Driving a Tacoma around the world

I just picked up the TransCool from Australia. A bit more expensive than the desk cube coolers. But it runs in 12v and really has a serious fan. The company has been selling them for at least 10 years - something the Amazon sellers can’t boast.

It seems to really make a difference here in the desert ( Eastern WA). Will be testing in Southern UT in two weeks! I tried it when we had 110 deg last week. I left the camper closed until sundown. This is the worst case scenario. I popped the top of my wedge camper and fired up the Cooler. The temperature was in the high 70’s in 30 min. I am keeping it!

Transcool Portable Evaporative Air Cooler boat conditioner rv motorhome camper 12V 24V 110V"Black Ops" Edition

https://www.amazon.com/Transcool-Portable-Evaporative-Cooler-motorhome/dp/B07S2JLV8P

 

Great! We’ll be in Moab at the end of August and would love to see what you think. Thanks for the tip

 

For about 6 months I’ve noticed that there’s been an unexplained loss of about 30 amps per day which is about 30% of the battery capacity. After 4 months of removing one wire connection at a time this blind robin finally figured it out.


The builder of this truck and camper had installed this wire jumper between these terminal posts. What he had done was to wire the truck battery which is a normal lead acid battery which normally runs around 13+ volts to the terminal on the left and had the camper battery which is a lithium battery which operates around 14+ volts to the post terminal on the right...and then connected the two terminals with the jumper wire I’m holding. While i was trying to understand the wiring system my son suggested that i install wire labels; super helpful!

Since the two batteries were in a sense wired together they tried their earnest to equalize their voltage, causing the drain. What i don’t know if it damaged the truck battery as the lithium has it’s own software to protect itself.

With it removed, everything now works perfectly, just in time as this week we head off with the truck to Corvallis, Bend, and La Grande, OR and then points east!

 

I bought mine from jyimportsus.com. Saved close to $100 from the Amazon price. They were very responsive and helpful.

 

Wow! Thanks!!

 

Interesting that the Amazon seller is JY Imports, who (noted above) sell it on their site for $100 less than their Amazon price.

 

Yeah that is kind of weird. I wonder if that’s how much Bezos charges sellers on the Amazon site, if so no wonder why he made $5 billion last quarter

 

I know it might be a bit late but if you're looking for some inspiration on some serious 4X4 off roading there is a Youtube channel called All4Adventures.

There channel is full of some good tips and tricks not to mention some serious off roading in some of the most remote places in Australia.

Truck looks awesome by the way. Best of luck to you looks to be a hella lot of fun!

 

Thanks for the good wishes. I’ll check them out, always good to here other people’s thoughts.

 

Since we’re getting close to starting I thought I’d let people know our website: www.roguewanderers.com But please realize it’s still a work in-progress with much thanks to our tech-savvy kids. It’s pretty empty but we’ll be adding more as we travel

 

As someone that has been through many days and weeks without power after a hurricane I would consider a generator to be essential for many reasons but your call. The Honda's are more expensive but much quieter and fuel efficient. A trip around the world sounds awesome but without a/c or any electricity ughhh I'd be miserable.

 

You may want to add your website to your initial post on page 1 of this thread.

One point about the evaporative cooler mentioned a few posts above. My home is cooled by two evap coolers, and they work very well in low humidity, cooling the house up to 20 degrees F lower than the outside temp. Once it gets above 35% lower performance is noticeable. You may get better results in a smaller, confined space, but it won't work at all in high humidity or rain. Just thought I'd mention this in case you're unfamiliar with them.

It's been fun following along. Good luck!

 

Thanks that’s a good idea about putting our website on page one, I’ll also put it in my signature

Good points on the limits of a evap/swamp cooler

 

Definitely being in a house without power stinks; we used to live in a house for a couple of years with power supplied by only a generator (Honda 5000 watt). Don’t worry, we’ll have electricity for the frig, lights, and while driving the truck; 120 volts for charging laptops, toothbrushes, etc. You’re right, not having AC could be a challenge for me, I’m hoping that a fan on my face will allow me to sleep, fingers crossed...

 

Thank you! Darn! Three weeks ago we were in the Whitefish/Columbia Falls area for 5 days, lovely place. We are definitely trying to be cautious about traveling overseas

 

I was up there on a secret business trip but we are planning on being in the sw corner some time this fall with the truck on our way hopefully east (towards Europe) and not south (wintering in AZ/NM). Be fun to meet up and chat

 

Your route looks pretty amazing! You're gonna see some cool stuff in South America. Atacama Desert, Patagonia, Iguazu, Machu Picchu. Salta is worth checking out in that North Weastern part of Argentina. I'm interested to hear your take on Venezuela and some of the other more "adventurous" places you are heading. Driving in India and even in urban Thailand for that matter sound both exciting and slightly terrifying. Even just navigating old narrow European roads will be interesting in the Taco! That drive around desolate Australia/Ayers Rock is gonna be unreal! Its a bummer you're skipping both Iceland and NZ they seem so pretty and driveable. I assume its probably just a logistics, time and money thing, maybe get them on a different trip. Anyways the more I look at your trip the more excited I get for you two!

Also you realize the Walkabout and Etched sections of your blog are in another language right?

 

Ha! That’s right. My techy son did that. Evidentially when setting up a website developers do that to make sure the site is working correctly. We’ll remove it with our first update. Thanks for noticing