Rule ONE and Ants

Yesterday I forgot Rule ONE and consequentially wasted half a day. 

I'm going on an outback trip over the Easter holidays and decided to check the camper trailer domestic wiring.  I mentioned in the previous post that I'd upgraded all the external 12V trailer sockets and yesterday I wanted to ensure everything was working correctly.

There were no issues with the domestic system; except I'd failed to reconnect the main positive cable to the battery terminal.  That was resolved rather quickly and I then decided it might be a good idea to check all the trailer lights (indicators, brake, trail lights, etc).  I backed the 4WD up to the towbar and connected the trailer plug.   To my surprise nothing worked!  I "jiggled" the connect and one indicator light worked.

There remainder of the day was spent fault finding.  Eventually I found a loose connector but that only got the brake and trail lights working.  More searching an fault finding suggested the wires to the left and right indicator lights might be broken.  These are routed through the chassis frame and are very hard to access or replace.  Running out of daylight I slept on the problem.  

During the night I remembered the right indicator light had worked when I'd jiggled the plug connection to the 4WD.  Rule ONE…. Look for the simple things first!   This morning I wire brushed the terminal pins on the trailer plug and reconnected it to the 4WD.

All the lights worked!

Meanwhile, Jan has been complaining about ants in the kitchen and bathroom.  We think it's the long spell of hot and dry weather that is attracting them into the house in search of water.  They are very small and can squeeze through the most minute of cracks. 

We think we've identified the entry and exit locations in both rooms.  I used masking tape to prepared the areas before applying silicon sealer.

They are desperate and persistent little creatures and I won't be surprised if they find other gaps.