Stanthorpe Qld 23 July 2026

Stanthorpe Qld 23 July 2026

Left Tewantin at 845 as planned, traffic was relatively calm down the Mighty Bruce, over the Gateway bridge ($6.57), down onto the Logan Motorway ($4.10) and out and around Ipswich, then Warwick, over the mountains via The Gap and lots of road work, to Stanthorpe. Big deserted van park. We were allocated the “best spot in the park” mostly because it was one of two Ensuite sites and at the top of the hill.
TV is laying up, wont find channels. FWAW finale is coming up soon and I'm under the gun to get it fixed. Basically we had a relaxed day doing not much. Spend a heap of cash! Bought new running shoes and a new headlamp for the car.

Took the TV to the recreation room and plugged it into the TV aerial there. It works fine. Junk aerial I bought from junk shop doesn’t appear to work at all, so a waste of $10 as far as a diagnostic tool was concerned.

it certainly wasn't a waste having coffee and later, lunch, at the   Groove 'n' Grill Diner, downtown, as they say. 

Groove 'n Grill Diner. Stanthorpe Qld July 2026

Groove 'n Grill Diner. Stanthorpe Qld July 2026

Groove 'n Grill Diner. Stanthorpe Qld July 2026 n

Sitting here tonight minding our own business and bam, lights out. In a nutshell the 240V 16A circuit breaker had tripped because we had floor heater on, oven on and then JB turned the kettle on. Anyhow all settled down after a bit of fiddling. But I had to relook at the battery situation again. Nutshell: the battery is overheating and the thermal cutout is cutting out, which means the charger is not charging and then the battery is going flat and the under voltage sensor senses and cuts the load from the battery, hence no lights. The only thing  I could see is that the battery type switch was set halfway between ‘wet’ and ‘agm’ which means the battery may have not been charging properly. On and on it goes….

Spent an hour in  the Museum next to the van park. Extensive collection of locally donated articles, some with attached local history. Actually very well done. Here's a snap.

Museum. Stanthorpe Qld July 2026

Museum. Stanthorpe Qld July 2026

Cold morning light. Checked the battery again. Is  now showing float instead of absorption so thats a good sign. Still sounds like its boiling though. Checked the cells, its old school, and naturally they are all empty. Topped them all up and we’ll see what another night of charging does. And I disconnected hat sensor thing, it seems to be causing the under voltage to trip straight away. On and on…