What have you bought for your Cali today :-)

[Pixcels]

Hookup cable


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

Just had a quick look at your euro-blog.
What fun ! Will try to read it in detail later.
One thing, and I'm sure others will have mentioned it before, but what a pity the chronology of the story doesn't start with Day 1.
To follow your adventures I need to scroll all the way down to the bottom and make my way upwards.

 

[Amarillo]

Just had a quick look at your euro-blog.
What fun ! Will try to read it in detail later.
One thing, and I'm sure others will have mentioned it before, but what a pity the chronology of the story doesn't start with Day 1.
To follow your adventures I need to scroll all the way down to the bottom and make my way upwards.

If you go to the home page:

Campervan farewell tour of the European Union

This is the home page's excerpt

au-revoir.eu

You can click the link for Page 1, and at the bottom of Page 1 click for the next page.

One day I will index the blog.

 

[Amonkeyhint]

Yesterday was a wheelie good day

 

[Damen]

Got the tailgate bags and bin from campershop.nl. I’ve been umming and ahhing about buying the bags, as we don’t use the VW chairs and wanted to make better use of the space. Glad I finally got them.

 

[Calicliff]

Coffee machine and loo tent, can’t help thinking that there is a link there somewhere. Booked into site at Padstow for the 13th July, wish me luck.

 

[Melanie Day]

Got this carpet for foot step in sliding door area.
From club shop.

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[The Blue Merle]

Got the tailgate bags and bin from campershop.nl. I’ve been umming and ahhing about buying the bags, as we don’t use the VW chairs and wanted to make better use of the space. Glad I finally got them.View attachment 61292View attachment 61294View attachment 61295

Hi
Where did you get bags and are they very expensive?

 

[Lightning]

Mosquito Zapper & 12V Fan.



From Biltema.

 

[Damen]

Hi
Where did you get bags and are they very expensive?

I got them here:

Storage bag for the tailgate T5/T6 - VWCamperShop

Storage bag for the tailgate T5 / T6.

www.vwcampershop.nl

They weren’t cheap, €75 for 2 with €16 postage. They do the trick though. The bags stick out of the holes where the chairs go by a few inches, they have sturdy bases to stop them flopping over.
The bags aren’t quite as long as the chairs, as the chair legs go further into the recess in the tailgate. I’ve found the bags great for storing bulky but fairly lightweight items that gobble up boot space.

 

[Martayn]

Just bought and installed a solar kit from

Solar Camper Solutions - Home

Solar Panel Kits for Mazda Bongo & VW T4 / T5 /T6 and California camper vans.

www.solarcampersolutions.co.uk

Really happy with the kit, it looks good and super easy to install.... off grid and onwards!.

 

[willwander]

Installed my Solar kit today too.
Need to stop buying expensive gadgets for the van

No idea what this means yet, but I presume it’s working.

 

[Martayn]

Installed my Solar kit today too.
Need to stop buying expensive gadgets for the van
View attachment 61413
No idea what this means yet, but I presume it’s working.
View attachment 61414

I’ve got an older charger unit (blue solar) so just waiting for the Blue tooth dongle to turn up before I get the full info if it’s working .. the charger unit is flashing like mad so I’m assuming it is.

Do you think the double panel is the right choice?. I thought just one would be enough?.

 

[willwander]

I’ve got an older charger unit (blue solar) so just waiting for the Blue tooth dongle to turn up before I get the full info if it’s working .. the charger unit is flashing like mad so I’m assuming it is.

Do you think the double panel is the right choice?. I thought just one would be enough?.

I’m not sure, dual panel is probably overkill. I only went for dual because we do quite a bit of winter camping off grid, hopefully with 2 panels we might still get a little juice even in winter.

 

[Martayn]

T

I’m not sure, I think dual panel is probably overkill. I only went for dual because we do quite a bit of winter camping, hopefully with 2 panels we might still get a little juice even in winter.

ah!... that makes sense with the winter camping. I’ll see how the one panel works out , i can always add another on.

 

[Wesel]

Got this carpet for foot step in sliding door area.
From club shop.

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Beautiful.
Could you tell me how they are fixed? Are they glued?
I cut some from the same material as my mats, but I did not find a durable solution to keep them in place.

 

[vananarama]

A vintage R2 unit. Best use the top dash 12 volt hole going. A perfect fit.


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[GillianC]

Got the tailgate bags and bin from campershop.nl. I’ve been umming and ahhing about buying the bags, as we don’t use the VW chairs and wanted to make better use of the space. Glad I finally got them.View attachment 61292View attachment 61294View attachment 61295

The bin is great! I use it more for storing cables etc than as a bin but every time I see it's perfect fit it makes me smile.

 

[Aidy P]

Just bought and installed a solar kit from

Solar Camper Solutions - Home

Solar Panel Kits for Mazda Bongo & VW T4 / T5 /T6 and California camper vans.

www.solarcampersolutions.co.uk

Really happy with the kit, it looks good and super easy to install.... off grid and onwards!.

View attachment 61411

That looks neat. How easy was it to install and how tidy are the wires inside please? Do you think at speed the wire will flap around or does this get removed whilst driving?

 

[tuono001]

I have an older version and never noticed the cable flap around.
They are really easy to fit in an se/ocean, bit more involved in a beach.

 

[Martayn]

That looks neat. How easy was it to install and how tidy are the wires inside please? Do you think at speed the wire will flap around or does this get removed whilst driving?

When I purchased the van it already had a blue victorn blue charger unit wired to the leisure battery so all I needed to do was fit the PV panel and wire to the charger. I feed the wire through a rubber gromit into the trim and then into the rear left hand side cupboard where the charger was... very easy install with the instructions provided, installation to the battery maybe slightly more trickier. The curly cable is pretty substantial and shouldn’t flap with the withholding it is but I’ll find out soon enough. You can possibly un-clip and tuck into the rear tail gate if you wanted.

 

[Aidy P]

When I purchased the van it already had a blue victorn blue charger unit wired to the leisure battery so all I needed to do was fit the PV panel and wire to the charger. I feed the wire through a rubber gromit into the trim and then into the rear left hand side cupboard where the charger was... very easy install with the instructions provided, installation to the battery maybe slightly more trickier. The curly cable is pretty substantial and shouldn’t flap with the withholding it is but I’ll find out soon enough. You can possibly un-clip and tuck into the rear tail gate if you wanted.

I’m tempted. Is it better to have solar trickling into a battery to prolong its life?

 

[vananarama]

I’m tempted. Is it better to have solar trickling into a battery to prolong its life?

I’m also keen to find out the benefits - how effective are they at keeping the leisure battery pepped? How useful are they? Thanks.


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[Lightning]

I’m also keen to find out the benefits - how effective are they at keeping the leisure battery pepped? How useful are they? Thanks.


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They are very useful in summer, and of no benefit in winter.

 

[vananarama]

Well after virtually every campsite I’ve booked for 4th July telling me we would need our own toilet I took the plunge and got a Thetford 365
Much taller than 335 and when i tried it quickly I don’t think it will fit under rear shelf of Ocean.

We will see. - now I have the “shitty” job of giving it a clean (no pun intended)View attachment 61243

In the market for one too for the precisely the same reason. Enjoy the cleaning!


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[Vagophile]

Installed my Solar kit today too.
Need to stop buying expensive gadgets for the van
View attachment 61413
No idea what this means yet, but I presume it’s working.
View attachment 61414

You guys are making me cry! I too have acquired a solar panel from Roger. It was scheduled for installation last week, but I managed to incapacitate myself cutting a high hedge. I had got as far as fixing the panel (the easy bit) when I had to give up. A week later, I started again and threaded the supply cable through the grommet without trouble. As I don't have and couldn't acquire a wire coat hanger, I had taken the precaution of buying a fibreglass cable threading tool.
Next step, remove the battery. This was not as difficult as I had expected, thanks to the "paper scraper" hint.
So now to run the battery connecting cable. Bend down to see where to route it, then ouch! my back!
So, once again, an unscheduled delay. I would have happily paid someone to get the work done there and then.
One thing I have found is that the fibreglass rods will not be of any use except for snagging a cable already partially threaded as it is surprisingly stiff. Discussing this with my sympathetic neighbour he produced some garden wire which looks just the job, we'll see. But it might be next week now. Grrrr......
I don't agree with Lightning; the 160W panel on my previous van kept two 120Ah leisure batteries and the starter batter fully charged all year round.