diy solar

diy solar

The "Pimp My Pop-Up" thread! Now with more welds! (Warning! Photo heavy!)

VERY successful day today:

Fixed the lift system, it helps if the shear pin goes through BOTH parts of the joint.

Got the water system to stop spitting, something about the strainer was introducing air but not leaking. Took that out and works perfect now.

Got the solar panel wires fished through the tail, into the distribution box, and up onto the roof. Weather permitting Thursday will be panel mounting.

Fabricated and mounted the motor controller, wired it up. We threw the panels and awning on the roof and ran a load test. The motor drew about half again more amps but still within spec for the wiring and fuses. Yaay!

Threw the amp clamp on the line to the inverter, 1.7a with no loads, so about 20w idle. Impressive considering it's a LF inverter.

Found the reason I was getting a fault light on the remote switch. Turns out that switch DOESN'T go to that inverter. Oops!

Remade and remounted the breaker panel now that the remote switch wasn't involved.

Tested the running and brake lights, everything actually worked! Found the wire to the running lights for the add-on lights on the new bumper.

Fired up and tested the water heater, runs great now!

Got a latch on the fridge so it doesn't fly open while driving.

Shaped the rear bed supports so they mount straight now. Moved the clips that hold them up.

Cable managed more wiring around the tail and distribution boxes.

The projector arrived today, gotta figure out how to ceiling mount it. Gonna have to engineer something there.

More parts coming, Tuesday will be busy pimping out the inside, maybe wiring in another outlet or two.

So tired now... 😁
 
Daddy Tanuki said:
you are the first person I have met from the US that knows about Sikaflex! that stuff is the cats friggin meow!
Click to expand...
I used it on my Australian camper. Heard about it from an Australian Van builder (Max and Occy) It is amazing stuff! Live in Florida, so now you know 2 Americans that use it! lol
 
Rednecktek said:
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.

View attachment 194770

View attachment 194771

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! 😁
Click to expand...
I always carry an extra water pump...
 
Rednecktek said:
That's where I learned about it too. Unfortunately, much like Coroseal, it became really hard to find because it worked too well. 😥
Click to expand...

R&D always come up with a new widget….

Production makes it to spec…..

marketing runs it out and tracks its sales ….WOW …👍

customers love it….everyone is happy…

But ..Upstairs people with their bean counters wade into the water and tell R&D to trim this ,that and the other ….change some parts….call China and see what they can do …..

We can make an extra 20% if we…….if we…..…if we……

R&D squawk ….but they have to do it….

End result is a lesser ,undesirable, more expensive or unavailable product…

Very few good things ever last if it’s too good and affordable too.

Seen it many times….in various ways , on many many products.

Damn bean counters…

🙁
 
Success-ish!

I got the ceiling lights swapped out and mounted up the inverter and projector. The projector screen was a PITA to get stable... then I realized it was backwards, so PITA twice!

20240220_101815.jpg 20240220_102132.jpg

It pairs up to the bluetooth speaker and plays along... for about 30 minutes...

Then the voltage drop gets too low...
The wires out the tail get Toasty Warm...
The inverter whines and beeps...
Then the inverter shuts down...

Krap!

So it looks like the main DC wires out of the breaker box are 14AWG, but the wires coming through the body and up to the roof run are only 16 or 18awg, I can't quite tell, then 14awg up the side and into the ceiling. I'll bet anyone $20 that the vertical run is connected to the main DC line by one of those Stupid F$#KING Blue Splice Clips!!!

So I gotta get into the tail, re-run some 12AWG from the breaker panel to the vertical run, and replace the clip connecting everything up so I can put the ceiling on its own circuit as the roof currently shares that breaker with the heater and the water pump so... just pushing it with the 7.5a the projector and inverter ask for.

Bbbuutttt... the tail is over the low spot in the driveway and it's the Seattle area so I'm not going to go swimming today to tackle that. Maybe Thursday or Friday along with mounting the solar panels.

Sigh... two steps forward, one step back... :fp2
 
I have harnessed the POWER OF THE SUN!!!

OK, couple successful days so far. I re-ran the spliced in 16awg wire through the tail and replaced it with a 12awg from the breaker to the roof. I'm still getting about a volt of drop but it's holding and I ran a full movie without it crashing so I'm going to take the win!

Today was my one chance at weather good enough to get the panels on the roof before the rain and snow start again this weekend. I think I guesstimated the fitment pretty well for eyeballing it:

20240223_082918.jpg

Since I don't have a lot of space to reflect light back up the panels to utilize that bifacial boost, I figured I'd compensate with ALL THE ALBIDO!!!

20240223_115039.jpg

I kinda screwed myself a little by not pulling the wires out from under the panels before I bolted them down, but I managed eventually. Got everything in a 4p setup through the combiner box and turned on the breaker. For those who were wondering, yes the inverter will charge the batteries when it's powered off. Between the channel and the mounting brackets I've got about 1-3/4" of air gap under those frames.

20240223_122431.jpg

16.4a @ 21.7v is where it settled out, so 355w out of 800w of panels. Considering the sun never got up to a 45deg angle and it's winter, I'm still mighty happy with it!

The drop test on the projector worked well, no sign of over pressure on its mount. Loaded up the dishes, linens, general stuffs, coffee maker, etc and re-caulked the exterior light and outlet. Short of doing the axle flip on it I'm pretty much ready to take it out to the campground and see if I break anything on that road.

OK, grave shift at the dock tonight, I need a nap.
 
Just think how rich you would be if you had bought stock, before the covid rv boom, in the blue splice thingies company
 
Heater fan motor bearing squealing.
1. Replace heater$$$$
2. Replace fan motor$$
3. Remove fan motor, take apart and re-lube the felt pads oil reservoir.$ but needs your time
 
wme said:
Heater fan motor bearing squealing.
1. Replace heater$$$$
2. Replace fan motor$$
3. Remove fan motor, take apart and re-lube the felt pads oil reservoir.$ but needs your time
Click to expand...
Replace bearings, replace any pads that might exist, no oil reservoir. $ That's the plan anyways.

Replace fan motor if bearings are unservicable. It's just scrrws and time.

Checkthisout said:
Where did ya go?
Click to expand...
A little town called Greenwater, WA where my family has been camping since I was 12-ish. So about 462 years according to my back. 😁

I went looking at battery chargers in the 80-100a range I can parallel in, they're expensive! I'd rather run the genrrator at 85% for a few hours to fully charge than idle for 10 hours to get half.
 
Rednecktek said:
Replace bearings, replace any pads that might exist, no oil reservoir. $ That's the plan anyways.

Replace fan motor if bearings are unservicable. It's just scrrws and time.
Click to expand...

Chrome shaft, Bronze bushings. Oil them and call it good. If oiling doesn't fix, you can replace the motor but be forewarned that a lot of replacement stuff is now worse than the broken stuff you're replacing. :mad: You can drill a couple a little holes to access the bushings for oiling in the future.
Rednecktek said:
A little town called Greenwater, WA where my family has been camping since I was 12-ish. So about 462 years according to my back. 😁
Click to expand...

Gotcha.

Supposed to be pushing 70 this weekend. Getting a little tired of the cold and wet.
 
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