Eeyore

Giffgaff have just announced a useful change. It seems that you no longer have to wait until the end of the 30 days before you can buy a new "goodybag"/"gigabag" (minutes/data allowance). So if you run out of minutes/data at 20 days there is a way of starting a new package. There are of course a few conditions, have a look at the community pages on the Giffgaff website.

Hi M The grey box is a pressure switch. These have been found by many to be more reliable than the pumps inbuilt pressure switch. It could be part of the original installation, or it could have been added to replace a failed inbuilt switch. Wire the new pump directly to the supply (black cable?) to preserve its warranty, and leave the grey pressure switch in situ just in case you need it later. NB The pressure settings are usually somewhere on the grey cover, maybe inside. This will be the pressure your system has been operating at in the past, and if you were happy with it, should be the pressure setting on the new pump. Steve (Eeyore)

Its sounds like its trying to start, so even a little help may achieve a start. Try connecting the glow plugs to a separate battery whilst cranking. They will not be affected by the volt drop on the starter battery, and will operate at full power whilst cranking. With luck it might be just the little extra that makes the difference. Leaving the glow plugs connected for a short time after starting is also helpful (common on recent diesel cars i believe). I did consider wiring the glow plugs to the cabin/domestic batteries via a relay on my BMC, but a change of engine happened first! Steve (Eeyore)

Day 3 has me thinking that it's worth checking the fridge wiring. Just experienced something similar, and happened to be sat close to the fridge at the time. Couldn't pull the offending wire out, but the terminal screw was loose. The volt drop was caused by the fridge control box repeatedly trying to start the compressor. Vibration or just moving the fridge during testing made the fault go away as the wire moved in the terminal block.Steve (Eeyore)

Good morning Sir Nibble, that is exactly what I would have expected. However the last Isuzu panel I worked on had a break in one of the diode leads where it attached to the crimp, and the buzzer was sounding; somewhat surprisingly the buzzer stopped when the diode was reconnected. Everything else appeared as built. I stand by my advice regarding the fragility of the diode assembly, it is somewhat under engineered. Regards Steve (Eeyore) PS I was an arsonist from the age of 2 when I threw nappies from the airer over the fire guard onto the oil stove, setting fire to the dining room, perhaps you are right to discourage my posts

Something like http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/mxs-3.8.php would be fine, I've used the previous model for several years.

Best boatyard humour I'm afraid, spare a thought for the poor sods who have to put up with me in the real world (Hello Tony)!! So, by way of penance: Is the corroded wire attached to the diode group that feeds the warning buzzer? The diode (electrical non return valve for those who didn't already know) group takes a feed from each warning circuit (oil pressure, temperature and voltage) to the single buzzer unit, and is designed to prevent the individual systems interacting with one another. Any break or high resistance in its wiring can cause (among other things) the buzzer to sound continuously. The diodes are normally held in a piece of heat shrink tubing, with terminals crimped directly to the diode leads. It is very easy to snap the diode leads at the point where the crimp connectors are attached, try to support the crimps whilst extracting the mating part. Most of the connections use male or female spade (Lucar) terminals that are commonly available (they are colour coded according to the size of cable they are designed to accept, you'll need red for the small cable needed for the repair). Cable, terminals and a cheap crimping tool are available from most car parts shops, or even Halfords. In the case of this repair any cable that looks similar will do as the voltmeter doesn't draw a significant current. Regards Steve (Eeyore)

The OP shows himself as a boatyard owner and pirate in his profile, perhaps he's just here to pirate what he needs to run his yard

Stripping out the front cabin (bedroom) to give access for a new water tank to be fitted; followed by a new double cross bed to replace the original singles. OK, its a bit big to be classed as "fettling" Surprisingly comfortable "dog bed" from local charity shop as temporary sleeping arrangement; some people must have really big dogs!!

The type fitted to caravans are referred to as "absorption", they use heat rather than a compressor to raise the pressure of the refrigerant gas; and are virtually silent in operation. Haven't personally seen a mains only version for a very long time; they are however available as 3 way to run on gas, 12 volt battery and 230 volt mains. They tend to be best on gas or 230 volt, with the 12 volt used to maintain temperature when traveling to site with a caravan, but some may be suited to continuous 12 volt operation, making it a more attractive option for you on infrequent cruises.I too have suffered a recent fridge failure, and have found that CurrysPCWorld are just as good on price (and available to view) as most of the online offerings. Steve (Eeyore)

All gone now.

Interesting stuff.What would be the advantage of this over a commercially available system that uses SMS and a SIM card? I can see the satisfaction of building it yourself, but not sure what the potential extra features could be. Turning the fridge on remotely isn't realy an option as most would leave the door wedged open to prevent mould growth. But then there is always the servo fridge door closing device ;-) Steve (Eeyore)

Welcome to the forum. Our 3 litre mains voltage one is 135Watts, the previous mains voltage 1litre model was 60watts. I have a 12volt 1 litre (Road Pro I think) some where which I would estimate is also 60watts, so 5amps draw from the batteries at 12 volts. The trick, as I'm sure you know, is to add hot water from the kettle at the start of cooking so that it doesn't waste time heating up from cold. 5 amps is a good figure for an example of battery usage (if we round some figures down a little) A fully charged common 100ah battery will power the cooker for 10 hours, discharging it to 50%, which is generally considered to get the best life from the battery. There are a lot of figures to back this up, others may have posted already, just ask if you need confusing!! (reply may take a while) Steve (Eeyore)

Firstly the post office has moved, its now in the Spar shop. So if you walk into the village from the Anglo Welsh yard (on the main road) you come to a t junction with the Spar/PO facing you. Looking to your left you will see the now closed Fox and Hounds, cream coloured building, unlikely to reopen (car park being built on). Turning right at the Spar/PO takes you to the Clifford Arms, which is also accessible from the over bridge below Haywood lock (passing the former PO on the way). Hope that helps. Steve (Eeyore)

Good morning Nick,No problem; I read DBs post as wanting to measure everything going in against everything going out in order to calculate your 93% figure for himself. For his proposed scheme he would have needed something like a DC version of a domestic electric meter to take his readings; which may or may not have been possible with the second ebay item. Steve (Eeyore) (Well it was "good morning" when I started typing this ;-) )

Edited - duplicated post

Like it's more expensive cousins this is designed to measure ah in and ah out in order to give a fair guess at battery capacity remaining.You would still need two for the scheme you have in mind; and probably need to reset them after each usage/charging cycle, even then not sure if it will give the info you need.

Is that the correct link?The item shown is a combined voltmeter and ammeter, can't see anything about amp hour readings anywhere in the spec.

Mitsubishi part No MD001370 or K6516441 available as per Catweasles post.Don't forget to ask for the cover gasket. Steve (Eeyore)

Hi Biggles,I'm wondering if it uses the same tech as the alternator to battery unit, which uses the 5 volt supply to the electronics as a reference voltage for the output. The output voltage for each of the dip switch positions is determined by the 5 volt supply being accurately set by a potentiometer on the board. The actual setup procedure was fairly involved, and of course adjusting it too high to achieve the desired output runs the risk of frying the electronics. Sending it back for testing and calibration is probably uneconomic given that you'll almost certainly pay less for a replacement. Steve (Eeyore)

Any extended time at 14.8 volts be it from charger or PV will cause loss of water and overheating. You have to put up with a bit of a compromise between the two charging systems. Set the PV regulator at 14.3 to 14.4 volts. During the day when the sun is out the PV system will hold the battery voltage a little above the float setting of the charger, but just below the gassing point of the batteries (minimising water lose). At night the PV system shuts down due to lack of light, and the battery voltage defaults to the chargers settings, which of course will vary depending on what is in use (mainly the fridge in your case). Steve (Eeyore)

Some simple tests for you to try. Test 1 - to test the voltage from the charger. Cover the solar panels with some old carpet (or whatever you have) to stop them charging the batteries. Switch off the mains charger for at least 1 hour until you observe the battery voltage below about 13 volts. Switch mains charger on, and observe maximum the voltage reached at the batteries (this may take a few hours). Greater than 14.6 volts would indicate a charger fault (based on model data supplied by the forum). Up to 14.6 volts would suggest the fault lies else where. Test 2 - to test the voltage from the solar panel regulator. Cover the solar panels with some old carpet (or whatever you have) to stop them charging the batteries. Switch off the mains charger, and leave it off for the duration of the test. Wait until the battery voltage is observed below about 13 volts. Uncover the solar panels and observe the maximum voltage reached at the batteries. Greater than 14.4 volts probably means you need to adjust the regulator to match the float voltage of the mains charger. (no point in having a charger with a float setting if the solar just keeps the voltage higher anyway). If it can't be adjusted, the regulator may be faulty. Hope this helps. Steve (Eeyore)

What he said ;-)