Project Cobbler's's Talbot Express - Time to move it on?

[cobblers]

Cobblers, maybe give everything a quick check over, that fuse never went in all the time I had it.

Pleased to see your giving it some love!

It wasn't blown, just quite warm and high resistance, I reckon it would have charged the battery up eventually - It was charging at about 1A. Everything between that and the leisure battery seems healthy enough.

Oh - is that black box in the bottom of the wardrobe a charger off the mains hookup?

 

 

Jean Claude VanCobblers.

 They're a good size those campers. No much bigger than a car for parking but decent enough sized inside.

 

It's about 10" longer and wider than a T25, and while it makes a massive difference inside, you can definitely feel that when driving it on tight roads. It's fine on A roads and the tradeoff is definitely worth it.

[spartacus]

Yes, when's it's hooked up the leisure battery charges. Although because it's on a relay the starting battery doesn't charge, as I'm sure you're aware!

[cobblers]

I've got a durite dual sense split charge relay somewhere, it senses the voltage on either battery so both will charge if either are charging.

I spent about 3 hours looking for it today, but I reckon the only way to find it is to order another one and it'll immediately appear.

[spartacus]

Voltage sensing​ relay? That would be my first choice, I'll be putting one in the new camper, having already flattened both batteries using the manual battery cut-off switch! (Or, more correctly, not using it).

[cobblers]

Yeah, one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0-727-83-EQUIV-24V-140A-140-AMP-SPLIT-CHARGE-VOLTAGE-SENSITIVE-RELAY-CAMPERS-/201917446486?hash=item2f0337b956:g:e5QAAOSw42JZDaYF

 

They sense off both batteries, so it turns on if either is charging, it'll charge the main battery when on hookup and the leisure battery off the alternator.

[spartacus]

That sort of thing. Except there seems to be some sort of mistake in the description.

[cobblers]

Ah, I linked to a 24v one by mistake

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0-727-33-EQUIV-12V-140A-140-AMP-SPLIT-CHARGE-VOLTAGE-SENSITIVE-RELAY-CAMPERS-/201794321408

[cobblers]

Went away in this last weekend, it's great.

Fridge works ace and keeps ice frozen, the water heater works, the bog is "cosy" but much better than walking across the campsite at 3am. Emptying it out isn't that bad really.

I've swapped the leisure battery for a couple of AGMS ones as stacked on their side they fit perfect on the original tray, now with my LED bulbs inside there's loads of power. I'm used to having an electric fridge so needing every bit of battery power possible.

 

Appears I've done "something " to the sliding door, (or just don't have the knack) as I can't for the life of me get it open. No big deal though, I'll work it out one day probably. On the road It's definitely a plodder - I was down to first gear up half of Winnats Pass (sorry everyone behind me) but it doesn't miss a beat. 

 

 

I'm currently suffering from my occasional bout of "desperate need to retreat from civilisation for a few days" so with any luck it'll piss it down all weekend, in which case I'll go straight from work on friday up to the top of the campsite in Edale, watch the occasional train go past and listen to the rain on the skylight. I'll stick the pushbike on the back in case I feel energetic.

[mat_the_cat]

I've got a durite dual sense split charge relay somewhere, it senses the voltage on either battery so both will charge if either are charging.

 

I've just got a cheap single voltage sensing spilt charge relay (probably rated @10 amps), which I use to drive a 70 amp jobby which then links the starter battery and leisure bank. I'm actually thinking of binning that, and just triggering the big relay from the alternator charge light. Reason being, since I fitted the AC, if I use that at idle it drags the leisure battery's voltage to below the threshold, so the relay disconnects. Voltage rises, relay closes again, alternator suddenly sees a big load...aaaand repeat!

 

I've opened up the voltage sensing relay and found the pot which sets the threshold voltage. I can adjust it so it doesn't chatter, but then (with little load) the resting voltage of the battery bank is high enough that it stays linked to the starter battery for ages.

 

Can you think of any good reason not to use the charge light as a trigger? Fair enough, it'll take longer to charge the starter battery but I'm hardly doing short trips in it!

[cobblers]

I'm using the charging light at the moment, it works fine for me. I was going to switch to an auto-sensing relay, but with LED lights and whatnot I could camp for a fortnight on these batteries, my battery system can take a back seat.

 

I know what you mean about the auto sensing ones clicking in and out - I wish they had a bit more of a delay on them. My T25 used to do that whenever I had it on charge in the garage. It can't do the relays any favors, especially at high currents.

 

Your main disadvantage using the charging light is that if you're using more amps than the alternator can keep up with, then you can still flatten the main battery with the engine running.

 

I suppose you could just wind the pot down so the auto sensing relay clicked off at maybe 12.5v, essentially using both batteries until things get "fairly flat" and then disconnecting the starting battery to make sure you've got enough balls to start the engine next time. Rather than "split charge" it'd be more of a "save your bacon" system.

[mat_the_cat]

Thanks - makes sense. Although I'm also using the voltage sensing relay to switch off the relay for the gas solenoid, so (as it's wired at present) whenever the batteries are linked, I can't use gas. That was just to prevent me accidentally driving off into a petrol station with the fridge still running on gas... 

 

Think I'll just go off the charge light TBH, as I'm unlikely to be idling for long enough to discharge 400Ah of batteries! Plus the AC inverter monitors the voltage of both the starter and leisure batteries so should cut out before they go flat.

[spartacus]

Cobblers, try sort of 'flicking' the key really quickly in the lock, that usually did it. You don't want to have to take the door trim off, I did it the years ago when I first got it, nightmare!

Good to see it being used.

[Jim Bell]

10pts for Winnats Pass alone.

Looks like a belta of a holiday home to me.

[cobblers]

Went away this weekend on my tod with the bike cos the weather was gonna be shite and the mrs wasn't all that struck on the idea.

To start with, I found driving this van a bit tiring. It's tall, wobbly and by far and away the slowest thing I've ever driven, but I think that does me good in a way, now that I'm used to it, I find it quite relaxing. Everything happens in slow motion in a fairly pleasant way. I don't think I've ever been over 60mph in it, but I don't think I'd want to, you don't need to!

It's not bad on fuel all things considered, but the exhaust manifold is blowing it's balls off, so that's on the list. Apparently the engine mount goes, the engine flops about and it snaps the studs. There's hardly any access to drill them in situ, If I had a "trusted garage" I'd farm the job out TBH because I've not got time, but I honestly don't know where I could take it. The engine mount has been done by the PO spartacus so there's just the exhaust to sort. No big deal though, it goes* and stops* so it does what it needs to do.

*for sufficiently small values of "goes" and "stops"

 

It got me here: 

 

I rode up and down a load of hills, walked up and down a load of hills, etc:

The van is in this picture, find it and win

 

I tried out the shower in the van just out of curiosity. It's lovely and warm and more powerful than the one at home, but unless you've ever tried to have a shower in a filing cabinet on a slope, and the filing cabinet also had a toilet in it, I don't think anything I say could really explain it properly.

 

The original plan was only going to stay Saturday night, but I was enjoying myself that much that I stayed sunday night too. I made this decision at about 8pm sunday night while sat in the pub just finishing my dinner - I was half knackered because I'd walked 25 miles so I didn't fancy the drive, but was mainly eyeing up a couple or three of pints

I got up early monday and drove straight to work - I made better time than expected so once I'd parked up outside work I washed my hair with the shower, cooked the rest of my bacon and had a few cups of coffee while watching Phoenix Nights in my underpants, all while parked at the side of a busy B road. It's brilliant.

[The Moog]

Living the dream ....

 

Shuffles off to look at campers.

[spartacus]

Pleased you're enjoying it Dave! I as shied away from the exhaust manifold stud job for the very reasons you describe!

It's a little like driving a canal boat, you have to let the speed and stopping limitations rule your time in it.

[cobblers]

This makes me happy:

 

 

It's a totally dry t25 cylinder head after driving about 60 miles today in the heat up and down massive hills etc. So it looks as though the leak wasn't the head gasket after all, but the coolant elbow just above allowing coolant to seep round and down.

Bonus! I spent £100 on a gasket set though. I was gonna send it back, but I'll hang onto that for when I rebuild the other engine or something.

[nacho man]

Edale is a fave spot of mine, I often go coopers Campsite I think which is a fair bit up the road from the train station.

[cobblers]

Aye, Coopers is where I got the chips from. I didn't know any of that existed until the other week - I thought Edale ended about 500 yards up the hill from the Rambler Inn. I've been going for about 5 years, too. I'd heard people mention that there was another pub up that road but I thought it was a myth.

I always go to Waterside Farm? site. It's not at the side of water though, but it's nice enough.

[cobblers]

Spent a couple of hours working on the T25 earlier, changed the wishbones and whatnot because the top bushes were squeaking - they are rubber bushes with a nylon insert that rotates - the nylon wears and they squeak. They're mounted just below your arse so you can really hear it, it's so annoying. Grease helps, but it's only temporary.

 

Anyway:

New brake disks, Nice! Calipers look recent too, but the pads are fairly shot. I'll keep an eye out for a decent quality set.

 

Wishbones come out easy enough-  mark the top bolt so you can get it lined up at the same place as rotating it adjusts the camber. I scratched it a bit:

 

Big long bolt has flats which locate in these washers which moves the whole assembly in and out:

 

I had new upper ball joints, but these were absolutely fine so I left them on. The last pair of "modern" replacements only lasted about 6 months so I'm wary of the quality of the new parts.

 

 

While it was on the jack I replaced the fuel tank strap. I've got no idea what's happened to this, the tank is dented too. Perhaps road debris?

 

 

Now it drives without squeaking. Excellent. 

 

[J4mes]

Great thread! Just read it all the way through, your dedication to the WBX is above and beyond.

Love the look of the new camper as well, jealous of being able to get away from it all on your own.

 

Keep up the great work!

[dollywobbler]

Great stuff. I am so pleased that the squeak has been banished. I still have nightmares about it.

[Hertz]

Nice thread Cobblers enjoyed reading it. Keep on going with them both.

[mat_the_cat]

Looks identical but on a smaller scale to the LT - are these welded in to the wishbone too? I had to change mine a few years ago due to the same squeak, but couldn't find new wishbones available.

[cobblers]

Yeah, they're tacked on but were a bloody tight fit. Seems strange that you can't buy wishbones with the bushes already fitted

[cobblers]

Properly sorted the split charging out on the Talbot today, ready for when I get round to fitting the mains inverter so that the mrs can use her hairdryer and I can fetch my coffee machine. 

 

It came with this lot:

Which charged at about 3A until I touched it, then it charged at nothing. So I replaced it with this, because I had the stuff kicking about.

This was less likely to go on fire, and charged at about 15A. That was OK really because with LED lights and stuff, we could probably camp for about a week even with all the phones charging, the wifi router on 24/7 etc etc. But it would take 4 or 5 hours of driving to charge the batteries back up, double that if we were running the fridge when driving.

 

Had a spare day today, so I finally got round to sorting it out. Basically, the length of the wires and voltage drop was causing the slow charging, so I wanted to redo it, pull a 40mm2 feed direct off the back of the alternator, and also incorporate a current sensor so I could keep an eye on things. Not because I really need to, but I like to know what's going on for some reason.

 

Ordered a few bits off ebay and made this box:

Which controls the split charging, has all the fuses in and also the current sensor along with a little voltmeter for each battery:

The display for the system is wireless and just needs a 12v feed, I'll fit it in the dash somewhere:

Check it out! Charging like an absolute bastard at 55A. I think it's a 70A alternator so that's good going really.

 

As for the T25, I've been running all over the place in it, but I'm having mega trouble selling my Abarth for anything like reasonable money so I'm going to have to start to think about perhaps maybe putting the T25 up for sale instead. I really don't want to let it go because I'll never find another that's anywhere near as good as it - A mate asked for dibs but in the meantime he's bought a Nissan Navara for some reason instead.

I'll hold onto it for as long as possible, we could do with the cash to go towards a house deposit but I reckon we should be able to manage without, hopefully I can put enough into savings before something we like comes on the market.

 

Ideally we need to be moved into the new place (with a drive) by April next year. That'll give me a month to weld a new bottom half into the Talbot before the MOT runs out.

[mat_the_cat]

I like the display - is the current sensor for it wired via a shunt resistor? Do you have any links for bits please?

[cobblers]

Yeah, it's a shunt resistor. I was hoping to get one with an inductive pickup to save me running any extra length on the wires, but I couldn't find owt worth getting.

 

This is what I ended up with:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-120V-200A-Wireless-Volt-Ammeter-Power-Meter-battery-Charge-discharge-capacity/172278832443?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

You can get them with different current limits, I went with 200 but in hindsight I should have gone for more as my inverter could double that.

It's got all kinds of functions, probably too many really. 

I'm using a durite 100a relay with a crappy ebay "smart sense" thing switching it, but when the bits turn up I'm going to use an arduino type thing to control it so I can program it properly and add a load of delay in to the switching and stuff.

 

I want it to cut in at 13.4, cut out at 12.8 and have a good 60 second delay before doing anything at all unless the main battery drops below 12.4

[Pillock]

The T25 is the one dollywobbler drove isn't it? Is it still in minibus spec rather than camper?

 

That charging info display looks the bollocks, I love being overloaded with stats like that.

[cobblers]

Aye, it's the one Ian drove only it's not got a knackered engine or squeaky suspension now!

I've took the middle row of seats out so I could collect a massive BBQ but other than that it's still just seats. I've been roped into going camping with our lasses mates and she said they can sleep in the talbot so I'm going to find out how well you can sleep on some sofa cushions on the floor of it while looking out of the window at people sleeping in comfort.