March Brown - Do you know of Splot near Cardiff? That’s the only part of South Wales I’ve been to. I was back in the 80s, my sister married a welshman from there.
Hi March, I’m in tom jones town,lol, anywhere near you>>
Apparently they had a Barby (the eating type not the doll type) and apart from the cold and wet , it was OK … They will be going home later today (days earlier than expected) because of the cold and the fact that the club-house (and showers and toilets) is over half a miles walk through the mud and muck … No stamina these kids … Too used to warm dry houses with bathrooms and toilets readily available … When I was a kid the toilet was down the yard with no electricity and only yesterdays newspaper to cater for personal hygene … Central heating ? … What was that ? … Winter was good ’cos you could scratch funny faces on the ice on the inside of your bedroom window … As I said , “No stamina these kids !”
Anyway , several (many) cars were stuck in the mud at the site and had to be pushed out by mud-stained volunteers … Apparently the cars can’t get into the far camping field now and all the gear has to be carried to a safer parking place where the mud is less.
I am glad that I am doing some decorating at the moment and can’t be disturbed or called on to fetch them back from the wilderness … Don’t know yet if my beloved 2D (modified) is still alive … We can only hope.
Gotta go now that I’ve finished my coffee and chocolate biscuits , to put another coat of emulsion paint on … It dries so quickly in a nice warm house.
.
I’m about ten miles east of Swansea.
.
Splot is an area in Cardiff as far as I remember … I’m about 35 miles away luckily !
Splot is famous for having a silly name !
.
Sorry to go so off topic,
Made in Cardiff by Concordia many years ago
All found on eBay
Not in Splot ?
I have one of the Brass ones from many years ago … It was found in an old Control-room when it was being de-manned … Haven’t a clue where it is now “safely” stored , but it is in the house or garage somewhere … Must make a concerted effort to find it one year ! … It would look nice polished.
Damm straight, polish the outside and copper pill an xm-l in there with some new cells :heart_eyes: J)
Near, I found that a drop in from DX fitted after a bit of work……
Std fitting, dropin as new, dropin after machine work to fit
Well , it was a fairly nice day on Sunday so they decided to stay for another night and go home on Monday afternoon … BIG MISTAKE !
Sunday evening was bad and it rained … The sort of rain that Wales is famous for … I still do not know how the Mag 2D (modified) has performed or whether the torch is even still alive … I don’t know how the two 18650’s are performing … Are they discharged to the point where the protection has cut in ? … This is very worrying.
Apparently the mud is deeper and more cars are stuck.
The toilets and showers are a long (muddy) way from the tent … The boys won’t mind that as they would get very muddy coming back from the showers , so they won’t bother going … They will get clean in the indoor swimming pool probably … Seems a shame to get dried after swimming , just to walk back to the tent and get wet in the rain … The joys of camping in Wales.
The tent is very low and inside they will be walking round like the Hunchbacks of Notre Dame … Luckily the bedrooms have sewn-in ground sheets , though with the flow of water it is apparently like walking on a slow-motion trampoline.
Luckily we are still doing the painting and decorating and won’t be able to go and rescue them … Shame isn’t it !
We will see them in the next few days and hopefully I will get the torch back … They will have a very wet tent to dry out and they don’t have a garage to hang it in …
.
They are home now …
I don’t understand this …
It doesn’t make sense …
They had to drag all the gear about a quarter of a mile to the site road as the car (to take them home) couldn’t get any closer to their field ! … Mud and dead cars everywhere … Like a “World War One” film minus the mules and barbed wire … The “Shell-holes” were obviously where the cars had been bogged down.
Apparently they had a wonderful time and they all want to do it again … Daughter had borrowed the tent from her sister and now actually wants to buy one of her own plus all the relevant gear … The boys say they had a “wicked” time … My idea of “wicked” is exactly the opposite of theirs.
Unfortunately there has been no mention of my torch , so I live in hope that the torch is still OK and that the two 18650 batteries are still viable …
It’s enough to drive a person to drink (luckily).
.
Well , I have got the torch back again … They apparently used it for going the quarter mile trip to the toilet block at night … The 2D amazed everyone with its flood of light … However , one night just as they got back to the tent , the light went out !
Daughter had some spare AA batteries , so she thought that she would replace the dead ones … Luckily she didn’t recognise the 18650 batteries inside the 2D so she put everything back again.
One of the cells had its protection tripped , so I had to “untrip” it and it came back to life at 3.60V … The untripped one was also 3.60V … They are currently (pun) being charged using two of my cheap charger boards … Power to the boards is now supplied by my 5V 4A switch-mode PSU … Seems to be working a treat at the moment … I have set the PSU voltage down to 4.94V on load as there is a fine-adjustment pot on the PSU … Just waiting for the Blue LED’s to go to RED … I know it seems wrong , but that’s the way the four charger boards came … Volts on charge are now 4.13V and 4.14V , so not long to wait now … PSU seems to be running very cool too.
It’s a relief to know that the cells are OK and that the campsite hasn’t been Li-ionised … I don’t know whether to give her spare 18650’s next time or just give her a box of AA primaries and some more ordinary torches … I could tell her that the 2D is being repaired ; that should do it.
.
Essexman, I really like your thinking :bigsmile:
March, great story, glad you got the maglite back and cells recovered, also nice if irrelevant the family enjoyed themselves :bigsmile: can I suggest you check out the new light 26650/18650/4 x AAA thread, that light may cause you less stress as a loaner……
Also, where is this camp site, I have a slightly modded landcruiser and an urge to play… :bigsmile:
I found that Essex Lion in my wardrobe this morning!!!….
“What are you doing in there?” I asked
“Narnia business” he replied
:bigsmile:
I’ll get my coat…….
I have decided that I will stick to AA torches as give-aways in future … I don’t want to have to buy any other sizes of Li-Ions … I will give the family a few Duracells or similar and let them go it on their own … They still don’t think that a person needs more than one EDC torch … When they are on a narrow muddy lane , half way to the toilets on a moonless night in the rain , perhaps they will realise (when the torch dies) that a second (working) torch is essential.
The campsite is on the outskirts of Swansea a mile or two upstream of the city centre … The Landcruiser would be OK there … Shame you weren’t there at the time , as you could have winched the dead cars out of the swamp … Unfortunately most of the drivers seemed to think that a full power , eyes closed and hope for the best method was the most suitable way to go … Doddery old people seemed to get through OK , particularly on the grassy areas … There were a few people with frontal mud-stripes on their clothing … They should now know that you don’t push when standing behind the driven wheels.
The Ultrafire batteries both settled down to 4.14V when rested for a couple of hours , so they more or less survived their ordeal … I would have prefered them to be about 4.18V (rested) , but I’m waiting for another two protected Panasonic 3100mAh’s to come in the post and will gradually phase out the older cells … Unfortunately , I don’t store my cells at a lower voltage in a fridge , so they won’t last as long as they should (when treated properly) … I like to have fully charged spares readily available … I will only keep a couple of spares , but the batteries in my torches are also fairly fully charged too … I pay less than £15 for two batteries so if I have to get a couple of new ones every year , it isn’t going to break the bank.
.
Our Li-Ion (say it quickly) has an Egg stamped on it !
Should be a Dragon really being in Wales.
.
It wasn’t an Essex Lion … According to the newspapers the Lion didn’t have its claws painted red and it wasn’t blond ! … Couldn’t have been from Essex then !
Essex Girl ? … Quat erat demonstrandum (Quite Easily Done) … Subtle joke !
.
My wife came home from work tonight and mentioned that a colleague, who has a caravan in Orsett, told her that everyone there knows about the farmer with a massive tabby cat that, from a distance, looks like …. no, really. Just the two police helicopters last week, nice little jaunt for some.
Helicopters are probably the best place to be when hunting for a Lion.
.