Phone signal:
Internet and phone signal is non-existent where we are – however in our case our trusty neighbors happen to have an Arial that allows us when close enough to pick up the odd text message and if we really needed to we would ask to go in their van to make a phone call. This is something you always need to keep in mind as if you need internet or phone for your business, keep in touch with children, parents etc then you would need something like Cell fi go set up to allow this in these more remote places of WA. www.cel-fi.com.au
Power setup:
As far as power goes we have a honda 1kva generator that recharges the battery in the Travelander. Remember that you need a 10amp to 15amp cord for this as well as a 15amp to 15amp cord for the caravan parks. Our new Primus foldable 200w solar panel recharges the batteries during the day as long as the sun is shining. In terms of the what the majority of power is used for the fridges ( in our case we have a 40lt engel on freeze and a 90 lt Evakool with fridge and freezer – built in to camper), draw the most power. Therefore it is important to have a thermometer to ensure that the fridges are kept at around 4 degrees otherwise they draw too much power from the battery. Once the Engel is full and the contents are frozen you can turn it down to approx. 3 as this will keep it all frozen as required and draw minimum amps. In our case on the second morning we found the battery in the camper nearly flat ( it is a 120amphour battery), as the fridges were drawing nearly 8amps per hour and we were only returning 9.4amps to the system through solar during the day. So to remedy this problem we adjusted the fridge and engel temperatures, charged up the battery using the generator and solar which fixed the issue. Now the solar panel recharges the battery during the day and the draw on the battery at night is minimal.
