Category Archives: Accessories

Mirror Mirror…

15 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by in Accessories, Amarok, General, Modifications, Projects, VW Amarok

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A couple of eagle-eyed mirror aficionados have spotted that we use Milenco Grand Aero 3 towing mirrors… but they also spotted that there was something different about the mounts. OK I’ll have to admit you are an eagle eyed bunch!

On the Amarok, the mirrors are quite big and if I get them adjusted about right I can just see down both sides of the caravan… we’re not 8 foot wide. However, driving without mirrors is more likely to attract attention and it’s easier and safer just to fit a pair. I first went for a brand that I’d used on the Land Rover Freelander, however the Amarok’s mirrors are quite deep and it wasn’t till I tried them that I realised how much of an issue that was….

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The other issue I had… I didn’t particularly like the fitting….. it was about on the limits of extension and about 25% of the mirror was obscured by the Amarok’s door mirror… just at the point the would allow you to see the wheels of the caravan. Not ideal.

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So I looked round for a mirror that would move the face of the mirror rearwards in about the same plane as the normal Amarok mirror. The added depth of the Milenco Grand Aero looked as though it would do the job perfectly.

Actually it was a little too much. As the mounting for the mirror was now on the door mirror plane, not as the previous mirror the back of the mirror housing it shifted the face of the Grand Aero too far rearwards. I liked the vision the Grand Aero gave and the mounting.

To the Bat Cave…

I just happened to have some lengths of 12mm steel tubing and a bending tool. Maybe I could solve the problem without searching round for other products.

I used a welding rod to hand bend a profile that seemed to put the mirror into the right position. I worked out I’d only need two bends to get the mirror in the right position.

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I installed the two mounting brackets on the door mirror in the final position I wanted them and slid a length of tube into them. Marking where I wanted the first bend to be and using an angle finder to approximate the angle that would move the mirror far enough forward so the face was in line with the door mirror face… this then gave me the point to start the bend upwards to get the mirror at the correct height.

Ok before I get a lot of comments asking why installed the mounts on the lower edge of the mirror… two reasons…. if they do move about or squish down on a bit of grit any scratches won’t be seen in the painted area of the door mirrors and from the driving position they don’t obscure my view if I have to look past the top of the door mirrors. I’ve also noticed when its raining I don’t get nearly as much water running down the face of the door mirror. And another reason…. the bottom of the door mirror on the Amarok is not quite as curved and the clamps fitted more securely. I’ve got everything dialed in now to the point where I don’t actually need to adjust the mirrors each time I fit them.

At this point I hadn’t cut the tube to length on the vertical section so I had the chance to adjust the height of the Grand Aero. After a bit of trial and error that involved a clamp and running round to the driver’s seat… and back again to adjust I got what I thought was the right height for me.

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As you can see in the photo above, the reflective face of both mirrors is in near perfect alignment… and for me that makes it easy when driving as I don’t have any perceived shift in focus. The picture below is from the drivers position… I put the camera as close as I could to where my eyes are and I get a great view rearwards. Note that installing the mounting clamps on the bottom edge of the door mirror does not block the forward side view over the door mirror.

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The driver’s side was bent the same… just opposite ‘handed’ and the length worked out right for the height too.

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When seen from the front… even though I’m not quite ‘square on’ to the caravan, I’m angled slightly to the left when sat in the drivers seat, the mirror is fully outside the extended side line of the caravan giving me a great view.

To finish…

I gave the now bent and drilled tubes a light emery and de-grease followed by  couple of coats of grey acid etch primer. This was topped off a few days later with a fine bed liner spray.  This game the arms a durable coating plus the bed liner finish is quite ‘grippy’ and allowed the clamps the hold fast without too much yanking on the knobs.

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We have been using these now for about two years and for me they work out just fine.

Shopping…

I had all this stuff in the Bat Cave as it was purchased for other projects, so the mirror arms didn’t really cost me anything. Both arms were made out of one 1 metre length of 12mm steel tube.

The tube bender I paid less than £30 for it about 12 months ago from Amazon. The 12mm Steel tube, again from Amazon was around £4 for a 1 metre length and the Truck Bed Liner paint was around £8.

You can find links to these and other bits I use in the Caravan Chronicles Shop

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Just for comparison…. the original supplied arm against my contrivance…. and yes… I have now sorted that bit of surface rust out! (I missed a bit when spraying)

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Here’s Another Thing….

26 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by in Accessories, Blog updates, Caravan Designs, Caravan Electrics, General, Uncategorized

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Following on from my last post – Never Admit to Being a Caravan Designer (Well Not to Caravaners!) I was floored by the number of emails I received on the subject of design. So after our trip out to the Manchester Caravan & Motorhome show at Event City a few days ago, I thought I’d sit down and pen a few more thoughts on the subject.

I believe that if you store something where you use it, it will make your life easier. One of the big items that almost every caravan wrestles with is the Aquarol. its bulky, fairly lightweight when empty, often wet from the liquid sunshine we enjoy in the UK and  sometimes muddy. Where do you put it when travelling? OK, so you buy a bag to sort out the wet and muddy bit and maybe just put it in the doorway… or in the shower tray. That seems like a good place. Just carry it through your nice clean van and put it in the shower tray. Sorted…. unless you have a mid bathroom shower that has the shower ‘conveniently” located over a wheel so the floor has a step in it. The designers sell it as a feature… “You can rest your feet on it when showering” they say. However don’t stick your Aquarol in there if you have bi fold doors!

A fellow caravan enthusiast who shall be nameless – I’ll call him George… decided that this would be perfect for storing the Aquarol. He put it in the shower of his previous rear bathroom outfit for years without incident so no need to change anything. Upon arrival at site in with the first outing of the shiny new caravan all was going well until Mrs George popped her head out of the door and exclaimed to George that she could not get the Aquarol out. “It’s in the shower dear” exclaimed George. Irritatedly “I know that I can see it but I can get it out” came the rather louder reply. On examination of the problem George discovered that the carefully placed Aquarol had somehow shifted and was now preventing the bi-fold door from opening therefore stopping it’s extraction and subsequent deployment and use for brewing that much-needed cup of tea.

What’s the moral of this story? Well if you store something where you use it it will make your life easier. So as nearly all caravan users possess possibly one of the best inventions ever for transporting the splashy stuff about with ease why haven’t caravan designers thought about this? I was thinking of George when I was pondering the uses of this cupboard…..

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There is a matching one on the other side funnily enough… but what did the designer have in mind for these cupboards… shoes (who would want to put wet shoes away in there?) Handbags…. maybe but I prefer to hang mine on a hook. It looks great… on a computer mock-up but as for use, well maybe I have a better idea. As they are right at the back of the caravan you really would not want to store your collection of beach pebbles in them.

Instead of a cupboard, just block it off and instead create a wet locker across the back of the caravan and stick a door like this in it……

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… it may need a bit of adjusting size wise but imagine a wet locker accessed from the side that you use the Aquarol and wastehog on that you can simply throw these two bulky but relatively light items in… and there would be room for your wet and muddy mains cable too! All right where you need them.

Now here is an idea…. put the water inlet in there along with the mains inlet and a small hatch in the floor…. save on cutting holes in the side of the caravan and it means we all might just get away with using shorter mains cables!

Caution Vehicle Reversing

In a galaxy far far away… oops wrong blog…. I recently watched a chap valiantly trying to manoeuvre his caravan onto an awkward pitch using his motor mover. Stone walled raised bed one side, overhanging branches, awkward access angle all on a short pitch with a stone wall at the back of the pitch. Normally I’d postulate that the chap in question would have been able to perform this manoeuvre on a sunny afternoon with remote control in one hand, a mug of tea in the other while carrying on a conversation with the couple two pitches down. However at eight o’clock on a winters eve in near wartime blackout conditions required the use of a head torch (flashlight for my US readers) and a lantern held aloft by his partner and much wandering side to side and swivelling of the head to direct the head torch in the desired direction.

We don’t have a motor mover… for some reason Sue seems to take enjoyment from me sweating like a traction engine driver at a summer steam rally when reversing on to a pitch… but if we did, the question I’d have to ask is why don’t they have a 13 pin socket wired in so that you could simply plug-in the caravan’s road lights and turn on the reversing lights, hazard lights… heck even get the marker lights and brake lights to work. I’m sure there are people out there that have to detach their caravans on the road and reverse them into their drive and having simple flashing hazard lights and operational marker lights would be a good safety feature.

I have a small cunning device waiting to be fitted…. it consists of a remote key fob and a couple of solid state relays to be mounted in the caravan. On selecting reverse while seated in the vehicle I can simply push a button on the key fob and it will turn on the awning lights and can be made to turn on under floor LED flood lights to light up either side of the caravan. It stays on for a pre-determined time that can be adjusted so if you have to pull forward for a second attempt (highly likely) the lights stay on. Just waiting for a suitable time to mosey off down to the caravan storage site to do a test fit.

The Perfect Caravan

For those go you that have been following the blog for a while will know we have been flip-flopping like a stroppy teenager over getting a new caravan. Well we were…. then we weren’t than we were, then we changed our minds about what we wanted. Then we couldn’t find one and we changed our minds again… anyhoo we managed to tick more boxes off our list with one of these than any other…..

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So the question is….. will we or won’t we? Will there be a deal at the NEC in February to tempt us…. or will we wait until the August price slashing begins?

By the way if you wanted to know how George managed to retrieve the Aquarol…. it required a wire coat hanger and a length of paracord…. and about four hours of fishing to raise the Aquarol up above the step in the shower tray.

TPMS Revisited…

01 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by in Accessories, Amarok, tow vehicle, Towing, TPMS, VW Amarok

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Its been quite a while since I did my first review of a TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System) back in September 2015 in fact, on a Tyre Pal system sent to me for review. I did like it but it did give me a few things to think about. Later on I got to test out the Fit2Go TPMS and I ran with that for about 12 months. However I still wasn’t convinced this was the one for me.

With the Tyre Pal I did like the information, but on a screen that size I would have liked to be able to see all the pressures and temps altogether rather than scrolling through each wheel. Although it did cross my mind at the time “do I really need all this info” and that’s why I liked the Fit2Go unit. It sat there quietly monitoring the wheels and just occasionally flashed at me to say everything was OK…. or beeped if there was something wrong. I did eventually miss not being able to see the pressure and temp of each wheel and started to think my earlier statement was flawed.

I had an issue with the Fit2Go unit at around nine months of using it. The batteries in one of the wheel sensors failed… and a couple of weeks later a second battery went down. This was a bit of an issue as the sensors on this unit were sealed and the batteries weren’t replaceable (a plus point for the TyrePal here!) Credit to guys at Fit2Go… now re-branded as Michelin – they sent me out a complete new unit and four sensors. I installed the replacement unit and sensors and ran with that for a while.

Going into work at around 04:45 in the morning, I pulled off our drive the unit started beeping, indicating a low pressure tyre. I pulled over and checked the small LED on each sensor… no flashing red indication.  Tyres looked good, checked the pressure with the  Fit2Go hand-held unit and all as they should be. I  carried on. The beeping stopped. A few days later as I had just got onto the motorway it went off again, pulled onto the hard shoulder, checked each sensor and wheel… no flashing LED and all wheels looked OK. I also took the time to check the pressures again, all OK. On the fourth or fifth time this happened I gave up checking. It only seemed to happen with an early morning start and I started to doubt the info I was getting from the unit.

I started looking around for alternatives… mainly in the US for RV TPMS systems as they seemed to have a greater number of options. It wasn’t long after this that I got the e-Trailer unit to test. Which as well as checking the leisure battery voltage, monitoring the fridge temp and a host of other things had TPMS monitoring for your caravan wheels and sent alerts directly to your phone. With this fitted I had at least covered off the important wheels when towing. I just needed something for the truck. Looking around at  what was available on Amazon.Com in the USA made me realise how much we are actually paying in the UK for this stuff. There were units branded for the American market that were identical to those in the UK for a lot less even with the poor exchange rate.

This set me thinking… could a cheap TPMS available in the UK be as good… were we paying too much? I found a unit on Amazon.co.uk for £50 and ordered one. https://amzn.to/2wv49TS

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The unit had a couple of options for mounting. The sensors had replaceable batteries and were pre-coded to the unit. Each was marked with the correct location… FL, FR, RL and RR.

After much procrastination about where to put the display (it’s a man thing) I could not make my mind up so for the time being it sits on top of the steering column….

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In the few weeks since I installed it.. which was really easy,  it’s worked well. I can set the upper and lower limits for pressure and temp for each wheel and it is fairly accurate on pressure. To test it I used my digital tyre gauge fitted to my compressor in the work shop and checked with a standalone digital check gauge I used to use for aircraft tyres. It always matched the same PSI as both my digital gauges showed and as it didn’t decimal point readings on the PSI setting (you can change it to BAR, as well as from C to F for temp) it seemed to round-up from about .6 which seems acceptable to me. (32.4 PSI would be displayed as 32 and 32.6PSI  would be shown as 33)

It comes complete with a small spanner for the lock nuts, a do-hicky for replacing the battery in the sensors and for £50 it seems like reasonable quality. It does what it states on the box, it’s small enough to put almost anywhere (and that’s my problem… where!) and if you have amazing eyesight… it even has a vehicle battery voltage display right in the centre! And if that didn’t clinch the deal… it even alarms when the batteries are low in the sensors.

So was my £50 well spent? Well at the moment I think so. (I reserve the right to change my mind in the future) You know me by now and if I thought it was a jockey wheel with out a handle…. I’d tell you!

So if you don’t yet have TPMS and don’t want to spend a fortune on one this might be a suitable option.  If you want one… go on you know you do, here’s my affiliate* link on Amazon UK – https://amzn.to/2PX6a3a

*It won’t cost you any more but you will get that warm fuzzy feeling knowing Amazon are going to give Caravan Chronicles some of their profit.

Something For The Next Caravan?

12 Sunday Aug 2018

Posted by in Accessories, Blog updates, General, Uncategorized

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When you are starting to look for a replacement… or even your first caravan, you collect ideas. You see something and think “that’s a good idea” and from that point you start judging all other caravans against that ‘thing’ you have in your mind that you think is a good idea. After a while you start to build up a collection of “that’s a good idea” and ‘thing’s’. What your mind builds is a perfect caravan for you and that is what you are endlessly searching for.. your perfect caravan.

Well here is a “that’s a good idea” that is one of a collection for my perfect caravan. If you have ever watched any of the American RV walk rounds one thing that is common to them all is they all have slide outs… heck even some slide outs have slide outs of their own. (I’m waiting for the next super king cab dually pickup truck to have a slide out..!) Nope it’s not a slide out I’m thinking of though.

You know when you start watching things on YouTube you sometimes end up somewhere completely off topic and you can’t resist…. well a while ago starting with watching Andrew Ditton… I ended up watching some videos from a site called  Anton’s Camping.

Now my Danish is not good I have to admit, It is in fact abysmal. I have mastered “OK” and I think “Hello”… or “Hallo” (that might be Dutch?) but that is about it. Back to Anton…. he does do a good walk round of caravans we don’t generally see in the UK and one thing caught my attention on one of his walk rounds is the electrical and water connections to caravans. A Knaus in particular.

One of the things on our list for a new caravan an internal fresh water tank. However, this Knaus takes it to the next level.

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Next to the water tank are the water drain valves and water inlet connection…..

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…. and 230 volt electrical connection with a hole in the floor to pass the electrical cable and water connection through.

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Now for me this is a big improvement on having a locker that contains the battery and  16 amp connector, in which you always have to slightly force the hinge a bit when trying to shut the cover while your mains cable is dangling out of an under sized groove cut in the hatch door developing a permanent kink. Additionally the hassle of cleaning off the water connection under the plastic flap on the side of the caravan after you have just driven two hours down a rain-soaked motorway with all the road spray running down the side of the caravan and under the flap… then once connected, remembering you forgot to close the drain tap just as the call from inside the caravan goes out…… “Have you turned the water on yet?”… and you feet get wet again as the pump kicks in and a river of water cascades from underneath the caravan.

This is on my “that’s a good idea” list and any caravan that does not have this setup is just not going to be MY perfect caravan.

Something Else…

One thing that looking for a new caravan brought home is how they are all the same. Different manufacturer seems only to mean different cushions, everything else is nearly identical.  I guess if all the manufacturers all use Alko chassis, same layout, cooker, loo, shower… all the windows and roof vents come from one supplier and internal fittings from another supplier then we are limited to what they can actually do. So it is down to the “that’s a good idea” things that are going to make the difference.

Now… Where was I going back at the start with the American RV stuff…. what you see on every American RV is a locker that houses all the water connections drain taps flush valves for their grey and black tanks… heck most have lights and heaters installed for winter use.

Maybe looking across the pond or down under to ‘Straliah’ to see if there is anything that can be used to move our caravans (and motorhomes) forward design wise. This is not always a good thing however. It was obvious that someone from Swift had been watching too many RV videos where manufacturers had installed a mahoosive TV on the outside of a motorhome and rushed into the next design meeting slightly red-eyed with all the late night YouTube viewing doing an impression of Michael Caine… “Hang on lads… I’ve got an idea…..” which resulted in, in my personal opinion, that useless ‘pull out swing arm tv mount in a locker’ waste of space on the side of their caravans.

Bailey seem to be the only manufacturer thinking outside the box on design… getting without the front locker and putting the gas bottle in a side locker close to the axle. Even dropping the battery into the floor (spare wheel in a recess in the floor would be great too!) Maybe they might want to look at reducing the clutter and having one locker just for the water and electrical connections… and maybe towards the rear so we can use shorter cables and water hoses on serviced pitches.

Anyhoo, if you want to watch some of Anton’s Camping videos you can do at the link above, or for the video of the Knaus I’ve taken the still shots from is below. Keep a look out for the natty umbrella holder (although it might be a baguette holder!) and possible the best door bin replacement idea yet!

Its time for me to say  Ses… hav det godt

Catch Me If You Can… Part 2

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Accessories, Amarok, General, Help Guides, Maintenance, Modifications, Technical, Uncategorized, VW Amarok

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You might want to read Catch Me If You Can… (pt 1) first

After a quick four-day break at the Caravan & Motorhome Club’s site at Wirral Country Park (excellent by the way… already trying to work out when we can go back!!) and a bit of work getting in the way it was time to get going again not he catch can… really it should be called the “Air Oil Separator” Install.

Last time, I’d decided if IKB would have been shaking his head… then it wasn’t right. I decided to make a new bracket out of 1.8mm aluminium sheet and go into full on origami mode. (ps.. after the last post someone emailed me asking what IKB was…. Mr Brunel  was not pleased).

I wanted to make a bracket that passed under the air con pipe and bonnet cable release fitting so that it cleared everything and gave good access at the same time. As a test I did a trial bend if some 1mm thick steel I had just to get the shape…

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Once I’d got the angles and size sorted it was time to move on to the aluminium sheet. My press brake… well I call it a press brake, in reality its a cheap basic hand folding machine but it works very well as long as you know its limits and don’t get daft trying to fold big stuff. It was all about the angles…

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The first two were easy and I could form the lip with two folds, the second was less than 90 degrees so I just about got away with enough clearance. However folding the return that would lip over the front cross brace which was also less than 90 degrees also meant that I’d have a problem fitting it in the folder.

IMG_1453However, a little lateral thinking and taking the blade off the folding machine, inserting my workpiece and re-installing the blade meant I could fold in the opposite direction (downward)… result!

IMG_1454A quick trim and rounding off the edges gave me a rough folded bracket. A quick file of the edges and work-over with some fine emery removed all the tool marks… quickly followed up with a coat of etch prime to protect it.

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I now had to work out how to mount the plastic housing the bonnet release cables were located in. On the rear of the fitting were two plastic tabs that locked into two square holes punched into the vehicles cross member.

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So a few minutes spent with a dremmel and a couple of suitable sized swiss files later…

IMG_1457… and the piece was ready for a final rub over with scotch bright a second coat of etch primer and two coats of black.

The Installation…

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All went a bit easy actually… which is flipping’ unusual for me. I released the bonnet (or ‘hood’ for my American friends) cable fitting and simply clipped it back in to the two new holes I’d made.

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The Provent was installed next…

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… again without any issues. Next was to sort out the plumbing.

I’d done a bit of research and asking around and the guys at ASH… AutoSiliconHose.com had come highly recommended. So a road trip over the Pennines to Mirfield (just east of Brighouse in West Yorkshire) was scheduled.

I had a basic list of what I thought I’d need and the chap behind the counter hooked me up with everything… including the alloy couplers he cut to size while I waited. Great service from ASH and I can definitely recommend them.

Back home with my shopping, it was time to start on the plumbing.

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For securing pipes, I personally prefer spring clips… the type you install with special pillars, however the silicon hose OD was slightly too large for may normal stock of clamps so I had to opt for using the wire type. I’ll order some of the correct size and replace the wire clamps as soon as they arrive.

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It was really simple now to just assemble the bits, cutting the silicon pipe to length as required. I used a pair of plastic conduit cutters to easily slice through the pipe.

Before I made the final connections to the crank case breather port or the turbo inlet port I blew the pipes clear using a high pressure air line.

All that was left to do was install the drain hose, one way valve and drain tap. I used normal 20mm oil line for the drain, inserting the one way valve about three inches below the outlet of the Provent catch can. The remainder of the hose was dropped down to chassis level and the drain tap added and secured with a couple of zip ties.

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The Finale…

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I secured the pipes in a couple of places with zip ties, now I know the route I can make a small stand-off bracket with two rubber lines “P” clips to mount on the engine to hold the pipes, although they are self-supporting because of the short length.

In the photographs above it looks like the piping is tight across the engine, I did do a pull and push test and there is plenty of movement at the 90 degree bends to allow the torque twist of the engine without pulling or pushing on the pipes at the catch can end.

The current mileage is 11,750 or there abouts, so I’ll check the drain and filter in 100 miles and each 100 miles after that so I can get an idea of how the setup is going. I’m not sure how long the filter is designed to last, but Ill put it on the schedule to replace ever main service. The other thing that is an unknown is how much oil I’ll get. I have been watching some YouTube videos made by Berrima Diesel in Australia (if you watch any of the Australian 4 x 4 or off-road channels you will recognise the name). I only found out about their catch can experience when one of the guys from one of the 4 x 4 adventure channels got in touch… even if you don’t think you need a catch can but drive a big diesel their videos are well worth watching.

Ok… I was saying I don’t know how much oil to expect… but it did surprise me that Berrima Diesels posted a video showing a new 4 x 4 with about 6000Km on the clock had produced about 300ml’s of oil using the same Provent catch can. It’s also worth taking look at what the have to say about the current oil specified in diesel engines.

The other thing I noticed was when I left the engine ticking over for about ten minutes. Bearing in mind I had just come back from West Yorkshire via the M62 and M60 and started the pipe install as soon as I got back so the engine was still hot, the difference in temperature between the short length of pipe exiting the crankcase vent and the inlet pipe of the turbo. The pipe exiting the crankcase vent port was almost at the temperature I could not keep my fingers on it, while the inlet pipe I’d connected too was still cool. I’ll have to get my thermomiterbob laser do-hicky out and get some readings… but anything that helps cool gasses going into the turbo has to be of benefit right?

That’s it for now, I know it’s not caravanning related that much… unless you want to get the best out of your diesel while towing. I promise the next one will be caravan related, honest!

As in part one I’d also like to give a shout out to Charles at HumbleMechanic.com for all the information and videos he produces about VW vehicles. Charles has been an absolute gold mine of information for all things VW and if you drive any of VW’s vehicles please be sure to drop in on his YouTube channel and take a look. 

Catch Me If You Can…

17 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by in Accessories, Amarok, Maintenance, Modifications, Technical, Towing, Uncategorized

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I’m installing a “Catch Can” can on our VW Amarok and this little posting is all about it, but first a bit of history on why I’m installing one.

If you look at modern high performance diesel engines one of the things that they do to reduce emissions is have a number of systems to reduce the harmful emissions. EGR or Exhaust Gas Re-circulation wich is feeding part of the engines exhaust back into the intake but probably the most widely known is the DPF… or Diesel Particulate Filter which captures fine soot particles from exiting the exhaust. The DPF needs to be cleaned regularly, through a process called regeneration. Either active, passive or forced, the accumulated soot is burnt off at high temperature (around 600°c) to leave only a residue of ash, effectively renewing or regenerating the filter, ready to take on more pollution from the engine. To regenerate, the vehicle electronics adjust the timing of the engine to increase the exhaust gas temperatures or commonly it can be achieved by passive regeneration usually on the motorway when exhaust gasses are generally hotter.

In city driving or short trips the regeneration my not take place fully, leading to blocking of the filter. This can lead to higher fuel consumption and a visit to the mechanic for cleaning or replacement.

Forced Regeneration

If the DPF become blocked you will get an engine warning light and/or a DPF warning light to let you know that a regeneration or cleaning is required. If the vehicle continues to be driven and the engine load is not enough for the automatic process to be initiated you will get a second stage DPF warning. When your vehicle displays second stage DPF warning lights it will usually go in to ‘limp mode’ and should be taken to the dealer to ascertain the extent of the problem.

A forced regeneration involves the garage using a computer program to run the car, initiating a regeneration of the DPF.  This will also usually require changing the engine oil & oil filter.

Why does my Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) block

Problems arise around town with stop start driving where the regeneration process might not complete or the engine never get hot enough for a long period. A warning light will illuminate or a message indicating the DPF is full displays on the dash. If you continue to drive in the same manner, the soot build up will increase until other warning lights illuminate and the vehicle will go into ‘limp’ mode, where driving speed is restricted.

Crankcase Ventilation

In all piston engines a certain amount of ‘blow by’ happens, this is some of the hot gasses treated in the cylinder combustion leaking past the piston rings.. or ‘blowing by’ and entering the crank case in the sump area. This pressure needs to be released and twenty years ago the engine oil filler cap used to have e vent in it. However in modern emission controlled vehicles this is not acceptable and the excess pressure is vented into the air intake of the engine where it passes through the engine cycle and exits through the exhaust. These hot gasses passing through the sump on their way out pickup fine mist of oil from the sump which is carried through to the intake of the engine and this creates three problems. The first is a sticky residue build up on the intake valves that hardens with temperature  – especially on direct injected engines. Secondly the intake pathway gets coated in oil from the engine. If you have a turbo charged engine with an intercooler, this can become an issue as it reduces the heat exchanging effects of the intercooler. Thirdly, when the oil is burnt in the engine it creates a heavy soot that increases the build up in the DPF.

When towing, you generally use more power for accelerating and maintaining speed which is great in one respect for the DPF. The downside though is the piston blow by is more and therefore the crank case pressure is increased.. picking up more of that fine oil mist from the sump.

Now the diesel engine tuning guys and the 4 x 4 guys in Australia have known about this for a number of years and they have a solution to the problem.

Cleaning up the crank cases gasses – “Catch Can’ or Air Oil Separator?

There is a difference. a ‘Catch Can’ is usually just that. A can that the gasses are fed into with an outlet that is fed back into the turbo inlet. Some do have some form of baffle but a lot don’t. More expensive ones may have a gauze wad inside for the oil droplets to form on. A lot don’t have a drain, you have to remove the bottom of the can to empty it. If you look on auction sites you can find nice looking anodised aluminium ones for £20 or £30 but for that sort of money all you are really paying for is the nice looking anodised aluminium. Not for an efficient effective unit.

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 On the other hand, a true Air Oil separator will have multiple traps in the form of differing size materials making up membranes for droplets to form on. A number of them are designed to swirl the gasses around first before exiting through the centre after passing through the filter membranes.

I wanted to get as much oil out of the gasses before they enter the engine inlet. So I opted for an Air Oil separator with replaceable membrane filter rather than a cheap ‘catch can’.   Seems like a simple device really, but there are a few more things to take into consideration…

I’ve opted to use the Mann-Hummel ProVent 200 on our VW Amarok. It’s been used all over the world with hundreds of installations on Toyota’s,  VW’s,  Mitsubishi’s, Land Rover’s and not just on 4 x 4’s.

My hope is that I’ll reduce the emissions through the engine while prolonging the life of the DPF,  keeping the inlet clean and oil free and importantly preventing that soot and carbon buildup in the inlet ports and valves while maintaining the efficiency of the intercooler.

Getting Started

I did look at the kits available for the VW Amarok and all were sourced in Australia. However I could buy all the individual components in the UK a lot cheaper than importing a kit. Bit’s ordered, the first decision was where to locate the unit…

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In the Amarok’s engine bay there is only two real places viable for the location of the ProVent. The first is on the back wall next to the engine ECU which seems to be the place of choice for most of the kits I’d found, and the second is in the front right hand corner in front of the battery.

Installing it on the rear firewall next to the ECU would mean partially covering up the Air Con gassing ports and I just knew that would be asking for trouble in the future…

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So the location that in my mind seemed the most logical would be to mount it in front of the battery, manufacturing a suitable bracket to hang it off the front top cross-piece where there seemed plenty of room and easy access.

This would also allow the two pipes… one from the crank case pressure release port (left below) and the return to one of the turbo inlet ports (right below) could take a short route from the ProVent across the front of the engine and would give me a couple of suitable points to mount supports for the pipes.

I needed to manufacture a bracket that mounted to the top cross rail and went over the air-con hose and bonnet release cable just below it. As luck would have it in my scrap metal bin I had the chassis from on old bit of electrical kit that was made out of aluminium and looked like it would do the job.

Cutting a section off, filing down the edges and drilling mounting holes didn’t take too long and that was followed up by a coat of etch primer and a couple of coats of high temperature gloss black (I only used that as I had a spare can from a previous job!)

Fitting was fairly easy…. and no, they will not be the final bolts!

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Marking and drilling three holes, followed by a couple of coats of metal protector to stop the edges of the holes rusting soon had the bracket in place. If you are wondering why the shape… well it came like that when I cut it off the scrap chassis, but quite by chance it allowed access to the hole which is access to the headlight adjuster screw.

Mounting the ProVent was now simple enough…

It was at this point I stopped. I didn’t like the way it covered the air-con pipe. There was little chance of it rubbing, the pipe already had a big rubber ring on it to stop chafing against the front cross beam or the bonnet release cable. I also now could not get to the bonnet release cable. The mount covered the point where there was a lubrication and connection block for it. It just wasn’t good engineering design.  IKB would be shaking his head and wafting his cigar around in dissatisfaction..

Back to the bat cave. Time for a rethink and to hone my skills in sheet metal origami.

I would like to thank Charles at HumbleMechanic.com for all the information and videos he produces about VW vehicles. Charles has been an absolute gold mine of information for all things VW and if you drive any of VW’s vehicles please be sure to drop in on his YouTube channel and take a look. 

That’s it for the moment… off to Wirral Country Park Caravan & Motorhome Club site for 4 days R & R.

Be right back after the break…..

‘Put big light on will yer…’

29 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by in Accessories, Gadgets, General, Gifts, Product Review, Reviews

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I get sent lots of bits by all sorts of people to test and hopefully write about on the blog… and I think you can guess that I don’t write about too many by the lack of ‘reviews’ on here. Basically if it’s not up to scratch I don’t write about it. I don’t want to knock back a product or company because I have a problem with it or them… so I just keep quiet.

However a couple of weeks ago Erin reached out to me (as the Americans are so fond of saying) asking me if I’d like to review a couple of products… they would send them free of charge in exchange for a review. I agreed.

Unbeknown to Erin I already had been using a couple of their products for a while. So what’s the company?…. Olight… ‘who the heck are they?’… I hear you ask.

Olight have been producing torches (or flashlights if you are west of the pond) for a while and I first came across them in a couple of YouTube videos reviewing flashlights of all things. The one that impressed me at the time was the Olight R40 rechargeable (I think this has been replaced by the R50 Seeker now) which I purchased, and a bit later I acquired a Olight R20 Javelot. (replaced by the M20SX Javelot) The R40 is my ‘go to’ vehicle torch and the R20 is always in the pocket of my Hi-Vis vest while on the ramp at night. They seem to be manufactured to a high standard and are quite robust.

IMG_1413Erin wanted to send me two of the smaller units to check out. The H2R Nova and the S1R Baton.

I know that my R20 Javelot is only small but it packs enough punch for me to light up the tail of an Airbus 320 on a dark ramp. I was looking forward to giving these two new torches a try out.

My R40 uses a micro USB lead to charge but with the H2R and S1R they use Olight’s, I think unique, magnetic charging base. It’s a magnetic disk that holds itself onto the base of the torch. The other end simply plugs into a USB socket. Really neat and simple in my opinion.

The S1R Baton comes complete with a small bag, a charging base and a padded wrist lanyard.  The torch is really tiny just 21mm in diameter and 61 mm long but don’t let it’s size put you off! Here’s a few key points…

  • Cree XM-L2 LED
  • Powered by a 550mAh RCR123 customized battery of five times discharging rate, giving a maximum output up to 900 lumens
  • The flashlight can be charged through the magnetic contact charging port (other batteries may also be used in S1R, but cannot be charged)
  • New 750mA portable USB charging cable
  • Brightness increases or decreases gradually: when the flashlight is switched on/off,
  • Flat magnetic tailcap that allows it to be secured to ferrous metal surfaces as a hands-free option
  • Lockout mode can be activated on the side switch for accidental triggering protection, along with a low-voltage indicator underneath
  • Reverse polarity protection circuits
  • Timer Setting: Short (3 minutes) and long (9 minutes)
  • The standby current is below 30uA

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The charging base is really tiny too… and it’s magnetic attachment is really cool.

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The other torch – the H2R Nova is slightly different….

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It’s angles 90 degrees so when you clip it on your pocket or belt it shines forward. The pocket clip is a ‘s’ shape  too so you can slide it over something either way… so wearing a rucksack it will easily sip over the shoulder strap and you can twist it to point on the ground just in font of you. In the box you also get a charging base (identical to the S1R Baton – handy!) and a strap to turn it into a head torch…. not having a spare head I fitted it over the box…

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The H2R Nova uses a 18650 battery and has an amazing 2300 ANSI rated lumens output from a CREE XHP50 LED .

  • Huge beam spill (TIR with diffuser lens)
  • Optimal for pack strap/pocket/headlamp
  • Pocket light and headlamp in one with magnetic charging.
  • Magnetic tail fix, 90 degrees light illumination direction

There are 5 power settings, the runtime quoted on maximum power (2300 lumens) is 1h50m while down at its lowest setting (night-light) it’s 45 days.

If you look closely at the lens in the picture it is textured… this threw me at first but at night you can clearly see why. The beam spread is very even with a minimal ‘hot spot’ in the centre. This makes it particularly effective as a general lantern or for providing trail lighting at night… I also tend to think it might be excellent on a bike at night too. (you can get a bike mount – Bike Mount)

They are not discount store cheap…. but usually when you need a torch you really really need a torch at that moment that works and is up-to the job, they are not top end eye wateringly expensive either. As my grandfather always used to tell me “By cheap… buy twice” I paid retail price for my first two Olight torches and was knocked back by the difference in quality and light output compared to anything in my previous “budget end” collection.

So where are the night-time photos?

Well what’s the point? You can tweak a photo of a candle to make it look like the sun is shining… given a long enough exposure and a bit of Photoshop magic.  Well maybe not quite.

While we were on site at Blackshaw Moor recently I did have a wander round at night testing them, but to be honest using the HR2 Nova on full power was a bit embarrassing. It looked like I was pointing the torch directly at caravans rather than the path… it was just a bit too bright! I had to knock it down two levels so it matched the torch I was comparing it too. The tiny SR1 on full power out did my comparison torch but it’s slightly tighter beam gave me the distance with less embarrassing spread. (P.S. I’ve nick-named this one “the noisy cricket’ from the tiny gun in MIB)

I was soundly impressed by both these torches in terms of their excellent build quality, functionality and illumination. Like I said right at the start, if I didn’t think they weren’t up to scratch, you would not be reading about them now!

Where to buy…

From the Olight UK Store here

and on Amazon…

As reviewed…

S1R Baton – https://amzn.to/2sfzckd

H2R Nova – https://amzn.to/2ktdeG2

My other Olight torches…

R40 Rechargable – https://amzn.to/2kuBF65

R20 Javelot – https://amzn.to/2IQ1E6x

(P.S. If you do buy from Amazon through these links or any Amazon links on the blog, it won’t cost you a single penny more but Caravan Chronicles will receive a few pence from the sale paid by Amazon.)

E-Trailer….Smart or what!

28 Monday May 2018

Posted by in Accessories, Electrical, Gadgets, General, Maintenance, Modifications, Uncategorized

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A few weeks ago Andy Harris (yes that Andy… him off the TV) and of Road Pro fame called me to tell me about a new gadget that Dutch caravanners were getting all excited about. Now not one to turn down the chance to test a gadget or two, when Andy asked if I’d like one of the units to test I of course said in true reserved fashion said “Well I suppose I can take a look at it”. Who wouldn’t pass the chance to check out the latest piece of tech gadgetry being made by those clever Dutch people at e-Trailer. A few days later a large brown box arrived.

On a recent trip to the C & M Club’s site at Blackshaw Moore I took the opportunity to not only put my feet up for a couple of days with Sue but install and play around… er… seriously test… one of the units..

Blackshaw Moor C & M Club

Opening up the box I found five smaller boxes, containing the main unit and four of the modules.

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Ok, so what is e-Trailer? The simple explanation is there is a black box that sends all kinds of information about your caravan to an app on your phone. It works with both Android and iPhones and there are various ‘modules’ you can add-on to get additional info.

IMG_1403The actual unit is about 120mm long by 80mm wide and 40mm high with a good quality power connector at one end.

In the box is the main unit, 1.5 metre long power lead, instruction manual and a card with a QR Code on it.

You get a QR code with each of the modules, and set of instructions, don’t lose the cars with the QR codes on them! (more about these later)

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Installing the unit is serious easy. You just hook up the power lead to a 12 volt supply. I opted to connected to a switched supply sort came on whenever the caravan master switch was on. This would mean it would be active when towing.

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Once you have powered up the main unit, go to the website e-trailer.nl/app and follow the link for your phone. In the case of my iPhone it took me to the App Store were I could download the app. Once downloaded launch the app and follow the on-screen instructions to register. I was a bit surprised it asked for my postcode and house number, but I guess this is how they register the unit to you for warranty etc.

Once you have created your account in the app and logged in… well remember that card with the QR code on it, simply scan the code and it pairs the app with the unit you have just installed.IMG_0861

You are done! It’s that easy. Now to add the modules. The first one I added was the temperature module. You get a small puck shaped device and following the on-screen prompt, scanned the QR code.

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Done… a quick scan and now I have the temperature reading. For each module you can set lower and upper limits and the type of alarm… visual notification, vibrate, sound. From reading the instructions you could put this sensor in the fridge so when you are driving along you can keep an eye on the fridge temperature to make sure your wine or beer is perfectly chilled when you arrive. From what I understand you can add additional temperature sensors so you can check what the temperature is in the caravan at the same time.

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Next was the voltage sensor so you can keep an eye on the battery voltage. Again it was a quick scan of the QR code and I could see instantly what the battery voltage is and its relative state of charge. (I have yet to check how accurate this is).

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Again, it is easy to set the limits, just tap the two cogs in the bottom left corner….

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… And you can adjust the upper and lower alarm voltages. This is really useful as you can correctly set it for flooded call, AGM or lithium batteries.

Want to know if you have left your roof light open or TV aerial up… or even if your fridge door is open? There’s a module for that… The E Switch.

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In the E-switch module you get two magnetic contact switches that come with 3M pads so you can stick them almost anywhere. Again adding them is a simple scan of the QR code and follow the instructions on-screen. I edited the text for the first switch so I know it is the TV Aerial.

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If one of the switches is open, on the home screen you see that the padlock is orange, close the switch and the padlock closes and the icon turns green.

So what else can it do? Well I also have the tyre pressure monitor module. You get two pressure sensors to attach to the tyre valve stems. The sensors are the type that you can change the battery, which I much prefer, as opposed to the sealed type. I’ve not installed the TPMS module yet as I’m still testing out other TPMS systems on the Amarok and caravan but no doubt it will be an easy install… by just scanning the QR code!

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The last little trick that is has is it is an extreme accurate caravan levelling aid. Again a quick scan of the QR code gets this up and running and follow the on-screen instructions to determine your level point and it becomes easy to level next time you pitch.

OK so what did I think about it?

Well it was super easy to install. It was also super easy to add each module. I like the fact that when you hit up to set off you can check the battery voltage and see if it is charging. You can make sure what ever you have attached the magnetic contacts to you can see if they are in the correct position (i.e. closed, lowered etc.) and you can check the fridge or caravan temperature and tyre pressure.

While driving you can keep an eye on things like your caravan’s tyres, battery charge and fridge temperature. when you arrive on site, reversing into your pitch you can easily see if the caravan needs levelling side to side using ramps or blocks and when you un-hitch you can adjust the jockey wheel to get perfect levelling front to back.

“We have a problem Huston…..”

Now I do have a problem with it. Come what may I cannot get it to vibrate, notify me or play a sound when  anything goes out of the parameters (switch open, battery voltage low etc. I made sure I had the latest version of the app, I have double checked all the settings within my iPhone but I cannot get a single ‘vurrrrrr’ or ‘ding’ out of it. Admittedly my iPhone is now 2 versions behind the times but if the app installed I’d have expected it to work ok. I’ll continue to work on this one.

Finally…

I think the idea and technology is great behind the product and I really do like it and can see lots of additional applications could be added on in the future.

Why though is it an after market accessory? When you can be paying the best part of £30k for a top end caravan should not this sort of information system be standard? When I hitch up and set off, I’d love to be able to check the battery voltage (and charging current) check the fridge was working, tyre pressures, doors and hatches closed… and it is not beyond the engineering skills of man to be able to have a bulb out detection system for the road lights even…. all fed directly to your phone.

If a manufacturer decided to install such a unit the price point would drop dramatically.. and that’s one of my other niggles. The technology and ease of installation is great, however there is a bit of an ‘ouch’ in the wallet as currently the comfort pack is priced around £380. That’s a lot of nights on site. You can build up the unit by just buying the individual modules though.

Do I want one… “Yes”…. would I buy one…. I’ll just go and have a word with Sue.

The e-Trailer is currently available from Road Pro here.. www.roadpro.co.uk/catalogue/01m-smart-trailer

Getting All Charged Up – Update 2…

29 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by in Accessories, Blog updates, Electrical, Gadgets, Maintenance, Modifications, Product Review

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I guess this really is the update to an update (Getting All Charged Up – Update…). We have been living with the Sterling Wildside unit now for about 6 months and a LOT of people have been emailing me asking how we are getting on with it and is it worth it?

IMG_1194Well I have done quite a bit of testing with my leisure battery in various states of discharge. With it at about 50% I have recorded a charging current of 15.9 Amps which is far greater than I could manage before and due to the fact that the Wildside unit uses the correct charging profile for my battery I’m not concerned that I will be reducing or damaging my leisure batteries life expectancy.

Earlier this month I had an email from David Dent who had successfully installed a Wildside unit in his Bailey Unicorn 3 Cadiz and he seemed pleased with the results so far. Although installing it in a Bailey was a bit more of a challenge. I’m looking forward to checking back with David to see how he is getting on with his unit.

A couple of other people have also emailed me reporting that after installing a Wildside unit that it had solved their problem of having enough stored energy to operate their motor movers. I still wonder if people who have been experiencing problems with their motor movers caused by supposedly bad batteries and have had to replace them is possibly down to the fact their battery was never really receiving a correct or full charge before causing its early demise.

New Tool…

One of the things I want to get to add to my ‘tool box’ in the near future is one of the computerised digital battery testers. At the moment I’m basing a lot of my work on the voltage of the battery and chemistry type. I’d like to be able to improve on this.

Watch This Space…

The other thing I’d also like to be able to do is get a voltage and charge current reading for the leisure battery while we are actually driving. I have been looking at a few – mainly American options for bluetooth remote voltage and current sensors that you can connect up to with your phone. There are a couple of devices that offer a separate display to fit in your vehicle.

However, there is a rather exciting unit that will shortly be coming on the market in this area that might be a bit of a game changer. If you want to know what it is well go and see Andy Harris or one of the guys on the Road Pro stand at the NEC in a couple of weeks time as they, along with the manufacturer will be launching and demonstrating a new product that might just be bringing caravan technology bang up-to-date. I hope to be bringing you a bit more about this soon and maybe an install too!

Final Thoughts….

Is the Wildside unit worth it?  Before I answer this let me just say I am not being paid by anyone for any endorsements of this unit. I was supplied one of the first (pre production?) units as a test and to provide feedback to Sterling Power on how easy it was to install and it’s performance in the real world, which I did. As a result a couple of things were ‘tweaked’ hence mine had to be returned, reprogrammed and reinstalled.

Well I’d say if you have a Euro 6 or even a 5 engine and you want to make sure your battery is looked after then yes. If you want to upgrade to a more advanced battery chemistry, again yes.  If I had to return mine would I go out and buy one? Yes I would.

Is there anything I’d like to see changed? Well if they ever did a Wildside 2.0 I’d like to be able to move the caravan’s own charging system so it was routed through the Wildside unit when on mains hook up to take advantage of the Wildside’s smart charging facility and to allow you to move to more advanced battery chemistry. I guess also adding a solar panel input with built-in MPPT would be a big hit too.

In The Future…

I’m starting to wonder if the way we charge and power caravans needs to take a leap forward. I have had an idea that you could basically split an inverter. One half in the vehicle and the other in the caravan. Imagine a small unit that takes the 12 volt DC from the vehicle and inverts it to 48 volts AC. You then have a lead that connects this across to the caravan and there it is converted back into 12 volts DC.

So whats the difference… all you are doing is what’s already happening? Well using a 2.5 mm cable rated for 25 amps at 48 volts gives you 1200 watts of power. To transfer that much power at 12 volts you would need 100 Amps. Keeping it at 48 volts will mean the system is still in the ELV range for safety. (Use 4mm cable and this could be 1680 watts of power which would be equivalent to 140 Amps at 12 volts)

Being able to transfer that sort of energy would allow you to forget LPG cylinders and put 1000 Ah of lithium cells in the caravan with a 240 volt inverter and power everything. Just a thought that I’m throwing out there.