After some work diagnosing and fixing an electrical issue with the camper, I was itching to take it out for a proper test. So with some free time up my sleeve, I took the camper down to Namagi National Park to stay at the Orroral Campground on a quiet Monday.
It had snowed up at this campground a few days ago, but with some bright sunshine we’d had after I wasn’t expecting there to be any snow left. I was surprised then when the shadows still held some patches of snow – fairly pathetic remnants, but still impressive considering the relatively low altitude of the campsite.
I was the only person at the grounds when I first arrived, so I got the pick of the caravan/camper sites. I quickly set up and had a spot of lunch, then headed out on a bit of a walk down to the waterholes and picnic area around 500m away.
It was a nice walk, and good to see pretty much everything is the same as when we last visited 5 years ago. Since we’d visited fires had forced the closure of the site, but you wouldn’t know it from the massive gums and other vegetation that survived or have grown up since then.
After a bit of a walk I deserved a beer or three, so I built up a small fire in the provided fireplace and settled down with a book and a few bevvies. The weather was cool, about 12 degrees, but not unpleasant as long as you were in the sun. The campsite was very quiet with no other visitors.
At around 4.30pm I oiled and seasoned a small lamb roast and put it in the camp oven. A few coals on top and below soon had it sizzling and roasting. After 45 minutes I chucked in a bag of pre-cut mixed veggies. At around 6pm I took everything off the fire, let the roast rest and carved it up. It had cooked really well, though I could have put a bit more seasoning in with the veggies.
With dinner done and night coming, I put on an extra layer of clothes, made sure I had enough wood and beer to last me and kept reading by the fire. A couple of campervans had separately come and set up nearby, but they didn’t set up any fires so they pretty much went straight to bed to keep warm.
I stayed up reading until it was time to kick down the fire and get ready for bed. I had set up a 12v electric blanket earlier that night in my sleeping bag, so I was pretty toasty. In fact I had to turn it off later that night. It got down to at least -7 degrees that night – so cold that my water bottle next to my sleeping bag froze and I couldn’t get a drink.
I had a lazy morning, staying in bed until 9am, mostly because I didn’t want to get out into the cold. When I got up and started tidying, I found it tricky to do last nights dishes as the water in the pipes had frozen, preventing the pump from working. I got around it by using the tap underneath the camper, but even that showed that a lot of the water tank had frozen.
A quick and simple pack up and uneventful drive back home finished up what was a lovely night away.
Boring technical stuff
I’d spent quite some time testing and troubleshooting some electrical gremlins that were affecting the fridge and lights in the camper. I’d previously integrated some new equipment directly into the setup that the camper came with from the Ultimate factory. In order to be sure what the issue was and diagnose exactly what may cause an issue in future, I pulled out their old fuse block and auto-resetting circuit breakers and pushed everything through a central block with LED indicators that show if a fuse has blown. The system is now much neater and cleaner to work on, with limited self-resetting circuit breakers so I should be able to immediately diagnose any issues from now on.
After all that, and a replacement trailer hitch as rust had ruined the old one, everything seemed to be working well. Just before I headed out on this trip though I wasn’t able to get power through to the fridge. I started checking voltages and found that the central circuit breaker that I use to shut off the system entirely was showing 13.3V on one side, and then only 7V on the other side.
Removing the circuit breaker and replacing with a temporary bolt had full voltage powering everything in the system, and it worked great this trip. I’m not sure what happened with that circuit breaker, as I’ve had others that had worked for years with no problems, but I’ve got a replacement coming. It’s funny how a $14 part can cause so many issues across your entire system.
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