Its a reasonable Saturday, and time to move on from the Morrisons end of Banbury to Hennef Way. There is no track for this one as it was such a short run.. and the phone was dead!
First stop, the water point in Banbury, where we can top off the water tank, get rid of the rubbish, and do the usual run to Greggs for breakfast!
Once that’s done, past the construction sites either side of the canal in the centre of Banbury.. Premier Inn is finished and open.. so that’s going on the list. Pull up outside, book a room for one night, showers for all with no worries about hot water or drying towels and breakfast the morning after, then back on and pull away again!
And onto Hennef way where were going to stay for a few days (possibly a week) – depends on the fuel situation. I have tried to contact Dusty, unsuccessfully I may add.. and the diesel levels are getting low, I’m keeping a daily check on it, so we have fuel – but we may need to head to Cropredy before we want to, just to get diesel.
27/9 – It’s also time to sort out a few things in the engine room.
Job #1.. The alternator belts have stretched a little, to the point where they are squealing when the engine is started, not helped by the slight leak under the thermostat housing I admit – but I’m still searching for gaskets for that before I strip it down, as according to the books, this model engine should not have a twin thermostat housing on it.. so the gaskets are not listed and those that are may not fit.. still dealing with that one!
But, the alternator belts are tightened and all quiet again, and I have finally ordered some replacements, just in case we need to swap them again!
Job #2.. The battery monitor and the solar panels.. I think it took 3 or 4 hours for the battery monitor to fail after it was installed. And recently, the solar charge controller has been objecting to the layout of the cables.. whilst it has been reading 13.6 volts.. the battery volt gauge has been showing 12.4.. 1.2v difference, where before, they were fairly close.
So its out with the monitor.. out with the busbar that was put in to have all the negatives on the correct side of the monitor, and back with the cables direct to the batteries, and, after checking, the solar controller seems to be aligned with the battery gauge again.. so either the monitor or the busbar were causing the issue. What it does mean though, thankfully, I may not need to get a new solar controller – we will see after a full day of sun that should be with us tomorrow.
And that’s it for now..