Thread: Meet my 90, and share the adventure.

The past week I've had some annual leave up my sleeve, so decided to take a 4 day trip to the (almost) outback region of NSW.
We (Erin and I) had a roughly planned an itinerary - goal was to visit the hot artesian baths that are spotted around the north west of NSW - the rest we left to chance. We knew that Lightning ridge was on the cards, and planned to spend the best part of a day there seeing the sights - particularly the opal field region of Grawin / Glengarry, and their famous watering holes.

We packed the 90 with some basic non perishable supplies, 20L of Tamworth town water, and swags / clothing. The Odometer was zeroed, and the tank was filled.
Like Tetris:


Day 1 - Tamworth to Pilliga
We departed early Sunday morning from Tamworth, grabbing a coffee for the road. We made a B-line to Gunnedah NSW before heading to Boggabri for a squiz at 'Gins Leap'. Story has it that 2 young aboriginals from different (warring) tribes ran away, and were tracked by their tribe. They leaped from the tall cliffs to their deaths to prevent capture and punishment. Gins Leap was also the site of a hotel back in the 1800's where the graves of the family now stand.




From there, we headed to Narrabri for some fuel and supplies which we missed at home. We departed for Wee Waa, heading west to the town of Pilliga. Factoid: Wee Waa, once hosted a Daft Punk concert/ album launch!
Once in Pilliga, we stopped by the local pub for a counter lunch and a few games of Pool approx 1300hrs. We then set up camp for the night at the Pilliga Bore Baths, for a nominal fee of $5 for the night. We slipped into the hot baths, where the water was approx 38 celsuis. The baths are frequented by many people, many seek therapeutic befefits of the baths due to the minerals, however I was there to relax and keep warm!

Camp for the night:


Day 2 - Pilliga to Lightning Ridge
Got an early start at Pilliga, mainly due to being a bit cold the night before- there was plenty of wind and temps dropped to about 5 celsius. I woke up and made the obligatory instant coffee and toast while watching the sun rise. I watched the stars fade, and the purples, oranges and reds appear in the sky.


It was in this moment of clarity that I found irrefutable evidence to support a theory I had pondered for many years (much to the dislike of Erin)...
The Sun really does shine out of my arse!



After packing up camp, we headed out of town, grabbing another coffee from the local cafe and paying our camping fee (they were closed on sunday). BIG MISTAKE. The SWB landy lived up to its reputation on the bumpy (yet sealed) roads, with more coffee ending up on the cubby box than in our mouths.
We were now heading north out of Pilliga, heading to the 2nd bore bath at Burren Junction. Once more, it was chockers with caravanners and without a doubt, Erin and I were the youngest there by 30 years or more! We passed on a swim in this bore bath, as it was still early, and we had Km's to gain as we closed in on 'da Ridge'.

We passed thru Cryon, a small town on the Kamilaroi Highway which has a railway line and Silo, and a general store, which appears to have been closed since the early 90's. This marked a milestone in the trip- the 90's first confirmed kill. At 110km/h, an unsuspecting bird zigged when it should have zagged, and wedged itself firmly in the decreasing space between the roof of the landy, and the roof rack. It was sort of like a very blunt cheese grater. Nevertheless, I persevered and managed to get its little corpse off my vehicle and onto the side of the road.
Shortly after, we spotted our first Emus. A mob of 6 in a drought stricken cotton field south of Walgett.



We also found a good photo op in the vast expanse of this farming region. The Walgett region is doing it tough with a lack of rain, forcing farms (predominantly cotton IIRC) to cease planting for the year. I've been told in the past, that a large cotton farm can plant $1M of seed for a season, so the prospect of no rain or secured irrigation to sustain their crops could be a costly one.





About 11am we reached Walgett, where we picked up more diesel replacing the 34.15L we had used since Narrabri.
We visited the tourist info centre and bought a chick-pea cook book.

We persevered northward, taking the turnoff at Walgett towards Cumborah.
From Cumborah, we turned west into the Grawin / Glengarry opal fields to visit the local points of interest.




The Grawin 'Club in the scrub'

Entry to the club is via the golf course...
The Greens are... umm... NOT.


This was our first stop. We stopped for a counter lunch and a beer with the local miners. There is plenty of characters in this neck of the woods, one was quite excited to show me the Grawin 'UFO'. Turns out it was just a weather balloon

Well Folks, I've been doing some more tinkering.

Through either procrastination, or sheer laziness, I still havent wired up the last few meters of winch power cable. I'm hoping we have a prize for the most protracted 'simple' project? If we do, I'm damn sure I'll win it outright.

I had a parcel from the US go AWOL, and it took near on 90 days from payment to delivery. That's excuse 1. On top of that, Its my busiest time of the year at work and... you get the idea. Lazy Mitch is lazy. If this project had a Gantt chart, i'd have one of those monumental **** ups where all the critical path items go haywire and the project ends up over time, over budget and all fouled up. Pretty much like most government projects I've watched over the years


The dual battery tray has arrived, it's a Devon 4x4 unit ex UK.


It came as a bit of a shocker to me how involved this seemingly simple battery tray is...



many different angles, locating holes etc. I was planning at one stage to make one up but this probably would have been a tall order to get anywhere near the same level of quality for the time / money invested.


This battery tray will hold 2 Optima batteries (yet to be purchased, most likely optima D34M marine 'hybrid' cranking / deep cycle batteries) which will direct power to...


The Blue sea systems automatic charging relay, and the remote battery switch

Rock solid, BIG MOFO units... Running on a single 70mm2 cable, the RBS can handle a continuous current of 225A... and up to 2000A for a 10 second cranking cycle. Plus it's IP66 rated- essentially able to be exposed to direct spray by a high pressure water jet for 3 minutes without adverse effect. Can switch under load as well, however this is not likely to be a factor in my design.

The ACR is the brains of the operation, directing battery charge (bi-directional) to each battery as required. The benefit of this over other items on the market is having a much higher current handling capacity when joining batteries for winching, or emergency jump starts. This model is good for the same 225A continuous on the cable I'm running, as well as having the headroom for up to 2000A for 10 seconds. Under a 'strenuous' 5min winching operation with my winch, I'd have no issues with burning out this unit. It's more likely than not that I'll blow the fuses I have in my setup before it comes to the melty and burny stage
Pretty much everything I've got lined up would support a much larger winch if the batteries are specced to handle it.


I did a bit of a bench test with the RBS (remote battery switch) last night. Where this fits into the equation is essentially just a switch to turn the winch power on or off at the press of a button. I'm not too keen on having the winch cables permanently live, so this is one of the ways to allow this to be switched. I know it seems overkill at first look, but It should prove useful for any other accessories if I ever need a switchable high current circuit (think Anderson style fittings etc- jump starting, additional winches, bow thrusters etc). Forwards compatibility is key here, and that is never a bad thing to have up your sleeve.

The setup:

I scrounged an AC to 12VDC (1.5A output) wall wart from the drawer of eternal damnation (AKA junk drawer) in the home office. From there I proceeded to jerry-rig a bit of wiring to do some testing of the remote battery switch.
The setup was just a dry run before install proper, and is a good opportunity to test its current draw at rest, and how it works on the bench, how the switch reacts to the high current output side of the switch etc.

Main findings were that the relay does not pull in unless connected to a battery on either terminal A OR B of the unit... i.e. power to activate the coil comes from the battery proper, not the signal wires via the switch.
It also draws its resting current (I measured 5mA) from the battery, not via the switch, and the unit holds it's state when power is disconnected. Remember I'm no professional, so that's about the limit of my observations in this regard. Feel free to chime in if you have further info to add!

There was some discussion here about switchgear for the puma, but my underlying question was regarding the internal operation of the RBS. I was torn between a product which had a 0mA current draw at rest, and one which draws a small current continuously, but has the flexibility of using multiple switch types. I opted for model number 7713 in the end, There was some reading that I read which suggested that a Bi-stable latching relay as is in some of these switches, can be disturbed through excessive vibration. Probably not ideal in a 4wd application. The other concern is keeping factory looking switchgear on the dash, and non standard switches like the honkin' red Blue Sea contura switches on the Ex Box case.

I've sourced all the cable, crimp lugs and other accoutrements for the install, just need to get her done in the coming weeks (or months ). Rest assured I'll take plenty of pics along the way to document the most bomb-proof dual battery / winch setup (in a 90) this place has ever seen

In the words of AvE... Keep your stick on the ice.