Electrical Outlets

As the electrical system has progressed I thought it was time to add a 110 outlet. This is the front panel from the sofa-bed laying face down. Found what I thought was a good place to mount the electrical box. There are several types of electrical boxes but used one that was on hand.


Create the opening for the box by drill four holes from the back with a spade bit.


Formica covers the front side of the board. To reduce the possibility of splintering the finish I'd stop the drilling from behind after the spade bit center emerges and flip the board over and finish the hole from the front.


Use a jig saw to complete the opening.


Check that the cover plate will hide any sins in the cutting of the opening.


To mount the box I added a couple wood pieces on each side then bent a backing metal strap such that the front of the box was flush. Then bolt the box to the strap.




For the wiring I used a heavy duty power cord. This is the type of cord that has the standard three prong female end that matches most every computer power supply. Work with computers long enough and you'll end up with a bunch of these.


Bolt the front of the sofa-bed in place.


Plug the new outlet into the main power strip.


It's because of this outlet that I went with using a power strip instead of hard wiring all the outlets into a junction box. Since I have occasion to disassemble the sofa-bed I'd need a way to disconnect this outlet so the power strip made more sense.

The weather has been heating up lately so I wanted to use a fan in the van. Need to install a 12 volt outlet for that. Here's one I'd used before. Notice it has a plug so it too can be disconnected.


Like the new 110 outlet, wire it to the inside front of the sofa-bed.


Mount it so the outlets are horizontal.


Wire it to the fuse panel and ready to go. For a 12 volt fan I can highly recommend a Endless Breeze from Fan-Tasic. Does a great job without draining the battery.

 

Disco Lights

After finishing up with the solar panels I wanted the next project to just be for fun so decided to add a Red-Green-Blue LED strip. It has a controller that allows different effects so I'm calling them Disco Lights. And just to clear this up early on, Yes I lived through the Disco Era and had a blast. Owned a bunch of polyester shirts with the big pointed collars that you could never quite get the sweat smell out of after spending the night dancing.

Before installing the lights I'll have to do some disassembly to the penthouse trim. This is the trim piece that covers the front edge of the roof cut.




Here are the two lower brackets for the penthouse roof front hold down clamps. To allow for the bolts that stick up the top trim piece has extra room underneath it.




This is the bottom trim piece. It also has to be removed. It's held in place by a series of screws.


And the bolts for the lower brackets.




Here's the trim pieces now out of the way.


How it looks with the bottom trim piece removed.


The LEDs come as a flexible strip on a roll. The small white box is the LED controller. Runs off 12 volts. It also comes with an infrared remote. These cost about $15 on ebay.


The plug on the controller is this standard size female barrel connector. Search through old wall-wart transformers and you should find a match. Cut off the plug.


This and the next several projects are all electrical and for testing purposes I needed a 12 volt benchtop power supply. Here's what I used. It's the power supply from a old computer. There are several tutorials on the internet for converting most any computer power supply into a benchtop supply like this. It's fairly easy and besides costing next to nothing these types of power supplies can crank out a lot of well regulated watts. I wondered what use negative 12 volts is. Turns out going from +12 to -12 gives 24 volts.




Mount the controller on what used to be the top of the roof. There is room under the top trim piece for the controller.


Need to run wires up to the controller from the main fuse panel. Drill a hole and add a grommet for the wiring through the roof near the front left corner of the penthouse reinforcement metal work.


Install the wiring to the controller and add a on/off switch to the bottom trim piece.






To protect the LED strip I'm using a 1/2" square "Impact-resistant Polycarbonate Square Tube" that I bought from McMaster-Carr. The strip easily slips inside the tube.


The flexible LED strip can be safely cut every so many inches at one of these marks.


I cut the LED strip so it runs the length of the metal ledge for the penthouse top.


To hold the square tube in place I used these rare earth magnets secured to the tube with VHB tape.


Since the tube is laying on the metal ledge I only had to add one magnet every foot. The magnet holds the tube to the inside edge.


The magnets are strong enough to cause the square tube to snap back in place if pulled away and released.


Plug the light strip into the controller.


Give it a test.


Not the same as a lighted dance floor but still fun.

disco lights - YouTube

I need to add a soundtrack to the video. Maybe a little Donna Summers.

 

Backup Cameras

Once I had the front trim pieces removed for the installation of the Disco Lights figured might as well start work on a few other projects that had been rattling around in my brain but never got around to. One of those is the backup cameras.

This will require the removal of the front headliner. Had previously installed a overhead storage shelf that I bought from J.C. Whitney. In the picture I've removed the shelf but the end brackets are still in place. Remove them next.


Remove the plastic trim pieces on both sides of the windshield. They just pop off.


Running along the back edge of the headliner are five of these plastic bolts with the large heads. I'm sure they have an official name but don't know what it is.


Slide a screwdriver between the top of the van and the headliner and carefully work the plastic bolts out.




After remove the bolts the only thing holding the headliner up is the rubber edging above the doors on each side. Free up one edge and lower the headliner.


The wire that runs to the overhead light is tacked to the headliner with some type of glue.


The wire with glue comes free from the headliner without too much force.


This is the overhead light fixture. I'd previously converted it to LEDs.


The fixture easily pops out of the headliner. Then unplugs from the wire.


The headliner is now free.


It wasn't that sunny of a day but the exposed metal top was surprising warm on the inside.


Notice the screws sticking down from the front edge of the penthouse top. Got stuck by these more than once.


I'd never had the headliner off before now. First thing is to insulate it. Use my trusty double-sided tape then Reflectix.


Watch out for those screws.


I want to install two cameras on the back of the van. One will be for backing up while the other will act as a secondary rear view mirror. Once the fridge is installed I'll lose half the view through the back doors. Since I'm running the wiring for the backup camera adding a second camera isn't that much extra work.

I used the 12 volt benchtop power supply from the previous posting to test that the two cameras could share a video signal cable since they wouldn't both be on at the same time. Used this coax ethernet cable I had laying around as the video cable.


Cut the BNC connectors from both ends and add a RCA plug to one end.


Unscrew the cloth trim from along the edge of the penthouse and fold it back. Run the coax cable from the front of the van through a new hole drilled in the roof along side the plywood piece that holds down the penthouse canvas. I'm using silver duct tape, not duck tape, to keep the coax in place.


Run the cable to the right (passenger side) rear corner of the penthouse top.

continued -

 

Don't forget the next few steps...

I'm very interested in how to mount the cameras and what type of cameras you are using. I plan on installing those on my motorhome in the near future. I alrady have a backup camera installed, but it some Japanese thing that stopped working, and I can't read any of the words in the book for it. My brother-in-law owned it before me and he spent ALOT of time in Japan... Anyway, I need to know how the pic looks from height... Or better, how high I should put the camera, and how to mount it so that water is not an issue.

I love your project updates... They not only give me some ideas, but give me some answers too... Wish you were on the west coast so I could actually see some of this work you are doing. Great job!!!

SteveM14

 

Thank you Steve.
Both the cameras came off ebay. They are around $15 each and of course Chinese made. I have no clue how well they will hold up. Guess I'll find out over time.

As to the west coast, I've never seen the Pacific and would like to. Once I get Hal done it might be time for a road trip.

Backup Cameras - continued

This is the backup camera. On the back is a threaded tube that the wires pass through and is used to secure the camera. I cut a piece of rubber for a backing against the penthouse top.


Raise the top before drilling the mounting hole for the camera. Notice the end of the wire hanging below the camera. It has a small diameter connector so the wires can be passed through the mounting hole for the camera. The connector that mates with this has the rca video plug and power plug.


This is the looking back camera. Instead of a small connector it has a rca video plug and a power plug on the end of it's wires. Since a hole is needed to pass these wires through the top I cut off the bulky ends.


Then the hole doesn't have to be so large.


Going to use #8 machine screws to hold the camera in place. Enlarge the holes in the base for them.




Had some company that day.


Use silicone to seal up the holes. These holes only go through fiberglass and not through the internal support plywood like the holes for the solar panel bolts. Because of that I don't have to be as careful.


How it looks. In retrospect I should have moved the looking back camera towards the front about a inch. Wasn't going to put more holes in the top so it stays where it is.


Now to get the wiring out to the cameras.


Just like I did with the solar panel wiring, remove the screws that attach the canvas to the top. I can pass the wires through the gap but to screw the canvas back in place these wires have to be flexible enough so they can be folded back upon themselves with the canvas in the middle. Because of that I'm using a different type of coax cable for this part of the run. See if you can catch my mistake. One coax cable for each of the cameras. The red and black wires provide positive power. One wire to each camera.


To get the canvas into it's original position I had to slide it back in place from the outside.


Put the screws back that hold the canvas in place. Looks good.


When starting to wire up the cameras I quickly realized my mistake. I forgot a ground wire. D'Oh! For some reason there's no pictures of me opening up the canvas top again and running a new ground wire.


Use the same nylon zip tie anchors that I used with the solar panel cables to route the wiring under the penthouse top.




Join the two coax cables that run out to the cameras to the one cable that runs to the front of the van.


It's not real clear in the above picture but the forgotten (red) ground wire comes off of the penthouse installation bolt that's underneath the plier's handle.

All the new wires and cables fit within the plastic conduit that was already in this corner from the original installation of the penthouse top.

continued -

 

Backup Cameras - continued

With the cameras now wired up they will need power. The cameras will be used only while the van is moving so I want to find a "hot on run" source. Along the "B" pillar on the drivers side I found this group of unused connectors.


The wires on this connector were of a heavier gauge so thought they might be a power source.


There are only three wires but it is a six terminal connector.


Using a voltmeter I found that the orange wire is a "hot on run" source. Figured out it's connector C331. Page 150-29 in the electrical manual.


It's listed as circuit# 49. It comes off the Trailer Battery Charge Relay.




Cut the orange wire from connector C331 and crimp it to a in-line fuse holder. Cover the connection with shrink tube.


Route the power wire along side the "B" pillar up to the ceiling in plastic conduit.


Then along the "B" ceiling support to the center of the headliner Reflectix using silver duct tape to secure the wires. I had previously run the power wires for the two cameras to this point. The camera power wires followed the same route as the coax cable.


Wire the power to the cameras and this 3.5" TFT LCD (thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display) monitor.


This monitor was too small for my liking so ordered a bigger one. Will use this one until it's replacement arrived. Here's the view from the looking back camera.


And this is the backup camera. The image in the monitor is fine. It's the picture I took that's out of focus. The backup cameras isn't showing the back of the van.


Here's the problem. The penthouse top is angled such that the camera is aimed too far back.


To compensate I removed the backup camera then elongated the mounting hole. This allowed the camera to be tipped forward. Used duck tape to change the camera's angle.


Changed the angle until I could see the back of the van within the image.


Measure the gap. It's 0.56 ".


Need something more permanent. Had this block of UHMW (Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene) on hand. Cutting boards are made from this material. It's 0.5" thick.


Cut out a small square then cut it on an angle.


Drill a hole in the UHMW wedge and use tape to hold it in place then check the image. The wedge tips the camera forward enough so that I can see the back of the van in the image. Used sandpaper to clean up the edges of the wedge.


When trying to secure the camera with it's new aiming wedge found the threaded tube on the back wasn't long enough to accommodate both the wedge and the rubber piece previously used. Removed the rubber pad and to seal against water leakage smeared on silicone II instead.

continued -

 

Backup Cameras - continued

Jump forward about a week and the new monitor I ordered has arrived. Measures 7" and cost about $35. Figure out the best place to mount it.


Use masking tape to mark the spot.


This is the top side of the headliner. It's made from fiberboard but isn't too thick.


The monitor is light but I don't trust the headliner to support it without some help so adding this piece of fiberboard as backing. This is the same fiberboard I use for the wall panels.


I trimmed the excess from the bolts after tightening them down.


Drill a hole in the headliner for the monitor cable.


I'm not worried about the headliner edge cutting into the cable so this next step is just for looks. Take an appropriately sized grommet and cut off the edge of the lower lip.


Use a little silicone to glue the grommet into place.


Add a switch to the headliner to that will power both the cameras and the monitor.


Using a DPDT on-off-on switch. From one on position the monitor and backup camera are powered. From the other on position the monitor and the looking back camera are powered.


Add a plug to the switch wiring so I can lower the headliner.


It's not obvious in these pictures but this whole process required the headliner going back up and down again several times so I could check how things fit along with wiring length.


The new monitor came with a wiring harness. Taped it to the roof Reflectix to keep it out of the way. The cable that comes off the back of the monitor and goes through the hole in the headliner plugs in to this.


How it looks between the headliner and the roof when I start plugging everything in. Some of this is for the overhead light which I'll cover in the next project posting.




One last thing is to sight in the backup camera. Get a piece of scrap plywood and mark out 8 inches in 1 inch increments.


Clamp it to the rear bumper


The resolution in this picture isn't good enough to see but the 5 inch mark is right at the edge of the back window. So backing up, when something goes out of view I've less than 5 inches of space left.


One more thing. The monitor folds up when not in use.


I don't have any pictures but I've road tested the cameras and am very happy how it all turned out. The view from the looking back camera has a neat bird's eye quality to it.
OK that's the end of the backup cameras project.

 

Das Boot Lights

I'm sure you've had the experience where you're driving at night and when stopped want to look at something in the cab unfortunately knowing that once the overhead light is turned on it will ruin your night vision. Hence the need for some overhead red lighting. I call them Das Boot Lights after the movie since that's what they used in submarines to preserve night vision. With the headliner taken down this was a perfect time to do this project.

This is the overhead light fixture from the headliner. I had previously removed the incandescent bulb and replaced it with a square led light.


This is the back of the led light. It originally came with a double stick foam backing but the foam didn't last long in the fixture before it came unstuck. I've cleaned the old foam tape from the back of this led. Notice the exposed electrical contacts.


Because of the exposed contacts I'm not going to reuse the metal part of the original overhead light fixture. Use this piece of acrylic instead since it's non-conductive.


Use strips of 3M VHB tape to secure the led lights to the acrylic.


The center square of surface mount leds is the white light. On each side are red leds. The red ones aren't as bright but I'd ordered two of them just in case and there's room enough for all three squares in the fixture.


Use VHB to secure the acrylic to the cover.


You can see that the hump in the headliner that gives room for the fixture.


Also gives room for a switch.




The fixture is held in place by this metal bracket attached to the headliner.


The wires for the white overhead light used to be glued to the headliner.


Instead I've taped them to the Reflectix.


The white light still works from the headlight **** and when the doors are open. The power for the red lights comes from the house batteries. I'll cover that more in the next project posting which is also about adding new led lights.


Up Periscope!

 

LED Lighting

This is another of the projects I started working on because the trim and headliner were removed. This will be for LED Lighting in the house section of the van. While Disco Lights were just for fun these lights will be more practical. The LEDs are on a flexible strip and will be encased in a square acrylic tube just like the Disco Lights. These LEDs are rated as "cool white".

Unlike the Disco Lights I want the switch to be part of the light fixture. Here's what I have to work with. A simple on/off switch, 1/2" square acrylic tube, 1/2" U shaped acrylic channel and acrylic sheet.


Will be making two fixtures so create both switch enclosures at the same time. Use the clamp to hold it all together then apply acrylic cement which is drawn into the space where the acrylic pieces touch. The switches aren't affected by the cement. They are just there as spacers.


Cut the switch enclosure in half. Cement one to the end of a section of square acrylic tube. Use a string to feed the flexible LED strip through the tube.


Wire the LED strip to the switch and add a plug.


Now to power it. Create a wiring harness. The positive power comes from the house battery fuse panel.


Get the ground from a bolt on the B pillar just below the roof.


Tape the wiring harness to the roof of the cab. Two of the connectors are for the LED lighting while the third is what powers the Das Boot light from the previous posting.


Wait till it gets dark and give it a try.




Here I'm just holding the light in place. Looks OK.


How to mount the fixtures? Running along both sides of the penthouse opening is a cloth covered metal reinforcement. Will use these 1/4" square rare earth magnets. They are strong enough to stick to the metal even with the cloth in between.


Here's an idea of how strong the magnets are.


Again use 3M VHB to attach the magnets to the square tube.


Here's the light over the kitchen held in place by the magnets. It's quite solid.


The second fixture will go over the sofa-bed. After fitting the LED strip into the square tube it needs to be trimmed. This marks one of the cut points.


The round pads are were the wires are soldered.


The first section of flexible strip used over the kitchen had wires already attached. This was cut from that strip so need to solder on the wires.


The square tube came in 6 foot lengths. The second fixture is longer than that so added a second section of square tube to the end.


The strip isn't the exact length of the square tube since it can only be cut at certain locations. Any left over I just bent over and slid back into the tube.


Sofa-bed lights.


LED lighting after dark.








Since I'm making this up as I go never sure what it will look like on the other end but really happy how the lights turned out. The pictures don't do them justice. Found in using them that the decision to incorporate the switch into the square tube was right. When standing with the top up the switches are out of sight below the penthouse edge. Just have to run my finger along the square tube and I'm sure to hit the switch.

That's the end of the LED Lighting project. By the way. It's getting kind of lonely in this thread. Anyone find this stuff useful?

 

Where did you get the acrylic tubing?

 

McMaster-Carr

<form id="frmMVstrBm" target="OrderPadTarget" action="/nav/MntnVstrBm.asp" name="frmMVstrBm" class="InLnOrdWebPart_BmForm" type="hidden" value="ItmBxBm"></form>Impact-Resistant Polycarbonate Square Tube 1/2" Square Tube

I've been calling it acrylic when it's actually the tougher polycarbonate which is the same as Lexan.

 

been following your build thread for a while now... don't always post but i enjoy seeing your progress.

 

Great work as always----quite creative and major attention to detail--really appreciate your contributions here!

In your post #463 you show a grommet kit---who makes it, where are they available?


Thanks WVVan!

 

Thanks guys.
The grommet kit came from Harbor Freight. I love shopping there but wish we had one in town. Closest one is Pittsburgh.

 

A poster on RV.net gave me an idea for my new motto: "I post, You read, Maybe somebody learns something."

Windshield Cover

This is the last of the set of projects that began when the penthouse trim and headliner were taken down. This project is a inside cover for the front windshield. The goal is to have something that will both block sight into the van, for privacy, and also block light coming out of the van if in stealth mode. Up till now I used a off-the-shelf windshield foil reflector but it never complete blocked the light and wouldn't stay in place. I use Reflectix for the side windows but I think it's too bulky for the front windshield.

To make a cover I bought three yards of of "Quilted Iron Quick Fabric" from nancysnotions.com. The material is listed as "100% aluminum on a 100% cotton back, polyester batting and polyester/cotton backing. Heat resistant up to 399 degrees". One of it's suggested uses is as potholders so it should hold up OK. I'm thinking that the aluminum side will help reflect the sun's rays and the polyester batting will act as insulation. Here's what the back side looks like.


I experimented with different ways of holding the fabric in place. Maybe add a metal clip to the edge of the headliner then use magnets on the fabric.


Or sew wooden dowels into the fabric.


Here's what I decided on. Use epoxy to glue 10 small rare earth magnets to the front edge of the headliner.




Hand sew 10 fender washers to the back side of the fabric.


The washers line up with the magnets.


The washers and magnets hold the top edge of the fabric in place.


I tried different combinations of rare earth magnets and washers and their placement before settling on this configuration. Sewing smaller washer to the front of the fabric would also hold the cover in place but if the washer comes in contact with the magnet it's harder to separate them. By keeping the fabric between the washer and the magnet there's less chance of the magnet pulling free of the epoxy. This results in a weaker magnetic attraction so the larger washer is needed to compensate.

Now to do something about the fabric edge.


Say hello to my new tool.


OK it's not really new. This was my Mom's. She used to sew. A lot. After both my parents passed away and my surviving brother and I had to sell their house I'd already begun work on the van and thought that the sewing machine might come in handy some day. That day would be today.

And let's just get one thing out of the way. The thought that somehow using a sewing machine is sissified. I'll point out that the operative word in "sewing machine" is MACHINE! (manly grunt grunt grunt)

As a kid I'd seen Mom sew enough to have a basic Idea how this works but luckily it came with a manual.


First up. Threading.


OK, that's done.


Turn the hand wheel, top towards you, till it brings up the thread from the bobbin.


Pull both threads towards the back of the machine. Put the fabric in place and drop the foot.


To operate the motor there is a paddle that swings down underneath the cabinet. You push it to the right with leg. The farther it's pushed the faster the machine goes.


OK. Start sewing. I'm folding the edge of the fabric so the white backing is on top. This is so when the cover is magnetically attached to the headliner the leading edge will curl upwards against the headliner and block more light.


I worked at a slow pace, folding over the fabric as I went. Had to keep shifting the whole mass of fabric to keep the stitching (somewhat) straight. When I got to the washers went real slow. Didn't want to see what would happen if the needle hit a washer.


When I got to the end of the fabric be sure the needle is in the up position. Pull it way from the machine then cut the two threads.


There it is. My first hem.


Give it a test in the van. Looks good.


Back to the machine. Now do the bottom edge. This time I'm folding the fabric so that the aluminum side is up.


Sewing along when I realize that something is wrong. Just making tiny holes in the fabric. No thread is joining the material. Found that the thread coming from the bobbin had broken. The bobbin is under the machine.


That's the bobbin on the right. It has thread wound around it that loops through the thread pushed through the fabric by the needle. I re-threaded the bobbin but it kept breaking. Ended up unspooling all the thread on the bobbin and winding it with new thread.


After that didn't have any more problems. Here's the two different hems.


How it looks in the van.


The fabric is thick enough that it can be tucked in at the gap between the windshield and the dash where they meet and stay in place. This way the slack in the cover can be taken in so there is less of a downward bow in the middle.


How it looks from outside.


I'm not done yet. The cover's sides will have to be taken care of next.

In working on the van so far I've used several of my Dad's old tools so it was nice to get my Mom's sewing machine involved in the project but also the realization that the last time this machine ran my Mom was using it did leave me feeling more than a little bit melancholy.

continued -