Vanagon RV prepared for winter

I don't use the vanagon during winter time, as I own a second car that's much more reliable. Because of that I needed to drive the RV (camper) to a parking place where it would be safe, where I wouldn't risk that something will get stolen.

Did I mention that someone stole my CB antenna, one of the mirrors and the plastic cap that ends the front bumper?

So I started the vanagon, drove it to the parking place, poured all the water stored in all tanks out (both the water in freshwater tank and all the potable water that I carry as well). And it finished my winter preparations.

Read the rest of Vanagon RV prepared for winter.

Long time, no post...

Long time, no post...

It's not that I don't own the vanagon anymore, or that I don't use it. In fact, this year I spent 9 day summer holliday in the Volkswagen RV.

But there's nothing really exciting to write about. And since noone visits this blog, I'm not eager to write boring, dull posts. So I prefer not to write at all.

Water hose burst

Couple days ago, in the middle of our camping holiday, one of water hoses in my vanagon burst and forced us to change our plans. To be more exact, it didn't happen in the middle of our trip, but at the beginning, on the third day of total 8 days we planned to spend in my RV/camper Vanagon.

I had trouble with engine cooling for a long time. I destroyed one engine because of that, when one hose burst and left me with no coolant at all and overheating engine. How was it possible? Well, the temperature gauge shows the temperature of coolant and not the engine. It doesn't indicate that the entire coolant is gone and engine is overheating...

Read the rest of Water hose burst.

The thermometer I soldered doesn't work

Yesterday I bought a second soldering iron, as well as solder and rosin flux.

I spent two hours soldering all the parts onto the circuit board. The most time it took me to solder the connectors that are used for temperature sensors and power supply.

The set was high quality do it yourself, but required also a high level experience in soldering. Many parts needed to be soldered on both sides of circuit board. I thought it was enough to use much flux so than the solder would cover the metal legs of the parts on the both sides of the board. I was wrong.

Anyway, I had two hours of great time (I love doing such stuff), but in the end the termometer didn't work as it's supposed to. Something did work but also something didn't, as you can see on the photo below:

So I ordered another thermometer, electronic one as well, but this time a completed device, not a diy kit. ;)

Summer holiday plans

We finally decided on our summer vacation plans, and I decided to share those plans with you today. :)

In two weeks, on July 26-31st, I am going to stay 100 km (60 miles) from my home on a strawbale building workshop. I am going to learn there how to build a loadbearing strawbale construction with green roof. I want to use that knowledge later to build my own garage from the straw bales and clay. I could rent a room there, but since I have a camper/RV I don't need to rent rooms or sleep in tents anymore. ;)

On August 7th we're going to our friends' wedding near Opole in Lower Silesia, and after the wedding we're going to explore that region a bit more than we did last year. We want to stay for a couple days in Wrocław, and return home on monday 16th or on tuesday 17th of August.

In the middle of September I'm going to stay on my lot in the camper as this is the time I want to be actually building my garage there. I believe this would take me about 2 weeks, and I would camp in my RV for total of more than 4 weeks this year. ;)

I will keep you updated if anything changes or if I have any interesting photos or news from the trips.

new electronic gadgets

Month ago I ordered two cool electronic gadgets that will be installed in my RV/camper Vanagon. Both are electronic kits to be assembled at home in a DIY fashion. I like soldering such kits and that's why I ordered them in such form (I might purchase them already put together).

The first is a electronic thermomether, capable of measuring temperatures in two points, with two sensors. It has two-colored LED display, one color displays the first sensor's temperature, the second the other.

Why do I need such thermometer?

I always wanted to know the inside and outside temperature. To know how cold it is in the evening and how warm it is inside my camper. One of the sensors will be installed inside, probably will be attached to one of cabinets. The other I will attach to the radiator or the coolant hose to measure also the temperature of water reaching the radiator. I am not certain if my cooling system works properly, so I need something that will let me know if it fails. The original temperature gauge is not enough -- I destroyed one engine while looking only at this gauge.

Read the rest of new electronic gadgets.

Plans for summer holiday

June is almost gone, soon people will start going for their summer holiday. Maybe we should also make some plans for our vacation?

Since 2006 my friend Tomek and I want to go for a camping trip around Baltic Sea. But every year something stops us. Last year our son was born, this year his dauther was born, which makes it difficult for both our families.

The idea was great. We wanted to drive around the Baltic Sea during three or four weeks, with one small trick. We didn't want to visit Russia, so we would use a ferry from Estonia to Finland. Our trip would look similar to the following:

Read the rest of Plans for summer holiday.

New tires

Since I bought my camper in 2006, I never bought any tires. Last year I bought four wheels (winter tires and rims). Since then they spent 6 months in storage, and two of them were installed on the rear of my camper last fall, when I had to replace one broken summer tire.

Two weeks ago I ordered two new tires, Barum Vanis, that will be installed on that rear axis.

I need to replace them before the next weekend. May the third is one of polish national hollidays, so it will be a three-day weekend. It's too cold for any camper trip without internal heating source, but we're going to my parent's cottage. I don't want to drive there on winter tires.

Today we visited my parents-in-law in their summer home, because I wanted to tidy the camper a bit for the season. Last week I removed most of the garbage from inside and ordered all the equipment that I carry with me in the proper places. But I have much more to do.

Read the rest of New tires.

Camper home again

Yesterday after work I drove with Tomek to mr. Zbyszek, who repaired my camper for the last month. I left it to him to have the gearbox repaired, hoped that he would find some time to fix some other things.

When I left my camper, Zbyszek told me that he would fix it in his free time. And because of that he didn't have time to fix anything else, but the gearbox. In the gearbox he replaced only one syncronizer, the one responsible for synchronization of the second gear, and the gear oil. Nothing else required fixing.

I am not worried that he didn't fix all the other things I thought he might. Except the engine that uses some motor oil all the other things are not very important. And for the engine we have a solution. Tomek wants to replace his engine in his Syncro, so I would get his original 1.6 turbocharged diesel. We will probably replace the engines in the autumn, as doing it now might get us stuck in the garage during summer holiday.

Read the rest of Camper home again.

Camper left for repairs

On wednesday I drove my beloved Vanagon to one of local repair shops.

The guy who owns the garage repaired my camper in july 2008. He fixed some oil leaks. He's one of the well known mechanics that work near Warsaw. He owned five Vanagons, including one that he built for 2 or 3 years -- a doka (doppelkabine) syncro with 2.5 liter petrol engine.

I asked him to fix the broken gearbox, as well as some minor repairs (like glow plugs indicator light, engine pressure indicator light or the pressure gauge).

He promised to finish the work before the april 15th. I hope he can make it.

Camper insurance renewed

At the end of 2009 I had to pay insurance premium to renew (prolong?) my mandatory liability insurance. I paid 345 PLN, equivallent to $120 or €84.

How much do you pay for similar insurance?

Camper vs Frost

As it was expected, the temperature on sunday was around -15°C (5°F). I wanted to try if my camper would start and if it would, let it run idle for a while, as I drove it last time about one month ago.

My camper has glow plugs indicator light broken, so I have to use another way to determine when the glow plugs are turned off. I turn on a light above the driver's door, and when I turn the glow plugs on, the light dims a bit. When it becomes bright again, I know that it's the time to use the starter.

Read the rest of Camper vs Frost.

First frosts this winter

It's not weird that in december temperature in Poland drops below zero centigrade (32°F), but every year we have the same set of events that clearly proves the winter has arrived. It's cold (today it was -12°C = 10°F), 5 cm (2 in) snow fell on the ground, and we have a lot of traffic jams in most of Polish towns and cities.

I wanted to take my bus for a ride to visit my lot on sunday, but I am not sure if I will do it. I am not sure if I want to leave my apartment on the forecasted -15°C (5°F), and if I do, I am not sure if my camper will start.

I added anti-freeze liquid to my windscreen washer fluid, so I hope it didn't freeze yet. The pump leaks somewhere, so after I turn it off washer fluid remaining in the lines and nozzles flows back to the tank. Because of that I am not afraid of freezing in the lines or nozzles.

New alternator installed in august

In august, just couple days after we came back from the first part of our camping holidays, I had to replace the alternator. The summary of this camping trip is still waiting to be translated, along with first part of more detailed description. I also didn't write about this alternator change, this text also is waiting to be translated... I am sure at some moment I will be update this blog with those posts.

Read the rest of New alternator installed in august.

Things I hate on polish camping sites

This text was posted on the polish version of this blog on August 29th.

Since I remember, almost every holiday I spent with my parents consisted of a camping journey. Because of that, I visited many campsites, both in Poland and abroad, in Germany, Denmark, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Polish campgrounds, compared to the ones I saw abroad, don't look well. And since I visited this year another five polish campsites, I want to pour here all my feelings about them.

This is the full and complete list of all the things and occasions I dislike about polish campsites.

Read the rest of Things I hate on polish camping sites.

Gel batteries removed

When I bought the gel batteries couple months ago, I was lectured on how to work with them to extend their lifespan. I was told that gel batteries don't like to be exposed to temperatures below 5°C (41°F). This is important at the moment, when the temperature is going to drop below that threshold for a long time.

Because of that, I took the gel batteries from the camper to the basement in the building I live in. I had to disconnect all the wires that were bolted to those batteries, but that was not difficult.

I am supposed to charge them once a month. I brought the charger along, but I am not sure if I can find any electrical socket in my basement...

I must figure two things out:

• there is no lighter socket in the dashboard I have, and the extra sockets I use were connected to those batteries,
• I carry one small solar panel installed in my camper's window, but at this moment it does not charge anything -- maybe I can use it to charge the starter battery?
  

Heater core replaced

I spent over an hour to find out how this small radiator installed inside the automobile, used for heating the interior is called. ;)

Yesterday it took me almost 8 hours to replace the heater core in my camper, with a bit of help from Tomek, the guy I mentioned here a lot. The old heater core needed to be replaced, because I believed it was leaking cooling liquid. Because of that, the fan blew some steam to the inside of the camper when the heating was turned on, and the liquid dripped to the interior, as shown on this photo...

Read the rest of Heater core replaced.

Holiday 2009/2 -- summary

This is the summary of the second part of our camping holiday we had this year, at the end of august. I know I still have to write about the first part of the holiday, and I promise to do it in the near future.


Our first destination was Poznań, from there we wanted to go south.

Read the rest of Holiday 2009/2 -- summary.

The camper is going to be repaired

Not today, but soon, I hope. Not that something is terribly wrong with the camper and I need it now. Nothing's changed since the summer holiday (and how could anything change if I didn't drive the camper since coming home from the holiday?), it leaks a bit of oil, and the gearbox makes weird noises when I use 2nd and 3rd gears.

I will drive the camper to the guy who will fix it next week, I spoke with him on monday and he asked me to phone him again the next friday (as he has a lot of work to do). I will ask him to fix the gearbox, and some less important stuff (the oil leaks, the small thing that was supposed to be connected to the injection pump but isn't, the glow plugs and oil pressure indicator lights and the fan on the radiator).

Solar power 1

This is an english translation of an article that was posted originally on the polish version of this blog on june 22nd.

With a bit of help from my father-in-law I managed to work on my solar power system couple days ago. Today I finally managed to write a post about it with some photos and schemes. I want to describe the current status of the solar power system, and to write a bit about the future of the system.

According to our plans, we're going on the first part of our summer holiday on july 6th, the next monday. I don't have much time to finish the work with supplying all the electrical devices with electricity from the solar panels.

From Volkswagen Transporter T3

The first thing I did was to put two gel batteries in one of the cupboards of the camper. I wanted to fit them under the driver's seat, but there's no enough space there. I connected the batteries (parallely) to the solar charge controller, unfortunatelly using cable with cross-section much smaller than suggested by the controller's manual. The controller can be seen on the right hand side of the photo -- it's the black plastic thing hanging on the white wire.



On the second solar panel my father in law soldered two connectors -- male and female, one will be used to supply power to the charge controller and the second to connect the two panels together (parallely).



Here you can see the cable from the panel connected to the one from charge controller.



The solar panels aren't attached to the roof yet. In order to use them, I'll have to manually put them in sunny place...



...and connect together. This was the best I could do. Until they're permanently fixed to the roof, I won't connect them permanently to the charge controller.

To be honest, I have two independent solar power systems. Two sets of batteries, two charge controllers, two sets of solar panels. The scheme of all this looks the following:



On the left hand side of the drawing you can see the new solar power system: two solar panels, 40 W each, and two gel batteries, 38 Ah capacity each. On the right hand side, the old solar power system, the old solar panel (10 W), old charge controller and old battery. At the moment, all the appliances (shown as an icon of electrical bulb) are connected to the old battery, using quadruple cigarette lighter socket.

"reg.ład." is a short for regulator ładowania -- solar charge controller.

I want to add a couple of extra parts to the system and make it look the following:



The most important part of this system is the set of two gel batteries, charged with the two solar panels. To this solar charge controller I will connect all the camping appliances: radio, lights, fridge, water pump. The older part of the system will work as emergency energy source, will be connected manually to the rest of the system.

Directly to the batteries I will also connect:

• inverter, shown as 12-230, that will supply 230V AC power to my laptop computer and TV tuner,


• gel battery charger, shown as 230-12, that will charge the batteries whenever I will have the 230V power supplied to the camper from external source,


• additional battery charge controller, SLA40, that will start charging the gel batteries when the alternator makes enough electricity.

Most of the appliances must be connected via charge controller, that will disconnect them when the voltage in the battery drops below safe level. The inverter has this security measure built-in, so it might be connected to the batteries directly.

I already have the inverter, the 230V charger and new wire to connect it all (4mm² cross-section area - 12 gauge!).