Checkthisout
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2021
- Messages
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Generally used to fill expansion joints
The "Pimp My Pop-Up" thread! Now with more welds! (Warning! Photo heavy!)
- Thread starter Rednecktek
- Start date
Generally used to fill expansion joints
Daddy Tanuki
Solar Wizard
they have 3 different formulas they sell here in japan. two are construction grade, the last one is specific for glueing in windshields of vehicles. its some bad ass stuff.
Daddy Tanuki
Solar Wizard
i can get it any time you want it... just let me know you want one of the construction grades or the one for glueing the windshields in with? they also have the activator and the adhesive promoter for it in liquid brush on form.That's where I learned about it too. Unfortunately, much like Coroseal, it became really hard to find because it worked too well.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
Tongue is done! Built a tray for the brake batery and welded it inside the A of the tongue. Replaced the top spin (that hit the propne tank!!) with a double wheel side spin wheel. Screwed down the solar panel on the other side of the A and it folds vertical if needed for access and driving.
I just got back from picking up the steel to move the back bumper aft another foot or so to support the battery bussel. My new wire should be here next week and I'll be about ready to move inside. The motor kit seems to be missing pieces and the directions for it don't seem to line up with what's in my hands so I gotta ping the company about that.
The rubber lip is about the last outside thing I'll be able to get too once my Sikaflex arrives and I get some good weather to clean the surfaces.
Who knows, the panels might even get mounted before I ship, but Ii'm not holding my breath on that. The 1" T track is hard to find locally.
I just got back from picking up the steel to move the back bumper aft another foot or so to support the battery bussel. My new wire should be here next week and I'll be about ready to move inside. The motor kit seems to be missing pieces and the directions for it don't seem to line up with what's in my hands so I gotta ping the company about that.
The rubber lip is about the last outside thing I'll be able to get too once my Sikaflex arrives and I get some good weather to clean the surfaces.
Who knows, the panels might even get mounted before I ship, but Ii'm not holding my breath on that. The 1" T track is hard to find locally.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
Good productive day today despite massive slowdowns like rain and my welder exploding. 
After 5 or 6 years, dozens of projects, 4 or 5 camp trips, and miles and miles of wire run through it, it finally went Pop, Pop, POP SMOKE! this morning. Sigh....
So I picked up a new one, only $150 (which is a LOT less than the $469 I bought mine for) and picked up the CORRECT size steel and once it dried out this afternoon I finally got around to marking and drilling and welding to get the rear bumper moved back about 16" from the original placement.
After a couple shopping trips for nuts & bolts, I got everything snugged down and test fit. Nice!
Adding all that steel and batteries to the rear lightened the tongue up a bit, so now it's 175lb on the nose wheel. Since the water tank is up there that'll add another 160lb to the nose which is heavy to lift but not as bad as it was before I started this project.
Hopefully Sunday it'll be dry enough to take the battery tray off, add in some more welds to the strong-backs underneath, cut & weld in some cover plates over the open box tube, and get some paint on things. Once the paint is on I can run some wire to a couple lights on the ends of the new bumper just to make it more visible. Sadly, it's looking like rain, rain, and more rain all week.
I'm hoping I don't need to add another strong-back under the passenger side of the battery tray. It doesn't wiggle much with the battery on there and doing a bounce test, but it's also right over where the lift motor is getting mounted sooo... we'll see once the motor is installed.
After 5 or 6 years, dozens of projects, 4 or 5 camp trips, and miles and miles of wire run through it, it finally went Pop, Pop, POP SMOKE! this morning. Sigh....So I picked up a new one, only $150 (which is a LOT less than the $469 I bought mine for) and picked up the CORRECT size steel and once it dried out this afternoon I finally got around to marking and drilling and welding to get the rear bumper moved back about 16" from the original placement.
After a couple shopping trips for nuts & bolts, I got everything snugged down and test fit. Nice!
Adding all that steel and batteries to the rear lightened the tongue up a bit, so now it's 175lb on the nose wheel. Since the water tank is up there that'll add another 160lb to the nose which is heavy to lift but not as bad as it was before I started this project.
Hopefully Sunday it'll be dry enough to take the battery tray off, add in some more welds to the strong-backs underneath, cut & weld in some cover plates over the open box tube, and get some paint on things. Once the paint is on I can run some wire to a couple lights on the ends of the new bumper just to make it more visible. Sadly, it's looking like rain, rain, and more rain all week.
I'm hoping I don't need to add another strong-back under the passenger side of the battery tray. It doesn't wiggle much with the battery on there and doing a bounce test, but it's also right over where the lift motor is getting mounted sooo... we'll see once the motor is installed.
scrubjaysnest
Solar Enthusiast
That will have a major impact on tongue weight. I had to shift a cooler more forward once. Remember 60% of weight needs to in front of the axle or a Coleman gets real squirrelly.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
Well, I got to start on the electrical system today. Any time someone tells you "That thar made in Chyna stuff is krap! Go for Made in 'Murica if you want quality!" Please refer them to the following photo of some quality "Made in 'Murica" wiring work:
Every 12v connection in this place uses those blue splice clamps on it, even to add in 3in of wire that was too short. Qualitay!!
The new breaker box is significantly smaller than the old converter so I made up an adapter board and got that all put together.
Since black is hot on AC and red is "hot" on DC, a pair of small blocks worked out perfectly. I'll bring everything into the box hopefully tomorrow and get the inverter installed.
Got the shunt display and some extra USB charging ports on the tail end, some USB and a dedicated line for the water pump along with an external 12v socket outside for a portable fill pump are mounted up near the tongue end.
Tomorrow hopefully I'll get all the breakers connected, the inverter in, and all the wires cleaned up... hopefully...
Every 12v connection in this place uses those blue splice clamps on it, even to add in 3in of wire that was too short. Qualitay!!
The new breaker box is significantly smaller than the old converter so I made up an adapter board and got that all put together.
Since black is hot on AC and red is "hot" on DC, a pair of small blocks worked out perfectly. I'll bring everything into the box hopefully tomorrow and get the inverter installed.
Got the shunt display and some extra USB charging ports on the tail end, some USB and a dedicated line for the water pump along with an external 12v socket outside for a portable fill pump are mounted up near the tongue end.
Tomorrow hopefully I'll get all the breakers connected, the inverter in, and all the wires cleaned up... hopefully...
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Checkthisout
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2021
- Messages
- 4,817
Is snow noticeably absent that far east too?
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
Oh out at camp it's still a few feet deep in places but getting up into the 30's. 
Fortunately for me this project is closer to Seattle, so just cold & wet for now.
Fortunately for me this project is closer to Seattle, so just cold & wet for now.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
Today was productive. Got almost all the wiring into the breaker box, got the inverter all wired up, got a bundle of wires hanging out the ass end to be joined up to the distribution box on the bussel.
The battery tray can't go in until I re-engineer the lift system and get it mounted. The main 12v lead is currently connected up in the distribution box so I still need to bring that inside and connected in the breaker box, and bring in the shunt monitor wire.
Tomorrow is game day, Monday is work, so hopefully Tuesday will be re-engineering time.
In other news, this camper was obviously a Friday afternoon build. Beyond the excessive use of the blue clamp splices all over the place, I replaced the water pump today. The outlet line of the pump and the inlet line of the water heater were both screwed. The Tee from the water lines underneath is 2in to the left of the holes where the hose goes up through the floor, so both pieces of hose were pinched flat against the bottom. I don't think this thing EVER had real running water, hot or cold. I got the outlet line re-plumbed but next is pulling out the water heater and moving its hose over.
Sigh... at least I'm not bored!
The battery tray can't go in until I re-engineer the lift system and get it mounted. The main 12v lead is currently connected up in the distribution box so I still need to bring that inside and connected in the breaker box, and bring in the shunt monitor wire.
Tomorrow is game day, Monday is work, so hopefully Tuesday will be re-engineering time.
In other news, this camper was obviously a Friday afternoon build. Beyond the excessive use of the blue clamp splices all over the place, I replaced the water pump today. The outlet line of the pump and the inlet line of the water heater were both screwed. The Tee from the water lines underneath is 2in to the left of the holes where the hose goes up through the floor, so both pieces of hose were pinched flat against the bottom. I don't think this thing EVER had real running water, hot or cold. I got the outlet line re-plumbed but next is pulling out the water heater and moving its hose over.
Sigh... at least I'm not bored!
scrubjaysnest
Solar Enthusiast
What inverter is that? Looks like Ampinvt only with mppt.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
It's an Ionic 2kw AIO low frequency AIO. The 3Kw was overkill for my needs, but the 1012-LV was too small.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
VERY productive day today. The electric lift system I was installing was designed for the factory bumper, which wasn't going to work with me extending it back for the battery tray. So, time to hit the steel store and break out the welder again!
Some tube, some extentions, drilled out for a shear pin and some "gentle persuasion" with a hammer and everything got mounted and lined up.
Now I could finaly mount the tray and start connecting wires up. The main negative from the inverter and the negative from chassis to box are both lugged onto one of the bolts holding the tray on. Some of it was a tight fit but I think everything will hold nicely.
Trimmed the bed supports to meet up with the new post locations, strapped everything together, and fired it up.
I HAVE THE PPOOWWAAHH!!!
I also got the sticky pressure relief valve on the hot water tank replaced, the propane line all leak-free, and am still fighting a bit with the water system. For some reason I just CANNOT get all the air purged out of the system and I'm about 60 gallons in so far. Nothing is leaking and I got all the kinks out of the pump outlet and water heater inlet hoses but I still see bubbles in the tube and the faucets still spit.
Next step is to fab and mount the motor controller and test the motor lift...
Then:
Muwahahaha!!!!!
Some tube, some extentions, drilled out for a shear pin and some "gentle persuasion" with a hammer and everything got mounted and lined up.
Now I could finaly mount the tray and start connecting wires up. The main negative from the inverter and the negative from chassis to box are both lugged onto one of the bolts holding the tray on. Some of it was a tight fit but I think everything will hold nicely.
Trimmed the bed supports to meet up with the new post locations, strapped everything together, and fired it up.
I HAVE THE PPOOWWAAHH!!!
I also got the sticky pressure relief valve on the hot water tank replaced, the propane line all leak-free, and am still fighting a bit with the water system. For some reason I just CANNOT get all the air purged out of the system and I'm about 60 gallons in so far. Nothing is leaking and I got all the kinks out of the pump outlet and water heater inlet hoses but I still see bubbles in the tube and the faucets still spit.
Next step is to fab and mount the motor controller and test the motor lift...
Then:
Muwahahaha!!!!!
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
Just ordered the projector, inverter, screen, speaker, and lights for the inside....
Muwahahaha!!!!!
Quick question for y'all. On my 3kw 24v Growatt system at the camp the precharge takes about 2-3 seconds for the light to go out. On this unit it was still going strong 10 seconds in. Is that a LF thing or am I doing something wrong? Yes, the unit was switched off at the time.
Muwahahaha!!!!!
Quick question for y'all. On my 3kw 24v Growatt system at the camp the precharge takes about 2-3 seconds for the light to go out. On this unit it was still going strong 10 seconds in. Is that a LF thing or am I doing something wrong? Yes, the unit was switched off at the time.
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400bird
Solar Wizard
What is the resistance of your precharge resistor?
Yes, I believe low frequency transformer inverters tend to have more capacitors.
Yes, I believe low frequency transformer inverters tend to have more capacitors.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
10ohm 36w. So just wait longer or do I need a different resistor?
400bird
Solar Wizard
First one, then the other
I've never worked with that inverter, so I don't know what it does at start up
Can you put a volt meter at the inverter terminals (after the resistor)? What's happening with the voltage? If your getting up to maybe 20 volts, that's probably close enough.
10 ohms at 24v is 2.4 amps, should be enough for most 24v inverters.
You could go as low as 2 ohms and still only do 12 amps, that would stop the huge inrush and still be a reasonable current to precharge the caps. That said, the resistor can't do 12 amps for long (12 amps X 24 volts = 288 watts)
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
12v inverter, not 24v in the camper. I'll try waiting longer and see what happens tomorrow.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
I'm pretty sure that's in "standby" mode. I'll throw an amp clamp on there tomorrow and get a real reading.
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