SMB vs CCV penthouse top comparison and impact on rear AC? - Page 4

keytothestone · 10-02-2018, 07:13 PM

After you p/u your finished product I highly recommend doing a very thorough inspection of all the work they did. I had my top installed Sept 17. And interior and some electrical work completed March 18. Lots of things popping up of shoddy workmanship and having to redo myself. The CCV top is definitely way superior and would go that direction again but quality control is lacking. But that seems to be the norm from what I have experienced from the outfits I have used and seems to be the case as well from the ones I didn't. All screens on the top are pulling away from the stitching once again after having them supposedly redone (warranty) when I took the van back for the interior work. And pulling away in the same spots and some new ones. And lately all the power on the passenger side of the van was dropping enabling me to raise or lower the top at times or use other electrical items. I couldn't figure it out I was in the front range and was able to drop the van off with them. They said they got it fixed. Well just 2 weeks later 2nd day into Baja trip a couple weeks ago blam no power again. Luckily I was able to figure it out. A 50amp circuit breaker between the main fuse box and battery was popping. And i was able to rig it up to lower raise the top while camping. Not being able to use the poptop you pay $$$$$ can be just a bit frustrating. On the way home though from baja happened again and finally saw what was causing the breaker to pop and was not able to fix it until returning last week. They ran the + wire from the fuse box to battery above the gas tank and the frame and it slowly over time sliced the wire. Then just around Cocos corner half my gas tank fell off dragging half the tank on the road. Luckily we were be able to get the tank back on with a little help from some other travelers. You see they dropped the tank to install the espar heater and to run the that +wire above the gas tank and didn't tighten the nut that holds the rear bracket to gas tank properly after the install. So the loose gas tank vibrating and moving around had pinched and over time sliced the wire causing the breaker to pop and luckily not causing me to blow up with some sparks? How they didn't see all this when I brought it in late August is really puzzling. Even saying they had to let the guy go who did my electrical because of bad workmanship. Other things are popping up on the interior that im having to redo. After just returning from 3 weeks in Mexico the electrical and the top was the most frustrating, and really fresh. But after just over a year of ownership I'm just have come to accept any work anyone has done to the van has to be redone.

EmMay · 10-02-2018, 07:17 PM

'Suck It Up'. It's your rig; get here and check in with their crew. Make a personal connection and get the lay of the land.
Then get on a plane if it's a serious long haul or in a one way rental and head home. This is part of your adventure too...

86Scotty · 10-02-2018, 08:38 PM

@Ndubes, the logistics can be a little overwhelming but CCV actually couldn't be in a better place for this. I have no idea where you are but I'm in Tennessee. I drove my van out there to Loveland and Derek gave me a ride back to townto a motel from his place (now his shop is in town so this must be easier). From town you can get a shuttle all the way to DEN airport, which I did the next morning. When I went back to pick up I flew to Denver and rode the shuttle in reverse to Loveland where he met me with my van. It wasn't too bad. I would leave an open day on the pickup for them to address anything that isn't finished or to your satisfaction. Mine was years ago, perhaps things have changed.

VtSoundman · 10-02-2018, 09:22 PM

Plan on giving the crew a few extra days/a week a finish the job. Then...after you arrive pickup the van, plan on staying an extra 3-4 days for two reasons (1) give you 1 night to inspect the van (2) to bring it back for them to rectify all the issues. Schedule the pickup for Monday or Tuesday - that will give CCV the balance of the week to address any outstanding items.

Also, be sure everything is in writing and ask for a completed check list before you arrive. This is imperative...there were several items that were done incorrectly or not at all on my van.

I heeded the warnings of others and planned on giving them extra time - in fact, I think it was about a week extra. The shop is very very busy now...don't expect too much personal attention while you are there. Making a personal connection only went so far when there will be several people working on your van...and it is just another van in their shop. Figure on getting an Uber to a local hotel to chill...

After you pickup the van, head to a parking lot (bring a ladder) - and crawl all over the top/install. It will be hard to inspect the van in their parking lots as the initial excitement is a little overwhelming.

After you leave, customer support is quite challenging...so get it all addressed there. My sales person Amber is no longer with CCV...so followup support was not easy. I was finally able to connect with Derek and given the number of outstanding & severity of the issues, I have to take my van back to CCV for it all to be rectified. I remain optimistic that Derek will honor his word and will take care of it once he has my van back in his shop.

Good luck...you will be stoked having a pop top...

Pritikin · 10-03-2018, 11:12 AM

re:
> And lately all the power on the passenger side of the van was dropping enabling me to raise or lower the top at times or use other electrical items.

Not sure if this applies to you but... the insulation block CCV used for some shunt installation was a piece-of-shit foam block with bolts embedded in it. What i found is that the bolts jostled and worked loose which resulted in a bad ground across the shunt. Because of the 100a limit the shunt was only used for part of the system (not my fridge for example) which left me with an intermittent power drop across *some* of the passenger systems and top but not the heater or fridge. Seriously frustrating initially but actually an easy fix.

(Huh, my van's thread is bare. I should put a writeup of the fix in there)

keytothestone · 10-03-2018, 01:35 PM

vtsoundman very spot on handle when picking up! Same should go for anyone when p/u from any of the 4x4 conversion folks as well. Pritikin the breaker that was popping luckily is the 1st pic. It would eventually reset itself but eventually it didn't due to the 2nd pic of the wire being severed by the gas tank frame rub. Not having some type of manual override or instructions in the manual of this scenario to lower or raise the top in case of power failure is concerning. Maybe someone can chime on how to accomplish this????

VtSoundman · 10-03-2018, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keytothestone

vtsoundman very spot on handle when picking up! Same should go for anyone when p/u from any of the 4x4 conversion folks as well. Pritikin the breaker that was popping luckily is the 1st pic. It would eventually reset itself but eventually it didn't due to the 2nd pic of the wire being severed by the gas tank frame rub. Not having some type of manual override or instructions in the manual of this scenario to lower or raise the top in case of power failure is concerning. Maybe someone can chime on how to accomplish this????

Those momentary breakers are actually very reliable and well sealed - assuming quality parts are used and it is installed in a semi-protected (from impact & salt) location. They have been used for years on all sorts of vehicles up until probably the mid '90s for headlights, windshield wipers - you name it. They are still used on electrical trailer brake systems as you want the system to self-reset ASAP.

The reason for a momentary breaker vs a fuse: very little can go wrong with a linear actuator - and when they do, they tend to jam / require more current. If an excess amount of current is req'd, you'll want a fuse/breaker to open to prevent the actuator from tearing the top apart. The use of a self-resetting thermal breaker supplying the CCVs main top control panel is actually a good idea since they will reset themselves after a momentary cool down period...however, there also needs to be a fuse installed so that it will clear in the case of a catastrophic wire short.

I don't have a wiring diagram ... but I installed a pair of SPST momentary switches that controls the relays for the top - this bypassed their wireless control panel and allows me to lower one side if necessary (my does not lift evenly and sometimes requires a shove to get it to seat properly). The uneven lift, aside from being compouned by an install issue, is also due to the small wire gauge feeding the passenger side actuator - there is sufficient voltage drop it to cause one actuator to do its initial lift ever so slightly slower than the other.

ndubes · 11-20-2018, 08:57 PM

Logging on tonight and finding that I'm not getting alerts for new replies to my threads, I don't want to derail this but if someone knows how to fix that please send me a PM!

Anyway, thank you all for the inputs. We scheduled the install for early 2019, I told them they can start it whenever but I am going to pick it up on March 28. Convinced a buddy to fly up there with me and drive it back while camping in the van and getting a few ski days in

As for getting it up there, they said if I pay for expenses they could probably get someone to fly down to Phoenix to pick it up, and drive it up there for me. Not sure if I'll take them up on it, I would prefer to drive it up there and be there in person (and I know everyone is going to say that's a must) when I drop it off, but the reality of our family situation with a 1 and 3 year old, and my wife working means that would be pretty difficult to do. Still hoping to find a way, but we will see. Maybe the best bet is to let them drive it up there, then fly up to go over the "checklist" as they're getting it in.

We are planning to go see my sister in Eagle, CO about 90 minutes away that first night. We'll put it to the test, do some inspections nearby CCV before we go out that far in case there's something we need to get it back in for.

I really wish we could do this locally, so we'd have someone nearby to hold responsible if something goes awry (this thread has me a little scared that something will), but surprisingly there's not much in the way of van upfitters in the Phoenix area. I hope we're one of the lucky ones with 0 issues.

ndubes · 11-26-2018, 11:21 AM

So I dropped our van off at Action Van down in Mesa, AZ this morning for some smaller things - Espar heater, inverter/charger, solar, etc. And I started discussing the CCV pop-top install with them and I am leaning towards having them do it rather than taking it up to CCV. This way, if I have any issues I have someone local I can take it to rather than having to take it all the way back to CO (and I know others have had issues getting things fixed by CCV). I know CCV offers to ship them to DIYers, and I know I read a thread about someone else doing it themselves on here but I can't seem to find it now. I have a call in to 1der to pick his brain as well as a message in to CCV about a DIY kit but thought I'd solicit this thread with a few questions too:

a) anyone else had someone other than CCV do the install? If so how did it go?
b) I remembered in the thread that I can't seem to find that there was no instructions included with the top for the install
c) can someone post pictures or better yet create a dropbox of pictures showing the inside and outside of their pop-top? Particularly interested in how the AC looks finished. If there's truly no instructions for the install this might be the best we can get.

Appreciate all the help!

ndubes · 11-26-2018, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndubes

So I dropped our van off at Action Van down in Mesa, AZ this morning for some smaller things - Espar heater, inverter/charger, solar, etc. And I started discussing the CCV pop-top install with them and I am leaning towards having them do it rather than taking it up to CCV. This way, if I have any issues I have someone local I can take it to rather than having to take it all the way back to CO (and I know others have had issues getting things fixed by CCV). I know CCV offers to ship them to DIYers, and I know I read a thread about someone else doing it themselves on here but I can't seem to find it now. I have a call in to 1der to pick his brain as well as a message in to CCV about a DIY kit but thought I'd solicit this thread with a few questions too:

a) anyone else had someone other than CCV do the install? If so how did it go?
b) I remembered in the thread that I can't seem to find that there was no instructions included with the top for the install
c) can someone post pictures or better yet create a dropbox of pictures showing the inside and outside of their pop-top? Particularly interested in how the AC looks finished. If there's truly no instructions for the install this might be the best we can get.

Appreciate all the help!

Never mind just spoke with Ray and he talked me out of going this route

sounds like there are a lot of nuances to the install and I’m best off having Ccv install it for me.