Sleeping in MG4 [merged thread]

I thought the Avon Skin So Soft formula changed some time ago (couple of years?) and removed the original ingredients that made it effective?
 
Silver estate said:
I bet they spur of the moment charged instead of planned stop charging and scoped out plan B charging sites ?
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I think it depends on what you're doing. If you're touring in an unfamiliar area you really need to have the location of a few reliable chargers in your head, and be prepared to detour to one if necessary. When in the Highlands I regard the Tesla superchargers at Perth, Aviemore, Inverness and Fort William as if they were fuel dumps which I can go back to if necessary. Just driving on, or pootling about, then saying "we need to charge, where is the nearest charger" isn't a good idea. You wouldn't do that with a petrol car in a remote location either.

I did get into a slight pickle on the way back from Ardnamurchan, that could easily have been avoided by simply doubling back nine miles to Fort William instead of heading off through Glen Coe just trusting there would be something working in Tyndrum or Crianlarich. (And as it happens I could have got a charge at Tyndrum after all, I should have tried different cards.)
 
After rabbiting on in such a disjointed manner, I'll try to sum up.

Bjorn Nyland is right that the MG4 is "practically made for sleeping", with just a few caveats.
  • The distance between the tailgate and the backs of the front seats when these seats are fully forward and upright is 1.8 metres or six feet, which will accommodate a standard air mattress (although watch the measurements because some may be longer). The mattress is best placed behind the passenger seat, and it may not be entirely necessary to move the driver's seat forward, although I did that.
  • The Trophy's false floor raises the foot end of the mattress to a good sleeping position, but beware the possibility of damaging it if too much weight is put on it. In the SE something else is needed to perform that function; I found that the folding table and chairs, which I was carrying anyway, did the job, so it was actually two birds with one stone.
  • The backs of the back seats don't fold completely flat so there is a bit of a slope, but it's not a huge problem.
  • Something is needed to fill the rear footwell on the side the mattress is placed, to support the head end. Fortuitously, the plastic storage box (from Ikea) I used to carry the air mattress, pump, sleeping bag, kettle, collapsible bucket and various other bits of kit was exactly the right size, so two birds with one stone again. (In the end I left it there for the duration of the trip, driving with the passenger seat forward.)
  • I found the foot end of the mattress tended to slide a bit diagonally, and I intend to put my flight bag in position to prevent it doing that in future.
  • The DRLs cannot be switched off while the car is on. This is not a significant drain on the battery but they are bright in an otherwise dark camp site. Covering them with the magnetic blackout curtains reduced the light pollution to acceptable levels.
  • I used more blackout curtains to screen the side windows, and they were fine for this. I also used one on the rear windscreen, which was more or less OK, although it hung vertically. I didn't put anything over the front windscreen. I'd have needed two of the curtains, and they'd have had to have gone on the outside. I have ordered a windscreen sun protector from AliExpress which someone recommended in another thread. In black, it will certainly do the job. (Bjorn says that the window covers Tesla sells for the model 3 more or less fit the MG4, so that's another option.)
  • It's almost essential to cover the car's screens and the central console, even with the infotainment screen set to dark mode. Another blackout curtain was perfect. (Altogether I had and used eight of these.)
  • The key to getting the HVAC to stay on, as noted by Bjorn, is to operate the central locking button on the inside of the driver's door once you're in and settled. If you open one of the doors for any reason, you have to do it again.
  • Setting the temperature to about 23°C and the fan to 2 seemed about right to me, though I imagine this will vary with the outside temperature. I didn't use the aircon, but you might have to in hot climates. It's not hard to reach forward and change the settings if you're too warm or too cold.
  • In the SR I found that the car used about 1% of the battery per hour, so about 0.5 kWh per hour. (Bjorn estimated 0.7 kwh per hour, but I think he had the temperature higher for most of the night.) As Bjorn warns though, this is likely to be a lot more if it's very cold outside and the heater is having to work harder. Also bear in mind it's not just about sleeping time. If you arrive at the camp site at seven and leave again at nine, and have the HVAC on the entire time, budget for 15%. More if it's cold out.
I charged the car to about 95% on the Fort William superchargers, then drove 14 miles to the camp site, arriving about 7.45. I started to set up immediately (because sunset was at 8 pm), using the VtL to inflate the air mattress. (I didn't have to make a meal as I'd eaten while the car was charging.) After setting up I sat in the driver's seat reading for a while, then went to bed. In the morning I used the VtL again, to deflate the mattress and boil the kettle for both hot water to wash in and to make tea.

I didn't leave the camp site till mid morning, and I don't think I turned the car off at all. (I reset the "from start" trip meter, because it was reading 0 mph and 2.0 miles/kWh and being generally meaningless.) The car was off, however, for about six hours in the afternoon when I went hiking, and left it locked. I should probably make a point of turning off the HVAC from the time I arrive at the camp site until I'm ready to go to bed, to conserve range.

I went back to the same camp site that evening, arriving about seven. I used the VtL to inflate the mattress again, and to boil the kettle for a meal - I had cup-a-soup and tea, but otherwise it was a cold meal. In the morning the car was on 41%, that's with only about 35 miles driving, but two evenings and nights spent in it with the HVAC on. This time the VtL refused to boil the kettle. I have since discovered why - there is a setting in the "discharge" screen limiting the discharge to 50% of the battery. It looks as if it should be possible to alter this, but when I tried it simply wouldn't move in either direction. This is a pain, and I hope someone knows how to change this. (ETA: sorted. You have to tap the setting you want, whereas I was trying to slide it.)

After washing in tepid water and having Irn Bru instead of tea with my breakfast, I packed up and moved on. I went for a 25-mile round-trip drive to the head of the loch before heading back to the superchargers, so all in all I probably drove about 75 miles in total in addition to the two nights in the car. I was on about 20% when I got to the chargers.

So this is all eminently doable, and it's noteworthy that on my first foray into this I felt confident enough to sleep for two consecutive nights without charging in between. The only issue with the car that I couldn't get round was the discharge limit, which surely must be capable of being altered! [Yes it is, silly me.]

I was extremely comfortable all night, and I think the reason I couldn't sleep - at least at first - was that my body felt it had to wake up to shift position during the night. This may be more to do with my sleeping bag than anything else - it's the design that's snug around the feet - and I think it's just a question of getting used to it.

Water can be a slight issue unless you're somewhere with a tap you can use, or right beside a burn or a loch. I only took four litres, which wasn't enough for three days if including washing. However four litres is enough for one day, and if you can just fill up the bottles during the day it's fine.

The main mistake I made was just chucking the food I had with me in a cotton bag, rather than bringing a cool box. The only disaster was the milk, which didn't survive the six hours when the car sat locked in full sun, but it wasn't ideal. I do have a cool box which plugs into the cigarette lighter socket and actively cools the contents, and that's definitely coming along next time. It has a fan which is a bit noisy so I don't imagine I'll be keeping it on all night, and I don't know how much power it will draw, but even running it for relatively short periods should make a big difference. (My main concern was where to put that in the car, but I now see that's not an issue at all.)

The main problem was the midges, which were particularly bad at the time. I had midge repellant and antihistamine cream with me, and even a midgie net, but the net only protects your head, and you can't eat or drink in it, so it's not a lot of use in this situation. No matter what repellant you use you're going to get bitten, and antihistamine cream doesn't really cut it. The Bite-Away wand really does work, so long as you treat each bite quite soon after it happens. I was fine the first night because I did that. Then I lost the wand inside the car, and as a result I'm now nursing a few hundred itchy midgie-bites because I didn't get to them in time.

Moral of the story, be more tidy and methodical with stowage. In particular don't take things you don't need - the wand was lost under the rear headrests I'd stowed in the passenger footwell. Take some sort of insect killer to treat the inside of the car once you've closed all the doors. Research better midge repellants (although I don't think there's anything really great out there).

Another problem would be rain, in that dressing and undressing and washing and cooking and eating have to be done outside the car. Might be worth looking at a lean-to tent just to get a dry area next to the car to do these things in wet weather.

All in all it's very practical and very cheap compared to paying for lodgings. It also saves a lot of time looking for a B&B or a guest house every evening. Having the gear in the car could come in really handy if everything was booked up, and it's a cheap and pleasant way to spend two or three nights away from home in nice weather.
 
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Rolfe said:
It's a good idea but probably overkill for this purpose, and I do want the footwells to carry luggage and provisions. I think using the small suitcase is probably the way to go.

I'm really puzzled about the car turning itself off though. I was so sure @DixieTGS was right about the key, but it still turned off with the key inside the car. And yet we have two examples that suggest this isn't actually a problem. In another thread, a member who had actually slept in his car, in the winter in Scotland, implied that it had stayed on all night, but when I asked him about it I don't think he came back to me. Also Bjorn Nyland drove an MG4 to the Arctic Circle and slept in it there. You could see the snow on the nearby mountains. If the car had turned off leaving him freezing, I think he'd have mentioned it.

Any further thoughts?

I think I'll have to get a new airbed though. This one, which is probably 30 years old and more, is not staying inflated all night, probably due to the perished bung. I've seen one advertised in Argos which comes with a mains-operated pump for inflation (and deflation I think), which would save faffing around with a hairdryer. It's 2 inches longer than the one I have (185 cm as opposed to 180 cm) and the load bed is only 180 cm, but I think the extra 2 inches will probably squeeze in.
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Hello, I realise I’m useless at replying on this forum so apologies. It really does just stay on all night for me with key in the car, however I’m wondering if it’s different if you’re running a different software update. I’m not sure what I’m running but I plan only to update it if I have an issue because my LKA stays off permanently and I have no issues at all!!!


Edit: I’ve now read the more recent post and you’re right about the car staying on if using the central locking button. I did this naturally whenever I went to sleep as I didn’t fancy being joined by some random stranger.

Rolfe said:
I took a couple of pictures of the blackout curtains fitted over the headlights. Here's a picture of the whole of the front of the car.

View attachment 26505

And here's a close-up of one side.

View attachment 26504

Fitting them is incredibly simple. Just lay them in position and let the wee magnets do their thing. As @brem93 said earlier in the thread, a strong wind could blow them off, but on a relatively still day they didn't move.

In the dark it's still possible to see the DRLs shining through a little bit but the amount of light was cut dramatically. It would depend how stealthy you wanted to be, but a second pair clipped over the first to give double thickness almost eliminated the light.

This seemed to be the thing that bothered a number of people as regards camping in the car. Everything else seems to be capable of being worked round. I would note that I sat for a couple of hours aurora-watching with the heating and stereo on as well as these lights, and the % charge only decreased by a couple of %. Although Bjorn didn't mention the lights (he probably didn't notice as it was arctic summer and so daylight when he camped) they must have been on and he didn't use much battery either when he slept in the car.
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These are the exact same ones I used

I’m planning on doing a lot more car camping over the next few months but this time I need to be a lot more stealthy (public car parks in a city).

So I purchased this: https://amzn.eu/d/5oX1fdl

It gives me privacy and a good blackout (although I always wear an eye mask). It most importantly means I don’t need to cover the front windscreen or windows as I have done in the past.

The only remaining thing is those DLRs and not being able to turn them off if I want to leave the HVAC running. I can’t cover them if I’m trying to be stealthy. Has anyone figured out if a fuse switch would work for this?
 
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My issue with the thing not staying on was that I was trying to test it by leaving the car sitting in my drive and walking away. Even leaving the key inside the car (and not locking it, obviously) didn't work. It was only when I watched Bjorn's video again, more carefully, that I caught on to the central locking thing. I might not have tried that otherwise, because I was in a very secluded spot and it's a bit awkward to reach the switch. I suppose the car realises there must be someone inside, so stays on.

My first two nights were in a small car park in the middle of nowhere. The first night there was a van parked there as well, but it was empty. (The owner appeared on a bike the next morning and drove away.) The second night I thought I was completely alone, but well after dark two hikers appeared and erected small igloo tents. They packed up and left quite early in the morning and if I hadn't peeked out of the car window I'd never have known they were there. Not the sort of place you need to be completely stealthy, it just seems rude to leave the lights blazing all night.

Same on the third night, when I went to a proper camp site and paid for a berth. No need to be stealthy, but minimising light pollution seems only polite.

I've never quite understood how truly stealthy camping is possible. Even if you can turn off the DRLs, there's still light coming from inside the car. Maybe not much once you've gone to sleep, but while you're setting up and getting ready, it must be obvious what you're up to, surely?

Anyway, there are some suggestions earlier in the thread about which fuses could be pulled. You could maybe fit a switch?

There's a nice spell of weather coming up and I think I'll head back up north. I might even splash out and put the cat in the cattery so I can stay away for a whole week. It's absolutely asking for it as regards these midges but it's likely to be the last chance before spring.
 
Why in the name of all common sense am I considering setting off for another dose of this on Tuesday?

20240915_121508.jpg


20240915_121406.jpg
 
A very enjoyable thread to read. Thank you for taking the time to post.
I imagine the MG5 would be even more comfortable to sleep in(?).

Anyone tried it? Love the roof tent but not sure the wife would manage the climb!

The car as a source of power for camping is brilliant.
 
I would have thought that the estate car shape of the MG5 would be excellent, but I don't know if anyone has checked whether the HVAC will stay on all night, and @Archev tells me that it doesn't have VtL.
 
Rolfe said:
I would have thought that the estate car shape of the MG5 would be excellent, but I don't know if anyone has checked whether the HVAC will stay on all night, and @Archev tells me that it doesn't have VtL.
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The HVAC I obviously can’t use up in the roof tent but I didn’t find that a problem. The tent is double skinned and fairly heavy duty. The floor when opened up is like a 75mm / 3inch foam mattress. This along with my fabulous, bulky but light, Berghaus Inspire sleeping bag meant I was fine. The first two nights I had the bag open as it was too warm and simply pulled it over on the wilder third night on the island Mull. So if it gets colder I’ve still got the option to zip the bag up and then add a sheet in the form of a sleeping bag liner.
Once in it’s complete black out so I’ve added a tiny bike light above my head area.
There are three large opening vents in addition to the doorway all with insect screens. These ventilate as well as allow in light.
I carry a couple of micro fibre towels so one can be used for any condensation that occurs. It’s easy to rinse out and drys quickly.
 

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