Why more than one phase of electrical?\u00c2\u00a0 Because I want to focus first on the basic things every vehicle requires to run and for basic safety and roadworthyness certification.\u00c2\u00a0 Headlights, horn, signal lights etc.\u00c2\u00a0 The basic stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 There are other systems required to support expeditioning, but that can come later – in Phase II.<\/p>\n
I drafted up a list of the items to do in Phase I and II and got a couple of quotes on Phase I.\u00c2\u00a0 The low bidder, by a wide margin, was Eric from Opere’s shop under the tree so I asked him to do the work while we were in Egypt.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The work is now done, and it is amazing how much you appreciate little things. \u00c2\u00a0There was not very much right about the basic electrical when I first bought this vehicle.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Most seriously the the alternator did not work, a problem that was corrected when a new-to-me alternator was installed with the motor. \u00c2\u00a0 The front windshield wipers wiped, the rear did not. \u00c2\u00a0Only a couple of the signal lights worked, the brake lights did not, nor did the headlights, or the horn.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Up till now whenever I have pulled up to the high, solid, windowless gate outside our house I have had to rev the engine so the guard knows I am there to let me in rather than honk as one normally does. Fortunately the engine makes lots of noise. \u00c2\u00a0 The horn now works, as do all the lights.\u00c2\u00a0 He also did the rear windshield wiper motor and the windscreen washer fluid pump.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 He charged me GHC 300, or about CAD 200<\/p>\n
Eric’s\u00c2\u00a0 price includes a number of things that cannot be done until the painting is complete.\u00c2\u00a0 This includes installation of\u00c2\u00a0 all the new exterior light fixtures that I bought on Opere’s recommendation that the 15 year old ones that don’t look too bad now will look terribly old against a new paint job.\u00c2\u00a0 Eric has also bought me a large interior cabin light for the rear cargo area and will instal this and the front cabin light that has been stripped out (along with pretty much everything else) in anticipation of the interior painting.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My only real regret with respect to the electrical is that I have not yet had time to sit down with Eric and go throught the electrical system so I can learn about the circuits, fuses etc.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 There are also still a number of old wires hanging about from the earlier A\/V system that EPA used to support its public education programs in the field and that I decided would be of any particular use to us.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I was going to do this when we came back from Egypt but about that time poor Eric was passing between two parked cars when one of them backed up and pinned him, causing some ill defined damage to his internal organs and putting him out of action for awhile.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 He seems OK, but I don’t want to bother him while he is convalescing.\u00c2\u00a0 It can wait.<\/p>\n
That is Phase I.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Phase II is the electrical required for expedition outfitting and it will be more complicated.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A dual battery system to support a fridge, lights and circuits to support other interior and exterior accessories, together with a solar power back-up system will be the main elements of the Phase II work. \u00c2\u00a0 The big question is whether Eric, or anyone here, will be able to handle this.\u00c2\u00a0 Half the Land Rovers in South Africa have a dual battery system, here no one seems to know about it.\u00c2\u00a0 I may have to teach myself about the fine points of dual battery systems and solar power back-up to get this done.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I have already purchased\u00c2\u00a0 the isolator kit for the\u00c2\u00a0 dual battery system, actually we have purchased two.\u00c2\u00a0 One\u00c2\u00a0 Laura bought at Canadian Tire when she wen to Canada in August, and another I bought from OffRoad Egypt when we were there in October.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Neither were terribly costly and I don’t mind having a couple of choices to increase our chances of getting this operational.\u00c2\u00a0 I will do a separate post on Phase II of the electrical after the painting is done and I can focus more on that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Why more than one phase of electrical?\u00c2\u00a0 Because I want to focus first on the basic things every vehicle requires to run and for basic safety and roadworthyness certification.\u00c2\u00a0 Headlights, horn, signal lights etc.\u00c2\u00a0 The basic stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 There are other systems required to support expeditioning, but that can come later – in Phase II. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[16,25,13,24,20,14,15,22,21,23],"class_list":["post-168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-planning","category-restoration-and-outfitting-technical-and-cultural-exploration-and-discovery","tag-4x4","tag-africa","tag-defender","tag-expedition","tag-ghana","tag-land-rover","tag-overland","tag-overlanding","tag-west-africa","tag-wheatcroft","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}