to buy a Motorhome?

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We have had our van for nine years now and it has been wonderful. We have not used it a lot since the start of the pandemic, but we are out and about in it as I write this. We are seeing hundreds of motorhomes on the road. Many more than we used to see.

We hardly ever stay on campsites, but this trip we got caught short for water, so we tried to book on a Caravan and Motorhome Certified Location. It was not easy – most were booked up – sometimes for weeks. We finally got on one with no loos and minimal services (we did not need the hook up) for £20 per night. All we wanted was to fill up with water. The site owner wanted payment in cash, and I’m pretty sure the club, and the taxman will know nothing about it… Read more

Parking a Motorhome

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The UK in general and England in particular seem to have a problem with motorhomes. The general feeling is that we should all be on campsites.

A typical campsite for a motorhome an two adults is around £30 a night in England. We do not need a hookup, or water, or showers, or a loo if we are only staying for a day or two. So we would be paying £30 a night just to park. We often park in pub car parks. It is usually free, but we still spend around £30 on food and drink… Read more

Damned Technology

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Back in 2014 when I first did my calculations I estimated that phones, tablets, and computers would take an average of 14AH a week while were out and about at festivals and on holidays.
Things have changed in five years.  The technology items have got more power hungry and we find that we use the van a lot to visit folk so we spend a lot of time sitting in it. So we use more power demanding technology more often – a classic double whammy. Read more

The Wee solar panel

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The solar panel is only a 10W item and mounted under the skylight. It seems to work as predicted, even better really. After a day of sunlight the leisure battery was showing 15.6V. This is what the CTEK battery charger information calls “A reconditioning charge” There cannot be much current from a 10W cell – maybe 3/4 of an amp – less than the C100 charge for a 90AH battery but a little bubbling will be happening which apparently is good to prevent stratification in the battery.
But I think I can do better.. Read more