Just sharing an experience...... (1 Viewer)

[GeriatricWanderer]

During my recent 5 week France & Iberia bimble (solo) my route took me along a stretch of Spanish highway cluttered with tunnels of varying lengths. All were signed for dipped headlights and I started by turning them on/off at each tunnel but as the tunnels got closer I just left them on.
Pulled into a quiet spot for a lunch break and early afternoon zzzzzzz, twas a scorching sunny day.
Some hours later and much refreshed I went to move off - you've guessed it - I'd left my headlights on and my ageing starter batteries just made that awful rer rer rer sound.

Although my PVC is a bit vintage it does still have that alarm for when you open the drivers door when the lights are on but - it don't work if you move from the drivers seat into the rear of the camper without opening that door!

Earlier in the year I'd fitted a lowly 80W solar and the van already had a Battery Master taken from a previous van of mine.
Within an hour that lovely little red light was glowing and 2 hours later there was enough juice in the engine batteries to fire her up again.
I know it can't all be down to that trickle feed but I like to think it helped.

The moral of this long winded saga, don't get old.

 

[JJ]

The moral of this long winded saga, don't get old.

I believe that getting old is far, far better than the alternative...


JJ

 

[GeriatricWanderer]

I believe that getting old is far, far better than the alternative...


JJ

I don't. When old you will be aware of all the sensations of being old. When dead you won't be aware of anything including being dead.
That's a bit deep for a Sunday afternoon.

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[DavidG58]

Nice when it works, glad to hear it didn't become a problem

we had similar, more self inflicted in my case where I misused 12V sockets in the cab area for running my laptop to keep all you lot informed of my travels through France at that time

came to move, couldn't start, worked out that in a bit the sun would move round and catch the solar panel, currently parked under a tree , then was doing mental arithmetic on how long might it take to firstly top up the hab batts then the cab battery, not having a B2B thingie, decided to call the RAC instead

Did that in my best Franglais and even got complemented on my pronunciation of Pont de l'Arche , decided to lift my bonnet to make it obvious it was me needing help, with which a Frenchman next to me promptly appears to ask what is wrong in brilliant French but no chance for me to easily reply

Le batterie est mort, was a good as I could get, no idea what jump leads translate as, be got the gist and started up a generator, we ran our hook up lead and adaptor to him and charged MH, 15 minutes later we were started, much shaking of hands and the passing of a bottle of vin rouge

The breakdown man arrives, slightly confused about who might be broken down, our engine is running by now, but he still insists on getting out his jump pack, making me turn off and jump starting me again I am sure it would have started again without his battery pack

but all ended well

my moral is when you believe something needs to be changed (in our case the cab battery) just do it, don't wait for the fourth jump start

changed 2 years ago and banned myself from charging off front sockets when parked

 

[DBK]

During my recent 5 week France & Iberia bimble (solo) my route took me along a stretch of Spanish highway cluttered with tunnels of varying lengths. All were signed for dipped headlights and I started by turning them on/off at each tunnel but as the tunnels got closer I just left them on.
Pulled into a quiet spot for a lunch break and early afternoon zzzzzzz, twas a scorching sunny day.
Some hours later and much refreshed I went to move off - you've guessed it - I'd left my headlights on and my ageing starter batteries just made that awful rer rer rer sound.

Although my PVC is a bit vintage it does still have that alarm for when you open the drivers door when the lights are on but - it don't work if you move from the drivers seat into the rear of the camper without opening that door!

Earlier in the year I'd fitted a lowly 80W solar and the van already had a Battery Master taken from a previous van of mine.
Within an hour that lovely little red light was glowing and 2 hours later there was enough juice in the engine batteries to fire her up again.
I know it can't all be down to that trickle feed but I like to think it helped.

The moral of this long winded saga, don't get old.

The clues in your username. But a useful lesson. We have a battery master and it is easy to think it is there just to keep the vehicle l battery topped up but of course if it is flat it can do a recharge, though it doesn't push a lot of amps out so it will take a little time.
An alternative approach would be to use jump leads from the leisure battery.

 

[GeriatricWanderer]

.............An alternative approach would be to use jump leads from the leisure battery.

Well I did spend a while with my jump leads trying to stretch them a metre longer than they are, then trying to decide if I could strip down my spare hook-up to make a jump lead extension , then a while trying to work out just how long it would take me to move my leisure battery near enough to use my jump leads. Fortunately while I was doing all that my engine batteries came back to life.

But, I will definitely be knocking up a longer set of jump leads for my emergency box, and yes I know, the longer the lead the less punch comes out the other end.

Of possible interest - It's an 03 reg Toyota and the engine batteries are Japanese OE so I guess long overdue replacements might be a good idea.

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[Camdoon]

If anyone needs help with a battery in France the word is "piles". Good luck with them jump starting you.

 

[tonyidle]

I don't. When old you will be aware of all the sensations of being old. When dead you won't be aware of anything including being dead.
That's a bit deep for a Sunday afternoon.

Here's a very funny mention of dead:

 

[Wildbill]

We should be touring with our geriatric camper as soon as Friday
Bill

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[JJ]

I don't. When old you will be aware of all the sensations of being old. When dead you won't be aware of anything including being dead.
That's a bit deep for a Sunday afternoon.

A jest I hope... otherwise too sad for a happy youngster like me...

(I stared Death in the face last Saturday and he backed down. The big woosie)

JJ

 

[sedge]

Quite frankly @JJ - I don't think humans usually get 9 lives - and don't really think you ought to push it.

Plus I doubt you did face him - you have not mentioned seeing even a fleeting glance of Binky. Anyway - we always know when he appears, cos he speaks in capitals.

 

[JJ]

Quite frankly @JJ - I don't think humans usually get 9 lives - and don't really think you ought to push it.

Plus I doubt you did face him - you have not mentioned seeing even a fleeting glance of Binky. Anyway - we always know when he appears, cos he speaks in capitals.

Excuse me Ms Sedge...

You weren't there in the middle of the blazing fire with your lungs full of acrid smoke and, for a moment or two, no visible escape route.

Luckily my lungs were strong after making all those balloon animals in an earlier life.

JJ

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[ChrisL]

You might like to consider running some cables of the correct size from the hab battery to an Anderson socket permanently mounted in the engine bay then fit an anderson plug to one end of your jump leads. It would make a nice tidy job and eliminate one pair of crocodile clips.

 

[DavidG58]

I had gone down the route of carrying a long pair of jump leads, paid a small fortune for them, first time we needed them (third jump start) though no problem here, got the leads out, never even opened yet, they reached perfectly, clipped one lead to engine jump point (found that thanks to RAC as our battery is buried under the passenger footwell) then found I cant clip on the hab batteries clips are too big to fit under the charger which sits more or less on top of the batteries

The better ones amongst you lot would have removed the battery, but that would involve using more tools than I am allowed to carry, give me too many tools I could really get in a pickle

but at least we had jump leads, I despatched a very cross with me Bev, who reappeared with a young man in a Peugeot and we got jump started on the Belgium French border, only had to endure one more flat battery event before I knew (was told in no uncertain terms) it was time to buy new

 

[sedge]

Not hijacking the thread - Just wanted JJ to know I was horrified at what he had to go through. However - my way of dealing with such awfulness is always to find out if the people it concerns are OK - which thanks to his own quick thinking and the neighbourliness of his neighbours, he was - then try and find the humour in something that wasn't remotely funny.

at the reference to balloon animals !

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[ChrisL]

I suffered a very flat engine battery in Ypres and even jumping from a car wouldn't start me, ADAC were out within half an hour and had me running in minutes cause of the flat battery was failed alternator diodes.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Slightly off to the side , but what are the rules on lights in tunnels, I have running lights and they are bright but is it specifically dipped headlights. My car has auto headlights and they are brilliant but the van light do stay on without the ignition and in daytime I would be in the same position.

 

[Lenny HB]

Sounds like time for a rewire, should be an easy job to rewire the lights via an ignition switched relay.

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[SpeedyDux]

Well I did spend a while with my jump leads trying to stretch them a metre longer than they are, then trying to decide if I could strip down my spare hook-up to make a jump lead extension , then a while trying to work out just how long it would take me to move my leisure battery near enough to use my jump leads. Fortunately while I was doing all that my engine batteries came back to life.

But, I will definitely be knocking up a longer set of jump leads for my emergency box, and yes I know, the longer the lead the less punch comes out the other end.

Of possible interest - It's an 03 reg Toyota and the engine batteries are Japanese OE so I guess long overdue replacements might be a good idea.

Instead of long jump leads, I keep one of these in my tool kit:

Broken Link Removed

As long as there's juice in the hab battery this can get me going again.

 

[Rapido925M]

In the "good old days" we took our tent and camped overnight before a job interview in Grimsby (does that sound desperate?). Arriving late in the evening, the headlights were needed to see how to erect the tent.

You know what happens next

Fortunately, the car was a Morris Traveller and the starting handle solved the problem

Could that be the solution for some of the lighter vehicles of today? I wouldn't fancy trying to turn my diesel lump be hand .

Gordon

 

[DanielFord]

Slightly off to the side , but what are the rules on lights in tunnels, I have running lights and they are bright but is it specifically dipped headlights. My car has auto headlights and they are brilliant but the van light do stay on without the ignition and in daytime I would be in the same position.

To the best of my knowledge, DRLs are acceptable when fitted. I did a search a little while back, and every resource I found said something along the lines of "dipped lights required where daytime running lights are not fitted"

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[buttons]

During my recent 5 week France & Iberia bimble (solo) my route took me along a stretch of Spanish highway cluttered with tunnels of varying lengths. All were signed for dipped headlights and I started by turning them on/off at each tunnel but as the tunnels got closer I just left them on.
Pulled into a quiet spot for a lunch break and early afternoon zzzzzzz, twas a scorching sunny day.
Some hours later and much refreshed I went to move off - you've guessed it - I'd left my headlights on and my ageing starter batteries just made that awful rer rer rer sound.

Although my PVC is a bit vintage it does still have that alarm for when you open the drivers door when the lights are on but - it don't work if you move from the drivers seat into the rear of the camper without opening that door!

Earlier in the year I'd fitted a lowly 80W solar and the van already had a Battery Master taken from a previous van of mine.
Within an hour that lovely little red light was glowing and 2 hours later there was enough juice in the engine batteries to fire her up again.
I know it can't all be down to that trickle feed but I like to think it helped.

The moral of this long winded saga, don't get old.

Doesn't really matter where you managed to find those extra amps, it worked which is the main thing.