Quick run to the snow

Today I went to the snow to give the car a bit of a test and see how the dual battery isolator works. With the aid of my new dual battery monitor (pictured below), I was able to see how it all works. I did a crude ‘wrap it round the terminals’ job as it’s certainly not going to be wired up in this position. Bodgy yes, funny… yes.

Redarc make a ‘smart start’ isolator which works like this:

-When you start the car, it only starts off the main battery unless you ‘override’ and link the batteries.
-The alternator only charges the starting battery until it’s full, and only then will it switch over and charge the auxiliary battery.

My setup is not as smart, but through it’s simplicity may just do the job. Some pros and cons:

-As soon as the ignition is on, the batteries are linked and effectively charging and discharging together.
-When you turn the key off, the auxiliary battery disconnects preventing auxiliary loads like a fridge, inverters, chargers and interior lighting from draining the starting battery.

I can see this being a problem if the following is true. Say you discharge the auxiliary battery to 25%. Assuming that the starting battery is 100%, when you turn the ignition on, the batteries are linked and would result in the auxiliary battery ‘equalising’ with the starting battery. I suspect this would mean with the rush of charge going to the low battery, not much current would be left to start the engine (requiring say 50-70% of the starting batteries cranking capacity)
One advantage of this, is that say you leave the lights on and your cranking battery is at 25%, without doing anything, you’ll be able to successfully start the car. You may however need to leave it a little while to equalise, but I’m not sure. It’s got that degree of idiot-proof which may save us one day.

Also got a chance to test the winch. When I played with it the other day, unaware, I was using the high speed, rope retrieval mode. I thought it was the winching mode however I quickly learnt when it wouldn’t move my car on this more demanding occasion.

In the spirit of messing around, I challenged the truck by driving around this stump. The first time took some effort to get through. So, I did what I always seem to end up doing, is trying something until something stops working.  Here are some pictures of the position. I propose I could have just driven out with some more right pedal, but I didn’t want to risk scratching the car in the bushes.

So after setting up Nick’s car back up the hill, we proceeded to winch… and winch… and winch.
Oh my it’s slow. strong, but slow. I’m becoming more convinced for the need of an in-cab winch switch. I managed to pull Nick half way down the hill towards me. I’d say it’s half the speed of an electric winch, but because it’s silent, you have no idea if it’s working at all. I’ve highlighted another reason for disliking the bullbar. There is no where near enough room for the cable on the drum. It needs to be on perfectly straight or it doesn’t fit. It means you run the risk of having to stop the recovery, run the cable back out, then put half it back on by hand and try to resume the recovery. That or you may end up unknowingly bind it up meaning not only is the winch jammed, but you can no longer use it to get you out!

Prior to all this fun, here are some pics of the snow:

I find the incessant need to take pictures with the car in it… no idea why, but here is another:

Would welcome some feedback as to the size of the pictures. I suspect most readers don’t realise they can click on the small thumbnails, so I usually stick with these larger sizes to get the story across to all.