The TARDIS - A Four Wheel Camper Build

[Overland Hadley]

Spotted: (on tv) stage 13 Tour de France, 2.1k from the top. Looks to be on an Isuzu.




Also spotted here in town an Eagle/Tacoma from Wisconsin.

 

[Overland Hadley]

I had some camper project time today. Yay.


Mounted the first of the Rigid Industries A-series lights that I am going to be using for low density exterior lights. At the rear there will be one high intensity A-Series on my bracket. On the passenger side there will be two low intensity A-Series, one at the rear, and one at the cabover. All lights are mounted on Angled Mount kits.



Next to the light you can see the screws and washers I put on to cover the holes from the Star light. The washers were unnecessary, but I like the look better than plan screws.





Here is how the bracket is going to fit.





Bracket and light mounted. Still need to make the wires pretty.





SURPRISE! They are red.





Ran a switched wire to the cabover for the third light that will shine down over the truck cab, at the doors.





And thats all for now.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

This is still my favorite, a story for tomorrow.

[video=vimeo;36519586]https://vimeo.com/36519586[/video]

THAT IS AWESOME! The word awesome is a bad description of that video, it's more EPIC, AMAZING, Awe Inspiring, Jaw Dropping, Tear Jerking......I liked It A Lot!!

 

[craig333]

And if you need to get up in the middle of the night like some of us, less likely to attract attention.

 

[southpier]

unless a passer-bye is looking for a "lady of the evening"...

 

[Overland Hadley]

...less likely to attract attention.

That is my hope, from a distance the red will not look as conspicuous when I am camped at a non-campground. If nothing else it will look like brake lights.

I am glad somebody else thinks it will work.

....they are much easier on your night vision and don't attract bugs.

Other good reasons for the going with red. Also, it is different from other campers and makes my camper mine.

 

[Camelfilter]

Nice work with the LEDs, I esp like the bracket. Good idea!

The other nice thing about LED's is that "most" can use a dimmer.

I put a tiny dimmer/flasher switch on the power lines of my rear area lights. In regular mode those lights draw ~2-3A total & are pretty darned bright, dimmed down all the way they draw something like .3A (if that) and are perfect for cooking & whatnot. I'd imagine there are many dimmers which would work, but this is the one I used:

MLD-5A 12 Volt DC Single Color LED Mini Dimmer with Dynamic Modes

at $7, I figured it was worth a shot. Works fine. I have no need for the "flash" modes though, maybe if I decide to start snow plowing or something...

 

[Gerald S]

In the Army

When I was in Basic Training for the Army many years ago, we had a night training exercise that compared red lighting with white/yellow lighting. The difference was amazing! You could see that white/yellow light from miles away, but the red light disappeared in the night after a few hundred feet. If you were not specifically looking for the red light, you would miss it because it would just blend into the night. That was one reason why we only ran small red lights on our Gama Goats to see by during night movement operations (didn't want the enemy to see us, but you could still hear us). At close range, red throws off a lot of light to see by, but it does make the shadows look a bit different. Folks with active imaginations take note.:Wow1:

 

[Overland Hadley]

Nice work with the LEDs, I esp like the bracket. Good idea!
The other nice thing about LED's is that "most" can use a dimmer.
I put a tiny dimmer/flasher switch on the power lines of my rear area lights. In regular mode those lights draw ~2-3A total & are pretty darned bright, dimmed down all the way they draw something like .3A (if that) and are perfect for cooking & whatnot. I'd imagine there are many dimmers which would work, but this is the one I used:
MLD-5A 12 Volt DC Single Color LED Mini Dimmer with Dynamic Modes
at $7, I figured it was worth a shot. Works fine. I have no need for the "flash" modes though, maybe if I decide to start snow plowing or something...

DIMMER SWITCH! Brillant! (goes scratching away at the internet looking for dimmer switch options.)

 

[Overland Hadley]

When I was in Basic Training for the Army many years ago, we had a night training exercise that compared red lighting with white/yellow lighting. The difference was amazing! You could see that white/yellow light from miles away, but the red light disappeared in the night after a few hundred feet. If you were not specifically looking for the red light, you would miss it because it would just blend into the night. That was one reason why we only ran small red lights on our Gama Goats to see by during night movement operations (didn't want the enemy to see us, but you could still hear us). At close range, red throws off a lot of light to see by, but it does make the shadows look a bit different. Folks with active imaginations take note.:Wow1:

Great to hear some real world experience, as that is what I was thinking but was not sure. I will admit to turning on the new lights several nights now and walking off a ways to see if the red was less noticeable.

Yes, red light can make for some interesting shadows, but that sort of thing does not normally bother me. I do also have my Rigid D2 floods if I feel the need to really light things up. :elkgrin:

 

[Overland Hadley]

Ran a switched wire to the cabover for the third light that will shine down over the truck cab, at the doors.

View attachment 237055

Mounted the A-Series Rigid Industries light on the cabover. It is mounted on their Angled Mount kit.

I really like these lights!

 

[Overland Hadley]

Finished putting together my wind fairing solution!

It is a mix of what I like the best, and it took way more time to put together than I would have thought. Good thing I enjoy these little projects.
I made the switch to Yakima feet for a few reasons, it allowed me to switch to the lightweight aluminum bar, I can mount the fairing in a better location, it will clear the cabover of the camper better, and I can turn the WindJammers up so the air is better directed above the camper.

Parts synopsis - Yakima feet, lightweight aluminum bar, Thule fairing, Yakima WindJammers, modified fairing mounts.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Changed out the rear bumper of my Tacoma.

Went with another OEM bumper, mostly because of cost, sadly I could not justify the cost of an aftermarket bumper. On this bumper I repainted it with Rustoleum Bed Liner. I love the look of the black bumper on my truck, and that was the last bit of chrome bodywork gone.

The part that makes this relevant to this camper thread is I mounted a set of Flush Mounted Rigid Industries Defused Dually lights in the bumper. This replaces my ARB-IPF backup light that I had previously mounted under my old bumper. These lights have the magic of LED, they are many times brighter and draw a fraction of the power that the old halogen IPF used. I often used the IPF light when making camp after dark, these will work much better and I can run them for a long time with little worry about the battery use.

The lights are wired to a switch in the cab, so I have a set of flood lights wired to the cab and a set wired to the interior of the camper. Let there be light!

 

[Overland Hadley]

I found a couple more photos from last years travels in Utah that I had not posted yet.

​

 

[Overland Hadley]

CarHenge
















Did you spot my rig?​