Wednesday 27 February 2008

I have picked up the Van

Yes, I have picked it up and driven it back to Sydney from Brisbane, taking about one and a half days, with one overnight at Tenterfield. A great way to get used to driving this Turbo Diesel, also to find out its strong or weak points.

I am very impressed with its performance and handling at higher speeds. Fuel consumption when pushing the vehicle is around 13 liters/100km. Aircon is working fine and you don't have to feel uncomfortable, even on a hot and humid day.

The biggest challenge ought to be the available storage space, given the available compartment under the seating and what is needed as a "must have". The installed lighting for the interior was not adequate or rather, non-existant. I have since installed a series of 240 LEDs that are low in power consumption while providing good lighting in the living space.



LEDs are very bright when you look straight at them. I have mounted them inside 20mm Aluminium chanels to provide indirect lighting instead, mounting the chanels around the pop-top frame, pointing straight down. As it turned out, a good solution, providing excellent ambient lighting in the living area, the LEDs not visible. Had a bit of a problem, getting the double-sided to stick to the fibreglass frame, but after wiping the surfaces with solvent to remove any surface contamination, the tape adheres very strongly. Each set-of-60-LEDs draw just under 400mA, all 4 sets drawing less than 1.6A from the 12V supply.