Gadgets and Gizmos for our new van ... (1 Viewer)

[Minxy]

Got another little 'gizmo'! Hubby has bought a bulb to replace the one that goes in the reversing light which 'beeps' when reversing ... our current van has this facility and he wants it on our new one to warn people to shift out of the way!

If anyone is interested this is the actual van we're getting on Thursday (150bhp) .... only 46 hours to go!!

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[Tootles]

Anything else you can suggest that we might consider for our new 'baby'?

Have you considered an electric toaster??? Yes, I know, only a nut would have a TOASTER........But just thought you might like a laugh.......

 

[Baycott]

Got another little 'gizmo'! Hubby has bought a bulb to replace the one that goes in the reversing light which 'beeps' when reversing ... our current van has this facility and he wants it on our new one to warn people to shift out of the way!

If anyone is interested this is the actual van we're getting on Thursday (150bhp) .... only 46 hours to go!!

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Nice looking van Minxy. Hope all goes well on the day

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[ludo]

Good luck tomorrow Mel and Chris. You will love the new van, there truly is nothing to beat it! Give our regards to Alistair please.

 

[StitchesnFluff]

Isn't she a lovely looking van

 

[martin1485]

Got another little 'gizmo'! Hubby has bought a bulb to replace the one that goes in the reversing light which 'beeps' when reversing ... our current van has this facility and he wants it on our new one to warn people to shift out of the way!

I bought one at Peterborough but it would not fit unfortunately. The glass end of the bulb bit would not pass through the lamp unit hole of our Globecar. I barely put any pressure on it but it broke the bulb so beware.

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[Hughman]

Good luck with the new van. We've got a Possl Roadcruiser that we've had 2 years now and are very happy with. I put in a few extra lights - 1 over each front seat and 1 over each bed. They are led ones with flexible stems and help a lot with reading if your eyes aren't as young as they were. These things -


The best other thing we did was put a metal handle on the sliding door above the door release - makes it far easier to open and close from inside because it gives you some leverage. One of the kind that you put your hand through - a few quid at B+Q or wherever.

Various other oddments including foam padding on some edges at head height - e.g. shelf over cab, wooden panel over sliding door.

 

[Minxy]

Well, we've got it ... after a very, very, very long and 'tortuous' day ... a 'farce' really ... we're now home. It took over five and a half hours to do the swap round! We got there at 10.15 am and left just before 4.00 pm! Now 'recovering' after having a take-away tea and will explore the new 'toy' tomorrow after the alarm's been fitted.

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Exciting times . Happy travels.

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[Madwife]

Wishing you many years of happy and safe travels in your new mh.

Kath

 

[dabhand]

Not sure how much your van is costing BUT if it is more than £50,000 and you don't have the thatcham 2/1 upgrade safeguard, comfort C&CC will not insure you , in fact C&CC insist on a tracker as well. We discovered this to our cost recently.

Safeguard have just insured me for a van worth more than £50k I argued that it was ridiculous not to accept a perfectly good alarm and imobilliser that was factory fitted in Germany and therefore not within the auspices of Thatcham, they said they would accept one or the other and accepted a category 6 tracker and put it in writing to me that this would be acceptable.

 

[Neilfg]

Well, we've got it ... after a very, very, very long and 'tortuous' day ... a 'farce' really ... we're now home. It took over five and a half hours to do the swap round! We got there at 10.15 am and left just before 4.00 pm! Now 'recovering' after having a take-away tea and will explore the new 'toy' tomorrow after the alarm's been fitted.

We are picking up a van from SMC next month, would love you know why it was such a tortuous day and any tips to deal with it?

Hope it's all you wanted and the gadgets and gizmo fitting is not as tortuous.

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[Minxy]

We've had to buy some things we weren't expecting to!

Yesterday we had to buy a new awning for the camper as the Fiamma Titanium one we'd arranged to have transferred over wouldn't fit as the fixing points didn't match up with the lugs on the top of the new van! We left our existing awning with them and paid an extra £300 for a black one instead (they tried to get £500 out of us at first but I was having none of it!).

The alarm fitter arrived just before lunch - he was supposed to have been here at 9.30 am but had van trouble! Even though he's used to doing campers/vans and motorhomes, he's had a pig of a job as Globecar have wired some items in an unusual way which has meant he's had to do things differently, but he's just about got it sorted - he's coming back in the morning to finish off as it started to rain heavily so didn't want our new van getting damaged/marked in the process as he needed the doors open, he's sticking to his quoted price though so at least it won't cost us any more.

I've managed to work round the alarm fitter to get the Gaslow kit installed and found to my horror that there isn't a bulkhead mounted regulator but a butane bottle one instead! This is one thing I never thought to check as I wasn't aware that it was legal to still fit these! Hence that's another £30 for a Clesse one which hopefully should be here tomorrow so I can get it finished off and checked for leaks and also check all the gas stuff works correctly in the van as whoever did the PDI hasn't picked up some 'faults' with other things which I need to sort out, fortunately they are minor!

I feel knackered though ... all the stress/aggro yesterday has taken it's toll on me and my chronic fatigue is playing up ... ho-hum ... no doubt when I get the van fettled a bit it will be more like our home.

 

[Minxy]

We are picking up a van from SMC next month, would love you know why it was such a tortuous day and any tips to deal with it?

Hope it's all you wanted and the gadgets and gizmo fitting is not as tortuous.

I'll send you details via the 'conversations' facility as I don't at this point want to put it on the forum!

 

[Minxy]

We seemed to be going 'backwards' for a while!!!!

The Clesse regulator arrived today so I went out to put it on and get my Gaslow install finished and tested ... but the Clesse won't fit! Apparently Clesse has a 10mm connection (ie to the existing nut/pipework) which apparently is the 'norm' and fitted to the vast majority of MHs etc, but Globecar use an 8mm connection ... ... fortunately though when hubby bought it off Ebay he didn't realise it's from a local company who we've been to before (for habitation services) so they are willing to take it back and refund us.

I hadn't realised the Clesse was different as I'd read a lot on the forums about people recommending them as a direct replacement for Truma ones but that's if you've got a 10mm one already so if you've bought a spare, or are thinking of getting one, check what connection size you have! In this day and age of 'harmonisation' it seems pretty daft to have 2 different sizes though!

All is not lost however, in 'discussions' with the dealer we bought the van from (they rang me) they offered to send me a Truma one (8mm) FOC so that should be with me in a couple of days.

The van looks like a bomb has hit it at the moment with loads of odds and sods lying around whilst I get it packed ... trying to decide where stuff is to 'live' should be easy as there are so many places for it/lots of storage space ... but its doing my head in!!!

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[Wicketter]

We know how you feel but you'll get it sorted and be on the road soon. We have had our new van for 3 weeks now and are still moving stuff around. As to the stressful handover day we know exactly how you feel we're just getting over ours LOL! But it's all worth it in the end!!

 

[Minxy]

The alarm is still being fitted! Unfortunately the chap had to order some contacts and wait for them to be delivered, he was due to come back yesterday morning but didn't turn up ... he got in touch later with profuse apologies ... he'd been at the hospital all day as his little son had been rushed in the previous evening ... it turns out the poor mite has a blood clot on the brain!

He was hoping to come again today but his son is still very, very poorly so he's now trying to get someone else to come and finish off for him. It's inconvenient for us but that's insignificant when you think of what his son's going through!

 

[mitzimad]

you can get a bush at any plumber merchants from 10 to 8mm hope you all settled soon and enjoying your travels

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[Minxy]

you can get a bush at any plumber merchants from 10 to 8mm hope you all settled soon and enjoying your travels

I assumed as much, but can't beat getting one sent FOC from the dealer!

 

[Minxy]

One step forward and two back today!!!!

The regulator arrived today so I got it fitted, all pipes connected up and checked. Later we tried the hob and heater/boiler and both work fine, then the fridge ... nothing ... the piezo was clicking away but no joy ... as the fridge is a different model to our previous one we were shown how to use it on handover however the chap couldn't get it to work and said it was because he was running low on gas which we believed at the time ... . We began to wonder if it actually worked properly at all, bearing in mind some of the problems we'd had at the dealers! After checking that the isolation valve was definitely opening/working but still no joy, I left hubby scratching his head and muttering whilst I got the manual and had a read ... It turns out with our particular fridge when igniting it you have to hold in the temperature control dial AND press the piezo at the same time (our previous one just needed the piezo button pressing) ... so, following what it said in the blooming manual, rather than how the chap at the dealer's had shown us, we got it to light and it works fine ... yippee!

Our 'luck' is well and truly b*ggered though ... on top of the 'fiasco' we'd already had last week my cordless drill gave up the ghost so I've been having to use an old mains one with a chuck key (my other one is at our static!), but worst was to come! The car had a paddy this morning and refused to start making an awful 'bag of spanners' noise!!! It turns out that the starter motor is shot ... this in a car which has less than 3,000 miles on it and is just over 2 years old!!! It's now been taken to our local Fiat dealer to be fixed (warranty) and they've arranged for us to have a hire car for 4 days from tomorrow which is good as the camper is out of action still due to the alarm problem!

We've also got a problem with the 'soft close' on the sliding door so it doesn't always sit right and the van won't lock! No way has this just 'developed' ... PDI ... my **** (fill in as appropriate!).

Regarding the alarm situation - we know the installer chap has a lot on his plate with his kiddy being in hospital but we've not had any further word from him and time is moving on (it has to be done within 14 days of picking the van up for the insurance discount and that runs out in a week's time) so we've now arranged for the camper to go and have one fitted by another company locally on Monday who will remove the one that the chap's been putting in (they usually charge £50 but due to the circumstances will do it FOC) and then we'll have to fork out £350 for another one as they won't be able to guarantee the one we've got! Well have to stick the original on Ebay and see if we can get our money back ... anyone want to buy a good Toad alarm???? Annoyed doesn't adequately describe how we feel! Sometimes we wish we hadn't bothered getting a new van at all!

 

[pops]

Hi Mel, Sorry to hear all your problems. The soft close door problem has been discussed on the Globecar Forum (Globecarforumatic) which should be helpful to you. It will soon all come right and then you can enjoy.

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[TheCaller]

Stick with it Mel. It's a lovely van. Shame about the problems though, but as you say, nothing to what your alarm chap is going through.

 

[Neilfg]

Oh dear sorry to hear problems continue, Globecar is good van though, it will come right.

 

[Minxy]

UPDATE ...

Alarm - we have now had the new Cat 1 alarm installed - the company we used is called Kingston Car Sound and they have been great and will certainly use them again in the future without hesitation! They removed the part-installed Toad for nothing (usually charge £50) and also discounted the cost of the new alarm by £49 to £350 (should have been £399) and set it up to work with our existing Fiat fob plus a separate 'blipper' for me. They were very careful when they removed the part-installed Toad so fortunately it is still usable - they've offered to buy it if we want, obviously less than we paid for it, but we might let them have it so we can put an end to this once and for all and move on.

Soft close door - I've managed to do a temporary fix on this! The soft close works by pulling the rear section of the sliding door in beyond the panel depth and then releases it to align with the side panels, but after this latter motion, and although the door sits where it should, the door sensor on the body is 'released' so it 'thinks' that the door is still open. I've put a felt self-adhesive blob on the door within the 'rubber surround' section which the push-in sensor touches ... and it works! It locks every time and the alarm sets so the 'blob' has done the trick! When I get the chance to take it back to the dealer I'll get the sensor adjusted so it works properly but for now I'm a happy bunny! In the interim I'll leave some spare blobs in the camper in case the one already on drops off just to be safe!

Car - This has now been sorted out and turned out to be a duff battery which has been replaced and we've got it back now, we're hoping that this was also the cause of the very dim full beam lights ... we'll have to try them tonight!

Drill - I got a new one from Aldi for £25.

... feeling happier now!

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