Rambo - GMC Ambo Conversion (Roof Raise)

[TheRealPapaK]

That makes me want to buy a light bar for the front... if only I had a need.

I got this for $110 CDN at Uncle Weiners. It seems pretty OK so far. But for that price I figured it would be good to add while I'm doing the electrical. They say it's 800W but I'm sure that's an "equivalent watt" rating which I find quite dumb. I don't even know how many amps this thing pulls.

Hey your rig is looking great. I'm curious... what brand of rivets are you using?

Thanks, honestly I'm just using off the shelf rivets from an industrial bolt supply store. I'm not sure the brand but they do have a retaining mandrel like a cherry-Q etc. The Urethane adhesive I used is way stronger than the rivets but there is always something nice about a Mechanical fastening element lol.


Not too much to report again today. Just prepping to fill all the holes with body filler etc. I spent 6 hours taking the glue from the duct tape they used to cover the holes. when they took the lights out. It was intense stuff. I ended up have to go back and forth between an MEK rag and a wire wheel and it still took forever. I also cleaned off the old decal residue while I was at it. All this work before I start on the interior has been adding up!

 

[TheRealPapaK]

A few days ago I go the cracked corners welded. That with the raised roof section needed body work so that’s what we got on today. Still need another day to finish it off. I also added the lights in the rear and the lights on the side.

 

[Abitibi]

Coming together very nicely!

 

[TheRealPapaK]

I feel like I’ve been telling my wife we are going to start the interior soon for weeks. I’m trying to get everything done that requires me to poke holes or fill holes on the exterior.

I put 4 lights on the back of the ambulance. Two to shine down the road and two at 45 deg angles to flood the corners. I’m pretty happy with the outcome.


Ihad low profile lights on the side but they weren’t very bright and they were a spot instead of a flood so I swapped them to what I have on the back


I started mounting the solar panels but I misplaced my rivnut puller so that’s on hold.


Other than that I have just been going through electrical trying to get the mystery wires figured out.


Lastly, I’m still laying out my electrical stuff this is loosely what I have planned I’d love an extra set of eyes before I commit. This will be going beside my cabinet

 

[iggi]

Can you upload or link a higher resolution version of your electrical? Happy to give an opinion but need a clearer and larger view.

 

[TheRealPapaK]

Let me know if this is better. Everything will be 2AWG except the wire from the alternator and the wire from the battery to the Inverter which will be heavier. 2/00 or something for the amps.

There is a house bus and an alternator driven bus so that I don’t kill my house batteries with exterior lights etc.

 

[TheRealPapaK]

Well I have to go to work for the next 4 days so I won’t get too much done. I’m trying to tie up all the Exterior intrusions before the weather hits. I found my rivnut pulled but it turns out it’s broken. For better or for worse I decided just to drill and tap the roof skin which is 1/8”. I know that’s not very much for aluminum threads but I figured since lots of people are just using trim tape to install panels, I would use PL9000 and have the bolt as a light duty secondary fastener to squish the adhesive down and provide a mechanical fastening element. I only have the one side attached as I’m playing with the idea of a gas strut to push the panel up to about 50 deg since we are so north. It will be one gas strut for two panels. I just need to fab up a bracket for between the panels.

 

[iggi]

I'm confused why you have one power bus running from the alt and another from the battery. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your config or there's some magic voodoo that I don't know about?

 

[TheRealPapaK]

I'm confused why you have one power bus running from the alt and another from the battery. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your config or there's some magic voodoo that I don't know about?

there is a DC-DC/MPPT charger that takes the solar and alternator power and makes it play nice to charge the house battery. The Alternator bus is just for things that I don’t want on the house battery like my light bars, AC, coolant heater, air compressor etc.

The DCDCcharger will take 50A from the alternator and charge the batteries. When the engine is shut off and the batteries are full, it will back charge 25A to the starter battery but either way, they are separate busses. I hope that makes sense.

Edit: I should add that there is a voltage sensing relay in the unit. It won’t let the alternator charge unless it sees over 13.8 volts 30 seconds. When the alternator is off, it needs to sense 14.2 volts on the house battery before it will charge the other way to the starter batt

 

[iggi]

Ah, I get it. I'm used to seeing a separate battery isolator.
Cool unit, if I'd known about it when I first started buying components I would have gone that route.

The only possible issues I see are:

1) it doesn't seem you can use the breaker as an off switch for the Renogy without it affecting everything you have running from the starter battery bank.
2) if the Renogy is rated for 50amps then a breaker in the 70amp range I suspect would be more appropriate.

Just stuff to consider. I've had my head buried in this stuff for the last year but I'm far from an expert.

Thanks for posting your progress. Pretty motivated by your roof raise.

there is a DC-DC/MPPT charger that takes the solar and alternator power and makes it play nice to charge the house battery. The Alternator bus is just for things that I don’t want on the house battery like my light bars, AC, coolant heater, air compressor etc.

The DCDCcharger will take 50A from the alternator and charge the batteries. When the engine is shut off and the batteries are full, it will back charge 25A to the starter battery but either way, they are separate busses. I hope that makes sense.

Edit: I should add that there is a voltage sensing relay in the unit. It won’t let the alternator charge unless it sees over 13.8 volts 30 seconds. When the alternator is off, it needs to sense 14.2 volts on the house battery before it will charge the other way to the starter batt

 

[TheRealPapaK]

So if I understand correctly you would do two circuit breakers. One at 70A for the alternator to the Renogy so I can isolate. and then a separate circuit breaker for the bus bar that's lets say 200A. The reason I had such a high rated cb on the alt right now is because the wire coming from the starter battery is 4/0. So that wire can take anything my system can give it.

 

[iggi]

Yep, you got it.

I've found it handy to be able to isolate my charge controller and DC-DC charger from the other circuits individually.

Cheers,

So if I understand correctly you would do two circuit breakers. One at 70A for the alternator to the Renogy so I can isolate. and then a separate circuit breaker for the bus bar that's lets say 200A. The reason I had such a high rated cb on the alt right now is because the wire coming from the starter battery is 4/0. So that wire can take anything my system can give it.

 

[TheRealPapaK]

Ok, I’m getting ready to start the 1” layer of insulation on the inside. I want to cover it with a thin wood covering that would also be strong enough for brad nailing pine board etc. WhAts my best bet? I want to keep it pretty thin if I can....I was thinking 1/4” plywood?

 

[Abitibi]

How do you plan to cover your insulation, with 1/4" plywood? If so how will you attach the plywood to the insulation?

If you want to attach pine boards to your 1/4" ply then nail it at 45°, that way you can use longer nails and get them deeper in the wood for stronger connection.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[TheRealPapaK]

I haven't totally decided. It might not bet the smartest idea but I think I might mark on the plywood where the studs are and then screw a long machine screw through the plywood, rigid insulation and into the stud.