Cuppa's Camper

[threedogs]

Coming along nicely, you could put a drop of 5 min Araldite on the back of connections on your circuit board.
It may stop wires from sparking and causing a fire, may that never happen though.

Just looking at more pics, that led strip light could go around the inside of your lift up doors?
I've just fitted some on my awning 120 leds a mtr great light output plus off cuts for other jobs.

[macca]

WOW Cuppa that is amazing

[Cuppa]

Just looking at more pics, that led strip light could go around the inside of your lift up doors?

Hi threedogs,
I gave that idea some thought, but decided against it. My experience with LEDs is that they have a high 'dazzle factor' & are best mounted out of the line of sight or behind a diffuser if possible. Today I got the soldering iron out & cut the LEDs into shorter strips, soldering them back together in parallel strips which I stuck to a piece of 3 mm ply to replace the twin fluoro tubes in one of the ex Telstra light fittings. I re-located this to the rear of the passenger side canopy door, over where the sink will be (clip on).
I stuck a couple of 700mm strips onto the false ceiling over where the cooker will be, & another almost 2 metres long higher on the roof, both hidden from view by framework. I checked them out tonight once dark & am pleased with their effectiveness. I used 'warm white' rather than the brighter 'cool white' so they should not make my steaks look too 'washed out & insipid'.

On the other side of the canopy I removed the fluoro light & fitted a 10w Cree led wide angle spotlight, this is really bright & makes a great work light. The 4 area lights can all be switched on independent lay of each other (using normal household light switches - ok for such low currents). With all lights switched on the current draw totals a little over 2 amps.
I have another strip led light coming in the mail (with more LEDs per metre) but I don't think I'll need it after all. Maybe I'll fit it under the bonnet as a permanent work light.

Hoses from the air tank are now fitted, with an outlet on each side of the vehicle. Only problem I had with leaks was from a brass tee piece - an eBay special supposedly the correct size for the ID of my hose, but in reality was a bit undersized. Some tape around it & over tightening of the hose clamps has fixed it provided I don't move it around too much. I'll have to get another tee piece to fix it properly.

125w solar panel is now fitted onto the cab roof. I made a framework for it out of aluminium angle (50mm x 50mm x 3mm.) Rivetted & Sikaflexed together. The panel is Rivetted to the frame, which in turn is bolted to a pair of Rhino roof bars. I had intended to attach to the lower side of the roof bars to keep the gap between the front of the panel (it's on an angle like a spoiler) & the cab roof as small as I could, but unfortunately the width of the panel was about 15mm wider than the distance between the roof bar supports, so I had to sit the frame on top of the bars. If it is too noisy I may have to consider some way of blocking the gap.
Today I cut the connections off the panel & fitted an Anderson plug, together with extra cables from it's rear going to another Anderson plug. One connects to one I had previously fitted to the front of the canopy (going to the Redarc regulator) & the other mounted onto the frame, into which I will connect the portable panels.

The redarc regulator (BCDC1240) charges the house batteries from either solar or from the alternator (dc to dc), not both at the same time. The way I wired it up using a changeover relay it should charge from solar whenever the sun shines, unless I start the motor, in which case 3 stage smart charging automatically kicks in about 30 seconds after the motor starts. Having connected up the roof panel today it was the first time to see if I had managed to wire things correctly. Result, when I saw the remote redarc led indicator light up, & a few solar amps charge showing on the battery monitor, was a big grin. :-). Fired up the motor & watched it switch over. Grin got bigger.

Cuppa. ♨

[Cuppa]

a

[threedogs]

Hate to say it Cuppa but thats one butt ugly dog. I noticed the other day that Jaycar Electronics sell mouldings to suit 8-10mm LED strips along with disfusers and end caps to make everything neat. Have you used the push in teflon air fittings??. Looking good by the way ,but your dogs a worry

[Cuppa]

TD I'm gonna tell Gloria you said she was ugly! Tell me more about teflon air fittings.

Cuppa

[threedogs]

You know as they say "a good goat will do that" but anyway give me a bit of time to take some pictures and I'll get back to you.
So its a goat named Gloria go figure, weell doogy lol

[threedogs]

Bumped... this is wat they look like, come in elbows ,tee's, 4ways, you name it. also a variety of sizes common ones are 6mm to 12mm
I get them off Ebay and make up diff breather kits, cheap ,easy as to put together . you just push hose into fittin and it locks, also
easy to remove. great if you run an air tank or air horns, I like you had air outlets front and rear of last 4x4 only requiring 2mtrs of hose
to reach all wheels. if you get stuck findind them just PM, very pricey here in OZ maybe $10 a fitting OS you can get 25 depending on size
Hose cheap as
you may find this pir sensor handy somewhere, I have one when I exit camper at night, light comes on

[Cuppa]

Aha, now I know what you meant. Very similar to the John guest fittings i used for pressurised water. The air tank was supplied with one of those type of fittings, but because I had a heap of 'normal' air hose sitting around unused I used that instead with hose clamps.

The PIR sensor is a good idea.

Cuppa. ♨

[threedogs]

You may find this handy as well, I buy all this stuff and look at it long long enough
to find where I can use it, I have one for general camp lighting as very bright so as the night wears on we dim it. bear in mind I take every thing to camp for 10 plus people,Saves doubling up