Lucky

[rallypanam]

Originally Posted by BrianW

It's amazing some of the dents they can fix with paintless dent removal! We had a few ones fixed on our Honda minivan that I never thought they'd be able to fix (inaccessible places, etc.). It's usually fairly reasonable, too.

Mine needed painting, but yes, as long as the paint can be buffed, and there's no creases, paintless repair can fix a lot.

[rallypanam]

My write up on my suspension upgrade from Agile:

http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...tml#post125212

[rallypanam]

My house battery seemed kicked, so I picked up one of these.

Customer service at Wholesale Batteries Direct was terrible (emailed and left two messages and didn't receive any info back about when it might or might not have been shipped). But, their pricing was great and it did show up at my house in 5 business days!

Saturday morning I started by raising the van on a cracking pallet for some more clearance. Safety third!



I quickly realized the house battery is probably fine.. I immediately found a loose and dirty ground connection. Oh well. I needed to remove the battery box and modify for AMP motorized running boards, and I wanted to wire for my stereo amplifier, solar panels, and a Xantrex Linklite, so I might as well put this new battery in. So out the old one came (mind you my right arm is recovering from surgery for a broken radius, so I can't lift more than 10 lbs with it). Removed the overly large SMB house battery box:



I'm not sure why it's so large, I thought maybe it came with a larger battery, but I can't find any battery that would fit.. Anyway, I cut it up and re-welded to fit a UB4D. I'm not the best welder in the world, but I can make metal stick.



And cleaned it up with a quick coat of rustoleum:



Then began the wiring. Turns out these Linklites take a ton of wires (I think there are 5 that go to positive, negative, and shunt). I drilled more holes through the floor, and got all the wires in place. Then it was time to put the battery back in place.. With one weak hand and a bunch of 2x4s and a floor jack:



Piece of cake! Now I just need to wire up the Xantrex, mount the solar panels and wire them up, and install the stereo. Maybe next week.

Anyway, old battery charged up in minutes, so I think it's fine. I'm going to load test it when I get home from NYC next week and then throw it up here for sale..

[1der]

Rob, I am six minutes from your house, with a garage full of tools (but no welder). Please give me a call when/if you can use a hand.

Nice redo on the battery tray, looks good! And love the McGyver 2x4 approach!

Ray

[rallypanam]

Bright:

[rallypanam]

Shwing!

[rallypanam]

Update: Solar!

I bought a Blue Sky controller and 300W worth of panels a year or more ago for my old van.. and finally got them installed this past weekend! I had also prewired for my Xantrex Linklite, and finally got that installed too!

And, remarkably, it all seems to work.

Removed the header panel where the CO sensor and 12v socket were, peeled off fabric, cut, drilled and made things fit:




Bolted panels together, mounted to aluminum angle iron, and bolted to cross pieces that will mount to penthouse roof:


Drilled through penthouse roof outside of canvas and added silicone to wires in holes, then drilled through van roof also outside of canvas and used a couple of these guys to make the wire pass-through (hopefully) waterproof. The good thing is 95% of the time the holes are covered by the penthouse..

Finally it's all done:


And inside:

[rallypanam]

And while I had the panel off, I added a dual USB plug below the 12V outlet, and also replaced the stock and well past due CO sensor.

You do know these expire after 5 years? The one I replaced it with is a direct replacement fit, and also detects propane as well. And since I will likely forget, I sharpie'd the date this new one will be due for replacement right on it.

If anyone wants the same one to replace there, it's this: http://amzn.com/B005GSFUWE (information on size was vague, but this is the same size as my old CCI Controls stock one).

[daveb]

Clean job and that's a ton of solar you have. Fog won't even stop you I need to install a couple of those USB ports one of these days. Very handy.

[rallypanam]

Originally Posted by daveb

Clean job and that's a ton of solar you have. Fog won't even stop you I need to install a couple of those USB ports one of these days. Very handy.

I figured the extra work to add another panel was insignificant, and for a couple extra bucks I'd be sure to never be lacking in the solar department.. And since I don't intend to have anything else on the roof, I've got the space.

These are the dual usb plugs I used. I've got one on the dash and one in back. You can use them with or without the rectangular plate. And they seem decently made. http://amzn.com/B0082CXEI8