Off Grid Living / Camping > Off Grid Living / Alternative Housing
Living in a Van 2.0
MadScientist267:
. . . Continued
The bed's zig-zag string support was causing a few problems, the main one being that it was causing fatigue to the frame. The sides were beginning to bow in when weight was on it, and for fear it would inevitably kink, I went with another strategy. This also afforded me some easy access storage that was difficult to use with the rope going back and forth over the frame. With the use of a couple of zip ties, a length of appropriately notched PVC pipe, and a small piece of foam to "lock" it open, I can just raise it up and get from or put in whatever I need from it with relative ease. The board is 3/16" plyboard (essentially panelling), and supports my weight and then some (don't ask me how I know, hehe). The edges are starting to fail however because it wasn't made quite long enough, so when it shifts a little bit, the stresses get put on too small of a point, causing it to drop. Slowly but surely, this is destroying the wood. When we replace it, there will be small blocks of wood on either end that act as guides to prevent this.
Same thing, only from the back. That reminds me, the big white box in the lower left needs to come out of there; it's a 13.8V @ 60A modular switching power supply that I had considered using as a battery charger, but didn't feel like taking the time to set up current limiting in it. Now it just takes up space. :/
I had a set of two of those "handy switches - as seen on TV" things I picked up from wally world some time back... They are pretty cool little devices... The remotes resemble regular light switches, and contain a keyed chip inside that is easily changed by playing around with the solder joints that jump the gaps. The two I had were different (obviously), but my wife managed to screw me up royally when she moved my junk, so as I was able to find 2 remotes but only one receiver, I keyed the remotes the same, and now I can turn the lights on/off from either just inside the sliding door, or right next to my head when I'm laying down in the bed. :P
This is a shot of the auxiliary panel I was referring to that charges the LED night light on the bench. I is directly attached to the visor, and can be flipped up and out of the way for driving.
A shot of the cab from the drivers side. Man, I REALLY need to paint that doghouse or SOMETHING... LOL
After 99% of the soldering was done, I finally got the nerve to go ahead and paint the bench black. The bench (like everything else I own) bears the battle scars of soldering irons, and they were just unsightly. They are still somewhat visible, but not nearly so much. Besides, That's the target color for the entire interior. If it doesn't move, shoot it black. :)
I dealt with this annoying contraption made of 2 oddball pieces of cardboard to cover the back window for as long as I can remember. It never was worth a box of piss, as light still got in/out, and there was the constant challenge of even keeping it ROUGHLY in place. Opening the back hatch and doors proved to be just as much of a PITA, as half the time I had to completely remove the thing to get done what I needed to get done. Well, no more. I finally cut a piece to fit, sealed it up good against the body, and problem solved! Good thing too, I was this close to ending up in the looney bin just from that alone! :-\
And then there was Joose! 200ft of #12 extension cord should get me power from just about anywhere I want it to now, shouldn't it...
This one is thrown in here just because. This particular roll of solder caused me more frustration over the course of working on the van than anything else I encountered. It went into meltdown while sitting next to my 40 watter, and slowly made a ball about 4 layers thick that couldn't be cut, gouged, yanked, or anything else. I had to just keep pulling out from behind it as I could, until it got far enough behind the blob that I could cut it out. I nicknamed it Chernobyl, appropriately.
That's about it!
Things left on the list to do are:
Add the 200W of PV on the roof (should be in the works)
More aesthetic work on the inside (and eventually outside too)
Get the sensor/computer issue straightened out so this thing runs right
Change all of the fluids, give a good flushing
Install a battery isolator so that the alternator can charge the bank when driving.
Not much more than that however, at least for the time being!
Steve
MadScientist267:
Two updates...
The electric system had a control level update that now allows both high and low heater configurations to be controlled by the thermostat at the flick of a switch now.
Before, only the high mode would cycle via thermostat control and the low mode was either on or off, depending on a switch on the thermostat. This allowed for decent draft control, as it kept the elements from cooling completely between cycles, but proved to be a problem in the morning when solar thermal would begin directly heating the van. Between the two sources, it would get uncomfortable quick in here even though the high mode cycling had long since stopped.
The system operates in a very similar manner as before, and low mode can still be forced to remain on when the thermostat is only cycling the high mode. Buy the flick of a switch backs off the high mode completely and cycles the low mode instead.
This has also proven so far at least that the overall energy consumption from grid is significantly lower when running propane along side it... Which of course translates to much better battery usage when heat augmentation is required by battery during the night if the temp outside suddenly drops and the propane is no longer maintaining the temperature adequately on its own.
As you can see, I did a LITTLE tracing and cleanup in there... Tried to fix some of the confusion. A lot of the control side was based around that damn power switch anyway, so I separated the surplus loops and bundled them to help reduce clutter, got rid of duplicate connections/runs etc. Its still a mess, but looks much better than it did.
This is my replacement for the less efficient, more finicky, and certainly more dangerous torch version of the heater. It is rather modified Coleman cat heater that originally had an on/off valve only, which was very difficult to get to operate in the midway zones for variable output. A quick removal of the shell revealed that the valve was integrated into a regulator, and simply depended on pressure on the valve stem to release more gas, and therefore more heat.
Here is a closeup of how the valve was modified to provide variable heat. The knob twists inward and pulls back on the zip ties, in the process placing more pressures on the valve stem, causing a larger range of motion in the knob to have a much smaller effect of the valve stem. Completely off to widewide open involves 2 or 3 full turns of the knob now as opposed to the 90° movement that gave zero to wide open with nothing in between.
Here is a closer shot of the essential working parts. The valve and the catalytic element.
Disclaimer: Making modifications to fuel burning equipment such as heaters, stoves, engines, rockets, thermite grenades, bathroom "sulfur" bombs, and placing unopened chicken eggs in microwave ovens can be extremely dangerous, and neither I nor AnotherPower.com, any of its owners, operators, or associated members hold any responsibility for damages incurred to yourself, others, or destruction of property. The information in this post is provided purely for informational purposes only. Any risk you take by attempting modifications such as these are at your own risk, and your risk only. In other words, don't try this at home! You have been warned!
Enjoy!
Steve
tomw:
Steve;
This post takes so long to load I usually don't wait for it all. When it does load, I have lost interest.
You might get better responses if you chopped it into chapters?
Just from a practical standpoint.
Tom
MadScientist267:
Yeah, I see your point.... Looking into the best way to go about it...
Thanks for the input... ;)
Steve
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