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Old 07-20-2007, 01:00 PM   #1
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Monkey Business continues its growth...

Well I took a long 12-day vacation from work and took the bus up to the Adirondacks so I could actually work on it. I never get to work on it at the house since house projects come first, etc...

So I built my own camper door and got it installed, worked out great. Only 200 bolts had to come out to get the old door and hinges off, but it was worth it...


The interior framing is all done, some final wood-working remains to be done, the counter-top still waits to be built, but the electrical system is all in and works like a charm...









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Old 07-21-2007, 09:06 PM   #2
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

You did use tempered safety glass in that door? May have some trouble with DOT if it's not... Just asking...
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Old 07-22-2007, 07:08 AM   #3
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

Yep, used tempered safety glass cut to size by my local glass dealer. Pricey though it was.
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Old 07-24-2007, 12:17 AM   #4
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

what brand is your inverter? The red thing under the cabinet?
Looks like the ones I was looking at on e-bay. Can you give some feedback? Did you try it out yet with lets say a PC or Stereo system. How does it work? Do you get any buzzing sounds through your car stereo when the inverter is on?


Other then that, you'r making progress, that is good. Keep up the work and post many pictures.
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Old 07-25-2007, 06:06 AM   #5
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

I did get the inverter off of E-Bay, it is available from other places as well, but E-Bay had the best price. I have not yet tried it with anything other than the lights that are installed. The mini fridge gets installed next week and I plan to stick with a car stereo for the stereo system and just put in a toggle switch to dump DC power right into it from the battery so it can run without the key in the ignition.

So I have not yet tried the stereo with the inverter on, mostly because the stereo installed stinks right now and a lot of static comes out of the speakers, whether this is the stereo or some blown speakers I have yet to diagnos. I use a smaller inverter in my truck with my laptop without any issues, never tried a full size PC though. I have a laptop with an USB GPS antennae that I use for travel navigating.

I will let you know what I find as testing continues.
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Old 07-25-2007, 10:51 AM   #6
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

My cheapo Vector inverters give me no problems with the TV, computer, stereo, fluorescent lights....nothing. Strangely enough, in fact, my fluorescents buzz more on shore power than on the inverter though either way it is barely audible.

For what it's worth most UPS units for computers use a modified sine wave just like the cheap inverters and they work great. Just don't try and run your laser printer when the power goes out.
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Old 07-25-2007, 10:56 AM   #7
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

and why should you not use the laser printer? can you explain? do they suck to much power or what?
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Old 07-25-2007, 11:45 AM   #8
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

Laser printers heat the roller so yes, they draw an incredible amount of power. On top of that I believe the electronics in there count on the sinusoidal waveform to make calculations. There are other digital devices that do the same. I have seen other devices that don't work well also. A lot of tools that use rectifiers for charging have issues. Makita comes to mind from work. Makita also makes the only battery pack I can't get apart to rebuild when the time comes.

Looking at the waveform from a modified sine wave inverter on a scope is interesting. It tends to pause momentarily at 0 when corssing from 120+ to 120- and I think that is how it better simulates a true sinewave. Really the best bet is to just try stuff. I'm yet to have a problem with any of my items in the bus, but I use an alkaline battery operated clock for instance as I don't want to chance a digital clock not keeping time because of the waveform difference it sees. You just have to be reasonable I guess.
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Old 07-26-2007, 05:58 AM   #9
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

Where are you getting your replacement battery parts? My deWalt 18V batteries need repairing ASAP and I hate to fork over $120 for a new pair.
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Old 07-26-2007, 06:00 AM   #10
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

Oh that is a Vector 3000W/6000W peak inverter. Forgot that info last time.
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Old 08-19-2007, 04:28 PM   #11
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

TOTALLY off topic, sort of...but since you're talking about rebuilding battery packs, if any of you have Milwaukee battery packs, they have recalled a bunch of them over several years production. Send in your old, they send you a new one.

http://www.milwaukeetool.com/us/en/site ... penElement
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Old 08-19-2007, 07:51 PM   #12
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Re: Monkey Business continues its growth...

Quote:
Originally Posted by nyrockingchairs
Where are you getting your replacement battery parts? My deWalt 18V batteries need repairing ASAP and I hate to fork over $120 for a new pair.
I'm really sorry I missed this post. I get my parts at work. We rebuild them on the spot and using my discount it becomes rather affordable to tweak those packs a little. We also have cores saved from old drills that people bring in for recycling as the thermistors and fusible links do go bad in them, usually from vibration.

If you are able to find replacement 18 volt "XR" DeWalt packs for $60 each I would jump on it. The cost of cells keeps going up and it would cost $54.99 for me to rebuild them (granted they are a better battery the customer does have to give 24-48 hours for turnaround time). I think our OEM replacements packs cost more than that.

Oh as a side note to all of you who may have 14.4 and 18 volt Milwaukee 2.4 amp hour packs-they are being recalled and you can get a free pack. Look on their website for information. The other cheap alternative on the Milwaukee stuff is to go to Harbor Freight and get a replacement battery for certain Chicago Pneumatic drills as they are a rebadged Milwaukee. Scary to think that HF actually sells SOME good stuff.
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