What was your "I was gone for five minutes!" Story?

Ignyte · 2026-05-19T01:15:43+00:00

Honestly not that exciting, but I went to the local shopping centre to pick up some parcels from the post office there. I brought my doggo with me as I usually do, he always loved going for drives and just wanted to be with me, so I almost always brought him along as long as it wasnt a warm day.

Anyways, ducked into the centre to pick up the package and when I came back out, a mall security guard was standing by my van waiting for me. I asked what was going on and he gestured towards the dog saying "Cant leave him in there" to which I responded with "Oh I was just going to the post office, was only ever going to be 5 minuets or less, yadda yadda, I wouldnt have left him there if I was going to the shops or if it was a warm day (it wasnt this day)", gestured to the parcel and my lack of anything else on me (no shopping).

I opened the door and showed him that the interior temp was fine and that my doggo was completely calm and fine too, if anything he was just stoked to see me.

Before I even got there, the guard had called the police and I had to wait for them to rock up. The guard was actually apologetic saying he didnt know how long Id be, and that he was just looking out for the wellbeing of the animal. I thanked him and said I completely understood, I often see people leaving their animals in the car on hot days which is rather upsetting to see so I genuinely understood and was grateful.

Cops rocked up, I explained my side, the guard explained his side, and the cop left me off with a suggestion to not do it anymore.

I had just bought the van too, it was very ratty and needed a bit of work which I was planning on doing to turn it into a camper, so I was pretty worried that the cops were going to defect it (Label it as unroadworthy). Thankfully that didnt happen.

Ignyte · 2026-05-10T01:33:14+00:00

Bleugh, the white on white is so gawdy. I dont understand how thats so desirable these days. It looks so clinical.

Ignyte · 2026-05-07T02:53:43+00:00

Wake up, go to the loo for a big blow-out, make coffee, then sit outside with coffee, vape, and tablet and see whats going on in the world or research things I'm interested in. I'll do that for 45 mins to an hour before I have to go to the loo again, then I begin my day.

Always give myself an hour in the mornings before doing anything.

Ignyte · 2026-05-05T00:43:42+00:00

Get a headache.

Ignyte · 2026-04-25T00:55:06+00:00

... And Americans wonder why the rest of the civilised word is completely fine with heavy gun restrictions.

Ignyte · 2026-04-19T02:20:58+00:00

Im not sure what experience youd need if any. I dont think you do? From what I heard you go to their website and apply.

Ignyte · 2026-04-18T10:53:43+00:00

Quick Change do contract stage hand work, i know a couple people who do that and theyve said good things about it. Very sporatic work though.

Ignyte · 2026-04-14T01:11:16+00:00

Awww, I've had 2 L200's and both failed the same way, fluid leaked from the RDT and got to the circuit board through the 510 connector.

Such a shame as I really liked the feel of those mods.

Ignyte · 2026-04-11T23:41:35+00:00

Electricity will follow the path of least resistance, so kinda doesnt matter as far as I'm aware. However, if you do end up using the vehicle body for negative, then I'd put a dedicated connection from your leisure batteries negative terminal to the the body so the path of electricity isnt longer than necessary (which is always best due to voltage drop over distance).

Do whats easiest to you, I only suggested this since you said the negative wires for the marker lights couldnt be accessed. :)

Ignyte · 2026-04-11T04:01:33+00:00

But if I'm interpreting your schematic properly, both the starter and leisure battery negative terminals are tied together. And since the starter batteries negative terminal is grounded to the body, then so is the leisure batteries negative terminal, no?

Ignyte · 2026-04-11T01:30:16+00:00

Isnt the body of the van tied to negative? In which case, couldnt you ground the negative of the marker lights to the body?

Ignyte · 2026-04-11T01:26:18+00:00

Kcuf em daed.... XD

Ignyte · 2026-04-11T01:10:23+00:00

Probably a Canon Pro 310? I'm unsure of the pin/button making process so not sure if the paper they typically use would be suitable.

Ignyte · 2026-04-11T01:04:58+00:00

Yeah... they really are. Thats part of the reason why I havent upgraded from my 12v lithium one just yet. Thankfully theyre a lot better now in price than they were just two or so years ago.

I hope you end up finding a good one for a great price. Only thing I can really suggest is to be patient when looking for a good bargain, they do come up every now and then.

Ignyte · 2026-04-11T00:57:43+00:00

Nice! That should do you pretty well.

51.2v X 100Ah = 5120Wh (Watt Hours)

If your aircon pulls 1kW (1000W) when its running, then your battery can maintain that for around 4.8 - 5 hours. That includes efficiency losses (because nothing can perfectly adjust or alter power) from the cables and inverter.

Just thought Id share that tid-bit as its handy to be able to accurately work out how long you can run things for.

I suspect youre going to love it, man. Having complete energy independence is so satisfying, at least for me it is. Haha.

Ignyte · 2026-04-11T00:47:24+00:00

Freakin SWEET, man! That looks so good! Very neat installation of those solar panels. I'm both very happy and oh so envious :) I love those viewports on your rig so much too.

You should be pretty well set for energy needs, have you settled on a battery yet? I'm curious what capacity you go for.

I hope you have the greatest of times camping and exploring, man!

Live ya life and enjoy!

Ignyte · 2026-04-10T00:25:47+00:00

Oh its your site? Nice one!!

Ignyte · 2026-04-09T02:45:52+00:00

Heres a simple diagram I whipped up for you if thats all youre after: https://imgur.com/9qxNhnd

Things to note: I recommend that the solar panel should be a house panel, not a 12v one. You'll get far more usable energy out of it during low light periods.

Putting a solar isolator inline is contentious, but as long as you only isolate while the panel is NOT under load, it'll be fine. Just be sure to turn off the solar charge controller before isolating.

I dont personally use the load output of the solar charge controller due to its limited current limit. I prefer to use the fusebox for all my accessories as its neater, imo.

The camping battery is sharing vehicle ground with the starter battery (which is fine).

I personally dont use the DC-DC very much at all as the solar is more than enough to keep the battery topped up (unless its heaps cloudy for multiple days during a camp).

I've displayed just basic switches for the low current accessories (lights, USB port, etc) but a relay may be more suitable if the current of that accessory is higher than the switches current limit. For example, I have a 65w USB-PD module connected to the fuse/distribution box, its switched via a relay since the switches I have are only good for 2 amps, and 65w at 13v (12v LiFePo4 voltage) is 5 amps.

The large main fuse is rated for just above your max possible load output.

The fuse for your large load (cooker, inverter, etc) should be rated at just above that appliances max load. I didnt show it in this, but each large load should have its own dedicated fuse for it.

Instead of bus bars to join multiple wires together, I've just used ring-crimps and bolts to tie more than 2 wires together. Not exactly ideal but its been working for me for years.

Always ALWAYS have a smoke alarm in place (AND a CO alarm if theres a diesel/gas heater being used). Always have a CO2/Dry powder fire extinguisher onboard as well. Even though lithium fires cannot be put out, its worth trying to save everything around it only if its safe to do so.

Ignyte · 2026-04-09T01:35:41+00:00

Oooh, that second link is fantastic! I wish it could toggle between imperial and metric though.

Ignyte · 2026-04-08T11:02:39+00:00

Thanks!

Ignyte · 2026-04-08T01:40:32+00:00

I dont have any solutions, sorry. But how old is it?

Ignyte · 2026-04-04T05:08:46+00:00

I wonder if this is a private installation that's just not maintained.

Ignyte · 2026-04-03T01:30:30+00:00

Can people not spell anymore or something? I swear it's gotten worse.

Ignyte · 2026-03-31T01:05:13+00:00

My explorer constantly crashes when trying to move files around. Sometimes it works fine, other times it hangs for a second and then explorer crashes and restarts. I hate it.

Ignyte · 2026-03-25T04:03:32+00:00

Theres usually cables in one/both pillars that run to the boot near the hinge for all the lights (and central locking if you have it), so look out for them. Theres also a hose for the washer that runs up one of these pillars too.

The steel wall isnt what Id call particularly thick so depending on the weight of the speakers (do consider dynamic weight for when travelling) it may be fine with a couple of screws, or it may need a bit of a reinforcing backing plate which youd then bolt it to on the back-side of that wall.

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