Layout plan.

LooseRocks

Active member
I didn’t take any actual measurements (I will tomorrow morning). But I would guess that the hard plastic portion at the front of the cable would be shorter for the low base vs. the standard height base.
 

LooseRocks

Active member
I tried to measure it but I could only take the measurements from the bottom. The top portion was obscure by the brake handle. I can't say for sure but I do think its shorter (at least the plastic casing portion). I did find another issue. The combination of the shorter base and Eurocamper brake handle lowering kit makes the hard plastic cable covering push the rubber boot out the bottom. I didn't notice when I mounted the handle. There might not be a remedy for this since the handle is now so close to the floor and there's so little play the hard plastic cover doesn't have any room for give. It wants to push hard forward and squeeze the rubber boot out.

I noticed that you centered your panel in your rack. In your picture it looks like the awning sits proud of the panels. Would you move them more towards port given the height of the awning?
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
Thank you for the info. It seems that MB discontinued the cable for the folding handle with standard height base, it is only available for low height seat base. Based on this I will try to use the original cable. After installing the lowering handle kit I did trim the brake cover and it doesn’t interfere with the floor.

The central location of my panels is pretty much the consequence of the sequence of my work flow. I mounted my panels first, symmetry look good, and a few months later I installed the awning. In the hinds side they could be moved towards the port side. During harvesting from the starboard side the shading difference between panels center location versus the port side would be about 21 versus 26 degree altitude of shade-less harvesting.

George.
 

LooseRocks

Active member
I'll cheat my install to the port side.

I think original height + Eurocamper lowering kit = shorter base with OEM brake handle mounting point. This probably means you can use the shorter cable. It will probably make it the correct fit. The longer cable will fit but I think that you're going to run into the same issue I did with low base + lowering kit. The plastic portion of the cable will be too long and it will want to pinch the rubber boot out the bottom.

No harm in trying the longer first. You already own it and it only cost a bit of time.
 
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casmith32

Member
Recently I had a little time to get back to the Sprinter project and finished the shore power hook-up. Instead of using a popular 30A Marinco style twisting plug I decided to use a newer product, the SmartPlug with built in thermal protection and much easier insertion, the plug is self-aligned and no rotation is required. I still need to make a cable with SmartPlug female and RV 30A male.
The shore power inlet is mounted to the OEM hitch using McMaster Al junction box http://www.mcmaster.com/#75895k13/=px990m and http://www.mcmaster.com/#8302k191/=px99fs liquid tight cable grip. I drilled and tapped 2 holes (5/16”-20) on the hitch side plate and used sealant between the box and the hitch.

George.
Hi George - I'm planning on using smart plug now as well.. Was planning on the 50' 30amp cordset as well. But had to get the pigtail adapter to go from 30A male plug to 15A plug so I can use at the house. You've now got me wondering if I don't just go the other way, and buy a 10 or 12AWG extension cord and put the smartplug end on that; then just use a 15a to 30a adapter if ever needing to be at a RV park; I'd probably be on 15A service way more than 30a service. And I'm having 200-300W solar to boot.

thoughts ?
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
Hi George - I'm planning on using smart plug now as well.. Was planning on the 50' 30amp cordset as well. But had to get the pigtail adapter to go from 30A male plug to 15A plug so I can use at the house. You've now got me wondering if I don't just go the other way, and buy a 10 or 12AWG extension cord and put the smartplug end on that; then just use a 15a to 30a adapter if ever needing to be at a RV park; I'd probably be on 15A service way more than 30a service. And I'm having 200-300W solar to boot.

thoughts ?
If you need a 30A service you will need 30A cable. For home keeping it could be less expensive to add a 30A RV >15A adapter to that cord than a new 15A cord with additional SmartPlug.

While camping I strongly prefer using 30A outlets so we don’t have to think about exceeding 15A draw. If 30A outlet is not available I have an inexpensive adapter, but it is rare for me to use it. I am not sure I would want to have 15A and 30A cables on the camping trip.

I had an old marine cord with 15A plug on it to keep boat’s batteries charged up at home so I changed a 30A marine twist style plug to the SmartPLug for convenience of having this cable at home, but I only did it because I had that cable.

Just noticed that Camping World has SmartPlug RV cable with the inlet for $350, I bought the SmartPlug about 3 years ago when they were still in diapers, to grow so fast folks must be pleased with their product, I am.

George.
 

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
Hi George - I'm planning on using smart plug now as well.. Was planning on the 50' 30amp cordset as well. But had to get the pigtail adapter to go from 30A male plug to 15A plug so I can use at the house. You've now got me wondering if I don't just go the other way, and buy a 10 or 12AWG extension cord and put the smartplug end on that; then just use a 15a to 30a adapter if ever needing to be at a RV park; I'd probably be on 15A service way more than 30a service. And I'm having 200-300W solar to boot.

thoughts ?
George and I differ on this subject. Depends on your application if you need 15 amp or 30 amps. In my case without air conditioning, I see no need for a 30 amp connection and I avoid campgrounds with power anyway. Prefer to park on a city street. If I ever need shore power, it is more likely for me to have access to a 15 amp service than a 30 amp service.

I bought a Harbor Freight 12/3 extension cord and cut off the male end and hung it below the driver's door (where I can see it) about 8". Fished the other end up into the van. Put a hanger up under the body below the door so male end is out of site and can be unhooked without kneeling down. Unexpected side benefit is the connection when in use can be hooked up under van out of the weather.

I have a 300 watt panel and probably will never need to use a shore connection or my 120 volt AC from the vehicle powered inverter for charging. I have used the 15 amp shore connection as I build the conversion.
 

pfflyer

Well-known member
I'm in George's camp on this one. Easy to adapt to whatever you want and you can use more than 1 high amp item at a time if you are plugged in to 30amp. I use my 30 amp cord to plug in at home all the time to cool down the refrigerator. At 30amp service I would have to try hard to trip the breaker with what I use but have done it on 15 amp plug my first camping trip. I can see Dave's point if you will never use any high amp items. When you go to sell it there are more potential customers that need 30 amp though.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
................When you go to sell it there are more potential customers that need 30 amp though.
You bringing a valid point, folks do their DIYs primarily for 3 reasons:
- market doesn’t offer what they want,
- they like doing it,
- savings or combination of all above.

RVs, cars, or boats are not investments and never will be, but, there is an easy way for all of us DIYers to minimize the damage by thinking ahead and maximize a potential resale value. An easy way to potential savings is to ask how far into a market corner we want drive our conversions. More oddball a conversion becomes a group of the potential buyers goes down.

Good time to ask that question is during deciding between similar cost options, such as 15A or 30A service. Since my Westfalias 30-40 years ago where I used extension cords all of my RV and boats had 30A service, it is dominant in the market, it would be difficult to find an RV with 15A service only. If you plan a minimalistic conversion by all means a simple extension cord will do, it did for me 40 years ago.

George.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
It took me a while to select the right floor and we ended up with Mannington Commercial Magna Greystone vinyl floor with felt back http://www.manningtoncommercial.com/product/2108. Floor thickness is 0.080” and the heterogeneous vinyl top is 0.55” which is more than regular vinyl floors. I rejected all shiny surface linoleums do to slippery. Rubber was another option. It has COF >= 0.5 which is considered a slip resistance surface. See pdf. attached. https://www.nachi.org/inspecting-slip-resistant-flooring-commercial.htm

I am planning to use this adhesive http://www.floorexperts.ca/assets/doc/2001.pdf between the vinyl floor and the ¼” Thermo-lite Versatile fiberglass/foam board.

George.
 

Attachments

lukedog

Why Dogs Fly
I am still planning on loose lay vinyl. I wish it was not so heavy. Have you installed vinyl sheet before?
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
I am still planning on loose lay vinyl. I wish it was not so heavy. Have you installed vinyl sheet before?
Never work with a vinyl floor installation. I don't foresee too many problems but time will tell. My plan is to install vinyl floor on the sanded side of the pre-cut fiberglass foam board on a bench and lay it down in the van's floor after edge trimming. I could decide to split the fiberglass board to 2 pieces if the whole structure would be too heavy. The most difficult will be trim work at the sliding door for which I bought an extra grey plastic trim from the MB dealer.

The Space Age board is very stiff and it will be bolted down by the toilet module, the sofa bed module, and by the sliding door step edge trim.

George.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Don't remember the details of what would be at the edges of your floor (toe kickboards under cabinets?).

Thought--if you have one continuous piece of vinyl flooring, maybe make it into the shape of a huge shallow baking cookie pan where the vinyl flooring goes up the walls, toe kickboards, etc., to serve as a baseboard.

That way, there are no edges/cracks to sweep (no 90 degree corners but rounded corners). Water and other spillages would not disappear into the edges but would be contained.

Even if you just cut your vinyl sheeting one inch larger all the way around than your floor panels, would make a tiny trim/baseboard.

I think they even have metal edging or caps for the edges of the vinyl flooring which goes up the walls as a baseboard.

Also, could consider hiring job out to expert vinyl flooring installers. Would be like installing vinyl flooring for a small bathroom.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Disad: Continuous floor and baseboard could make removing things for repair more difficult--like installing an undercounter dishwasher then tiling the kitchen floor so can't pull dishwasher out without lifting it over thickness of tiles (and hopefully clearance space between top of dishwasher and countertop).
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
Don't remember the details of what would be at the edges of your floor (toe kickboards under cabinets?).
Thought--if you have one continuous piece of vinyl flooring, maybe make it into the shape of a huge shallow baking cookie pan where the vinyl flooring goes up the walls, toe kickboards, etc., to serve as a baseboard.
That way, there are no edges/cracks to sweep (no 90 degree corners but rounded corners). Water and other spillages would not disappear into the edges but would be contained.
Even if you just cut your vinyl sheeting one inch larger all the way around than your floor panels, would make a tiny trim/baseboard.
I think they even have metal edging or caps for the edges of the vinyl flooring which goes up the walls as a baseboard.
Also, could consider hiring job out to expert vinyl flooring installers. Would be like installing vinyl flooring for a small bathroom.
Thank you for your feedback. All my cabinets are constructed from the 8020 aluminum frame sitting directly on the factory passenger van floor. Because it is just a cabinet frame there is no cabinet floor and in most places I can access the floor in case of a spill. In the same way I am planning to install these modules on the new floor.

Disad: Continuous floor and baseboard could make removing things for repair more difficult--like installing an undercounter dishwasher then tiling the kitchen floor so can't pull dishwasher out without lifting it over thickness of tiles (and hopefully clearance space between top of dishwasher and countertop).
My fridge is above the floor, there are 6 screws attaching front vertical flanges so removal of the fridge is trivial, after removal of the 4 screws I can slide out the fridge. It takes about 5 minutes to remove the galley, all electrical connections are through quick connectors, hot and cold water via quick connectors and I need to remove hose clamp for the drain line.

George.
 

Attachments

Goldenraf

New member
Thank you for your feedback. All my cabinets are constructed from the 8020 aluminum frame sitting directly on the factory passenger van floor. Because it is just a cabinet frame there is no cabinet floor and in most places I can access the floor in case of a spill. In the same way I am planning to install these modules on the new floor.



My fridge is above the floor, there are 6 screws attaching front vertical flanges so removal of the fridge is trivial, after removal of the 4 screws I can slide out the fridge. It takes about 5 minutes to remove the galley, all electrical connections are through quick connectors, hot and cold water via quick connectors and I need to remove hose clamp for the drain line.

George.
George
Really nice build George, what 80/20 trusts you used? 1"?
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Very clever to use quick disconnects so can remove cabinet and parts (e.g., fridge, water supply) easily.

Sometimes, it seems engineers forget about ease of access and repair.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
George
Really nice build George, what 80/20 trusts you used? 1"?
With the exception of the swing out table built from the 8020 Quick Frame extrusions all other extrusions are 15” series – 1.5" in multiple profiles. All of my modules are primarily attached to the floor (except overhead cabinets) so for crash proof design I picked 1.5”. The complete frame strength is related to beams strengths but also to t-slot attachments/joints strength. At some points I used double attachments, such as internal angle and an end connector. The strength of 15 series joints is considerably stronger than 10 series joints. For overhead cabinets I used anchors, the strongest fastener, in order to keep the assembly very strong, I explained why in an earlier post.

I completely relied on the strength of 8020 frames, my fill panels are floating and not provide any strength, in the back side of cabinets I don’t have any fillers. If you would choose to use filler panels for added strength than likely 1” extrusion would be OK, I considered this type of the design but did not like the aesthetics of external bolts and exposed edges, but I am sure it can be done. If you plan to use floor and walls to attached your cabinets than 1” could be sufficient.

Dave coached me earlier that it is much easier to work with one size profile versus multiple sizes to keep your fasteners, bolts, nuts inventory reasonably simple to manage, I absolutely agree.

George.
 

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