Control units and mental breakdowns

It’s been a looooong time since my last blog post – I think after the stress of getting Mr O’ Leary ready for our summer holidays I’d pretty much seen enough of the crawling about trying to get screws in confined spaces (oh hang on, that sounds wrong doesn’t it?!). After weeks of snow and ice and a period when I couldn’t even open the doors due to ice, I finally got some more work done this weekend in preparation for a weekend away in the Lake District next week. This is more a matter of necessity than anything – getting the Propex heater wired in again so I don’t freeze at night – but none the less, it’s got me back in to getting on with van building.

So what else after door cards (I really must get on with making the rest of those)….

We got away for our Cornwall holiday just a day late – scuppered by a leaking water tank which needed replacing. By that point we were just about kitted out enough to spend a week in him. By the time we were ready to leave I’d worked 12 hour days for what seemed like weeks and I was in a bit of a state!

I was pushed over the edge by the (bloody) Sargent control unit, the documentation for this product was pretty much useless and full of contradictions. I had to contact the company a number of times to try and get some wiring diagrams from them. After finally figuring out what was what I was ready to wire up the connection plugs. I found it a bit strange that the wire connectors wouldn’t go in easily – I had to push them in with a screwdriver – tired, stressed, and confused I managed to make 3 decent sized holes in my fingers trying to do this – there was blood everywhere! Still, after a few hours it was done and I was ready to plug it in to the main unit – great.

Something of a low moment - 3 fingers with screwdriver sized holes in them - ouch

Not great – I couldn’t get them to go in. At that point Caryl came home from work and I asked her for her opinion on the matter. Her opinion was, I’d mixed the plugs up and put the males in the females and the females in the males. So that’s why they took some getting in! As I’d carefully soldered the wires in place I realised I was in the shit! No more spare fittings and a holiday to go in two days later. This was the point I had my (first) breakdown!

As I stood making noises with my head in my hand, Caryl assured me it’d be OK – she de-soldered all the pins, cleaned them up and then soldered them up again correctly – after she’d completed this task I came out with  ‘You are the best girlfriend ever times 7!” – She hasn’t let me forget this!

The day before we were due to go away the plugs slid into position and after connecting every thing up to the batteries it came the time to see if it all worked. For some odd reason Caryl doubted my abilities and armed herself with a fire extinguisher and (oddly) a wooden spoon. I flicked the switch – it all worked – we hugged! As the pump was now powered up, it meant we could also try out the water system – apart from a small leak at the pump, fixed by a bit tightening up, that worked too! You see – I’m not hopeless!

Turning on the electrics for the first time - Caryl seems to doubt my abilities!

The Sargent control unit - the cause of much of my pain!

So with the vitals working I could use the last few hours to tidy things up – do a bit of carpeting around the seats. Stage one was done! Still loads of stuff to do, and re-do, but we were getting to look OK.

The Cornwall holiday went fine – near on 1,000 miles with no problems – OK, there was another electrical problem on the first night when the whole leisure system stopped working when we arrived at the first campsite. This lead to my second breakdown. After completely removing the control unit – dropping one of the fuses into the sealed box which we then couldn’t get out – and not finding anything wrong I once again opted for the head in hands disaster pose. After all that and as a final idea before I took a can of petrol to the van, I tried taking the fuse out of the split charge relay and it all started working again! Relieved, we went to the pub. After a week away my fingers had almost healed!

Finally away - first night away on the way to Cornwall at Small Batch Campsite in Little Streeton

I’ll get some photos of how things are looking at the moment, including the lovely seat covers that Caryl made and the rear platform over the engine bay for the bed.