Belafonte Reboot....Ambulance to 4x4 Camper Conversion

[tgreening]

Mine takes a couple switches to get going. Up front the Master switch has to be on, and up front there is also a "Patient HeAting/Cooling switch that has to be on, and THEN in the back there is the thermostat and low/medium/ high switches. One of those switches has to be on.

If all that is done, and I hold my tongue just right, the rear heat/AC works.

 

[bdog1]

Rural King had 134A for $3.99 a (12oz) can a week or two back, if you have one near you.

Hi side won't be much above 160 at your ambient temp. You mentioned getting warmer when stopped, check the fan/clutch for air flow. Vent temp. is apx equal to low pressure reading. If not check the blend doors. Maybe pinch off the heater hose to test it.


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT

 

[CLynn85]

Bump, any updates?

 

[tgreening]

Bump, any updates?

Not a tremendous amount. I've been working on stripping the vinyl and I've got it all except the cab. I just got started on residue and lordy what a pain that stuff is. I also just finished mounted up my ham rig. Nothing fancy, just an old dual band 2m/440 I had in my closet. Eventually I'd like to get an all-band HF rig in the back, but for now the dual bander is good. A lot of time and energy has been spent dealing with "boring" stuff. Electrical problem futzing with my dash lights. Non working A/C that suddenly became a priority when summer finally decided to make an appearance. Alternator adjustment bolt snapped off when adjusting the belt. Week or so later the alternator belt ate itself so I changed all the belts. Alternator voltage is now "pulsing" instead of showing a steady voltage. Blah, blah, blah.

Of course now that summer is here time is at a premium because we spend a lot of time traveling with the camper, so not much work gets done on anything. Home time is spent on home projects so they don't get out of control during our absence. I probably won't get any serious work done on it till Sept. when the kids get back to school. I'll be happy to get the box interior buttoned up the way I want it. The 4x4 stuff can come after.

 

[tgreening]

I actually accomplished a couple of things after getting home from this summers road trip. There is a Max Fan back in the box that had been wired up temporary, that I disconnected for some reason unremembered. I would imagine it was to un-tempify it, which I didn't. I ended up wiring it into the factory exhaust fan harness, and just disconnecting that noisy inefficient exhaust fan. Knowing what I do now I'd have just wired it direct and not bothered using the vans switch that turned the old fan on/off. Turns out the Max Fans stock switch defaults to "off" if power is removed, so the way it is now I have to flick the vans switch to on, then go back to the Max Fan and turn it on. I had assumed I would just be using the van switch to turn it on/off.

The other thing I did, and I'll get pics tomorrow, was to install a half doz of those fold down steps to use as a ladder. I'm not super happy with the functionality now that they're on there, but they'll do till I can figure something out. Feels like rock climbing (not an overly secure feeling) and you run out of steps once you get to the roof line, which means there is nothing else to grab on to finish getting up on the roof. Thinking of re-purposing one of the interior overhead grab bars up to the top of the roof. From and aesthetics standpoint I like them because they fold out of the way and don't stick out, literally or figuratively.

I also FINALLY found a set of lap belts at the pick a part that will work with my seats back there, though they be the wrong color. Can you dye those?

Plan now that summer is winding down is to start sourcing parts for the 4x4 conversion.

I have a bit of an electrical anomaly. I have 3 batteries, 2 detroit diesel big honkin batteries that start and feed the box. There is also 1standard type battery. These all run to a big switch in the box. Positions are Bank 1, Bank 2 (big batteries), Bank 1+2, or off. Bank 1+2 = everything charges and everything feeds the box. This is how I normally run.

Funky problem is this. Sometimes my volt gauges "pulse" instead of holding steady. The weird part is it is not consistent. Sometimes it will pulse at idle and then hold steady when I add rpm. Other times it's steady at idle and pulses when I add rpm. WTFudge? It's not the gauge because both gauges do it.

Eventual plan with the electrical is to dump the "car" battery, and replace it with 2 more of the big detroit diesels. Not a fan of different types/sizes of batteries in a system. I also want to replace my charger with one that will not only give a.c. and charge the batteries when plugged in, but also give me a.c. power out of the batteries when not. I don't expect to run an A/C unit or microwave a 5 star meal, but I would like to be able to nuke a burrito or cup of coffee or something when away from plug in power.

 

[Mwilliamshs]

I also FINALLY found a set of lap belts at the pick a part that will work with my seats back there, though they be the wrong color. Can you dye those?

Dyed seat belts are not a good idea in my opinion. Lots of dyes weaken the fabric in an attempt to make it more accepting of the dye. Like anti-rejection drugs for a transplant patient. I do a lot of outside the box stuff but for safety equipment, reward<risk.

Here are some nice lap belts (made in the U.S.A.) available in 29 colors (all the same price) and lengths up to 110 inches for as little as $13.95 each. ($ depends on length, longer = more $)

http://wescoperformance.stores.yaho...googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=62891892366

 

[patoz]

I agree, dying seatbelts is a bad idea and can weaken the nylon belt material and or the stitching.

When you replace your charger, it would benefit you to get an inverter/charger with the built in transfer switch. This is a safety device that prevents 12VDC and 120VAC from entering the device at the same time. We recently discussed this at length on the Black Ambo thread, if you want more info on what I'm talking about.

 

[flightcancled]

I have a D-ring in the roof at the top of the ladder which helps with the final transfer. The more you do it the more comfortable you get with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tgreening]

Ordered a set of 5 recentered H1 double beadlocks w/37" goodyears friday. Sweet baby jesus have those things gone up in price over 4 yrs. Paid almost $900 LESS 4 yrs ago for the same thing. Such is life. Going to finalize my order with Chris this week. i'm thinking of doing a pickup in person. He's not that far, saves a bit of shipping (though I'll more than burn up the savings in fuel), and I get to see the operation. Woot! Whats not to like?

But, I've pretty much burned the whole summer away traveling, and now it's time to get to work. Just in time for old man winter, and I'm not on the greatest of terms with him lately.

 

[cjken]

What back spacing did you go with?? 3.5?
That would probably put he rears where you want them. Maybe still a bit inset from the edge of the box correct?

 

[tgreening]

Got back to working on that seating area for passengers. I boxed in the open areas between and to the sides of the seats. The big one will be the center console with storage inside and a couple of cup holders on the top. The closest seat gets lucky and also has its own little mini console that will be done up the same way. I need to pick up a couple of hinges and some of that stuff they cover speaker boxes with (grey). Maybe a little bit of padding for the top of the lids? Not sure there. Anyway, I'll end up pulling the seats and covering that whole area 100%. Look best that way I believe.

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I had intended to raise that whole bench area so the seats when folded would be just below it's top surface. The bed platform which will fold up against the wall would then fold out and lay on top of the bench, using it for it's support. I decided that was more trouble than it was worth, so what you see is what I'll get, and I'll come up with another solution for supporting the sleeping platform.

Ken:

With the pressed center H1s you can have any backspace you want as long as it's 3.5". I should end up with my back tires just about where the current outters are, so yes recessed a bit, but I plan to ditch those "flares" back there which will make whatever recess there is less of an issue. I might reshape that opening anyway, so either way the flares would have to go.



And here's my stairway to heaven, hehe. Spacing got a bit funky at the top but...can't see it from the drivers seat so no worries. Can't remember exactly why it ended up that way but pretty sure I was stuck with it due to linkages and what-not inside the door. I still need to figure out what to do up at the top for a couple more hand holds.

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[patoz]

Tom, if you remove those rear fender flares don't trash them. One of mine is dented up and we might have to work out some kind of deal.

It's funny, all of you guys up north are worried about winter coming, and I'm waiting on winter to get here so I can get to work on mine. We're still hitting 93-95 degrees in the day time.

 

[tgreening]

Tom, if you remove those rear fender flares don't trash them. One of mine is dented up and we might have to work out some kind of deal.

It's funny, all of you guys up north are worried about winter coming, and I'm waiting on winter to get here so I can get to work on mine. We're still hitting 93-95 degrees in the day time.

It'll be awhile before they come off. I have to wait on the wheels to get here, and then I have to get it up in the air before they can go on. But you got dibs...

I get less interested in winter with each passing year. I hate having to wear layers of bulky clothes if I want to work on something outside. My new garage isn't insulated like my old one, and unfortunately I didn't have time to do it before having to stuff all my stuff inside. I loved that other garage. Four thousand square ft of insulated, IR heated goodness. Ah well. Zoning here won't let me get back to that much space, but I should be able to about double the space I have and I'll insulate when I get to that point. Till then I guess I'll just have to waste a cubic ***** load of kerosene and propane.

Btw, electrical gurus....Since winter is coming and my block heater has been unused since the tail end of last winter, it's only natural that upon first use the other morning it decided to start popping the gfi circuit on the outlet in the inverter. If I pull the connection right at the engine block the circuit doesn't pop anymore so I know there are no shorts in the cabling. Whatever the problem is has to be the heater element itself, wouldn't you think? Seems hard to believe since it is essentially just a heating element in there or at least I thought.

Any explanation how the element itself can short and start popping the gfi?

 

[patoz]

Tom,

Thanks for keeping me in mind when your fender flares come off. Since they are just bolt on items, they can be swapped out at any time.

I know what you mean about the bulky clothes, especially since I wear shorts, T-shirt, and sandals 11.5 months out of the year, and can't hardly move when I do have to wear winter clothes. But, at least you have a garage to work out of. All I have is the driveway, which is only two narrow strips of cracked concrete with sand and weeds in between. It's a major pain just to try and slide under a vehicle, much less jack it up.

We very seldom need to use a block heater here in Florida, but my ambulance does have the same setup as yours. The first thing I noticed is, you said it was plugged into the inverter. Normally, the block heater is plugged into a cord connected to the back of the Shore Power inlet via an inline switch and there is no reason for it to be plugged into the inverter at all, with one exception. If your inverter has a 12VDC automatic transfer switch built in, and a passthrough for the 120 VAC from Shore Power to the outlets when operating from Shore Power and not from the batteries, then it could be plugged in there.

 

[tgreening]

To be honest I'm not sure what electrical path the heater takes, but I'll describe better.

The heater is plugged into what looks like an extension cord do-dah under the hood. That runs somewhere to somewhere else I haven't tracked down. To turn the heater on/off there is a switch behind the drivers seat. Looks light a standard household light switch. My inverter do-dah has a cord that plugs into another extension cord looking thingy that runs to the inside of the ambo box and is connected somewhere up in all that electrical mess that runs everything.

On the front of the inverter are are a standard looking circuit breaker that turns it on/off, a little button type breaker that runs the dC side, and a two outlet gfi plug. There are two extension cord looking thingies plugged into that, that then run back to that electrical mess inside.

If I turn on the heater via the switch behind the seat the gfi button pops. If I unplug the block heater at the block, and flip the behind the seat switch, the gfi doesn't pop. Generally electricty and I don't get along much anymore, but I would assume that this means there are no shorts in the wiring between the heater element and the inverter. If I plug back into the heater it pops again. When I had it appart I sprayed both the connections with contact cleaner to remove any goop that might be making a short but it didnt help. It seems I cant get at it any better unless I pull the starter but I havent worked up that motivation yet.