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What have you bought for your Cali today :-)

Lightning said:
They are very useful in summer, and of no benefit in winter.
Click to expand...
I have had no problem keeping my Leisure Batteries fully charged whilst parked on my drive during winter months with a 100 watt panel. I am using the vehicle regularly but the panels maintain the voltage during daylight hours at 13+ volts.
Obviously if you are using the habitation equipment maybe not, but parked up it negates the requirement of Mains Hookup once a month.
 
On the photography front you work with the strengths of whatever camera you are using. The best camera is the one you have with you whoever or when ever that be. Expensive gear can’t compensate for bad pictures, and a photographer with a great eye can take amazing picture with the cheapest camera.
 
Got a Pro User Diamant SG2 Plus bike carrier from campervanbits (ie the club shop) with a bit of a discount and a bit of a reduced price as it was ex-display. It’s an amazing bit of kit. Solid, quality, clever and really easy to use. The best features: how small it folds up for storage, and the fact it tilts with bikes on, to allow you to open up the rate tailgate. It’s awesome.


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A fuse puller. I hope I will never have to use it or try to work out which fuse to pull... :eek:
 
Vagophile said:
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.
Click to expand...

Well, it hasn't exactly been today, but at last it's up and running!
I won't join the majority of you in saying it was a doddle; in principle maybe, but in actuality one of the most frustrating jobs that I have tried in a while. I had Roger's instructions and also used the comprehensive details provided by @Erbster.
The most frustrating bit was getting the connection from the solar regulator to the leisure battery under the seat.
I guess that, like a lot of things, the second time would be a lot easier, but crawling round on hands and knees can be painful and tiring.
I have fitted a remote display and to run the cable for this, removed the sliding panel in the wardrobe and the track underneath as well as the pillar trim. I don't know how others have done this, but I managed to cut my fingers whilst pulling on the pillar trim (eventually used a trim removal tool, which I should have done at the start) and the fixings holding the wardrobe panel track were a right b**ger to take out. There must be a special tool to do this, but I don't have it. Putting everything back was just as bad!
Looking at @Erbster's photos, I wanted to route the regulator to remote display cable in a different way, but found that the length of the cable dictated the route.
Well, it's done and I can console myself with the thought of the D.I.Y. saving and of not worrying over possible lack of battery power in the future, although in the process I found that all three batteries are dated week 23 of year 13, so who knows how much future life they have?
Time for a small snifter perhaps?

Back of pillar panel and removal tool
P6260120.JPG

The little b**gers

P6260119.JPG
 
Vagophile said:
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.
Click to expand...
Garden wire. Good idea. Wire coathangers are particularly hard to come by these days.

I went to our local dry cleaners and asked if I could have a couple or buy at cost (at the time not for fitting a solar panel, they're dead handy for lots of jobs, like unblocking the hoover). They said "no, but you can have some dry cleaning done and we'll throw in a wire coathanger for free"!
 
Bought a pair these, as going cheap.
IMG_20200701_221319.jpg
Nice and sturdy with their own table. Bit cumbersome for the van but they will be used for other events as well.
 
IMG_20200711_150312.jpgBought the other day but finally in the van. Tight fit between the front seats but that's fine.
Bit of shopping around and bought for much less than amazon :thumb
 
A new sticker.
88b5369da7c8962688827067ea0ba6f9.jpg


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