4 more sleeps until collection🙏

[Ridgeway]

Next Tuesday is officially known as “new van Tuesday” in our house now. Just had a call from the dealer who was sorting out the insurance, all done and good.

Pick up time agreed at 9am
Insurance done
Duvalays arring next week
Awning LED ready to be installed
New smoke and monoxide alarms ready
New fire extinguisher ready
Caratec Wi-Fi system installed by the dealer
Extra toilet cassette arrived

And the children finish on Friday so I’ll need to get my head around loading the van and getting things sorted pretty sharpish…

Just need to take a decision on whether to go gaslow or not bu that will happen a few weeks after pick up.

Also going to book an appointment at Motorhome Seat Covers as it’s about 20mins from my folks place back in Stockport and we plan a 2wk UK tour at the beginning of August.

Now just need a new MHF sticker so you can spot our shiny Carthago Compactline when we’re back over

Glad I’ve booked the day off on Tuesday and that the dealer is 15 mins away. I blame the dealers owner who I bumped into a few week and told me about this van, my bank account was doomed there after. The most expensive visit to the tip I’ve ever made

 

[Southdowners]

Very exciting…. Congratulations!

Hope you have many years travelling in your new vehicle

 

[BikerGraham]

Have a vantastic new van day

 

[David and Sally]

 

[WESTY66]

We saw one going just up from Switzerland in Germany two days ago and I thought “has he picked his Carthago up yet?” Two roof vents were flapping open in the wind as he was tearing up the motorway

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[Russell's Dad]

Happy days! Enjoy the van.......and get the Gaslow. Loving my baby Carthago

 

[Mikey RV]

Don’t forget the pics for us. Happy travels.

 

[lorger]

Congratulations, shouldn’t new vans come fitted with smoke and monoxide alarms already fitted

 

[Winger]

So 3 sleeps and counting

 

[Ridgeway]

So 3 sleeps and counting

Exactly

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[Ridgeway]

In

Congratulations, shouldn’t new vans come fitted with smoke and monoxide alarms already fitted

This one hasn’t got any hence left the “old ones” (both were new last year) in the previous van we sold a couple of weeks back. Then just replaced with new

 

[fat haggis]

Enjoy your new van. And get lots of pics up for us to drool over. ️

 

[Ridgeway]

Enjoy your new van. And get lots of pics up for us to drool over. ️

Will do, first trip away is only a few days after collection (not smart) so will have some good opportunities

 

[Clareyb999]

Is going to be a week! Have amazing fun on Tuesday.. we have renamed Sunday super Sunday as today is our first overnighter trip in our first ever camper!! So much bloody money spent in the last week! Enjoy and if you see @tigger_van, give us a beep!

 

[howsitgoingdud]

Good luck in new van , we’ve got the same van albeit a 2019 model 143 long beds and love it - off to Southern Ireland next week for a fortnight .
If you’ve had a Compactline before assume you will know media switch if wilding
Enjoy and yes we had gas low fitted few months ago - so easy filling

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[Russell's Dad]

Good luck in new van , we’ve got the same van albeit a 2019 model 143 long beds and love it - off to Southern Ireland next week for a fortnight .
If you’ve had a Compactline before assume you will know media switch if wilding
Enjoy and yes we had gas low fitted few months ago - so easy filling

I don't know if Carthago have fixed the media switch issue on more recent vans or if mine has been fixed by the previous owner, but from testing battery drain it appears my 2021 Compactline head unit is fed off the leisure batteries when the media switch is on. No drain on starter battery.

 

[westfielder]

Have a great day - we're getting ours 2 days later. Understand your excitement 100%

 

[Ridgeway]

Is going to be a week! Have amazing fun on Tuesday.. we have renamed Sunday super Sunday as today is our first overnighter trip in our first ever camper!! So much bloody money spent in the last week! Enjoy and if you see @tigger_van, give us a beep!

Still love that colour, saw one parked up this AM in the same colour and it looks amazing. Glad to hear you’re happy with Tiger (cool name)

 

[Ridgeway]

Good luck in new van , we’ve got the same van albeit a 2019 model 143 long beds and love it - off to Southern Ireland next week for a fortnight .
If you’ve had a Compactline before assume you will know media switch if wilding
Enjoy and yes we had gas low fitted few months ago - so easy filling

I don't know if Carthago have fixed the media switch issue on more recent vans or if mine has been fixed by the previous owner, but from testing battery drain it appears my 2021 Compactline head unit is fed off the leisure batteries when the media switch is on. No drain on starter battery.

One more task for the list, will certainly check that. Thanks

Just got some more Gaslow prices, now to decide if i go legit and have it installed here (mega bucks) or take the risk and go DIY and pick up a kit when back in the UK in August.

 

[Russell's Dad]

I don't know if Carthago have fixed the media switch issue on more recent vans or if mine has been fixed by the previous owner, but from testing battery drain it appears my 2021 Compactline head unit is fed off the leisure batteries when the media switch is on. No drain on starter battery.

Having seen all the posts on the subject I re-tested the Media power source in my van. Best I can tell is that when Media switch is activated the head unit is powered by the STARTER battery but the TV by the HAB battery, which appears to be the standard Carthago set-up. Thinking it through, the only alternative i can think of would be wiring the head unit to the hab battery, and it would then not activate or deactivate with the ignition.
I watched some tv last night and the starter battery showed it was being depleted. To limit the power being drawn I connected the TV via a Bluetooth speaker and turned the head unit off. There was still some power draw from the starter battery but it appeared not so much. 2 hours of TV and starter battery rested at 12.6v so not too bad.
I'd be grateful if anyone knows if it is possible to have the head unit wired so it uses the hab battery when the Media switch is on but the starter battery the rest of the time.

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[Landy Andy]

in most vehicles including my Ducato based motorhome the entertainment system is activated by the ignition live, NOT powered by it. So you can change the power to it to your hab batteries, but still have it activated by the ignition.

 

[Ridgeway]

So it was a long day with the handover starting at 9am and then concluding at 12 o’clock, then lots of work at home with loading much of the contents of the old van back in although very much taking the chance to work out “do we really need”

2 bottle openers (neither of us drink)
6 bags of rice
4 bags of pasta
enough loo roll to get us through a lock down
shower gel in quantities that would allow me to open a Lynx factory with
etc etc

We took the logic of get most of the stuff in and then work out as we go along if it really is in the right place.

The Duvalays arrived on Monday and fit perfectly on the rear bed and look super nice too.

The radio works on the media switch on the main control panel, that is if you want it on when the engine is off so means off the leisure battery.

Happy with the Wi-Fi installation, seems well done and so far (ok only on the drive at home) it did what it was supposed to do, will see next week when we’re in France how it copes.

So the list of things to do is now starting to grow and will do some of them next week when we’re on the road as we’ll probably head to Provence for the week.

 

[Southdowners]

Congratulations! A lovely looking vehicle - you must be very pleased.

 

[Mikey RV]

Looking good. Have a good trip.

 

[Ridgeway]

First night away in the van:

Found a private aire just south of Valence, €5 p/night

Most of todays sentences started with “now where did we put that” and just averted a disaster when we realised I’d forgotten to put the tea bags back in

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[Ridgeway]

So our shake down trip has turned up a few things which need fixing, replacing or repairing so I’ll get the dealer onto those ASAP. Then of course there’s the obligatory list of things we camping car owners must modify and that list is growing each day

Until then we’ll enjoy some Provençal sun shine by the river

 

[Coolcats]

in most vehicles including my Ducato based motorhome the entertainment system is activated by the ignition live, NOT powered by it. So you can change the power to it to your hab batteries, but still have it activated by the ignition.

Our Hymer car has the button on the dash to switch the power off to the head unit, if you do not switch the power button on the unit is powered in when using the ignition….but there is a slight quirk in that the sat nav doesn’t work properly unless the power button is switched on first. The head unit is powerd via the leisure battery which is sensible if you have the radio on when parked up.

 

[Ridgeway]

Yeah the radio vs battery topic is certainly confusing me. We’ve got a “Media” power switch on the main control and that needs to be on for the radio to work when the engine is off. So when pitched up this week we’ve been switching the media button on (same circuit for other devices so needed) the switching off the radio itself locally, however the cooling fans on the radio just run all the time

 

[Russell's Dad]

I'm curious as to what your snagging list consists of, if you feel like sharing??

 

[Ridgeway]

Sure:

- Fiamma awning arm seems to have a stretched cable or mech damaged
- Fresh water tank filler was kinked up so that 80% of water going in actually just spilled back out. Pipe is too long
- Cupboard door above kitchen fell off, screws had been repositioned and the MDF was badly weakened
- Fridge shelf in door is missing
- Fridge crisper cover missing (maybe our model 10.4 doesn’t come with one ?)
- Fridge door constantly alarms, the sensor thinks the door is always open
- Under bed cupboard (LHS) hinge needs repositioning, door catches on frame
- Radio cooling fan always on, to be checked if that’s normal
- Deep scratch (grooves) on windscreen where wiper arms have rubbed on the glass. It’s actually the washer feed tube clips that were wrongly positioned

The awning arm is already on order as I’d noticed it on collection, the other points are what I’ve noticed since being in the van this week but all fixable.

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