3 month review (1 Viewer)

[Vanman]

As promised in another thread, here are my thoughts and musings after having owned my Globecar Roadscout for 3 months - being a first time MH'er - no previous experience. Feel free to agree/disagree/ask for details or not. Most of you don't need inviting lol.

Miles done :2351

Sites visited : 8 (C&MH:2; Independent:5; Wild-ish:1; C&CC:0)

(Coed-y-LLwyn, Cornish Farm, Doubletrees, Wooda Farm, Cadwell Park, Eyemouth Park, Spittal, Beal)

Snags :1 Fiat Heater pipe securing tape unravelling – easily fixed.

Best bits –

Rear ‘winter’ door curtains. Great insulation, sun blocking and keeping rain off bed when rear doors are opened.

Self-fitted Projector/Screen (All our favourite programs without any news/politics)

Comfort of Globecar foam bed. Had practically chosen Duvaley/topper before delivery but hasn’t been needed.

Room for 15 bottles of wine in Gas locker

Van is really well insulated for heat and noise

Worst bits -

Having to turn off the beer fridge to save leccy for lights

Bending the hinges on the worktop extension when I staggered onto it (gassed)

Driving up levelling ramps – bit traumatic for novices

Inside looks a bit like a disco at night, central locking light Red and flashing, EHU light Orange, Power on light Green etc.

Surprises –

Heads down on site. Me sat up front swigging coffee smiling at all and sundry – most people shuffling by, heads down. OK if sat out or both walking but people seem to dislike looking into MH’s. I haven’t actually opened anyone’s MH doors for a look (yet), but have a good gander when walking past. If someone sees me looking I smile and wave!

Fuel gauge starts whinging (yellow light) too early, computer stops telling you how much you have left with 35+ miles still to go, get to the garage and there’s still 12L in there ☹

Waving – A Class, C Class and PVC about 75% wave back , B Class about 25% and Food delivery vans 10%

Lessons learned –

100w Solar isn’t any good against a 47w electric fridge in the UK. If you have a leccy only fridge, off EHU, you need a genny.

If there’s a shower head switch on the bathroom tap, you need to turn that on too.

If you’re buying two expensive pans, check they’ll both fit on your hob at the same time!

 

[Garfields]

You went to Eyemouth and you still have wheels on the van?
Sorry just local rivalry.
We still forget about the shower head switch from time to time

 

[Vanman]

You went to Eyemouth and you still have wheels on the van?
Sorry just local rivalry.
We still forget about the shower head switch from time to time

I emailed the dealer to see if there was something wrong with it!

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[Neckender]

We're really pleased with our new Campscout too, massive comfortable bed,the storage beneath has made my trailer redundant.
We have had a problem with our Thetford compressor fridge from day one, but Thetford and SMC have come up trumps and they're fitting us a new fridge next Thursday before we go to the Bagwell rally. Everything else has worked perfectly we just love the Globecar vans.
John.

 

[suavecarve]

Do you not use gas for your fridge ? Far better to use that and keep your electric

 

[Neckender]

Do you not use gas for your fridge ? Far better to use that and keep your electric

Our fridge is a 12 volt only compressor fridge.
John.

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[suavecarve]

Our fridge is a 12 volt only compressor fridge.
John.

May i respectfully suggest freezing different fruits such as cherries, grapes and strawberries which will assist in keeping your beer colder.
You should not be expected to drink warm beer
Jon (without the H)

 

[Neckender]

Hi @suavecarve your confusing me with the op vanman who says he switches is fridge off.
I've fitted 200 watt of solar and extra battery so no problem with fridge use, just that our fridge is faulty and Thetford and SMC our dealer are fitting a new fridge for us next Thursday.

John.

 

[suavecarve]

@Neckender My original question was for @Vanman

I assumed the fridge had to be turned off because of not enough leccy was because the fridge wasnt on gas, which, if working, doesnt make a lot of sense. Having just re read it he has an electric only fridge.

In which case the advice of freezing fruit still stands !

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[gerry mcg]

According to out Victron BMV700 battery monitor Our 65l 12v compressor fridge in our Globecar appears to only draws about 1A when set on setting 4/7 (plenty cold enough...any colder and im drinking beer slush puppies!) and draws 7-9A overnight. Screenshot from app below showing battery condition this morning at 05:50
This is more than made up by the power gained from our 150w Solar panel each day and a battery bank of & 2x95Ah leisure batteries
I am able to leave our fridge running 24/7 so far.

 

[Vanman]

Thanks @gerry mcg those are some interesting numbers and I'll have a closer look at them over the weekend.

My only thoughts at the moment are, at night it's cooler in the van and the fridge door probably doesn't get opened much. Whilst doing everything we could in terms of keeping frozen food, only opening for short periods, we were hampered by one very wet and sunless day. We also had a day of travelling to get there and I'm not sure how much that would have affected the resources. I have 2x 95ah and 1x100w solar panel.

 

[gerry mcg]

The fridge seems to draw about 3.5A when the pump is running. At 4/7, the pump maybe runs about 25% of the time, hence the average 1A draw.

At 7/7, the pump runs maybes 50-100% of the time (never tried it tbh) but the current drain willie been proportionate to the pump run time.

Fwiw, the our the factory battery monitor on our Globecar electrical panel seems very poor and under reads significantly compared to the Victron BMV 700 battery monitor. Are you relying on the control panel reading? Have you got a BMV 700?
If not, it might be a worthwhile investment to give you a better handle on the battery state.

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[gerry mcg]

47W @12v is 3.9A so around what I'm seeing when the pump is running, but the compressor fridge doesn't draw any power when the pump isn't running, so throttling back the fridge to 4/7 makes a big difference to the power demand.

For us, 4/7 appears to be adequate but if there is an issue with your fridge that means you have to run it "colder", I.e the pump is running more of the time, that would draw more power

 

[Minxy]

Best bits –
Self-fitted Projector/Screen (All our favourite programs without any news/politics)

Room for 15 bottles of wine in Gas locker

Info on the projector/screen please ... as for the gas locker, never thought of using that as a bottle store ... given me ideas now!​

Worst bits
Inside looks a bit like a disco at night, central locking light Red and flashing, EHU light Orange, Power on light Green etc.

Not forgetting the gas alarm which in ours flashes every now and then to let us know it's working! Oh, and the little light on our fridge!​

Surprises
Fuel gauge starts whinging (yellow light) too early, computer stops telling you how much you have left with 35+ miles still to go, get to the garage and there’s still 12L in there ☹

That's not a bad thing though ... better not to let it get too low and pull all the crud from the bottom of the tank and you know you've got a good bit in reserve.​

Lessons learned
If there’s a shower head switch on the bathroom tap, you need to turn that on too.

If you’re buying two expensive pans, check they’ll both fit on your hob at the same time!

Been there done that ... also don't forget to lift your shower head off the upper hook before trying to slide the door round ... ​

 

[Vanman]

Info on the projector/screen please ... as for the gas locker, never thought of using that as a bottle store ... given me ideas now!​

Not forgetting the gas alarm which in ours flashes every now and then to let us know it's working! Oh, and the little light on our fridge!​

That's not a bad thing though ... better not to let it get too low and pull all the crud from the bottom of the tank and you know you've got a good bit in reserve.​

Been there done that ... also don't forget to lift your shower head off the upper hook before trying to slide the door round ... ​

Can't show it working just now as I'm in the middle of a couple of 'projects' but I copied the idea from Jezport here's a link to his picture which is similar.

My screen is a blackout blind from IKEA (£12?) a S/H projector from eBay (£40?) and a BT speaker that I had anyway

The projector sits in the O/H locker over the table and I just have the door open when I want to use it. I'm looking at fitting a mount underneath the locker though so that the picture has 100% straight edges

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[Neckender]

[QUOTE="gerry mcg, post: 2392316, member: 44285"


Fwiw, the our the factory battery monitor on our Globecar electrical panel seems very poor and under reads significantly compared to the Victron BMV 700 battery monitor. Are you relying on the control panel reading? Have you got a BMV 700?
If not, it might be a worthwhile investment to give you a better handle on the battery state.[/QUOTE]

Ours is exactly the same with the under reading so I rely on the battery voltage monitors that I've fitted on the rear of the seat bases.

John.

 

[Vanman]

Have you got a BMV 700?
If not, it might be a worthwhile investment to give you a better handle on the battery state.

Thanks but I cannot justify £100+ to tell me what I already know. Any £100+ purchases need to help the situation not further identify it. I'll be starting a new thread in a few minutes about solar and electric fridges as I could use some more general advice. It does look like a handy thing though (if money were no object )

 

[Minxy]

Ours is exactly the same with the under reading so I rely on the battery voltage monitors that I've fitted on the rear of the seat bases.

John.

I fitted a voltage monitor in the base of our passenger seat too along with an extra 12v socket, very cheap and easy to do ... certainly a LOT cheaper than the 'posh' monitors which do the same thing.

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[Vanman]

I fitted a voltage monitor in the base of our passenger seat too along with an extra 12v socket, very cheap and easy to do ... certainly a LOT cheaper than the 'posh' monitors which do the same thing.

I don't suppose you've done a step by step Idiots Guide have you? Complete with pics.

 

[Neckender]

This is what I fitted battery monitor, USB both switched and ciggy point permanent wired, drivers seat base.

Passenger seat base I've fitted switched battery monitor for cab battery,
All are fused.

John.

 

[Vanman]

View attachment 169055 View attachment 169056 This is what I fitted battery monitor, USB both switched and ciggy point permanent wired, drivers seat base.

Passenger seat base I've fitted switched battery monitor for cab battery,
All are fused.

John.

That looks great!

Do you have links for the components? Presumably you need cable, battery connectors, fuses, spades etc.?

Thanks!

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[Neckender]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130873093209?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-In-li...767941?hash=item2820e80345:g:WuQAAOSw8gVX46KU




John.

 

[Vanman]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130873093209?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-In-li...767941?hash=item2820e80345:g:WuQAAOSw8gVX46KU




John.

Thanks John. That drill bit looks a bit dangerous, in the wrong hands

 

[Neckender]

Thanks John. That drill bit looks a bit dangerous, in the wrong hands

It's really safe and it has all the measurements on each cutter as you go through and it cuts very neat.

John.

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[Neckender]

By the way the reason for the switches is so not to flatten batteries.

John.

 

[Minxy]

I don't suppose you've done a step by step Idiots Guide have you? Complete with pics.

Sorry no 'guide' ... we wanted to keep a check on the engine battery so connected it directly to it along with a 12v socket so we have the choice of where to power stuff from depending on the engine/leisure battery levels. We could have put one on the rear of the driver's seat for the leisure batteries if we wanted as well but we didn't feel the need seeing as we have 2 leisure batteries.

I've just gone out and taken photos for you, they're not brilliant but you can see where I've put the meter/socket at the rear of the passenger seat

You'll notice that the panel is flat as I removed the original Fiat louvred ones that sticks out - this allows Romy, who sleeps under the table behind the passenger seat, to sprawl out a bit more and behind the driver's seat I have a basket with dog leads etc in which still allows the seat to swivel

The 'pockets' on the back of each seat are actually made from those that you usually have on a seat back in a car hanging round the headrest (see below photo) and I've just folded the excess over a couple of bungee straps that are holding a cover on the front of the seats

I've done some other bits which might be of interest:

Suede storage box (old 'gift' box for some wine I think, bought from a car boot sale) which fits nicely near the side door for putting odds and sods in (attacked with sticky Velcro so can be removed)

Replaced the stupid low kitchen tap, put up my tea/coffee/sugar shelf/containers and also use some sucker mounted storage bins too

Extra light over rear bed so that it can be switched on from outside when opening the rear doors and also allows the bed area to be illuminated so we can see into the upper lockers with there being no central light (also removable 'basket/shelf' for me for my glasses and cup of tea on the door), also a 'soft' basket on the other side of the bed for hubby's stuff and a shelf for his cuppa and glasses

Large stacking veg baskets are fastened into our large lower wardrobe with other storage racks etc and I put shelves in the upper wardrobe (don't think you've got this though)

A couple of expanding sprung pressure-fit cafe net poles above each side of the bed to hang wet towels etc on for when we're travelling and they still allow us to open the locker doors

New table top to replace the original that was too wide, it's a few inches narrower and it makes quite a difference to the 'gangway' but more than adequate in use

Lastly for now, I've removed the large rubber 'stop' block on the sliding door as it wasn't needed due to us having a restrictor fitted by Globecar to prevent the door being opened over the rear window, I've just covered the existing bolt holes with an adhesive felt pad for now

 

[Vanman]

By the way the reason for the switches is so not to flatten batteries.

John.

No worries, mine are already flat

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[Vanman]

Sorry no 'guide' ... we wanted to keep a check on the engine battery so connected it directly to it along with a 12v socket so we have the choice of where to power stuff from depending on the engine/leisure battery levels. We could have put one on the rear of the driver's seat for the leisure batteries if we wanted as well but we didn't feel the need seeing as we have 2 leisure batteries.

I've just gone out and taken photos for you, they're not brilliant but you can see where I've put the meter/socket at the rear of the passenger seat
View attachment 169058 View attachment 169059

You'll notice that the panel is flat as I removed the original Fiat louvred ones that sticks out - this allows Romy, who sleeps under the table behind the passenger seat, to sprawl out a bit more and behind the driver's seat I have a basket with dog leads etc in which still allows the seat to swivel
View attachment 169060

The 'pockets' on the back of each seat are actually made from those that you usually have on a seat back in a car hanging round the headrest (see below photo) and I've just folded the excess over a couple of bungee straps that are holding a cover on the front of the seats
View attachment 169062

I've done some other bits which might be of interest:

Replaced the stupid low kitchen tap, put up my tea/coffee/sugar shelf/containers and also use some sucker mounted storage bins too
View attachment 169065

Wow. There's some good stuff in there

Do the Fiat backs just pull off, and where did you buy the replacements? Are you not worried about overheating?

I particularly like the kitchen tap too, almost once a day one of us 'knocks' the existing one, VOILA instant lake Where can I get replacements?

Thanks again!

 

[Minxy]

Wow. There's some good stuff in there

Do the Fiat backs just pull off, and where did you buy the replacements? Are you not worried about overheating?

I particularly like the kitchen tap too, almost once a day one of us 'knocks' the existing one, VOILA instant lake Where can I get replacements?

Thanks again!

Yes the backs just come off, I just made replacements out of some board I had and covered it with a leather off-cut and I fixed it to the seat with some cable ties temporarily ... which over a year later are still on! No problem at all with overheating as there are still plenty of air gaps for the batteries and controller to keep cool.

The kitchen tap was just one I picked up at the Peterborough show from Simpsons when they used to sell oddments at their stand, cost me £25 I think ... I got it before we knew we were going to change campers and only got round to putting it in this year after I got fed up of the original one ... BUT we still have to be careful not to hit the lever when lifting the sink top if we've forgotten to move the lever first otherwise we get a 'lake' too ... if you look at my photo below you can see a plastic 'basket' attached to the side with a narrow plastic beaker in it ... the spout of the tap sits just above than normally so if we do knock the tap on the tumbler gets filled so avoids a lot of mopping up! I'm gonna see if I can make a replacement lever which is much shorter which will eliminate the problem (the original one just screws in).

 

[Vanman]

@Neckender & @Minxy Girl did you have to remove the drivers seat to access the battery terminals? Thanks.