Jarrahdene - day 3 - pushing the limit!!

You can't get enough of a good thing, so we decided to stay at Jarrahdene for a 3rd day and night. This will test how the van copes with free camping.
In the early morning, we took another walk through the forrest, and through the old timber mill site. It was quite a cold morning, but as soon as we walked innto the denser parts of the forrest, the temp rose about 5 or 6 degrees. Very noticeable and unexpected.
After brekky, spent some more time doing some client work.
Then we took a drive, and spent some time in and around Redgate beach. Another lovely area on the coast.
Back to the camp in time for sundowners in the forrest.
Then, around dusk time, we heard our electrical control board start beeping at us. The caravan battery had run too low, even though our lights were still on.
So, this was the first problem that we had encountered with our free camping test/experience. After 2 and a half days, the battery ran out. But to be fair, we did not have the best conditions for keeping it charged. In that forrest area, there was very little sunlight hitting the solar panel. In other circumstances, I think the battery would have lasted a lot longer.
Anyway, decided to switch all 12v systems off, but the problem with that is, even though the fridge was running on gas, we needed the 12v to run the regulator to control gas flow to the fridge. Without the 12v, the fridge shuts down.
We connected the car for a while to pump some power into the battery, and this helped for a few hours, But in the middle of the night, the alarm went off again. Hitched the car agaiin, with lights blazing (what was going on in the forrest?), and once again, that helped for a while. But we were on the slope of diminishing returns, so we ended up just switching the 12v system off, and hoping the fridge would be ok without gas, for a few hours. And it was.
So, a bit of a conclusion on free camping. Watch the battery closely, but we should get 3 days out of it, in normal conditions. Cloudy or shady conditions, may mean only 2 days free camping. Maybe look at a second battery on board, or another movable solar panel, or both.
Water supplies seem good. Our water tanks seem to hold enough water for 3 days, which includes showering every day.
And gas seems to last for ages. So all good.
3 day limit is something we will probably stick to, unless it is unusual conditions, when we will re-assess.Read more