Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 07-29-2016, 10:43 AM   #11
Senior Member
 
rallypanam's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Francisco/Nevada City
Posts: 3,769
Looks good!

rallypanam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-06-2016, 08:56 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 477
LED Install

Swapped out lights for LED's today. Van Diego had the following interior lights:

1) 3 Bullet Lights
2) 2 Fluorescent lights in PH top
3) 1 Fluorescent light above sink
4) 1 Hi/Lo light in the rear of the van

The Bullet lights were an easy swap using these:



Next up was the Hi/Low light for which I used these:



I used 2 of the 4210's and 1 of the 4211's. In hindsight I should have used 3 of the 4210's. Can't remember why I chose the 4210, but I had collected the part numbers a while back and just ordered what I had written down. Oh well.

Next up were the fluorescent lights. I am no electrical genius, so I was quite confused when I found that there was no DC voltage coming from the fluorescent housings when I probed with my volt meter. The metal housing says 12vDC on it, however, the printed circuit board actually appears to invert the DC power from the house battery and supply AC voltage in order to power up the fluorescent bulbs. After some reading on the interwebs turns out this is pretty standard for fluorescent bulbs. Anyway I tested the power with my voltmeter set to AC voltage and sure enough I was getting a reading. Well long story short, I just cut out the circuit board wiring and wired the LED strip light directly to the 12 vDC wiring and switch. Here is what it all looked like:











I like the soft white look better than the blueish cooler white, so all of the LED's I ordered were the soft white versions. Finished product at night:

__________________
New Van: 2000 Ford E350 SMB RB42
Old Van(sold): 1995 Dodge B3500 SMB RB33
Ben10281 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-06-2016, 09:06 PM   #13
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 477
new SMB table

I also made a new SMB style table. I got the legs and post from Rallypanam, and bought some plywood, paint, and T moulding.

Starting off with a plywood rectangle and a table saw:



A little help from the Jigsaw:



I painted the top and sprayed a couple coats of clear over it and cleared the sides as well to help with water resistance, then added the T Moulding.

__________________
New Van: 2000 Ford E350 SMB RB42
Old Van(sold): 1995 Dodge B3500 SMB RB33
Ben10281 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2016, 08:31 PM   #14
Senior Member
 
boywonder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: So Cal
Posts: 4,046
Nice LED upgrade! LED strips from Superbriteleds? I updated similarly, with a red LED strip in the middle and a double pole switch for preserving night vision, so flip switch one way for red, the other way for warm white.




Any reason why you didn't use a combo propane/CO detector? curious....
__________________
2008 E350 RB passenger 4WD SMB penthouse
2013 KTM 350 EXC
2008 KTM 250 XCF-W
2003 Honda Element
boywonder is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2016, 10:16 PM   #15
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 477
Quote:
Originally Posted by boywonder View Post
Nice LED upgrade! LED strips from Superbriteleds? I updated similarly, with a red LED strip in the middle and a double pole switch for preserving night vision, so flip switch one way for red, the other way for warm white.




Any reason why you didn't use a combo propane/CO detector? curious....
Wonder, i did infact get the leds from superbrightleds. I like your idea about the red, maybe i will buy a strip of them and test them out.

As far as the detectors go there were 2 reasons for not going with the combo. First and foremost, the existing detectors were separate and wires were already run so it was not a big deal to keep them separate. Second, and more importantly, after doing some research most suggestuons I found were to place the co monitor higher due to co being as light as air, if not slightly lighter. Meanwhile, the propane monitor is supposed to be down low since propane is heavier than air.

That all seemed to make sense to me so i went with it.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
__________________
New Van: 2000 Ford E350 SMB RB42
Old Van(sold): 1995 Dodge B3500 SMB RB33
Ben10281 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2016, 07:05 AM   #16
Senior Member
 
boywonder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: So Cal
Posts: 4,046
If you decide to add a red LED strip you can get an exact drop-in double throw switch from Mouser IIRC......in white or black. I'm pretty sure that I can dig up the switch part number if you need it.
__________________
2008 E350 RB passenger 4WD SMB penthouse
2013 KTM 350 EXC
2008 KTM 250 XCF-W
2003 Honda Element
boywonder is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2016, 08:08 AM   #17
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 477
Thanks! I will hit you up for the part number when I go down that road. Do your lights have a dimmer switch too?
__________________
New Van: 2000 Ford E350 SMB RB42
Old Van(sold): 1995 Dodge B3500 SMB RB33
Ben10281 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2016, 10:54 AM   #18
Senior Member
 
boywonder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: So Cal
Posts: 4,046
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben10281 View Post
Thanks! I will hit you up for the part number when I go down that road. Do your lights have a dimmer switch too?
Yes....a dimmer potentiometer......on one fixture.........

I was feeling energetic and rebuilt one of the fixtures to be really low profile...so that one didn't get a dimmer pot. The other one just got the rattlecan black treatment on the plastic ends and got the dimmer pot and a rubber knob that I had laying around...

Here is a picture of the low profile rebuild:



I made aluminum end caps and an acrylic lens cover....bead blasted both.....this one has a small double throw toggle since that about al that I could fit.

It looks completely different, but the extruded aluminum base is from the original SMB fluorescent fixture.
__________________
2008 E350 RB passenger 4WD SMB penthouse
2013 KTM 350 EXC
2008 KTM 250 XCF-W
2003 Honda Element
boywonder is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-09-2021, 10:42 PM   #19
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 477
Man I move slowly!! This van is just too much fun as is. It's hard to choose to work on it instead of use it.

So in prep for a recent trip we took, trip report to follow shortly. I finally got around to getting some things done. I mounted that free bumper that I scored from this thread:

Free Stuff

I have yet to get the swingarms moving, so for now, I have no access to the rear doors anymore, but I think it will be easier to get it to a fab shop to have them work on it with it mounted to the van. I could be wrong on that, but at least I don't have to load it into my trailer and drive it to the shop for them to take a look at it!!





I also took some time to finally mount the Yakima Track rails onto the PH top and mount my roof box up there. It is definitely heavy and I either need to now adjust my PH springs, or more likely, I will just create 4 corner supports for when the top is up and the box is on it.

Back in July I also installed a pair of the Rockslide Engineering step sliders as well. This one made me nervous, but in the end it wasn't all that bad of an install. A long time ago I drove up to Idaho to pick this up from a forum member who had taken it off of their SMB before selling and I have been looking at it ever since, just waiting for some time to tackle the install. I decided to buy all new hardware, but the main parts of the steps were in tact and working. The most nerve racking part of the install was that I would have to drill holes and install rivnuts into the side of the van, and having never done that before, I was a bit nervous. I even went to the junkyard and practiced on a van that was already absolutely destroyed. I learned that using a normal twist drill bit is not the best for creating a clean hole in sheet metal, step bits are much better. The way the steps work is that they have 2 brackets that must first be mounted to the van body, then the actual step hangs on the brackets. I also hooked up the wiring harness for the steps so that they would extend as well. I also, did some research and found the linear actuator manufacturer and went ahead and ordered new actuators too. I am hoping to get the new actuators installed this weekend.


Here are some pics of the install.







And lastly, here is a pic of all 3 new additions to Van Diego.




Lastly, in prep for our recent trip, we had the seats reupholstered by a local guy that did a fantastic job. We have 2 dogs that travel with us in the van and the cloth seats, while bullet proof, were just too hard to get the dog hair out of. We decided to go with a very nice vinyl material.

__________________
New Van: 2000 Ford E350 SMB RB42
Old Van(sold): 1995 Dodge B3500 SMB RB33
Ben10281 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-17-2022, 09:41 AM   #20
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 477
New shoes!

__________________
New Van: 2000 Ford E350 SMB RB42
Old Van(sold): 1995 Dodge B3500 SMB RB33
Ben10281 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

« Hi. | Question »
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:06 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.