After the discussion about chrome pole dancers on the ATW thread I thought I would start a thread (my first ever) on a topic that is of interest to everyone who has a top to pop. Here is my first attempt at electrifying the pop top lifting mechanism, it is rough but should provide food for thought:
When I added 40 kg of solar panels to the pop-top top the task of lifting the top became too difficult, so I needed a quick cheap solution that I could just tack on.
I am not entirely happy with the result, and I plan to rebuild it next year, but what I have done is worth sharing.
This idea is based on electric rams used to shift the direction of large satellite dishes. Specs are here:
http://www.jaeger.com.tw/tvro/superjack/actuator_superjack.htm
Satellite shifters have built in limit switches and if you get really keen they have a reed switch that counts revolutions of the motor. The reed switch is used by a satellite controller to remember the exact position of the dish allowing it to return to particular satellites.
The heavy duty 24 inch actuators cost about Au$120 each 18 months ago. They are mass produced for the satellite TV market. The fellow at the satellite shop seemed to like the idea of experimenting, he told me that one of those lifters can lift 4 men. As it turns out I think I could have done it with medium duty dish shifters at half the price. Remember these things are designed to keep a giant sail in position during high winds.
I wanted 36 inch lifters as they could go straight up and down, but could only get 24 inch at a reasonable price. To get extra lift it meant playing with angles so with the pop-top down they are closer to a horizontal position per the pic below.
(That last pic is in the coastal mountains just in from between Nowra and Ulladulla)
And giving the ~36 inch lift when extended
I had hoped I wouldn't need the front and rear X shaped pre-fabricated spring loaded pop-top lifters so I assembled it with out them. However there was no side ways stability and I risked causing major damage. So I had to put the pre-fab lifter back on at the rear. The narrow gap between the cab and the camper body meant I did not have room to reinstall the one at the front.
The 2 main problems with this set up are:
1/ not having the additional stability that the old front lifter would have provided, and
2/ without exact positioning of the lifter mounting points the angles vary slightly and the front rises and falls at slightly different speed to the rear. This causes a heap of additional stress on the prefab lifters.
I also wanted 12 or 24 volt lifters, but could only get 36 volt lifters at the cheaper price. 36 volt is not a big deal when you run a 24 volt truck system and a 12 volt solar system, but it does mean messy relays to isolate one of the solar batteries while it is in series with the 24 volt system.
I want to rebuild the camper from scratch and one of the issues I need to resolve as part of the new design is how to electrically lift the pop-top. My design has a high mounted bed and the option of having just a fly screen all the way around, so I want to do away with the large X shaped lifters and simply have an electric lifter in each corner. I'm not sure if this is feasible as the lifters may not be able to deal with the sideways forces.
If anyone comes across an affordable source of suitable 36 inch lifters please let me know! About the best we can do in Australia for 30 inches is http://www.firgelliauto.com.au however the US version of the site goes to 40 inches http://www.firgelliauto.com/ however I could not get the US site to ship to Australia.
When I added 40 kg of solar panels to the pop-top top the task of lifting the top became too difficult, so I needed a quick cheap solution that I could just tack on.
I am not entirely happy with the result, and I plan to rebuild it next year, but what I have done is worth sharing.
This idea is based on electric rams used to shift the direction of large satellite dishes. Specs are here:
http://www.jaeger.com.tw/tvro/superjack/actuator_superjack.htm
Satellite shifters have built in limit switches and if you get really keen they have a reed switch that counts revolutions of the motor. The reed switch is used by a satellite controller to remember the exact position of the dish allowing it to return to particular satellites.
The heavy duty 24 inch actuators cost about Au$120 each 18 months ago. They are mass produced for the satellite TV market. The fellow at the satellite shop seemed to like the idea of experimenting, he told me that one of those lifters can lift 4 men. As it turns out I think I could have done it with medium duty dish shifters at half the price. Remember these things are designed to keep a giant sail in position during high winds.
I wanted 36 inch lifters as they could go straight up and down, but could only get 24 inch at a reasonable price. To get extra lift it meant playing with angles so with the pop-top down they are closer to a horizontal position per the pic below.
(That last pic is in the coastal mountains just in from between Nowra and Ulladulla)
And giving the ~36 inch lift when extended
I had hoped I wouldn't need the front and rear X shaped pre-fabricated spring loaded pop-top lifters so I assembled it with out them. However there was no side ways stability and I risked causing major damage. So I had to put the pre-fab lifter back on at the rear. The narrow gap between the cab and the camper body meant I did not have room to reinstall the one at the front.
The 2 main problems with this set up are:
1/ not having the additional stability that the old front lifter would have provided, and
2/ without exact positioning of the lifter mounting points the angles vary slightly and the front rises and falls at slightly different speed to the rear. This causes a heap of additional stress on the prefab lifters.
I also wanted 12 or 24 volt lifters, but could only get 36 volt lifters at the cheaper price. 36 volt is not a big deal when you run a 24 volt truck system and a 12 volt solar system, but it does mean messy relays to isolate one of the solar batteries while it is in series with the 24 volt system.
I want to rebuild the camper from scratch and one of the issues I need to resolve as part of the new design is how to electrically lift the pop-top. My design has a high mounted bed and the option of having just a fly screen all the way around, so I want to do away with the large X shaped lifters and simply have an electric lifter in each corner. I'm not sure if this is feasible as the lifters may not be able to deal with the sideways forces.
If anyone comes across an affordable source of suitable 36 inch lifters please let me know! About the best we can do in Australia for 30 inches is http://www.firgelliauto.com.au however the US version of the site goes to 40 inches http://www.firgelliauto.com/ however I could not get the US site to ship to Australia.
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