Thread: Meet my 90, and share the adventure.

It has been a quiet few weeks on the landy...the Tamworth Country music festival rolled into town, along with just about every grey nomad between Port Douglas and Ceduna... so getting around town and getting things done was severely compromised. firstworldproblems.jpg

Next steps will be to do with the dual battery install. Lots of planning to do, and considerable capital outlay needed. It's a job I only want to do once, so I'll probably take this one slow.

As for the ex box, I can finally put this one to rest. I've removed the mulgo foam strips that seal it up, and replaced with some rubber seals which are used on boot trim. I've had to wind out the latch on the front a bit to make up for the extra thickness of the seal, but it will definitely help to keep a lot of the dust out.









Also a pic of the winch wiring and associated rubber end seal to stop chafing.




That's all for now folks,
Until next time, Cheerio.

I've just been driving it! Approaching 8,000km traveled since I purchased it may last year. I should probably do something about increasing that number.


Yesterday we took a nice trip to Manilla NSW - Which isn't far from me. We went to see the Manilla show, which was the usual 'country' show, showcasing local grower's produce, wool and arts and crafts. Watched the working dog trials for a bit, then watched the farmer's challenge, which was good for a laugh (a relay type event for things like getting out the a swag, putting boots on, cracking whips, and drenching sheep etc). The humour was mainly from the MC - but the showgirls trying to crack a whip was also amusing.

Manilla is situated at the confluence of the Namoi River and Manilla river, and is known for its fishing in the rivers, and paragliding on mount Borah- an internationally acclaimed gliding destination. By the river, there is a large reserve where you can find a sneaky spot to drop a line or just relax in the shade. We went for a drive after checking out the show, and snapped some pics on the Namoi river:

there are a few shallow water crossings and a number of sandy tracks along the river banks - nothing extreme


Nice view from the river crossing



As for the build, progress is slow going.
I'm working on designing the dual battery system, which I've alluded to in this thread.
I need to finish the main power wiring for the winch (the cable run between the solenoid box back to HD switch, fuse and secondary battery).

Charging relay
I'm pretty much sold on the Blue Sea Systems ML-ACR unit, as per Brett/ Bushman's thread and youtube clips. I'm leaning towards model 7622 - which is a magnetically latched automatic charging relay (ACR), which is IP-66 rated for dust and water ingress. It is dual sensing, and will accept charge from a range of inputs (alternator, solar amongst others). It's got the battery combine function to allow joining of batteries, start isolation to protect accessory circuits from voltage spikes and sags when the engine is being started (this is one function that stops the accessory loads from turning off and on again when the engine is started). It's the usual marine grade gear, battle-proven, and built to handle the most unforgiving environment.

Battery selection
Looking to stick with the optima D34 batteries as per Loneranger's build. I understand people have a good amount of success with these, and I'm happy to follow suit. Total Ah rating is less than I'd like, but I want a battery that can handle the loads of winching, while still having a deep cycle pedigree (which I understand is a trade-off due to the construction of the battery cell plates, more than anything else).

I've crunched some sums of a power requirments 'wish list' for camping. Used an online calculator to calculate battery Ah needed, and waved my usual over-engineered 'fudge factor' over the top for good measure:

Designed loads: Camping max 3 days
1x fridge @ 4.2A 12hr/day
work light @ 1A 3hr/day
Inverter 1500W with 500W load drawing 50A 1hr/day
0.5A fridge for 24hrs = 24Ah @ 20hrs
4.5A Fridge for 24hrs = 214Ah @ 20hrs
1A lighting for 3hrs = 8Ah @ 20hrs
50A inverter for 1hr = 132Ah @ 20hrs
360A winch for 0.1hrs = 118Ah @ 20hrs
...in retrospect, I can't recall what the total Ah required was... but there was some method in my madness.

Removable Aux power
I'm toying with the idea of a portable battery for camping- a larger capacity and physical size true deep cell with its own charging relay and anderson style connection - think of it as a 'plug and play' battery for extended stays. Still in the hair-brain planning stages, but well and truly possible if I plan for it now. There would be possibility for AC-DC charging as well... being able to plug into 240V would be good for extended stays, but again, space and where I'd put this item is up in the air (not an IP rated device, so needs to be high and dry).

Battery isolation
Still undecided if I want battery isolation in the battery box or not. I've been tossing up a Remote Battery Switch setup (Blue sea systems ML-RBS model 7700), however for the purposes of extra electronics (and the space they take up), it seems overkill- especially given that their use is to disconnect / lock out the battery systems for repairs remotely- I can imagine the issues with the security system if this is used incorrectly. It is still on the cards for switching the winch though. It would be extra bling points to be able to disconnect batteries at the flick of a switch, and be an additional anti-theft function if managed correctly. Not to mention they look totally bad-ass when wired up correctly (pic below is a stock image of marine wiring):

If I were into that social media stuff, it would probably be filed under #wiringporn
Edit: there's a sub-reddit for this! Cable Porn; The Art of Tidy Data Centers




Battery Tray
Still not sure if I'll pull the pin on the devon 4x4 battery tray. I'm looking for something that will put the BCI Group 34 batteries hard up against the battery box wall, with plenty of room to slide them in and out of place, as well as keep room for all the other wiring going on around them. Might get motivated to get some measurements and actually weld something up for a battery tray. Something basic, probably mild steel angle, and definately no scratch start TIG welding this time...


So that's where I'm at. It's a long and thought provoking journey, learning a heap along the way, and hoping to stuck into more wiring soon!