My Recent Kruger Trip, Renovations at Balule and an Interesting Bush Repair

[iandvl]

I don't normally post commentary about local camping trips - tending more to focus on trip reports when I do something a little different. But, apart from the unbelievable sightings we had on this trip, there were lots of other interesting and stressful things that actually happened. So I thought I'd share.

We headed out to Kruger via Dullstroom and Ohrigstad (overnighting there) and entered the partk at Phalaborwa gate. Took a leisurely drive to Olifants to check in and then headed out to set up camp at Balule, where we would be staying for the next three nights.

Over the next few days we were treated to incredible sightings. Including a leopard right next to the tar road on near Balule. This was 3KM's North of the one-way dirt road (I forget the name of it now) heading back North towards Balule. I know there is a resident leopard in this area and I have looked for it every time I've been there, so it was nice to eventually find it. It was also Liana's first leopard sighting in the wild, and it was an absolute gem. We saw a second leopard that day too - further South on the way back from Satara - but it was further away. Some fantastic bird sightings as well. I'll get around to posting some pics when I have a chance.

Balule itself was a bit of a disappointment. It was fine and all, but they are renovating the camp-site ablutions at the moment. Meaning one has to make use of the ablutions next door at the chalets. This is heck of a lot longer walk. It also means that the entire satellite camp - including the chalets - are required to use two urinals, one toilet and two showers. That would be for the gents. I've got no idea what the facilities are for the ladies. Liana mentioned also two showers, so I presume this would be similar. Anyways, it will be lekker when it is finished, but if I'd been notified upon booking I would have opted for one of the other rustic camps.

On Sunday, we were heading back towards Satara to have lunch. We were on a dirt road just passed a lion sighting and about 12km from the tar road (I can not think of the road numbers right now) when my ABS light came on. I commented on this to Liana thinking perhaps a sensor wire or something had broken, and right after that the car just started losing all power. The car only remained moving under 1000 RPM. I later shifted the truck into 4L thinking that if I could just keep going to the tar, I'd be fine. But it got worse and worse. I noticed that even the temperature was fluctuating badly, so I checked my recently repaired fridge remote. Voltage was on 11.7Volts - meaning the DC-DC charger had disconnected. Meaning the issue was probably that the alternator had failed and that I had run my main crank battery flat... Eventually the truck died on me completely... It is weird because the battery light, which should normally come on when the battery is not charging, never even came on at all... Very weird. I will need to check that.

My power supply to the Aux battery consists of various colour coded plugs so that it is idiot proof. I climbed out and replace the various colour coded plugs so that I could bridge the second battery to the starter batter feed and "reverse feed" the starter battery. At that point, another vehicle had stopped. He gave me a jump start, and I made my way back to Stara - relatively fast, because one does not have too much time rolling on battery only... I never even asked the guy his name, but I am super thankful to him for stopping to see if he could help.

Anyways, we got to Satara safely. I inspected the alternator and found that one of the two regulator wires had broken off. So we had lunch. After lunch I repaired the damaged wire. It was a bit of a tricksy repair as the wire had broken off right at the terminal and I broke the plug in my attempts to get the lug out, but I got everything reconnected and patched the plug up with super glue. I had a swim afterwards to cool myself as it was flipping hot slaving in the engine bay in Satara in November....

Anyways, after the swim, I removed the fuse from my Aux battery and connected the feed to my starter battery directly with a bolt and started the truck. Tested voltages and everything was perfect again. With the motor running, I put the fuse back in on my Aux battery and we made our way back to Balule spotting our second leopard on the way home.

My "bush repair" has held up well all the way home, and it will have to hold up for a bit longer as I am on-site on project this week and will only be able to attend to it again this weekend. I've also organised a new (non broken) plug for the alternator so that I can toss away the super glued one.

In any case, I'll post some of my photos at some point when I have time.

But thought I'd provide some feedback on Balule and perhaps my bush repair helps somebody.

I will say it was an "interesting experience" to be ambling around outside the truck a kilo or so from a lion sighting. :)

Edit: I thought my starter battery would be completely fubar now. But the following morning the truck started on the starter battery only. Granted - I've probably taken years of its life, but it is still working for now. :)

[Peter Connan]

Nice to hear you had some great leopard sightings.

I have also had an alternator failure that didn't trigger the warning light. Well done on finding and repairing the issue.
It's probably also worth knowing that if something goes wrong with the warning light or it's circuit, the alternator won't charge.

[iandvl]

Some photos

[iandvl]

Nice to hear you had some great leopard sightings.

I have also had an alternator failure that didn't trigger the warning light. Well done on finding and repairing the issue.
It's probably also worth knowing that if something goes wrong with the warning light or it's circuit, the alternator won't charge.

Peter - I'm intrigued. You mention that you've also had a failure where the warning light did not trigger. But that if anything goes wrong with the warning light circuit or the warning light blows, the alternator will not charge ? How the heck does this work ?

But I've decided I'm going to put a voltage meter in the dash somewhere in any case - so that I can instantaneously see the voltage when driving. I've just got to decide where, exactly...

[Peter Connan]

My knowledge of electrickery is notoriously patchy, but my understanding is that the lamp is in a part of the circuit that, if broken the alternator doesn't switch on. Somewhat like the low-tension/switching circuit of a relay?

Anyway, I have had as many as three voltmeters at once. The GQ has one as standard, one on the TPMS and one on the Madman.
Tbe only one that's worth a damn to me is the one on the Madman, because of the audible alarm.
I just don't notice the gauges, despite being quite proud of my awareness...

[ChristoSlang]

Ian, that light is very clever because both sides are connected to (a different) positive! The one side goes to the battery's positive (via the ignition switch), the other side to the charging output on the alternator.

If the battery's voltage is higher than the alternator's output voltage, current will flow from the battery to the alternator side and the light will come on. This means your car's battery is providing power to all electrical circuits. When the alternator output is the same as the battery voltage there will be no potential difference between the two sides. As a result no current will flow and the light will go off.

While the battery is being charged the alternator output will actually be higher than the battery voltage. To prevent the light from coming on, the circuit has a diode (circled in red) that only allows the current to flow in the direction of the arrow. This ensures that you're warned when the battery voltage is higher than the alternator voltage (bad!) but not when the alternator voltage is higher than the battery voltage (good).

According to the circuit (the bit between connection L on the alternator and the ignition switch), a blown bulb cannot prevent the alternator from charging. A break in the circuit between connection S and the battery will prevent the alternator's coils from energising which will prevent it from charging. This will probably also prevent the light from warning you because it is then only electrically connected on one side.

Ignition light circuit

Ignition light.PNG (69.91 KiB) Viewed 980 times

[ChristoSlang]

Nice pics! But you forgot to post a picture of firefighter Ian's hands

[iandvl]

Thanks Christo. That makes sense. But I have gathered my battery warning bulb must be blown. No light on it at all. Will see if I have a chance to fix this all the coming weekend.

Ek wil nie fotos van my hande plaas nie. Dit sal kinders bang maak. :)