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

[rlrenz]

I agree on the in-line fuse - I have one in my Medic Master, located right behind the module panel. You might want to contact Wheeled Coach - if they have the vehicle job number, they could probably provide a wiring diagram. There will probably be some changes, but it should help you a lot.

 

[NEPolarbear]

Below was my contact to get the wiring diagram for my 1991 e450 from Wheeled Coach.
They emailed me the pdf of the layout.

http://www.wheeledcoach.com/contact/contact-info.htm

 

[tgreening]

Thanks to ALL for the advice and direction on tracking down my electrical problem. After spending the past night freaking like a girl without a prom date, I took a deep breath and started with the obvious, looking over everything I could see. And it paid off. Everything at the panel on the doghouse looked fine, so I headed back into the box to look over all that gunk, and found a relay whose ground connector had become disconnected. Nothing about the labeling screamed "I'm your problem!", but a disconnected wire was a good place to start. Plugged it back on to its spade connection and I was back in business. It really popped on there too, so I'm a little confused as to how it came off. When it's all said and done though I'd REALLY lke to dump that mess on the dog house and replace all those switches with something similar to the upfitter switches in the Ford super duty trucks.


NEPolarBear: How long ago did this take place? If I recall the PO of this vehicle went to Wheeled Coach for electrical help and they told him he was on his own, they didn't keep build
records of vehicles that far back (1992).


Now for the more funner-er stuff. Got my microwave stuffed into its new home. I have to give a little bit of boost height wise so the door will clear the cabinet opening, but that will be a piece of cake. I'll remove the blacked out sliders from the frame and re-install it so it has a more finished look.

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And the absolute MOST important piece of gear for anything that is supposed to "camper-ish".

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I tell my kids that's gasoline for mommies and daddies.

And guess what this is!

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Still waiting on the springs/u-bolts, wheel spacers, and my stinkin tires, but it's moving forward. Woot!

 

[flightcancled]

Had nearly the same thing happen to my rig. You figured it out way faster than me though! Still feel sheepish about it.

If you wouldn't mind while you're doing your conversion, I still haven't seen anyone give even a ballpark of the cost of an ambo conversion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tgreening]

I've done a lot of builds, of various kinds, and I learned long ago to not bother keeping track of the cost. For me it was something I was either going to do, or not. Knowing the cost really just makes things more difficult. But....

For the ambo I'm going to hazard a guess and say you're looking at an easy $10k-$12k, and that's doing your own grunt work. Ballpark of $5k-ish just for the basic kit. Rebuilding and adapting a transmission, figure at least $1,500. Transfer case, used, $500-$600. Even if you buy an axle on the cheap odds are it'll need around $1k of maintenance. Calipers, unit bearings, hubs a strong possibility in the model years recommended. I've got $2,300 in tires and rims. Military take-offs and recenter H1 rims. Rims are fairly pricey at about $250 a pop, modified and powdercoated. Shocks, xfer case linkages and mount, etc etc. I think that 10-12 is a pretty good guess. I'm sure you can save if you shop long enough. Maybe find a 4x4 tranny/xfer case that'll bolt up and put off rebuilding. Same with an axle, etc, but I lack that much patience so....

Now I need to go get a quick memory wipe so I can forget all the above so it doesn't start depressing me.

Damn the cost, full speed ahead. One part at a time if necessary. Just stay focused on the end game.

 

[cjken]

Belafonte Reboot....

Haha. I was disappointed that my inverter would not run my full sized Kureg coffee maker.
Had to settle for a hotpot and a french press for my x-country trip.

I'm really excited to see your build. I was headed that same direction with my black ambo, but got derailed when I stumbled upon the unit 308 cab and chassis. At just under 10k for an already 4x4 46,000 mile 7.3 power stroke it just made sense to go that route.
I was looking forward to the process and satisfaction of working through the u-joint build process.
I had good luck with a previous Quigley so it did not bother me that unit 308 was a q-van even though it may compromise off-road ability.

 

[tgreening]

Haha. I was disappointed that my inverter would not run my full sized Kureg coffee maker.
Had to settle for a hotpot and a french press for my x-country trip.

I'm really excited to see your build. I was headed that same direction with my black ambo, but got derailed when I stumbled upon the unit 308 cab and chassis. At just under 10k for an already 4x4 46,000 mile 7.3 power stroke it just made sense to go that route.
I was looking forward to the process and satisfaction of working through the u-joint build process.
I had good luck with a previous Quigley so it did not bother me that unit 308 was a q-van even though it may compromise off-road ability.

Dang, didn't think about that! On that subject though, I can only run the pot (or microwave) when plugged in to shore power. Doesn't an inverter change DC to AC? Mine doesn't do that. All it does is charge the batteries when plugged in and I "think" just pass through the house AC to some circuits in the box.

I don't blame you for the Quigley. It's not a whole lot different from some factory systems out there, except maybe for some of the proprietary parts I hear they us. Looks a lot better than that Pathfinder setup. Good lord what were those people thinking.

 

[patoz]

NEPolarBear: How long ago did this take place? If I recall the PO of this vehicle went to Wheeled Coach for electrical help and they told him he was on his own, they didn't keep build
records of vehicles that far back (1992).

I tried contacting them also for electrical info on my 1993 vehicle, by email and on Facebook. I got no reply to my email at all, and a "I'll get back to you on that." on Facebook, but never heard anything. I'll try again using NEPolarBear's link and see what happens. The guy on Facebook asked me for the 'short VIN' or last eight numbers of the VIN, so if anyone else tries to contact them, you might want to include that in your message.

 

[cjken]

Dang, didn't think about that! On that subject though, I can only run the pot (or microwave) when plugged in to shore power. Doesn't an inverter change DC to AC? Mine doesn't do that. All it does is charge the batteries when plugged in and I "think" just pass through the house AC to some circuits in the box.

You must have a converter not an inverter.
That is how my black ambo works.
When I got it they said they were going to keep some items. I asked that they leave the inverter in. When I got there to pick it up they told me that it did not have an inverter but gave me one from another truck that they were dismantling. I saved the one they gave me and put it in the 4x4 ambo. It works well, but which it was a bit bigger so I could run my coffee maker without being plugged in. It functions as a charger/ ac pass through when plugged in. There is a switch to activate the ac when running on battery power. Not sure how efficient it is. I turn the switch off when not using ac power.

 

[NEPolarbear]

Below is the sender's email that sent me the pdf of the electrical layout.
Don't remember which ID #'s I had to read to him to get to the vehicle, but he knew that it was a GSA box.

don.estabrook@us-ambulance.com

 

[rlrenz]

Congratulations on finding the relay lead!

If you want to trim the edges around the microwave, go into the McMaster web site. They have aluminum extrusion trim identical to what the ambulance builders use in 3-4' lengths. Part number 1104A62 is 3/16" x 1/2", and 1104A93 is 11/64 x 3/4".

 

[rlrenz]

Most ambulances have a Vanner 20-1050CUL inverter, and you are limited to 1050 watts output, plus a surge of 2100 watts for 3 seconds. I'm facing the same problem with my ambulance - my wife also has a Kurig. I'm wondering if they make a 240 volt Kurig for Europe, and if they do, could I put a 240 volt European element into my 120 volt Kurig? A 240 volt element running at 120 volts would only pull 1/4 the wattage, so if the 250 volt element is rated at 1500 watts(??), it would only pull 375 watts at 120 volts. This would let it make a cuppa, but it would take a while to heat the water

 

[NEPolarbear]

Speaking of inverters microwaves, I need an education.
Looking for a small micro to justheat up coffee. (800 - 1000 watts)

Been told that most micros will trip the inverter.
Read somwhere about a "low power" type of unit.

Thanks for any info.

Any advice

 

[rlrenz]

Most ambulances have a Vanner 20-1050CUL inverter, and you are limited to 1050 watts output, plus a surge of 2100 watts for 3 seconds. I'm facing the same problem with my ambulance - my wife also has a Kurig.

The Kurig web site says:

"Keurig home brewers use the most power during their initial startup. When heating for the first time after being off, peak usage is 1,500 watts. If the power is kept on, the brewer will keep the internal tank up to temperature using between 200 – 400 watts when heating. While idle and not maintaining heat, the brewer will use the average electricity of a 60 watt light bulb."

I wonder if it would be possible to disconnect the high wattage start-up feature?

 

[rlrenz]

Speaking of inverters microwaves, I need an education.
Looking for a small micro to justheat up coffee. (800 - 1000 watts)

Been told that most micros will trip the inverter.
Read somwhere about a "low power" type of unit.

Thanks for any info.

Any advice

You need to look for about a 600 watt microwave. Most microwaves pull about 150% of their rated microwave output as power input, so a 600 watt microwave would require about 900 watts.

Read the data plate on the microwave first, though - they can vary.