TSD

Coincidentally, I was given an ML7 last week Or more accurately, I was given four boxes of bits which should turn back into an ML7 at some future point...

As a low cost solution, I have tweaked a few of the in-car navigator units to run OziExplorer. Ozi is similar to Memory Map, but without the benefit of simply buying maps - it works with scanned paper maps, or converted digital maps. The upside is that you get the same functionality as the PDA route, but in one box with the GPS, and at a lower cost (recently 'did' a £60 Becker unit from Tesco). The downside is you don't get the nice 'one gloved hand' interface that most handheld GPS offer. Most (but not all) PDAs have a low screen resolution (320x240 is typical) so you don't get to see much of the map at one time. Best used as an aid to a paper map, and/or as an indicator of distance/bearing to next waypoint. Higher resolution units are available, but theres a limit to how much useful info you can visibly show on a 4" screen. It's not as difficult to set up as it sounds, if you find a unit where someone else has already trodden the path for you. Have a poke around the forums at gpspassion.com if you are interested. Could take some example pics for you if you want. Dave

Indicating fuses are 50p + vat at RS. Link You'd need to be upgrading a whole fleet of RR 38a before that even sounded like it was worth the effort Edit : forgot to say, having used both, the RS ones are much higher quality than the VWP ones as well as cheaper - not that it matters much in something thats designed to melt! @Turbocharger - the 'glow' blade fuses just directly replace the ordinary ones.

If you're doing any form of competition, or just like an easy life, it's worth considering the "Automatic indicating glow fuses" also from VWP (or RS). When they blow, they light up, which obviously can save you a load of time pulling each fuse and checking it looking for a problem. Also especially useful for things where you might not realise the fuse has blown until too late - such as the 'leccy fans - but obviously not so good if you put the black cover back over the top! Saved my engine once, when the fans stalled hitting water at speed and blew the fuse - paid for the themselves in one hit. (The warning lamp has a limited life, so dont expect it to remind you that you blew that fuse two weeks ago, but they are good for a couple of hours.)

Two Citroen BX fans with their square frames fit nicely but they really want to be in front of the rad.

Bosch 'blue book' says a mean pore size of 4-5 um for distributor type injection pumps, and 8-10um for other types. (My copy is dated 1996, so preceeds modern high pressure and electronic diesel injection systems.)

When I had a contaminated clutch (car not landy) I could still get a smooth pull away by using a bit more revs and slipping the clutch more... When I had similar symptoms on the Ibex, more revs made it more violent... it turned out the centre of the driven plate was breaking up. (130 HD clutch) Don't you need quite a big leak to contamine the clutch? It's got to get right round the flywheel from one side to the other, then up through the cover plate. Then again, it could get thrown off the back of the flywheel onto the top of the bellhousing and drip down. Dunno, just thinking out loud...

Choice of two in Furneaux catalogue : pricey or scary... http://www.furneauxriddall.com/shop/acatal...rch_Lights.html

Not one to get hung up on matters sartorial, but is that "white colour" or "white collar" (thought it was blue with grey collar. I wouldn't mind, but fat, balding and wearing a white rugby jersey runs the risk of being mistaken for an England supporter... or one of the team

PRC4427 keeps it all in the family and can be removed from a scrap Rangie if you're lucky. It is adjustable if you pop the top off. Edited to add: You'll need to use it to switch a relay though.

The current handling of Anderson connectors is directly related to the cable size due to contact heating. Fatter cables are better at removing heat from the contacts. The 175A connectors are rated to over 500A for 15 seconds when fitted with 0 gauge cable (50mm2). Use the fattest cable you can (on battery side and jump lead side) and the 175A connectors will be fine for most peoples use of jump leads. Get the ends crimped on properly too, no smashing them on with a hammer and punch

If you're thinking of PDA sized device... the HP Ipaq 314 is a normal road navigator, with a 800 x 480 resolution screen. The CE version of OziExplorer runs really nicely, the GPS is as good as the SiRF *3 (about as good as it gets in consumer sets), and it can read SD cards up to at least 4Gb (probably 16Gb) so you can install *loads* of maps. Cost was about £160 new.

If anyone gets a copy of this from Will, drop me a PM and let me know if you find it useful / carp / needing xxx features etc. And I'd like to applaud Will for paying the entire development costs - 1 bottle of gin

Mostly it's just idiot proofing... - you cant drive off with the charger connected - if your battery is flat because you left the lights on, and you don't disconnect before charging, at best you'll charge more slowly with the additional load across the battery. Or it may not charge at all. Some loads aren't constant, and may some confuse the 'intelligent' multi stage battery chargers. e.g. those 12V coolers that shut off when your battery voltage drops below a certain level. You can get in a situation where as the battery voltage rises, the charger changes mode back and forth as the cooler repeatedly tries to start up and changes the load seen by the charger. The battery might still charge, but it's not good for it's long life. Potentially it might charge slowly, or it might get overcharged. Even a small constant load might be enough to stop the intelligent charger dropping back to 'trickle' charge at the end of the cycle. That said, I don't usually disconnect for charging either, though I have seen my "AccuMate Pro" get confused occasionally and cycle back and forth between modes.

It's worth reading the common sense bits though, for the occasional pearls of wisdom... Defender WSM says "Avoid contaminating clothes, particularly underpants, with oil" Just can't help thinking there must be a Lode Lane 'story' behind that particular caveat...

Who, me? Nah, I dont get to dissaprove of that... I put one in a standard 52mm (?) guage housing about 6 years ago, before I'd even installed my first megasquirt. I'm not bling enough to use vero though, real engineers cut the tracks directly into plain board with a scalpel It might still be around here someplace... will have a look.

Oh, well if you're doing TSD size, I'd better have a couple

I have a panasonix DMC-TZ3 bought for the work workshop (electronics) but most often found in the landy workshop. It was £200 about 6 months ago. Can't remember the resolution, but the 10x optical zoom is excellent, close focus is very good if you don't zoom too much, and the image stabiliser is excellent for making non-fuzzy detail shots. Less barrel distortion than others I've tried when shooting technical detail. Don't bother trying to shoot fast action shots with it though! A brief search shows £170 in Dixons so a bit over budget :-(

Anixter Components, under cable management > liquid tight fittings. (oh, and they are good with free samples as well)

Not quite true, as efficiency depends on load current, and will vary from one design to another. Typically efficency peaks around 80% load. However, a larger unit may run a little cooler, as while it is slightly less efficient at around 40% load tahn the smaller unit at 80%, it often has a larger heatsink so dissipates the heat energy more effectively. Have had good results with Waeco units in the past.

Got curious so had a squint at the circuit diagram (300 Disco - first one that came to hand). The only resistor I found is the one labelled 'Phase Tap Resistor' which is used to drive a rev counter, not the warning lamp. Worth checking, your small wire should come from the D+ terminal, not the W terminal.

One side of the bulb goes to the alternator wire, and the other side to ignition switched 12V. There's two places a resistor might be used, not sure which one was done :- Either in parallel with the bulb to provide additional current to the alternator if the bulb wattage is too low, or from the alternator wire to ground to provide a fail-safe warning (warning light if the wiring is boken or the regulator fails). Most likely it's the first one, but you can try without either. If the light doesn't go out until you rev the engine a bit, you need the resistor in parallel with the bulb.

The reason for using one pole from each battery is to equalise the load seen by each battery. It's most important under high current discharge (like using a leccy winch) to equalise the discharge from the two batteries, and maximise available capacity. Under high current, the voltage drop of even a short cable (and often more importantly, the terminal joints on it) become easily measurable. Now if you simply strap battery 2 to battery 1, and draw power from the terminals of battery 1, then the load seen by #2 is the load across #1 plus the resistance of two short cables and four extra terminations. Consequently, #2 will supply less than half the total current, and #1 a bit more than half. If you use the +ve of #1 and the -ve of #2, then each battery sees the same load - #1 sees the load plus one extra cable (the -ve side one) and #2 sees the load plus one extra cable (the +ve one). Current delivered from each battery should be approximately equal. The effect on total battery capacity delivered under high current is higher than might be expected because effective battery capacity is reduced under high load current. If this adds up to a significant 'real world' difference I don't know. You could calculate it fairly easily - google for 'Peukert constant' and grab a calculator. You need only an estimate for the resistance of a typical cable join. Of course, the same is true (to a much smaller extent) when charging. ...TSD returns to lurking

I saw you reversing, heard the sound of something breaking, but couldn't see what you hit - so it would be unfair to mention it. .... oh, bu66er!

Just wanted to add my thanks to all those who turned up and made the day a great success, and not to forget those who donated even though they couldn't make it on the day. I had a bloody brilliant day, and I think everyone else did too Special thanks to the Shires committee and marshalls for taking my idea and running with it, leaving me with nothing to do but pay the bill and play in the mud Enough of the Oscars speech - who's got more photos? (Not so secret anymore) Dave