Sitzbank in Dinette umbauen

Wir hatten eine recht nutzlose Sitzbank in unserem Frankia und meine Frau ist auf die Idee gekommen, sie rauszureißen und einen Boden einzuziehen, so daß wir einen Stuhl und einen Tisch nutzen können.

Ein Problem waren die verschiedenen Geräte, die in der Bank waren. Das Solar-Ladegerät, der zentrale Stromverteiler mit den Sicherungen und der Inverter für 220Volt mussten umgesetzt werden. Dann sind die Rohre der Heizung, die auch umgelegt werden mussten. Der Sicherungskasten für 220V musste bleiben, da ne Menge Kabel da reingehen.

Hier ist nun schon die Sitzbank ausgebaut.

Die Wand habe ich auch gleich gestrichen.

Die Elektronik wandert auf den Boden

Die neue Bodenplatte wird eingebaut, sie liegt auf 5 Stempeln. Da in der Mitte Platz für die Gartenmöbel gelassen werden muss, schwingt es noch etwas durch.

Die alte Front wird als Abschluss eingebaut, dahinter liegt der Heizungsschlauch. Das Solar-Ladegerät wandert nach außen.

Das Seitenteil der Bank habe ich versetzt, so können wir jetzt Flaschen reinstellen.

Da ich die Teile der Bank wiederverwendet habe und die Bodenplatte noch rumliegen hatte, hat der ganze Umbau nur Zeit, aber kein Geld gekostet.

Sammlung von Campgrounds

RV Solar Panel Installation

I have installed a 100W Solar Panel to charge our Batteries.
I bought the set, including  Panel, Charge Controller and 2 MC4 Connectors on eBay for around $150.

Following instructions on the Internet I put the wire through the fridge vent. That was a good choice.

I bought thick wires at Home Depot.

Here are the parts and tools.

I connected the MV4 Adapter to the wire.

The brackets attached to the panel.

I unscrewed the cover of the fridge vents and put the wire through the cover. It was a bit tricky getting the wires through.

I have selected a place at the rear behind the fridge vent, because it has the least wind when I drive and the wire is not so long.

Here an overview.

Now the brackets are screwed into the roof. I used a lot of chalk, so that no water can get into the roof (hopefully).

The white wire is coming from the roof. I had to drill a small hole, so the wire can run into the RV. Everything is covered with a lot of chalk afterwards.

This is the solar converter. I have installed it in the electric compartment. It is directly wired into the points where the batteries are connected.

Here are the wires coming through the vent after it’s reattached. The screws are covered with chalk again.

This is the finished installation.

RV in Winter

Heating

RV’s don’t have a good insulation. When the temperature gets below 10°C it is getting cold inside too.

Basically there are two sources of heat: your gas furnace and electric heaters. If you stay with a campground on a daily or weekly rent, the electric energy is usually included in your rent. On a monthly base it is not. Which means if you travel around it’s cheaper to use electric energy, if you are staying a longer time it is a good question, use electric or gas energy to run the heating.

With electric heating it is the question, which technology to choose. There are fan based heaters and there are radiators. We have both. I like the radiator when it is not so cold. It gives up even heat and makes no noises. I put it in the bedroom at night and under the dinette table at day, so I am close to the heat. The fan heater comes as a secondary heater when the temperatures drop another 10°C.

From my experience one electric heater can raise the temperature around 5°-10°C, so when it’s -5°C outside you need two heaters to get 15°C inside. Of course it’s worse at night when temperatures drop and the sun cannot help heating the RV.

 

The Problem in running 2 heaters are the fuses. Our rig has 30amp total and we have two separate 15AMP circuits. If we put one heater on each circuit and let them run with 70% power we are fine. If we want to use a portable water boiler or the coffee maker, than we have to turn of the heater on the connected circuit. Sometimes the fuse blows even if we didn’t use another device. It might be the water heater turning on, so you never can be sure if the fuse blows, especially at night when you sleep. So the furnace should be turned on with a thermostat level low enough so it doesn’t kick on when the electric fans are working, but high enough so it can work as a fall back when the fuse blows at night and you don’t want to freeze in your beds.

To help with the low Amperes of the RV is to check the post of the campground where you connect your power cord. Often the post has another connector for 110V. Here you can hook up one of the heaters, so your rig has the full 30AMPS for usage.

If you have to pay for electricity here are some calculations. When I ran both heaters they used around 100kWh per 24 hours. The price at that campground was 15cent per kWh, so heating would be around $15 per day. I didn’t try, but I would estimate that a propane tank would heat the rig for maybe two days, one filling is around $20. So the price seems to be even between gas and electric.

 

Water

Sewage

Installing a Rear View Camera

Installing a Rear View Camera on a 5th Wheel Trailer.

Our F250 has a full size Radio Slot, so we decided to install a Car Stereo with a Screen for a Rear View Camera and hook up a Camera at the Rear of our RV.

Parts

Car Stereo $150

Camera $7

Audio Cable 30 Feet $20

Switch $1

Female Cinch $1

Car

I installed the Car Stereo in the original mount in the Dash. The radio was slightly larger than the opening, so I had to cut some of the plastic to get the Radio in.

The stereo plays DVD’s, but only if you connect the cable to ground, it plays when you are driving.

I put the wiring for the camera through the wall into the engine compartment. From there I brought it to the end of the truck.

With the Stereo you cannot turn the Rear view camera on and off, so I had to install a switch in den dashboard, that opens the wire to the camera. Otherwise I would only see the “NO VIDEO SIGNAL” picture.

I unscrewed the Socket for the RV connection and put the cable through it. Then I put the socket back on.

RV

I secured the Camera with Silicon, to avoid drilling holes in the RV

The camera needs 12v. Because I didn’t want to install another wire, I took the power from the lights, so the camera only works when the lights are on.

It’ saver to drive with light anyway.

I put the Chinch cable under the RV and secured it where the pipes and oher parts are.

RV Checklist

Attached is a Checklist for my 5th Wheel.
You might find it useful.
Trailer Towing CheckList