What did you do to your SMB today?

[scatter]

Did two things yesterday. First off I installed a front license plate. Don't really know why I did it as I haven't had a front plate on one of my rigs for over fifteen years. Guess I was bored....

The main thing I did was to upgrade my headlights. The stock ones are the worst headlights I have ever had on a vehicle!! The only thing that has saved me is that we don't drive it much after dark. Like to have set up camp by then. Anyway, I didn't want to put in a higher wattage bulb due to the higher current draw and the heat issues. So, thot I'd give the Xenon HID puppies a try. Went for a drive last nite and WOW - I can see said the blind man!! I'm suprised these suckers don't start roadside fires from all the light. Lots of lumens out to the side too. Several cars passed me and no one flicked their high beams so I guess they are OK from that point of view. On that note, from what I've heard, these are not street legal unless installed directly by the vehicle manufacturer. So I, like everyone that installs these, only drive off-road.
There are two ways to go on this, a Lo/Hi setup or bi-xenon HID. The Lo/Hi uses HID for the Lo beam and standard halogen for Hi. Seems backward to me, but what do I know. I got these at first and the Hi beams really didn't work well. Worse then stock. So I switched over to the bi system which is HID for both Lo and Hi. Kind of a weird setup, as it's just one bulb and an electromagnet. When you switch from Lo to Hi, the magnet kicks in and changes the angle of the bulb to give you Hi beams.
Installation is plug and play with the only hassle being finding a place to mount the ballasts. I ended up putting them behind the front grill at the outer edges where they don't block air flow.
Bottom line is that with only one night drive with them, they are one of the best upgrades I've done.
I got mine from Kensun and delt with Sam. This guy was SUPER to say the least. I had some problems (my fault, not Kensun's) and he came thru right away. Even sent me some expensive parts free of charge, including shipping. Can't ask for more then that from a seller. He sells both the Lo/Hi and the bi-xenon and the costs are Lo/hi @ $95 and the bi @ $150. Best way to go is contact him via email at "sam@kensun.com" I emailed him a lot and he always got back to me within ten minutes. If you're going this route, one other thing you'll need to consider is the color of light you want. Kensun's come in 4k, 6k, 8k, and 10k. This is not light output, but wave length. The 4k is pretty much like sunlight and as you go up to the 10k the color seems purple. I got the 6k and am happy with it. The higher numbers are really a fashion statement as actual useful light decreases. I'd stick with the 4k or 6k.
And no, I don't have any connection with Kensun. I just got a product I like and got some real help, advice and parts from a great vendor.

[deminimis]

Good work Scat!

I tackled, again, my cracked grey water tank. Take notes kids. I need to buy a plastic welder for other apps, but I read up on repairing ABS quite a bit. Different ways to tackle an ABS repair short of using a plastic welder. Very common is to gather ABS shavings and put them in a container with acetone. After some mixing time, you should have yourself a nice slurry or paste (based upon how many shavings vs. acetone). That's home-brew ABS glue and it works great, according to what I've read. Option two is the little bit lazier option I took yesterday. I cleaned the area (including between the crack) with solvent (actually used Chemtool carb cleaner as out of acetone). The solvent cleans the ABS and softens it as well (similar to the purple cleaner when fitting PVC pipes -chemically melts the ABS). After the ABS was clean and soft, I used Oately ABS pipe glue (Home Depot, etc) in the crack and surrounding area. Clamped it all together and after a couple of hours, all seems good. Time will tell, but I think its fixed for good because of the good mechanical and chemical bonds. I did a test area just because. What I found was that for ten minutes or so, I could dig into the glued area with a fingernail and scoop out a bit of plastic (which included the glue and the orig ABS -the stuff had melted into one entity...I'll stop the world and melt with you.... Now you children of the 80's will have that song in your head for the rest of the day, ha! But I digress)). After the test area dried, I couldn't dig into the glued area with a fingernail (hard as the orig ABS surface), nor could I separate the Oatley ABS glue from the orig ABS surface. Tada! That test area was just on a flat surface (the weakest bond). I suspect the prepped, glued and clamped crack should be considerably stronger than that. We'll see.

[b and j]

I installed a scangauge, had an exhaust temp gauge installed & mounted my outback air under the van and ran a hose up by the water/elec. hatch. I also did most of the torque maintenance.

[saabman]

Hi All

Fitted my roof cargo rack and tested th position of my solar panel.
this is a small panel for backing up the van battery until I invest in a better setup.







For those who worried about my awning setup it hasn't budged so far... check all the nuts/bolts and where as tight as a tick

[NRL]

More updates, you kinda lose track of time spent after awhile:

Thermal Curtains - peek proof wrapped



Led directionals Lights and Penthouse Collapsable brace (chopped cargo brace) wind support





Flooring ReDo - Allure Walnut (not realz)

[yvrr]

Replaced the CO monitor. This would have been a non-reported, simple "plug and play" chore but my original (2001) detector was made by CCI and they are out of business. The closest I could find was one from Safe T Alert but it measured 5-3/4 wide by 2-5/8 high compared to my old one which was 5-3/4 wide by 2-1/2" high. I gave a lot of thought about how to widen the hole but it turned out to be fairly simple. After taping plastic up to catch the sawdust and cutting/pulling the fabric out of the way, I was able to use a jigsaw with a metal-cutting blade (which was short enough to not go too deep) to make the cuts. Basically, you need to "plunge" cut on your new line. A wood chisel helped get the wood out of the hole.

BTW, I purchased my new CO monitor from http://www.rvshop.com/ (no association, etc.) They are very fast and shipped the following business day (I ordered over a weekend). I purchased a new gas door from them a few months ago and I got it right away too. Although they are obviously aiming at Class A RVs, their service has been very good.

[NRL]

Hooked up the Watts-Up Meter inline from Solar Controller connected to the two 130W Solar panels to measure the Amps/Watts going into the 8D AGM. When there is no voltage flowing, the meter just goes dead.. I've starting to see better amps produced as Summer rolls around..as much as 14amps if I recall at high noon.

I also recommend the Fridge Temperture Gauge, it usually shows 37 Degrees, but I had just stocked it up full of beers.

Also added a new Low-Level CO Monitor from CO- Experts

[deminimis]

I spent $927 having a new HPOP installed.

[scatter]

So deminimis, did the new HPOP solve your problem???

[deminimis]

Originally Posted by scatter

So deminimis, did the new HPOP solve your problem???

It did solve the problem. Back on the road!