Top to Bottom Begins

[moorefc]

Originally Posted by boywonder

Merlin's grease looked much the same as that.....

Perhaps I should grease my manual top. I was thinking of replacing the plywood there with HDPE/LDPE etc.

Maybe a few coats of wax on the plywood.......

Electric tops are very slow (~1min up), so can creak...Slippery usually is better, but if the top is balanced, I have left manual tops partially up relying on the friction to hold it. Usually manual tops get tossed up...That you miss with the electric. FWIW

[MerlinG]

The penthouse wires appear to be low voltage wires used on out door lighting. I was going to replace it with correct colored 18 or 16 gauge wire in a wire cover but was wondering if this would be an issue when the top opens or closes? Maybe they used the low voltage wire because it's more flexible? Since both my front and rear wires were cut I don't know how the wires collapse and expand when the top is raised and lowered. Do they just tuck into the canvas or is there something I need to keep in mind as I rewire it?

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by MerlinG

The penthouse wires appear to be low voltage wires used on out door lighting. I was going to replace it with correct colored 18 or 16 gauge wire in a wire cover but was wondering if this would be an issue when the top opens or closes? Maybe they used the low voltage wire because it's more flexible? Since both my front and rear wires were cut I don't know how the wires collapse and expand when the top is raised and lowered. Do they just tuck into the canvas or is there something I need to keep in mind as I rewire it?

I would toss the malibu light wire..............perhaps they use that because it's cheap.

The wires don't need to be super-flexible. Standard issue automotive wire will work fine. The SMB factory setup uses a split plastic wire loom to get from the van roof to the PH roof; I used 3/4" wire braid.....just because I wanted a cleaner look. Most vans have the vertical run on the passenger side rear corner or the driver's side front corner.

..and of course you'll need conductor(s) for the CHMSL (center high-mounted stop light) and the ceiling lights.

Consider running some solar panel wires while you are at it. Just leave them behind the headliner. Solar wires are usually 10ga with a thick UV resistant jacket, but they aren't very stiff. If you decide to add solar later you'll be glad you ran them.

[MerlinG]

Thanks boy wonder. Brake light test today confirmed my assembly is good (replaced the bulbs and cleaned the assembly prior to PH ceiling removal a couple weeks ago) so I'll be using correct wires in that setup. I'm going to remove the low voltage wire and replace with standard red / black wire in plastic or braided conduit. I'll be adding pics later but that connection is on passenger rear side of the PH

The PH light connection comes from behind the drivers seat and goes through a 10 amp fuse. I'll be converting those to standard wires as well and run them to a dimmer switch at the rear of the PH that will control LED strip lights I plan to run along all the outside edges of the PH.

Planning to add a similar setup in the area under the PH that will replace the old school stand alone lamps. Going to add LED strip lights on passenger and driver side with a on/off dimmer switch at the barn doors. It's going to require some patching and rewiring and I'll post pics and info as I get to them.

[Scalf77]

I believe they just used good old standard lamp cord for all the connections light connections going to the penthouse top. I don't really know why, other than it would have more sheathing and maybe is a RVIA rule. I went with standard wires and split wire loom, I use Flame Retardant Split Loom It is much better than the standard stuff at Home Depot. It can be found at standard marine shops.

If you are going outside the penthouse, make sure you make some room on your furring strip at the corners. If you plan on doing solar panels in the future you will want room for those also.

If you installed the brake light back the way it came (incoming wires facing up) I would think about drilling some weep hole in the bottom corners.

As you have found the power path is is via the fuse at the DS corner. The ground wire for the top lights will be attached to the van metal. SMB uses the van body for the ground return path in a lot of places. The positive side of the fuse is attached to the 10-Awg 30-amp passenger side circuit with crappy quick splices. So now is a good time to consider changes in that.

have fun

-greg

[MerlinG]

Van came with a string of LEDs with a cigarette connection that was meant to connect to the awning and had white / amber setting. I'd like to do the same with the LEDs I want to setup in the PH and lower section. I'd like the ability to set the light to warm light or amber as it seems amber minimizes bug attraction. Do the RGB strips allow for warm white to amber settings or is there something else to be looking for?

[boywonder]

Not sure if white/amber is readily available...but check out these guys...they have lots of choices.


https://www.superbrightleds.com/home2

[Scalf77]

You can find RGB + white in a warm white at superbrightleds. I have a dual white and yellow strip in my van. I don't believe it is warm white. For the life of me I can't remember where I got them but are available.

-greg

[MerlinG]

Thanks all, been lookin on super bright site and figured the RGB+ White may allow for setting the lights to amber but it isn't completely clear what controller, ect may be needed. I'm shooting for a static controller like a light switch in the ceiling and lower section so the can be controlled separately with regards to color and dimming. I'd prefer not to have to use remote controls or phone apps. We'll see what I can figure out.

[MerlinG]

Wish I was further along but my LED track order was damaged so I had to re-order and the Duotex showed up yesterday. Here's some pics of it and what the small front panel looks like.







I simply laid the old panel over the Duotex with a piece of cardboard underneath it, knelt on the plywood panel and used a sharp new shop blade to cut it out. I went slow and it was very easy to cut once the first full cut to the cardboard was made. The pics above show it in place being held by the two roof bolts and a temporary small piece of velcro on the furring strip and Duotex.

Without all my lighting pieces I can't finalize what I plan to do in order to see what adjustments I may need to make using this for the ceiling. I plan to install narrow/thin LED tracks. The tracks come with clips that I will screw through the ceiling and into the furring strip and the track will hang from these. So that should take care of attaching the outside of the ceiling. Still don't know if I will run tracks on the front and back sections. Velcro may be an option in those areas but I'm concerned the adhesive will end up giving out at some point. Either way, the material is rigid, but it may need additional support from left to right to eliminate sagging. Again, I won't know specifics until I get the tracks and have a chance to play around with it. I will be replacing the two plastic seam pieces with something like a thin 1 inch wide piece of aluminum that I will paint black and screw into the roof. I'm trying to avoid screws in other locations but I may end up having to run furring strips left to right if there are sagging issues. I won't know for sure until I get the bar panels back in to see if there will be any issues.

One question...do I need to reinstall the reflexix that was up there? It was just laying on top of the old plywood panels so not sure if it was really providing any benefit.