Jo & Stephen & a 4x4: Broome

30^th July – August 2^nd

One dead battery

I (Stephen) have been really pleased with how the car has been going on this trip. Some of the roads have shaken the ‘you know what’ out of the poor Nissan and it keeps coming back for more. We did however have one failure. Very unusually one of the three batteries in the car has failed and I don’t mean gone flat but actually died a very sad death. I started to notice an intermittent voltage drop on the battery that runs the fridge. This was a potentially catastrophic event as not having cold beverages for beer-o’clock is not something I have the resilience to deal with. I was able to switch the fridge to a different battery but this was only a short term fix as this battery was not really designed for this type of use.

This was a very disappointing development as I had done a great deal of research into the best battery for the job that would be able to withstand the endless vibrations that we were expecting. The battery I ended up with was a Fullriver AGM, from all accounts one of the best you could get. It wasn’t cheap either at $360. From all accounts these batteries should last many years but this one was only 6 weeks out of warranty - typical.

In Broome I started to source a replacement and just like everything else up this way the cost was a little higher than Sydney, we were looking at nearly $500 for a replacement (ouch).

I decided to contact the place I bought the battery from in Sydney and they suggested I contact the importer, which I did. The importer told me to take the battery to their local distributor, Reen Auto Electrics in Broome. I must give these guys full credit, they were extremely helpful even though they really were under no obligation to be. They tested the battery and tried to charge it overnight for me on their fancy charger. When there was still no joy from the battery they contacted the distributor and passed on their findings on my behalf. Well credit to all concerned. They replaced the battery even though it was out of warranty which was an excellent result. The lady I spoke to at the distributor said that it was extremely rare for these to fail in this way and as such, were happy to look after me.

A pretty good outcome so once again, big thanks to Reen Auto Electrics in Broome. A great bunch of blokes who really helped out.

Anyway, here’s stuff we did in this wonderful place called Broome:

Sunset on Cable Beach