(For our other tips, see our tip index HERE)

My Symptoms

For years, when starting from stone cold, the engine wanted to stall at the first junction or two.  No idea why, dealer had no idea either, and in fairness it wasn’t ever an issue and it never did stall.

After 5 years, 39,000 miles, the van started to stall and lose all power, but only 15 minutes into a journey from cold.  After it restarted it made a few bangs then in a puff of smoke cleared and was fine thereafter.  It did this for 3 days on the trot which caused me to find a solution.

In all other aspects, performance and economy, the van was fine.

My Van

2005 (55 Plate) Ford Transit 280 SWB FWD 125ps low roof, converted into a campervan

Likely fault

The guys at http://fordtransit.org/ forum suggested a faulty EGR valve.  A google also found http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/egr.htm which is a good explanation as to how it works.  The FordTransit forum guys gave me the confidence to look into this and understand what is going on and why.  eBeers to them

How the EGR could be responsible for my problems (theory)

If the EGR never fully closes, then exhaust gas would always enter the combustion chamber.  From cold, perhaps this little gap gave enough burnt and dirty air from idle making the van want to stall.

Then after 15 mins, the engine is warm and possibly in cruse mode, then the valve should be open, and if this stayed stuck open then it would explain the lack of power after 15 mins or so at a junction and the stalls.  Perhaps restarting a few times, plus the heat of the engine freed up the valve and it continued functioning for the rest of the journey

DISCLAIMER!!!

This document is written by me, for me, and is based on MY experience on MY van.  I make no suggestion that this will work on every van, especially non-ford, and also vans with different engines.  Also this may not have anything to do with your issues.  This document is public to help give ideas as to POSSIBILITES only.  Take any comment in here as a completely made up and don’t follow it.  If you do its at your own risk!!!!

Possible fixes

Remove and clean the EGR valve, and also block off the vacuum pipe which would stop it working completely but keep it closed.  Blocking the pipe is only worth while if the valve is completely closed and sealed.

The EGR on the TDCi 2 litre 125ps Mk6 transit is vacuum operated only and there are no electronics at all.  Later units have electronic sensors in so blocking the vacuum pipe may cause an ECU (DCT) error to be flagged and possibly the “MIL” light to come on the dashboard.

So I decided to remove and take a look….

How to remove EGR valve

** CLICK ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE **

1 – Rotate the oil filler cap, so the plastic thingie doesn’t overhand the plastic air reservoir.  On mine there is was a plastic clip to rotate on the oil filler tube to free it up.  Just rotate 90’

2 – Remove 2 nuts from the rear of the plastic air reservoir.  These are 13mm. Don’t drop them down the back!

3 – Remove air hose (loosen clip) from the air tube to the air filter to the plastic air reservoir  (screwdriver under the catch and twist did it for me)

4 – Remove air hose (loosen clip) from the air tube to the turbo pipe.

5 – Remove the plastic air reservoir.  Remove the pipes that are clipped to the rear of the plastic air reservoir – should push out but be careful.  This sort of rotates towards the front and there are 2 plastic “balls” around a rubber seal, so just pops off.

6 – Remove engine cover (if you have one!  I don’t)

7 – Rotate the oil filler pipe back straight to it doesn’t fall off

8 – Follow the turbo pipe and there are 2 outlets to the pipe – one narrow and one fat, held on with Jubilee clips.  Undo these (8mm socket) and remove the turbo pipe

 

9 – Disconnect the vacuum pipe from the EGR valve

10 – Remove the valve tube connected to the EGR valve.  This is the big heat-shielded tube entering from the side.  These are 8mm I think.  When removed make sure you catch the gasket between the pipe and the EGR.

11 – Remove the EGR valve.  There are 2 hard-to-get-at 10mm nuts underneath.  A real bitch.  I had to use a ratchet spanner and after losing some skin and blood I got it off.  Again, careful to catch the nuts and catch the gasket.  This should just lift off.

Testing

• Suck on the vacuum tube.  Can you generate a vacuum?  If not its knackered – maybe diaphram.
• Does sucking cause the piston to move?  If not – can you push the base of the piston and does it move?  If not its stuck.
• If you blow into the side hole where the exhaust is, does air blow out of the other big hole.  If so, its not shutting properly, it should be sealed.

When its likely to be working okay then:-

• Blowing in the exhaust inlet won’t have escaping aire.
• Sucking on the vacuum tube generates a vacuum and the piston moves opening up the connection between the 2 big holes.

My Problems

On mine, the vacuum held but no piston movement.  And the exhaust to engine inlet wasn’t sealing.  This seemed to match the theory for my symptoms.

The fix

Pre cleaning – gunked up

I cleaned mine with petrol and a bit of WD40 and an old paintbush.  Got all the black carbon off and with a lot of sucking and pushing the piston I got good movement (though needed to push the piston) and got it sealing well when closed.  This is how it should be….

However, now thats sealed, I’ve blocked the vacuum pipe and not reconnected it.  This is leaving the EGR closed so the engine only runs on clean air.  OK – some NOx may be produced and the earth will end a few milliseconds earlier than it otherwise would, but at least my engine is running.  I’m sure the resources, energy, and emissions required to make a brand-new EGR are far higher than a few NOx chemicals being released.

I’ve blocked it by putting in a plastic bung and cable tied it up and also cable tied the tube securely.

I’ve taped up the vacuum inlet to prevent debris getting in.

If required, its a 30 second fix to remove the bung and connect it back up.

“On the Internet” people say you can replace the gaskets with a solid metal plate to stop any exhaust gas getting in.  I did not do this.

Refitting

Refitting is exactly a reverse of taking apart.  Ford recommend replacing the metal gaskets.

Did it work?

Well – not conclusive – but…. so far….

Much better behaviour when stone cold than previously.

No stalling or attempt at any time.

Van purrs and, may be placebo affect, feels great…..

Oh – and it passed MOT today and passed the emissions test with flying colours – with NO turbo smoke out the back!  The actual figures were better than last year….

(See the rest of our tip index here)

Our definitive Internet access guide for motorhome travellers

Whilst I fully accept being away means avoiding the usual internet emails and news, there are times when you need to access the Internet when abroad.  Typically this is very simple to achieve through simple roaming contracts with a mobile broadband supplier, or indeed getting PAYG mobile broadband for your local country.  However, I for one begrudge paying for Internet and of course roaming mobile broadband internet charges are extreme.

So this is a quick guide on how I access the Internet, pretty much hassle free, pretty much anywhere.  Please note though, I only need infrequent email checks and irregular surfing.  If you need full on surfing 24×7 then my ideas herein will not be sufficient.

But – this is how I do it, and am currently doing it sitting in a wet van on the coast in Denmark using laptop with long range aerial and unsecured wifi from no idea where…

My Equipment / Setup

1 – iPod Touch

We have a 3rd generation iPod Touch.  This is an excellent piece of kit which not only keeps all our music, but also has 3 important functions for the traveller.  See my full review of it here

Wifi:  It has full wifi capabilities, and not only that, it is intelligent in its use of hotspots.  For instance if you log into a hot spot called “FON_AP” – then it remembers all your credentials and will automatically log you on next time it sees one of the same name.  In addition, the in-built wifi scanning connection tool is quick to refresh and very simple to “try” open networks for connectivity. 

Safari:  It has a full web browser in the form of Safari – and this gives a pretty much full web experience.  Really quite impressive – and okay, not perfect for every day surfing, but ideal for quick things.

eMail:  It has full email integration with a number of providers, we use googlemail, and the iPod integration uses offline caching meaning you can write emails to be sent later; or indeed get all your emails and read them later.  Absolutely a dream to use for both reading and writing – more impressive than expected.

OK the iPod touch takes some practice, but compared to other smart phones and similar devices – its easy and actually out performs expectations.  It is discrete enough to have on/open whilst walking round town or anywhere you walk until the “open” wifi spot appears.  Probably about 70% of open wifi links allow you to connect, and around 70% of these work and connect to the Internet…  Simply scan…. click…. if connects open email…. sync…. done. 

Clearly if you scan a working spot in range of a cafe or parking place, then grab a cuppa and get the laptop out and connect to the same one!

2 – Laptop with long range WiFi aerial

I’ve got the USB Rocket wifi card mounted high in the van which gives us a range of 3-400m of available wifi.  This means when parked we get a good range for available wifi and whilst there isn’t always an open spot you may be in luck. (full review here)

However we’ve also used this when driving (well, when Mel drives I can use it!) as the range is sufficient that you have time to find an open network, connect, and sync email without stopping especially at slow town speeds and at junctions.  Though you have to be quick!

3 – BT Broadband/ FON

I’m amazed at how many people have BT Broadband but are unaware that they are permitted HotSpot access via the FON network…  This included my Dad (tsk!) as well as a couple of travel mates.  Nowadays, as far as I am aware, BT gives “unlimited wifi” when you use their broadband.  For contracts pre March 2009 you need to activate it (free) but post March 2009 it should be enabled by default.

This means, your BT username/password (e.g. fredsmith123@btinternet.com – note the btinternet.com ending) means you can legally/officially log on to any FON or BT Openzone network free of charge!  (erm – thanks Dad as he pays the broadband bill!).  Please note – this only applies to BT Home broadband accounts, NOT BT Business Broadband (Sorry Andy!)

In the UK there are so many BT Openzone hotspots its trivial, and abroad there are an increasing number of FON hotspots you can use.  We’ve found and used a few just by walking about with the iPod on and scanning.  Really easy… 

Fon.com have maps showing locations of wifi, and there are sites that have all the data on.  I’ve got an 2010 file with 650,000+ hotspots on for offline use which makes life a lot easier.

If you have BT Broadband, please google “bt fon”  “fon map” etc for full details.

 

4 – Kindle 3G

We’ve reviewed the Kindle 3G here - and for book reading its great, but for Internet access its also superb as all Internet over 3G is currently free anywhere.  Whilst it isn’t a perfect solution for internet access, it is sufficient for the basics and will suffice for basic email and internet use.  For backpacking it will be essential!

5 – McDonanlds

Yes – we know…  But we don’t eat there, but most bigger ones in Europe have free WiFi (see HERE for details)

In conjunction with the GPS locations, you can use the long range aerial above and simply sit outside making your own brew and borrowing their wifi.  Normally quite good links though they don’t allow “all things” to work, but eMail and web should always be okay.

Summary

Thats my collection – my Windows smart-phone seems to be retired now – the iPod touch if far superior for this purpose.  And quite simply, when I’ve needed to I’ve been able to get Internet access for no cost.  Hope this is useful to someone!  So far I have been able to check email multiple times daily quite easily.  Sad I know but I’m finishing off a project that means I have to be on email….

We do walk/cycle around a lot which means we do cover lots of areas as we like exploring both town centres and other parts of towns.  If you don’t walk very far then the chances of finding a free hotspot is proportionally reduced.

Legalities

This is just how I do it, it may or not be good for you.  Using non-hotspot unsecured wifi connections may be illegal but you need to check.  I believe if someone has left wifi unsecure then its because they want to help lowly travellers like me (thanks).  You should satisfy yourself with the law of the country you are in before following my tips! 

Country specifics

UK has plenty of hotspots, even in town centres, cafes, pubs and even McDonalds offer free wifi so you can either stand outside and be quick or pop in, have a drink and take longer.  Using the BT Openzone hotspots opens up huge other areas both in towns and almost all residential areas.  Probably the easiest country for obtaining wifi access.

France, Holland, Belgium are all okay, McDonalds is generally good.  Reasonable amounts of FON hotspots in France and Holland though not many in Belgium.

Germany is fairly tough as their laws state people must have secured wifi.  As such even cafes tend not to have free wifi.  That said, I have been able to easily find open wifi every day using the iPod touch as well as the fairly infrequent FON spots. McDonands is fine but you generally need to buy something to get a code valid for an hour.

(See the rest of our tip index here)

For a lot of newcomers and experienced campers alike, one of the regular questions that come up is “how do I get water and empty waste” – especially on long trips.

Well the easy answer is to use campsites, but of course if you like exploring more and using the Aires and Stellplatz networks across Europe, then you may benefit from some further advice.

Locations

Firstly, you need to know where the aires are in order to know where facilities are to fill up with water and empty waste.  You would benefit from the many Aires databases available online (some on my site), but also consider buying aires books – such as Bordatlas (Europe Wide), Camperstop (Europe Wide) and All The Aires guides (Country specific) as these tell you both where the aires are, and also what facilities they have.  Importantly, NOT ALL aires have facilities!!  So make sure you know.

Someone reminded me that, as a last resort, you may be able to get fresh water from the water tap at churches/graveyards.  If you do make sure it is drinking water (relevent in far out places).  We’ve never had to resort to this yet!

Filing up with Fresh Water

Many aires have just taps, many have “machines” you need to connect to.  Due to the variety I can’t detail them here, and must assume when you get there you can see what you need to do!  The one here pictured has a fresh water tap/nozzle (A) (with a hose-loc adapter attached already, I’d always remove that, clean, then install my own); a toilet tank cleaner tap at the bottom (B), and waste outlets on the ground (C) is for toilet and is a lift up flap; (D) is for grey waste.  This one costs 1 Euro for 10 mins worth of fresh water (100 L) though the toilet tank cleaner is “always on”.  Obvious to say, but don’t be tight and NEVER EVER use the toilet tank cleaner tap to fill fresh!

Here is a list of our tips and advice for getting fresh water.  Please also note we happily drink straight from our tank with no ill effects so they must work for us!

 

Hose (8)

We recommend and use a plastic flat hose which can be used without being fully unwound (8).  This is perfect and saves time (and space).  It is infact 3 small tubes combined into a flat hose.  It has standard hose-loc connectors at either end.  We’ve modified this with a couple of holes and cable tie to stop the end coming out when you rewind!  These are hard to find, but look XXXXXXXX.  We suggest you avoid garden hoses as you can get plastic/rubber tasting water – the hose we use isn’t flagged as food quality but we have no plastic taste.  Also – do not use the “flat hoses” that need to be fully unwound.  These are awful, puncture on thorns, and are a pain as you have to unwind them fully each time which makes them both a hassle and dirty. 

If you have the same hose as us, when you put this hose away, always let it empty by winding it all back in but leave about 1.5m lose, then raise the hose reel high.  Laws of siphoning will make the hose empty itself!  Also, before you put away, connect both ends with a female/female adapter to prevent any drips.

The hose we use is easily packable and lightweight.  The only downside is that water flow isn’t as good as a normal hose such that filling a tank may take slightly longer.

Disinfectant wipes (4)

On any tap, you have no idea what else it has been used for.  Not everyone has the same hygiene as you.  So ALWAYS thoroughly wipe down the tap with a single-use disinfectant wipe.  Including inside the tap as far as you can go.  If it looks dirty, go elsewhere, but generally a good disinfectant wipe is okay.

Connectors (1,2,3,5,6)

We carry a few connectors most available from garden centres in a multi-pack.  The main screw on connector (1 )is used in 90% of places; the smaller screw adapter (2) rarely.  The push-on adapter we have (5) is used sometimes but always makes a mess!  As you can see I’ve made a bit of hose with a hose-loc adapter so I can connect my hose to it (via a female/female adapter (3)).  As push on adapters normally fall off, I also carry some releasable cable ties (6) to hold it onto the tap if needed.  Also, some taps are “push to fill” which are a pain, so the cable ties can also be used to hold the button on.

Tank Insert (9)

As you can see from the picture, I have a hose tail (food quality) that connects to the hose reel.  This is the bit I push into the tank and thus never touches the floor and remains clean and is easily washed separately if needed.

Filling toilet flush tank

If you have a toilet flush tank, then you can use the same setup, but just hold the “tank insert” tail above the filler – never let it touch as no doubt the toilet flush chemical doesn’t taste nice!

Keeping fresh tank clean

Please see here for our advice on keeping the fresh water tank fresh

The Toilet

Not the nicest of jobs, but not as bad as it could be!  We use the thetford blue chemical in the tank, and thetford pink in the flush.  Other people have tips on using biological clothes washing liquid and other such things which we have tried.  And okay they are cheaper, but the emptying is less pleasant.  As a 2L (£10) bottle of Thetford blue lasts 15 or so uses then I’m happy with that!  I guess the success of the other alternatives depends on how often you empty the cassette.  Our cassette is big so lasts 4+ days, if you have a smaller type then the cheaper alternatives may work.

Silly and obvious point, don’t put anything bar natural toilet waste and paper into the loo!

Toilet waste is often referred to as “Black Waste”

Toilet Paper

In our experience, the cheap supermarket loo papers break down fine in short spaces of time.  Avoid premium Andrex type brands, and don’t bother paying for the thetford specialist paper.  Morrisons £1.32 for 12 rolls seem to be the best for us.

Use gloves

Very few people seem to wear gloves as, to be fair, most of the time you don’t need them.  When filling up with diesel we take a few extra gloves from the petrol station and use those…

Obviously discard after use and wash your hands.

Emptying Toilet

If your empty point has a lift up lid, always use gloves to lift the handle, and when you close it never let it drop – lower it gently to avoid splashes.  Poor in the toilet cassette slowly, and if you have one remember to press the “air valve button” on the cassette!

Look for a “flush/rinse” button that will give the empty point a clean.  If your facility has one, I would suggest you close any lid prior to flushing – as some have powerful jets that will spray everywhere if the lid is open.  As usual, keep your gloves on as you have no idea who/what pressed the button last.

Cleaning cassette

Unless you are packing the cassette up for the winter, you don’t want it spotless, so don’t rinse it 10 times.  You need/want some bacteria left in order to facilitate the break-down process.  So a couple of rinses to make sure nothing is stuck should suffice.  When rinsing, never use the fresh water tap (some people may, hence disinfectant wipes!) – there is normally another tap.  If you must use the same tap, don’t let the cassette touch it, and also wipe down after.  For rinsing, we may put in 5L of water, then shake vigorously, then pour out.  Unless you are well practiced don’t forget to put the “cap” back on the toilet cassette.

Once emptied, add your necessary chemical and add a splash of fresh water so the tank always has fluid covering the bottom so that hard solids can’t form.

We always wipe the outside of the cassette down with a disinfectant wipe, then kitchen roll, so it goes back clean and dry.

Where to empty toilet

If you can’t find an aire and need to empty it, you can use public toilets.  But for the sake of everyone, leave it cleaner than you found it and disinfect with wipes afterwards.

IN MY OPINION there is no problem emptying down public loos or any main sewer, so long as it isn’t going into a cesspit where the chemicals may affect the operation. Almost all aires, campsites and disposal points actually connect the toilet and other waste water so in effect it goes down the same hole.  In some countries, such as Finland, they may use earth-toilets which would be damaged if you disposed of toilet chemicals within them, so always check before disposing especially in far flung countries.

In our experience, there are enough formal places to dispose of toilet waste correctly. We’ve never had to use the emergency public loos!

But please, think and leave areas tidy – don’t make yourself and others unwelcome.

Gray Waste

Gray waste is the waste water from washing, showering, washing up etc.  In other words, dirty water but generally well diluted and not unhygienic.

Waste water smell

Waste water should not smell – if it smells then you have a bacterial infection in the tank and this needs to be killed off – else the smell will become a stench!  Please see the Zappys blog on this.  Also, we use Thetford waste tank freshener once in a while that stops this happening.  Generally the smells may become more common in hotter climates, but suggest you are prepared with an antidote just in case you start to get a pong coming through.

Preventing blockage/smell

Wherever possible, don’t put food down the sink, so when you wash up, don’t for instance shove all the food leftovers down the plughole as you would at home!  We would suggest you wipe the plate with a kitchen-roll sheet to remove leftover food, such as rice, and just put it in the bin.  Reducing food in the waste tank will reduce the chance of a smelly outbreak and also leaves the water cleaner.

Emptying waste

Most aires have disposal points, some are drive over and some you have to put the waste down a particular hole.  If you can – great!  These all vary but generally work.

Many of us at home, if say, washing up outside, or indeed having an outside shower, would think nothing of letting the water drain on the grass.  As such, we personally don’t have too much of a problem emptying the grey tank on or over grass or even small amounts down normal drains.  Please note our waste tank is small so for us I’m talking about small quantities (20L or less).  Some people may say this is wrong and inconsiderate – but personally as I’d happily through the water over my garden I think it fine (in small amounts).

However we would also say that you should consider your environment and ensure you will not cause any damage.

Planning ahead

If you are a tourer-type person continually on the move, always have a plan as to where you expect to fill up and empty tanks, and always have a backup plan available.  Also – never leave it to the last minute.  After all our experience, we now make use of pretty much any facilities we find rather than eek out every last drop on board.

We’d say the vast majority of stop-offs have the facilities as described in the books and are fine, though you will certainly find an odd few which are either broken; been removed; or have been left in such a mess you won’t want to use them…  Also – do keep a selection of coins handy as you never know what you may need to operate the machine.

(See the rest of our tip index here)

There are a couple of electrical questions that keep coming up, this is one of them. 

At home, you have constant 240v power supply from the mains, and thus pretty much everything you have connects to 240v.  Most modern “portable” appliances however use a transformer to step down the voltage to 5v, 12v, 19v or similar to power small electrical devices.  Looking around my house, the only truely 240v appliances are large LCD TV, kettle, dishwasher, washing machine, hair dryer, and my PC.

The vast majority don’t actually use 240v.  And to be fair, the vast majority you’d take with you in a campervan would use lower voltages.

The only exceptions which you’d may take away with you are kettle and hair dryer, but really you’d not want to run these on an inverter!!!!

Big Appliances

Some basic maths for you.

• Electric kettle at home takes 240v and is rated at, say, 2kw or 2000W.  2000W/240v is 8 Amps
• Your campervan is 12v, so 2000W inverter sufficient for your kettle would pull 2000W/12v = 166 Amps! 

Now thats huge!  The cable to the inverter would need to be massive and the energy required from the battery would not help its life expectancy!  Now say your leisure battery is 85AH, this means it can provide 85 Amps for an hour (or any ratio thereof) though its recommended not to flatten your battery more than 50% on a regular basis, so you really have around 42AH to use.  A kettle on an inverter using 166A means it would flatten your battery within (166/42) = 15 minutes!!!!!

So what I’m saying, is huge energy appliances like a kettle amd hair dryer and not really sutiable to run in a van from battery even if you had an inverter.

Other Appliances

Most portable appliances, such as digital cameras, iPods, GPS, laptops, TVs, DVDs etc can all run from a 12v supply but with a small transformer in the way.  Maplin sell for instance a generic power supply that fits both laptops.  It takes the 12v supply and “ups it” to 19v which the laptops require.  Their range includes smaller units, 40W, for netbooks, up to 120W that will work bigger laptops.  I suggest the 120W version as even though you may not need one so big, it means it is more efficient and doesn’t get as hot. 

eBay is also a great place to buy 12v chargers for mobiles, cameras and the like and these are only a few £ each.

TVs / DVDs

A lot of people take TVs and DVD players away, and some of these are motorhome specific (MEOS, Avtex) and thus designed for 12v.  Some use 240v ones via an inverter.  Some buy cheaper 240v ones which actually have an external transformer 240v AC–>12v DC and they simply buy a converter to plug directly into the van.

Some tips and comments on TVs:-

• Do not use inverter. These are very inefficient loosing maybe 20% of power to “heat” and other losses.  Always run from 12v if you can.
• MEOS 12v TV works fine for me and does pretty much everything you want.
• Rememebr, 12v in a motorhome is actually variable 11v to 13.6v when on hookup to 14.6v when driving.  Motorhome specific TVs are designed to cope with this range, whereas home TVs converted to a van use are expecting a clean and stable 12v supply. Thus some may be sensitive and fail when on a van.  That said, they are a lot cheaper and to be honest I’d reckon most would be fine, so I would give it a go if you fancy it!  You could of course use a voltage regulator to maintain 12v.
• Motorhome specifiv TVs should be lower power and more resistant to vibration than home units.
• If you buy a home TV to use in the van, then make sure it has an EXTERNAL transformer that converts 240v AC to 12v (or so) DC.  I’d recommend you get a good voltage converter with multiple adapters such as from Maplin

Extending Battery Life

Only use things when you need!

Change Halogen lights to LED – this made the biggest difference to us and is very easy (though not cheap) to do

Get a smaller TV.  We’ve got a MEOS 13.3″ because it fits perfectly.  It takes 2A.  15″ TVs can take 4-5A which takes 2x the power.  Do you really need a big screen?

Get a decent laptop!  My old laptop used to draw around 65W to charge, around 6 Amps!  And even then then when fully charged the battery lasted 1.5-2hrs.  My new laptop is an ultra-low voltage Asus UL30A and is superb.  It uses only 3A to charge and the battery lasts 8+ hours.  And its got a better screen, lighter etc…. 

Blown air heating uses a lot of battery, so make sure you use this only when necessary and perhaps insulate the van better and block draughts.

Finally, add more batteries   We have 2x 100AH and these last us very well indeed!

So, Do you need an inverter?

NO!

(See the rest of our tip index here)

This has always felt a chore, and in truth, we’ve only done it once in 4.5 years!  And as we happily drink from the tank then its actually quite important.  Its always felt like a hassle, and we’ve never really needed it.

Then on one of the motorhome forums, Graham at Zappys Blog http://zappysblog.com/ started to offer a simple magic pill to do the disinfecting hassle free.  Hmmm.  Sceptcial old me.  However, I placed my order and what did I get…

Pack of 10 pills for £5 delivered with clear instructions.  These can be seen on his blog HERE in PDF format, and you can buy the pills HERE in his online shop.  And no, sadly, I don’t get comission from him!

So before our trip tomorrow wakeboarding for a long weekend decided we better do it.  So, a quick flush of the tank, then fill with water and a single pill (54L is okay for single pill) – and go away for lunch for just over an hour.  Come back, run through the water, then a quick clean flush, and first impressions on the taste test are fine!  Tastes like normal water, clean, and no residue.

Simple!! 

I’m not going to use the pills for the waster water tank (only a small one so will just sling in other stronger chemicals) but you can if you wish.

He also gives instructions on how to treat water pre-drinking in emergency situations – so quite a good pill all said and told.

So, if you want a quick n easy way to dose up your tank cleaning chemicals, then give Zappys Blog a look

** PAGE SUPERCEDED – SEE HERE **

2010 & Download File

When we go away I always tend to scour the internet for all the GPS points of interest I can for aires and some sites and combine them together in a single file in order to help with our route planning.

** I DO NOT PROFESS TO HAVE CREATED ANY OF THIS DATA – MEERLY COMBINED IT **.  I don’t think this is an issue, but if any of the data owners think it is then please let me know immediately and I will remove this file.  All of the data sources are listed on our links page http://www.doyourdream.co.uk/resources-downloads/useful-links/ 

You will need 2010 in order for this download to work, so don’t download this file without it as you won’t get the POI groupings etc. If you don’t have it you can get it from Amazon as well as other places 

Free Download

The download file contains the GPS POI for the following:-

• Bordatlas 2010 (including page numbers to allow book reference)
• Aires de Service (verified)
• MH Parking
• Ares de Service (non verified)
• Aires on campsites
• ACSI 2010 sites
• Camping Cheque 2010 sites

TO DOWNLOAD – SEE LATER (2011) VERSION PAGE HERE

!

We use the file in conjunction with books, for instance the file will tell you the page to look at in Bordatlas for the aire you are looking at. And the Aires books give you more details than the download.  So for a more informative life, fine the aire in the overall database then refer to books for details.  (books NOT necessary, just useful!)

   

USING THE DATA

We use and recommned 2010 (the cheaper version) for your laptop  If you want to have GPS tracking and navigation on your laptop, the 2010 GPS comes with a GPS receiver.  (Or buy the cheaper one and a serparate USB/Bluetooth GPS receiver from eBay).  We also use an excellent XL with IQ routes and full maps for Europe and beyond.  We could not survive without Tommy!

   

Support

Download is provided as-is along as my bandwidth allows!  No support is given.  2010 only.  I cannot convert this to any other format. The download file is around 2Mb and is ZIPPED, the file is 6.5Mb unzipped.

Data Sources

The sources for this data is on my links page, but includes the following.  Suggest you look at these sites directly to get the data in other formats.

Data

There are around 15,500 POIs included in this database which is quite huge! 

Below is a SMALL section of the south cost of France near Spain and you can see how many things there are!  (Click image to zoom)

(See the rest of our tip index here)

The problem with WiFi when travelling

We all know the problem when travelling – trying to get Internet access to check our emails isn’t really always very easy.  A lot of the time even legitimate hot-spots always seem to have a flakey signal.  For a long time I’ve seen these “long range WiFi” thingies saying they will improve the sitiation but at £80+ I wasn’t prepared to try it.  However a thread on Motorhome Facts showed another device that had these claims for only £20 which made it worth a punt….  So…… 

For the purpose of the test I used BackTrack3 Linux toolkit rather than Windows as it allows a lot more control of the WiFi cards.  So though you may not recognise the screens it doesn’t matter as its for testing only.  Please note all images can be clicked to zoom in, but I’ve blurred the MAC/SSID details for personal/security reasons.

Normal WiFi Card

Sitting at home I performed a scan of all available networks using a standard WiFi card.  As you can see there are a few networks in range but not many.  As you can see in the PWR column only 2 have power in double figures and in order to maintain a connection you really do need double figures – thus only mine and my direct neighbours is accessible.

Rocket High Power WiFi Card

Then after plugging in the new device I ran the same scan, in the exact same location, and instantly detected more networks and not only that the power listed was in double figures for the vast majority of the networks

 

So first impressions are, most definately, it does what it says on the tin! 

For those interested, the chipset is fully compliant with BackTrack3 and above, and supports MAC spoofing and packet injection.  What this means in simple terms is explained in the picture below

What that bascially means is that it does support the method of obtaining the security keys of WEP encoded networks.  As can be seen above, even though the network tested was out of range under a normal wifi card, I was able to detect and obtain the security key, then within Windows connect to their network and have full internet access*.   

Summary

For the money?  Yes – fully recommended.  It also gives me confidence in the claims of some of the more expensive devices.  This one is rated at -9dbi which, they say, is 500m range.  From my tests I have no reason to doubt the 500m range though I would suggest the range would be maybe half that in a built up area.

In the box you get a couple of brackets and mounting kit though I expect I’ll just move mine around as and when needed.  If you buy from the Amazon link – look at the “people who bought this also bought” area and get the suckers as well which you need to stick it to the side of the van.

It comes with a manual and CD (which, being a bloke I didn’t even look at), instead I simply plugged it into the laptop and let Windows get the drivers direct from Windows Update.  So fairly idiot proof!

This review was undertaken on the rocket aerial below which, I love and recommend, and pretty much everyone who has seen it work has bought one!  Bargain at the price.

    

There are other options for long range wifi, but this rocket works and is simple.  Stick it up, stick it in and hey presto.  Some other options are more difficult (such as having to “aim” the device) but these should be considered if you like playing.

Disclaimer

*Note:  I’m obviously talking theoretically as I would, of course, not ever recommend nor approve of anyone using anyone elses network without permissoin.

 

As I’ve filled a lot of air gaps around the fridge for winter insulation, we found that in the heat of summer the fridge was unable to lose enough heat to allow the contents to stay as cool as we wanted.  And I mean – beer that isn’t ice cold isn’t great is it?

So cue today, after picking up a single thermostatic fridge vent fan from Cak Tanks at the NEC I went about fitting it. 

Technically very easy – connect two wires (live/neutral), stick the manual switch somewhere, then mount the fan.  The reality wasn’t that much different as there is some decent ply at the back of the fridge to allow the fan mountings to be fitted; and the control switch installs neatly in the kitchen area – all accessbile from the rear fridge vent when the insulation is removed.

The only real problem was finding the live feed!  Without a detailed wiring diagram its not easy as the fridge has 240v live; 12v habitation live; and 12v alternator live feeds!  After trial and error the fan was spliced between 2 cables that provide 12v when habitation “AUX” is on and it works as expected.  Just need some hot summer now to test it in action.

Come on summer!

Preparation

Blimey.  We did it again!  We had another stupid idea just days before leaving, and literally again, the van was in bits the day before we left.  On our last trip, we had the silly idea of maybe going snowboarding in the van in Spain or Andorra as we’ll be “in the area”.  All well and good, but the van isn’t designed for such winter abuse.  So in order to make this a possibility, we decided to winterise the van as much as possible – which meant:  Making fleece “blinds” to seal the cold cab area; insulating all pipe-work including waste that we can get to – including underneath; removing and insulating the water tanks; installing a 12v tank heater to prevent the fresh water freezing; cramming insulation in every hole we could find; and finally fitting some cheap n cheerful insulated carpet.  Needless to say, the jobs weren’t as simple as hoped – and I now have a few new battle scars!

Apart from that, and giving the van a good clean, it was good to go!

This time, we did reduce the amount of clothes and stuff packed – and thats notwithstanding the fact we have had to pack beach and summer-wear as well as winter-wear and ski-wear! Hopefully we’ve forgotten nothing….

CLICK HERE FOR SUMMARY AND REVIEW

Minor Tweaks (probably van specific)

The modifications here may only be applicable to our make/model of van – so these modifications will not be covered in detail

Extra power outlet

Simple installation of another 13A socket in the offside front seat to allow a heater to be run in the cab area without trailing leads.  Fitted to existing “plug” circuit all protected by 10A breaker – as such it doesn’t need to be a “ring”.  RWT supplied parts

Moving hot water switch

We moved the hot water switch from the offside wall to the offside seat base where it is accessible.  However where we moved it makes it kickable off, so hindsight could have improved the location.  We have also mounted the external water tank heater switch next to here so it works out anyway.  This has been moved in the new model vans.

Cupboard conversions

We’ve converted 2 cupboards.  In one we have fitted a mini drawer unit with 16 small drawers at a slight angle to prevent them popping out.  These contain all he accessories, cables, fuses, spares etc that you need to carry.  In the other we simply changed the 2-layer arrangement to create a small full-height area to store tall things like bottles of squash.

Cupboard insulation

There are a couple of cupboards that contain LPG drop holes, yet there is a gap between the door and the plinth.  This is not visible but when there is cold wind it can be felt quite badly!  We’ve just sealed off these gaps keeping the LPG holes open and considering saftey,

Extra table hole

We fitted a new table drop hole in the offside.  RWT supplied the parts to match with advice on where to safely cut the floor.  This works well and I believe this is now standard on new vans.

Shelving wardrobe

When camping we don’t take clothes that need hanging, so we simply changed the hanging space into more shelves.  We have plastic boxes that fit perfectly into the shelves which we can remove and use the entire space efficiently.