rayra
Expedition Leader
Thank you both.
I'm probably going to have to order the carpet, likely a plain black but maybe a dark charcoal gray which would more closely match the vehicle carpet. But black will do. I'm just not going to drive to hell and gone trying to find the right thing in my area. And I'm going to be in and out of town a couple times over the next two weeks, anyway. So the shipping delay doesn't matter.
I'm farting around now with various layouts for the power module. I'm thinking to use a variety of 'panel mount' fittings for the power adapters, mounted in each end of the 'Power Module'. My goal is to be able to plug in and power just about anything. Later I'll be adding solar and probably some additional batteries in that box. But initially the box is going to get its power from a heavy cable run from the Aux battery under the hood. I'm planning a heavy-duty Anderson Power Pole connector at both front and rear bumper, as source for a carrier-hitch-mounted winch.
So that heavy cable will have a branch off to feed the power ports in the box. I'll have something like a Blue Sea Aux fuse panel in there, so each power port device or type will be on its own fused circuit.
Then there's the issue of the inverter. It's said its best to 'right-size'. So I'm waffling between something like a small 300W unit and something like a 1000W. I'm considering placing a 1000W at the 'front' (facing the bumper) and a 300W at the rear (facing the passenger seats). Then there's the issue of heat, especially as it's a closed box. This is compounded by the inverters as the bigger units with internal fans all seem to draw air from the power socket face, thru the body of the inverter and out the back by the cable connections. Which means they'll be pumping heat INTO the box. Ungood. But the box lid hinges open. But I'm also thinking about putting in a small 12VDC 40mm computer fan. Preferably so that it comes on when the inverter(s) are powered on.
The fan would also be useful later when there's a solar charge controller inside the box and a panel on the roof. The small fan only draws 0.08Amps.
Still figuring it out. Lots of ideas, trying to do a lot of things at the same time.
Here's a first approximation, just trying to get a feel for the sizes and spacing of things. The inverter will already be an issue, the plugs have to be away from teh bottom and the drawer next door. Have to have room to plug in something like a wall wart. Anyway, progress on the power stuff is going to be very slow, probably take the rest of the year to do most of it.
I'm probably going to have to order the carpet, likely a plain black but maybe a dark charcoal gray which would more closely match the vehicle carpet. But black will do. I'm just not going to drive to hell and gone trying to find the right thing in my area. And I'm going to be in and out of town a couple times over the next two weeks, anyway. So the shipping delay doesn't matter.
I'm farting around now with various layouts for the power module. I'm thinking to use a variety of 'panel mount' fittings for the power adapters, mounted in each end of the 'Power Module'. My goal is to be able to plug in and power just about anything. Later I'll be adding solar and probably some additional batteries in that box. But initially the box is going to get its power from a heavy cable run from the Aux battery under the hood. I'm planning a heavy-duty Anderson Power Pole connector at both front and rear bumper, as source for a carrier-hitch-mounted winch.
So that heavy cable will have a branch off to feed the power ports in the box. I'll have something like a Blue Sea Aux fuse panel in there, so each power port device or type will be on its own fused circuit.
Then there's the issue of the inverter. It's said its best to 'right-size'. So I'm waffling between something like a small 300W unit and something like a 1000W. I'm considering placing a 1000W at the 'front' (facing the bumper) and a 300W at the rear (facing the passenger seats). Then there's the issue of heat, especially as it's a closed box. This is compounded by the inverters as the bigger units with internal fans all seem to draw air from the power socket face, thru the body of the inverter and out the back by the cable connections. Which means they'll be pumping heat INTO the box. Ungood. But the box lid hinges open. But I'm also thinking about putting in a small 12VDC 40mm computer fan. Preferably so that it comes on when the inverter(s) are powered on.
The fan would also be useful later when there's a solar charge controller inside the box and a panel on the roof. The small fan only draws 0.08Amps.
Still figuring it out. Lots of ideas, trying to do a lot of things at the same time.
Here's a first approximation, just trying to get a feel for the sizes and spacing of things. The inverter will already be an issue, the plugs have to be away from teh bottom and the drawer next door. Have to have room to plug in something like a wall wart. Anyway, progress on the power stuff is going to be very slow, probably take the rest of the year to do most of it.
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