TPMS Revisited…

01 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by Simon Barlow in Accessories, Amarok, Tow Vehicle, Towing, TPMS, VW Amarok

Tags

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

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….

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.

‘Put big light on will yer…’

29 Tuesday May 2018

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Accessories, Olight, Torches

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.

Erin 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

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

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

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…

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 Simon Barlow in Accessories, Electrical, Gadgets, General, Maintenance, Modifications, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Accessories, App's, E-Trailer, Maintenance, Technical, travel

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.

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.

The 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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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

… 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.

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.

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!

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 Simon Barlow in Accessories, Blog updates, Electrical, Gadgets, Maintenance, Modifications, Product Review

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Accessories, Maintenance, RoadPro, Sterling Power Wildside, Technical

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?

Well 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.

Getting All Charged Up – Part 1…

25 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by Simon Barlow in Boondocking, Caravan Electrics, Caravan Servicing, Electrical, Gadgets, General, Maintenance, Modifications, Off Grid, Product Review, Reviews, Technical, Tow Vehicle, Uncategorized, VW Amarok

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Euro6 Engines, Leisure Battery Charging, Maintenance, Project, Regen Braking, Sterling Power Wildside

If you are a regular reader you may remember a couple of posts I wrote about leisure battery charging in caravans and motorhomes (Smart Alternators: how they affect Caravans and Motorhomes…. and NEC Show Roundup – it’s all technical…) and I linked to a few videos that Charles Sterling from Sterling Power has produced covering charging topics and Euro6 engines. At the recent NEC show Sterling Power were featuring a new product that would soon be available that would solve all the issues for caravan owners that were experiancing towing with vehicles that had “smart alternators” which were are standard on Euro5 and Euro6 engines and the issues around regenerative braking on Euro6 engines. Charles promised to send me one of the first pre-production “Wildside” Battery to Battery chargers specifically designed for caravans.

A couple of days ago I was excited to receive a package from Sterling Power containing one of the pre-production new “Wildside” units. The unit itself is robustly constructed and weighs in at about the same as a bag of sugar – 1Kg.

It comes with a comprehensive 11 page instruction/installation manual that goes through all the steps that you need to install the units and what all the various lights and connections are on the unit itself. For anyone that is familiar with my electrical drawings, Sterling have based their installation drawings on my format so are easy to understand (in my opinion!).

I’ll state now for the record, Sterling Power have sent me this free of charge to install and evaluate and that is what I’m going to do, but I will be honest and tell you if I think there are any issues with the installation or the unit in the way that it operates.

Looking at the connections for the unit it all looks straight forward. The circuit board is labelled exactly as the drawings in the installation manual which is reassuring and the manual goes into the various functions of each connection and the programming of the unit.

Why this unit?

Since we had changed from using our 2006 Land Rover Freelander HSE as our primary tow vehicle to our 2016 VW Amarok Atacama I had noticed that our leisure battery was not getting close to a full charge even after towing for a couple of hours. We don’t have a solar charging system installed and relied on the tow vehicle and EHU when on site to keep our leisure battery topped up. I knew about the limitations of smart alternators and have written about them before and answered lots of emails about problems readers were now experiancing. Up to this point I really didn’t have an answer to most of the problems and I was considering going down the same route as our Australian cousins and installing some hefty cables between the tow vehicle and caravan, connected together with Anderson connectors. Works fine down under and would do here, especially coupled with one of Sterling Power’s B2B units which I had been looking at.

Now this would be ideal for us, but anyone who tows using a company car, a lease vehicle or a vehicle on a LP scheme can’t just go ahead and install stuff willy nilly. Unless it is done right, it has the potential to be a bit of a ticking bomb as well and if I was going to recommend it as a solution there are very few people with experience to do an installation of this type. I have seen some right botch jobs on heavy-duty cabling by so-called “professionals” when installing simple winches and dual battery systems on 4 x 4 off road vehicles. Using a lump hammer, cold chisel and block of metal is NOT the professional way to crimp battery cables!

I was looking round to see if there were other options and talking to the chaps on the Sterling Power stand at the show told me they had a product in development that might just be the solution…. and here we are!

How does it work?

I’m not going to give you chapter and verse on the internals (some of that would be guessing on my part and some is propriety information anyway) so I’ll simplify it as much as I can.

In current tow vehicles you have two connections that supply power to the caravan – one for the fridge which is only live when the engine runs and one for charging the leisure battery which is usually live all the time. Now the problem is that as it’s quite a distance from the front of the vehicle where the battery and alternator are to where the leisure battery and fridge are located in the caravan. The size of the cables providing the connections are key to how efficient it all works.

Nearly all good quality tow bar wiring uses 2.5 mm square (2.5mm²) cable for these circuits and they connect between the tow vehicle and caravan through a 13 pin plug and socket (or 12N & 12S in older vehicles). The problem with all this is down to good electrical ‘laws’. In essence the more current you draw through a length of cable the greater the voltage drop ( I go into a bit of techie detail about it here… Understanding Cable and Cable Sizes ) Some people go to the lengths of re-wiring the circuits in 4mm² or even 6mm² cable, which was OK up to a point… usually the point which is the connection between the vehicle and caravan. With the traditional installation what you end up with is two circuits that the voltage is usually too low to provide a good charging capability for the leisure battery and the fridge circuit that might or might not, depending on voltage drop, have some spare capacity but you can’t use it to charge the leisure battery.

Back to the Wildside unit…

What the Wildside unit does and this is really clever, is it takes over the two power circuits, aggregates them and manages the output. It draws the maximum current available through each of the two circuits and provides an output for the fridge always at the correct voltage to maximise the efficiency of your fridge and protect it from the voltage fluctuations inherent with Euro6 and Regen engines and any spare capacity on this circuit it added to the leisure battery charging circuit, steps up the voltage and provides a separate output via a four stage intelligent battery charger to maximise the charging capability to your leisure battery.

This is a very very simple one paragraph explanation, it does have a few other tricks up its sleeve though.

One feature is the “Remote Mode Select” switch option. This allows you to install a switch that will allow you to turn the unit to “Wildside”, “Boondocking” or “Off Grid” mode and run the fridge as though it was being powered from the vehicle. It is actually being powered from the leisure battery.

Take note though… Most caravans and motorhomes are fitted with absorption fridges which use a heated element that is constantly on to make the fridge work. However some motorhomes ( I don’t know of any caravans) are fitted with the more expensive and vastly more efficient compressor fridges which work exactly like your fridge at home but can’t run on gas. If you are camping off grid for a few days with an absorption fridge, then run it on gas. However if you are worried about your fridge not maintaining temperature on an hours ferry crossing or on a euro tunnel crossing then you can use the switch to keep the fridge running. The period you can power it will depend on the capacity of your battery(s)… I would not advise using it with and absorption fridge on a battery bank with anything less than 110Ah capacity.

If you do use this feature on the Wildside unit, it will protect your battery bank from discharging past the safe point by turning off the fridge when the voltage reduces and reaches a critical point that would damage your battries.

You also have the ability to specifically select the type of leisure battries you have installed – GEL I, GEL II, AGM I, AGM II, Sealed, Open, Calcium, LiFePO4 to get the correct tailored charging and maintenance program for your battery bank.

If you are fortunate to have lithium leisure batteries there are a couple of other connections you will need to check out too.

Installation Considerations…

We know what it does so how do we connect it. Well this is where it could get messy unless we have a plan.

In essence, what do we need to do? Well we have to cut and divert the incoming pin 9 and pin 10 into the Wildside unit and connect one output to the leisure battery. We also need to disconnect the fridge from the caravan’s original control box and reconnect it to the Wildside unit. As the habitation relay is usually buried inside the original control box we need to be able to control this from the Wildside unit. There is a terminal for this (“CVan Dis Output”) but what do we connect to this to make the habitation relay operate correctly?

The original Pin 10 lead that we cut and diverted into the Wildside unit, the other end of this still goes into the installed control box and this will operate the habitation relay. Remember we disconnected the fridge power lead from the installed control box and reconnected it directly to the FRG+ output on the Wildside unit so all it does now is operate the habitation relay.

So summing up, we have to cut 3 cables and re-terminate 5 ends into the Wildside unit. This of course does not include the neutral connections which will be easy and straight forward.

Other Considerations…

The installation of the Wildside unit must be easily reversible so it can be moved to another caravan at some point in the future.

We must also use the correct size cables to connect to the leisure battery as we will now be charging at higher currents than was possible before, the original cable that was installed in the caravan to connect to the leisure battery may not be of a sufficient rating.

We must document the changes properly so that at some point in the future someone can follow what we have done incase they have to fault find.

We must make sure all the connections and general installation are done to a high standard to ensure the installation is safe.

Finally we must be able to do the install without invalidating any warranty on the original installed control unit (i.e. not opening it up) and retain functionality of all the elements of the caravans electrical system. It’s no use installing the Wildside unit if half the electrical features of you caravan don’t work afterwards!

In Part 2…

In the next part I’ll go through the manufacturers electrical schematics of the caravan and show how to find and trace which cables we are going to look for when we do the install and how we produce a simple drawing showing the changes.

I’ll also come up with a quick check list for all the additional bits (cable, terminals etc) that we will need for the install.

Fit2Go Tyre Pressure Checker…

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by Simon Barlow in Accessories, Gadgets, General, Maintenance, Product Review, Reviews, Technical, TPMS

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Fit2Go, Maintenance, Touring, Towing, TPMS, Tyre Monitoring, Tyre Pressure

Back in December last year I did a write up and little video with Andy Harris from RoadPro about the Fit2Go tyre pressure monitoring system. In the video he promised to send me one of the new Fit2Go Tyre Pressure Checker units as soon as they were released. Well Andy kept his word and yesterday I received a little package from Road Pro.

I had seen a sneak preview of one of the first early production units available at the NEC show in February and managed to have a quick run through of it very simple operation.

The unit comes neatly packaged and isn’t contained on one of those damn near impossible to open blister packs thankfully. It arrive complete with a set of AAA size batteries, a holder which has a pad of 3M VHB tape to allow it to be attached and stowed securely inside the vehicle. VHB if you don’t know stands for Very High Bond, so choose your storage location wisely… it might be a bit of a do-dah to move!

Operation is really simple. Press and hold the on button for five seconds and the unit will power up and display the status of the units own batteries.

To obtain a pressure reading, simply place the unit’s logo over the tyre pressure sensor and you will feel a slight pull as the internal magnet pulls it towards the sensor, it’s this magnet that ‘wakes up’ the sensor.

29 PSI is correct for the Amarok running light, and this sensor is showing 3 battery bars.

After a few seconds the Pressure Checker will beep and you can read the pressure for that wheel… and cleverly, you can also check on the battery level in the sensor. The display is in good old PSI, however if you don’t work in PSI and much prefer BAR, while the Pressure Checker is turned on, simply press the on/off button five times in quick succession and it will beep and the reading will now be in BAR. To change it back, simply do the same again to revert to PSI. To turn the Pressure Checker off, simply hold down the power button for 3 seconds and it will beep and turn off.

That is about as complicated as it gets.. really. The only real challenge is to find a spot to stick the holder!

I have tried a few different TPMS ‘solutions’ over the past couple of years and all have plus points and minus points. As I am one of these people who likes to do walk rounds before setting off (throw back to my flying days I guess) I really didn’t want Formula 1 type information thrown at me all the time. I wanted a simple warning system and a simple way to check the pressure without having to remove any sensors. Fit2Go ticks these boxes.

If I did have a negative point about the Fit2Go system it would be the fact that the batteries in the sensors are not user replaceable. At least I do have a way to check the status of them now. The sensors are not too expensive when they need replacing, but will be more expensive that replacing just a battery. Part of my brain is shouting “recycling” at me… and I do wonder why the manufacturer hasn’t come up with a recycling scheme… exchange your old sensors for new for a few pounds less than buying new and we will recycle them. Or maybe a discount voucher scheme when you recycle?

The Fit2Go Tyre Pressure Checker is available from RoadPro for just under £40 (exc shipping) or you can always find it on Amazon.

Fit2Go Tyre Monitoring Review….

26 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in Accessories, Product Review, Reviews, Technical, TPMS

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Caravan Tyres, Fit2Go, RoadPro, Tow Vehicle, Towing, TPMS

A couple of weeks ago while we were at the Chapel Lane Caravan Club site Andy Harris from RoadPro came over and brought a new product for us to try. It had been launched to the caravan and motor home market at the NEC show in October and while talking to Andy at the show he introduced me to a couple of people from Fit2Go to chat about the product. I really liked the idea of it as there were no wires involved, little set-up or programming and more importantly it was easy to install the dash display in any vehicle as the unit fitted on the windscreen and was the same size as the old tax disc. No suckers…. no bean bag thingy…. no screwing mounts to the dash or finding a space to install the display. Continue reading →

Feeling Festive and Shooting a Video…

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in Accessories, Christmas Markets, Gadgets, General, Gifts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Caravanning, Caravans, Maintenance, Touring, Tow Vehicle, Towing, travel, Travel Trailer, Travel Trailers

This time of year is great for getting away in your caravan or motor home and getting into the festive spirit. We have owned a caravan for 5 years now and every year to extend the season we have managed to take in a Christmas Market – Lincoln, Erddig, Cheltenham, Oxford, Birmingham to name a few. This year would be no exception and we had decided to re-visit Birmingham. Around the same time as we were planning this, Andy Harris, the TV presenter, owner of RoadPro and avid motorhome enthusiast had been in touch and had a product he wanted us to try out… and make a video!

Monday 12th December

We had booked in again to Chapel Lane Caravan Club site in Wythall on the outskirts of Birmingham. Its ideally located for getting into the centre of Birmingham via the car or train.

We picked up the caravan from the storage facility and set off at 10:50 for the 104 mile trip down to the site. The motorways were showing clear on the GPS. Slight delay through the roadworks on the M6, but no major holdup. Pulled into Chapel Lane Camping and Caravan site at 13.15.

Pitching the caravan is by now, a well rehearsed act… pink and blue jobs and we both get on with it. However my awning setup routine was interrupted by Sue announcing “the loo won’t flush” You can read all about that in the previous post: Flushed With Success…. Eventually.

Twinkly lights under the full moon

Tuesday 13th December

A little trip out to CAK Tanks for a spare part was the order of the day after ringing to confirm they had the part in stock. Before we set off Sue prepared the evening meal in the slow cooker (crock-pot). Sue recently ‘re-discovered’ our slow cooker and has been trying different recipes. It really is ideal for the caravan…. prepare everything in the morning, turn it on and set off for the day knowing there’s going to be a hot meal ready when we come back. Absolutely ideal for caravanning in the colder months.

We punched the address for CAK Tanks into the sat-nav and set off. It took us about 25 minutes to get there. This was our first visit to CAK and let me just say YOU GUY’S NEED A BIGGER SHOP! The existing shop was packed to the roof with products and I guess they only had a tiny percentage of what they actually stock on display and I would have loved to have spent hours browsing (and a small fortune probably) and chatting to the staff.

We arrived back at the caravan and I set to sorting out the ‘repair’…. which wasn’t really a repair, more putting right someone else’s mistake.

Wednesday 14th…. the video man cometh!

We were up fairly early to make sure everything was tidy… not that it usually isn’t, ready for Andy arriving. He was due to arrive about ten and had already got permission from the Caravan Club to shoot video on site.

Thankfully we were lucky with the weather. The previous days gloom and drizzle had given way to clear sky and in the morning bright sun. As for the video and what it was all about…. well you will just have to wait a few days but needless to say I ain’t going to win anything in the talent stakes!

Thursday 15th December

Wednesday night the temperature dropped and the fog started to appear. We were up early again and peering out of the caravan window. After our showers it still didn’t seem like daylight had arrived properly. At least it wasn’t raining. We set off a little after nine to walk the mile or so down to Wythall station to catch the 09:57 train to Moor Street station which is perfect for visiting the centre of Birmingham.

Waiting for the train at Wythall Station in the morning mist

Waiting for the train at Wythall Station in the morning gloom

Walking down New Street

Leaving the main entrance of Moor Street, if you cross over the road and climb the steps opposite it brings you out at one end of the Christmas Market on New Street and you just follow the stalls. We dropped in to a Costa Coffee to stock up on caffeine and followed the trail of stalls. The stalls run along New Street and into Victoria Square where a number of the food and drink stalls are located.

Some of the stalls in Victoria Square

From Victoria Square follow Fletchers Walk toward Centenary Square where all the Christmas Craft market stalls are located, opposite the building that houses the Library and Birmingham Repertory Theatre. (You can use the loo’s in here if required). There was an excellent stall dispensing hot cider with sloe gin… well it would seem rude not to!

The big wheel in Centenary Square next to the ice rink and library

Back at Victoria Square we partook of the first festive continental sausage… washed down with mulled wine (Sue)… and a hot chocolate with whipped creme (Me) and it wasn’t even noon yet!

We walked part way back down New Street past the stall on the other side and eventually cut across to New Street Station and the shopping malls for a spot of window shopping and in search of a late lunch.

Friday 16th December – British Motor Museum, Gaydon

Last year, our efforts to visit the British Motor Museum were shorted lived. When we arrived it was shut. Not doing any checking about opening times was down to me. If I had, I’d have discovered that there was a £1.1 Million refurbishment being undertaken. This year however, I did check and it was open (well the first floor of the ‘Collections’ centre was closed while the floor was being repaired) and after a thirty minute drive from the site we arrived spot on 10:30. It’s well worth a visit if you have any interest in British car manufacturing, however I was a little disappointed that there were not as many Land Rovers on display as I had expected… plenty of Jaguars (well it is owned by Jaguar Land Rover) but a bit thin on Landy’s. Here are a few photos rather than me waffle on….

Sue’s second favourite car

Above & Below: Laura Croft’s Tomb Raider Landy

Sue’s favourite car…. I’d better start saving!

A highlight was this 1935 Royal Winchester caravan. I managed to get a couple of photos through the windows without too much reflection. With a lot of the cars the door windows were open, and although you are asked politely not to touch the exhibits… you can almost put your head through the window for a closer look and to sniff the interiors… its surprising the memories this triggered. Unfortunately the caravan had all it’s windows firmly shut and I would have loved to have been able to at least have a closer look (and sniff) at the interior.

This did get me wondering, as we have been building caravans almost as long as we have been building cars, do we have a national collection of caravans anywhere?

On the way back we called in to Hatton Shopping Village, the place we found last year. The shops were fairly quiet as it was Friday and obviously the schools hadn’t finished for Christmas yet. There were over a dozen Christmas stalls set up outside in addition to the many specialist small shops. As it was about lunch o’clock we dropped into Spinning Jenny, the restaurant, bar and tea room. Sue opted for fish cakes and I plumped for the gammon.

However it arrived on a routed and planed scaffolding plank. My pet peeve is food served on planks, shovels, roofing slates or for that matter anything that is not a plate or something that can be suitably washed. OK I can accept a cheese board on wood, but grilled meat… unless they have a butcher’s apprentice trained to scrub a butchers block for twenty minutes with water and bleach washing up… I have a problem with it. That said… it was very nice.

As are most of our caravanning trips it had come to an end and the following day it was time to go home.

If you havent thought of using your caravan or motor home out of season, or thought about visiting a Christmas Market, start thinking about it now. Using your caravan or motor home in the winter isn’t an issue, they are all designed for all year use and have good insulation. Our tip is when you arrive put the heating on full blast and get the living space up to a comfortable temperature as quick as possible. Don’t fall into the “Keep the heating low to save gas/electric and let it warm up slowly….. use the “blast furnace” setting and get the heat into the van quickly, once it’s comfortable reduce the setting to maintain the level of warmth you are happy with.

Sites are usually quiet this time of year and you won’t have too many problems booking somewhere…. the hardest thing is deciding on which Christmas Market you want to visit… or visit two! Spend a few days at one then move on to another, that’s what caravans and motor homes were designed for, moving about. Remember you can go everywhere like a local!

OK that’s it for our travels this year, we are already looking forward to 2017 and the caravan and motor home show at Event City in Manchester in January…. then the NEC in Feb…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Simon & Sue

BlackVue Dash-Cam Fitted…

17 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in Accessories, Dash Cam, Gadgets, General, Modifications, VW Amarok

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Dash Cam, Modifications, Tow Vehicle

A few days ago I fitted the Black Vue DR650S-2CH 16GB twin camera dash cam to the Amarok. All in all it was a vey easy install taking me less than two hours to accomplish. The longest part was actually tucking the wires in along the edge of the head liner so they can’t be seen. Helpfully Black View supply a little blue tool that helps you do this without damaging any of the interior trim. I also installed the Black Vue Power Magic PRO that allows permanent connection to the vehicles electrical system and gives you the ability to use “Parking Mode” which records continuously when you are parked with the engine off.

If you have considered a dash-cam but don’t know where to start, one of the best introductory guides to Dash Cams that I have seen is by Techmoan.com. Just click on the link to watch it. There are also dozens of dash-cam reviews on His channel.

The electrical side of add the camera was made easy by using “Add A Circuit” fuse holders. (I’ve put links to everything on Amazon at the bottom of the post) Crimp the Add A Circuit on to the correct cable on the Power Magic unit then simply identify which circuit is permanently live in the fuse box, select a fuse, pull it out and insert it into the Add A Circuit fuse holder along with a fuse of the correct rating for the Power Magic and push the Add A Circuit into the space where you removed the fuse from. You will need two as the Power Magic requires a permanent 12 volt supply and an ignition switched 12 volt supply…. and a ground of course.

From the driving position very little of the front camera can be seen.

There are several switches on the Power Magic to set before you install. The first set the minimum voltage the unit will turn the cameras off at, this stops you flattening the vehicle starter battery, the second set sets a time for the cameras to stop recording after 24 hours, 48 hours or you can set it to infinity. There are several combinations and it’s all explained in the instructions.

The rear camera is installed at the top of the window avoiding getting one of the heating elements in view.

A few installation tips….

Try to install the camera so that the lens is as central as possible so you capture as much of the road as possible.
Try to install the front camera so that the area in front of the camera is swept by the windscreen wipers so you can clear the rain.
If you install a rear view camera, try to make sure it is not positioned directly in view of one of the heating elements, but close enough so that the window is cleared when the screen heater is on.