A new vario project

[part time nomad]

XADO EX120 I put some of this in my gearbox and transfer box,

almost instant improvement, and it says up to 1000km before full effect! the gear chatter/vibration on overrun has been reduced by 60% after 100 miles

may even get some to treat the diffs.

 

[docka]

Thanks for the tip, might try that.

 

[part time nomad]

I have fitted air bags to the front of mine to work as an air assist, that is adjustable from inside the cab, I run them at about 1.5 to 2 bar the ride comfort is greatly improved when inflated, it puts some bounce back into the springs and you can adjust it to your liking.

I have some more air bags for the rear, but I am struggling to find a suitable way to mount them, retaining the bump stops! but I have just come back from visiting the commercial vehicle show, and when they fit air assist bags to the suspension they do away with the bump stops and just substitute them with air bags, that makes sense as the bag then replace`s & acts as a bump stop.

I picked up a neat twin needle gauge and 2 air switches front/rear push up to increase & down to decrease. When I get the inspiration & time I will start the fabrication of the brackets.

I am sure it will improve the ride comfort and stop the rear end crashing about!

 

[part time nomad]

Just fitted an awning! decided to go for a Dometic one, its 4.5m wide & projects 2.75m because of the height, I went for the electric version with a wireless remote it makes it a lot easier to put up on your own in the wind. it also comes with led lights.

 

[part time nomad]

I have found a way to fit the air bags to assist the rear springs! I have fabricated some brackets, top and bottom and sent them away to be plated, :jumping::jumping::jumping::jumping::

 

[Anton2k3]

This thread needs more photos!

 

[Squiddlydiddly]

Interesting. I am thinking of adding rear airbags too. Please can you keep us informed? Thanks in advance,

 

[part time nomad]

I have started a new thread "Mercedes vario air suspension" but I will try to copy it in here as well.

 

[part time nomad]

This is the right hand side front air bag,
As you can see I had to reposition the reflex bump stop slightly further back, to make room for the air bag to be fitted close to the centre of the spring.

Originally the air bag was just on a saddle over the top spring leaf, but it moved about slightly when cornering, and you could hear it in the cab.
So I have just made a modification, that involved removing the `U` bolts and clamping a 3mm plate that is welded to the saddle between the top of the spring and the bump stop plate.

As you can see it is still work in progress as the `U` bolts are not yet tightened.

Right front spring

This is how the bottom was originally fitted

Last edited by part time nomad; Today at 10:07 AM.

 

[part time nomad]

The front and rear air suspension is now fitted.

The details can be seen on the separate thread

Mercedes vario air suspension MERCEDES VARIO AIR SUSPENSION

 

[part time nomad]

Is there any electrical wiz kids out there?

I run a voltage dropper 24 to 12 it runs at 25 amps and peaks at 35 amps, but I have blown 2 units (Alfatronix) leaving me with no 12 volt power! I have now replaced it with a much larger 80 amp unit.

On thinking about the units blowing, on both occasions they blew when I was lowering the electric bed. It only draws 15.5 amp max when lifting, and is protected by a 20 amp fuse that has never blown!

I have a small 12volt led clock wired in and located by the bed, it also does temperature and voltage, It happened to be in the voltage mode, and at 12.8 volts as regulated by the dropper.
When I lowered the bed, that seems to drop fairly quickly, I noticed that the voltage shot up to 19 volts!

Now! my limited thinking is, when the bed is dropping, ie: motor energised, electronic brake off! the motor actually turns into a generator run by the weight of the bed assembly. Thus upping the voltage and back feeding a 19 volt spike into the dropper (that it can not handle)

In an attempt to fix this, I have fitted an inline blocking diode on the feed wire, now the voltage doe not rise when lowering the bed,
hopefully now all will be fine.!

Can anyone tell me if It is feasible ? or am I talking B*****s ?

 

[docka]

sounds feasible to me.

 

[ianc]

Electric motors can cause all sorts of noise on the feed and particularly with that kind of load. Plus they can cause big current spikes when starting. Have you considered a battery on the 12v side to smooth things out?

 

[part time nomad]

Yes, I have an emergency back up! that I can swap to, a feed direct from one battery, but if I can I would like to run everything through the dropper so It all runs off both batteries.

 

[ianc]

If I understand what you are saying - You're using the 24v truck battery setup to:
a) Pull 12v via the dropper for house stuff such as the bed
b) sometimes pull 12V off just one of the batteries in emergencies etc

You don't have a separate 12V battery set-up?