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Old 05-24-2015, 09:20 PM   #181
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In case you have more of that plastic to cut, try a carbide tipped scoring tool. I've used one for cutting laminate aka Formica countertops and other brittle things. Like this. You can do a few passes over a line and then snap the plastic, or you can run it over repeatedly until it cuts through.

Your lights look neat. I'm looking forward to seeing how they fit/work in the bus; I'm eagerly collecting ideas for ambient lighting in mine. For some reason task lighting is easy but ambient lighting is more challenging for me.

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Old 05-24-2015, 09:48 PM   #182
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That might work. I didn't even think about it at the time. I have one somewhere, just can't remember where. It would probably be like normal, I will look for way to long, then go buy another. Then out of no where it will show up. I think I have three 12 volt test lights...
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Old 05-24-2015, 09:53 PM   #183
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Funny you mention it... I have two of these scoring tools, and for exactly the reason you describe!
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Old 05-25-2015, 12:31 AM   #184
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Na, they have done the repair and are out glamping with it. lol

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Old 05-25-2015, 06:50 AM   #185
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Quote:
Originally Posted by family wagon View Post
In case you have more of that plastic to cut, try a carbide tipped scoring tool.
Dremel also makes a handy plastic cutoff wheel as well, that I've used for model building
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Old 05-26-2015, 10:00 PM   #186
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how well did the back up cameras work at night.
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Old 05-28-2015, 01:02 PM   #187
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Actually I haven't checked the camera's out in the dark yet. I'm guessing not the greatest. I get my bus back Saturday, so I'll check this weekend and let you know.
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Old 05-28-2015, 09:29 PM   #188
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Dremel also makes a handy plastic cutoff wheel as well, that I've used for model building
Feintool is like my favorite tool now
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Old 05-31-2015, 01:40 PM   #189
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fnelson71,
It works pretty much how I expected at night. In total darkness you can't see much of anything on the screen. However, after I stepped on the brakes, here is the image you can see.
20150530_220938 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

I'm actually surprised how much just the brakes lights made the image quite usable. I have less then $100 in the whole system, so I really wasn't expecting alot. I rarely drive at night, and I really use my mirrors the most. I just wanted a little bit of piece of mind of what was directly behind me. So I really didn't want to spend a fortune on a backup system. I'll see how well it holds up after this years travels.
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Old 05-31-2015, 07:19 PM   #190
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Saturday morning we went and picked up the bus from Vanderhaags in Des Moines. It took them awhile, but I also had told them to fit it in there schedule. I wasn't in a hurry. Any way, its got a new clutch. First thing I realize is it shifts a lot smoother. The clutch must have been hanging up since I bought it. I'm still not a huge fan of the transmission and its shifting, but I hate it less. So my wife follows me home. First time she's seen it since being regeared. I ran pretty much 71 mph all the way home and it was just purring the whole time. I did have to see where top speed was for a short distance (80mph) My wife was not as impressed as much as me. She thought she was going to get pulled over for speeding.

So after getting home I ran it up to work, to get my onan mounted up under the bus. Here's a few pics.
20150530_123910 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

20150530_123939 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

20150530_124004 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

20150530_124024 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

I just ratchet strapped it on, till I got home. I then needed to mark and cut a hole for the fan exhaust. That is one heavy generator.

20150531_102222 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

All mounted up.
20150531_131623 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr
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Old 05-31-2015, 08:12 PM   #191
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thanks for posting, im going to use the cameras the same way as a review mirror.
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Old 06-14-2015, 06:48 PM   #192
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Once again, I'm trying to rush to get things together for our annual July trip. It may be a few weeks away, but I'm still not sure how I'm going to get everything done I had hoped for. This year we well be visiting once again, my families farm in North Dakota, over the 4th of July weekend. But instead of staying for a couple weeks, we will leave after the weekend. The plans are to head west and see the ND badlands, then go south to the Black Hills. Spend a week there, then move on to Fort Collins, CO area to visit the wifes family. Then make our way back home to Iowa.

In the meantime, I'm rushing to get things together. Finally, I have the generator wired up and running. Runs both AC's awesome. The placement of everything under the bus isn't what I had hope for, but will work for now. My biggest concern was how close the gas tank was to the exhaust. I don't want to change the placement of the house batteries at the end of the genny, so here is my solution for now. I decided to do a shield, plus a heat shield. Should work like a separate compartment I hope.
Pics...
20150614_151437 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

20150614_151835 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

20150614_151919 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

The batteries are wired up for now. I know it's not the best way yet, but was a fast solution for now. I really don't have much of a load for them yet anyway.

20150614_151341 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

I also made a new rear brace to support the battery shelf.
20150614_151356 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

I didn't take any pic's of my breaker panel, because it will probably confuse everyone but myself. I just told my wife to not touch. I have three sources into the panel. Shore power, onan power, and also yamaha genny power. Makes perfect sense to me, but I need to straighten it out somehow, to make sure other people understand.

Inverter is on order, should be here in couple days. I need to hook up the converter inside, and also make a spot for the second fridge. Then it's just the small things from there, I hope.
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Old 06-15-2015, 12:24 PM   #193
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Looks like a good "good enough for now."

Sounds like you've got quite the transfer switch in your future, with two generators, inverter, and shore power inputs!
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Old 06-19-2015, 09:22 PM   #194
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Getting real close to being ready for vacation. The power inverter showed up and I got it wired and mounted up. Not really where I wanted it, but I wanted to keep my battery cables as short as possible so this is it.

20150619_202349 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

20150619_203801 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

Eventually, I will make a breathable cover for it. Don't have time right now.

Picture of where cables exit under bus, to batteries.

20150619_202743 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

As of now it has one job. Seems to be working good so far. I'll update after our trip.

20150619_202601 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

This will be our food fridge. So I want it to always be cold. The other fridge on the counter top will be for drinks. So I won't be worried if its not powered 24/7.

I also hooked up my old power converter. Its the old POS out of my donated travel trailer. Eventually, I would like to up grade to a nice newer unit with a good charger. I remember reading somewhere on here about one for $400. But, I don't remember where. Any suggestions?

20150619_202547 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr
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Old 06-19-2015, 11:01 PM   #195
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Bravo! Very nice looking.
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Old 06-19-2015, 11:08 PM   #196
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Looks great. Is that a baby/child latch at the top of the drinks fridge -- the white band wrapping around its corner? It looks just like the one on the fridge in my kitchen! Those do a great job of keeping the door shut on the road, too.
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Old 06-20-2015, 08:31 PM   #197
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Thanks guys!!

My bus is baby proof!! Actually, that stuff is perfect for travel. The first time out, and the first corner, we made our first stop to Walmart, before we even left town. Its funny you mention it Family wagon, I told the wife right after everything installed, the next trip to walmart to pick up fridge latches. She came back today with black ones!! Well, the straps anyway.

20150620_162723 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

I guess things have changed in five years. I figured everything was still white.
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Old 07-14-2015, 04:05 PM   #198
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Just got back this morning from our 2 week trip. Overall it was a great trip. We started in Iowa once again and headed north to North Dakota for the July 4th festivities, on my families farm. Bus ran great and no problems. I started out using the onan and 2 AC's. However the rest of the family got cold... So I cut it down to 1 AC and ran it off the yamaha genny, on the car trailer. It is alot easier on gas anyway. We spent an extended weekend over the fourth, then headed out Monday morning July 6th. My plan was to be at Devils tower Wyoming, Monday night. With one surprise on the way there. While in ND I had some free time to finally hook up the trailer brake controller to the bus. It's been sitting in my garage for years, but just hadn't gotten around to it. For some strange/odd reason, after doing that, the brake pressure/buzzer sensor decided to go off later on. I stopped to check everything and all is good. It seems to happen at random times and for no reason. I pulled the buzzer for the trip, and kept a close eye on everything at stops.

We made it into Devils Tower Monday night.
20150706_185734 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

I had hoped to stay in the national parks campground. But since we arrived about 8pm the campground was full. The campground host met us when we arrived. He was a very nice guy, and had all kinds of questions about the bus. He thought it was pretty cool and told me that he is suppose to kick people out of the long trailer parking lot over night, but said he was pretty sure he would not be able to see or hear us there. I think I would have enjoyed talking with him more. He was staying in an Airstream, not your typical campground host.

The entrance to Devils tower
20150706_191309 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

We where not here overnight.
20150706_192916 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

The whole place to ourselves.
20150706_194223 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

I also ran both fridges that night, and next day off the battery bank and inverter. Worked great!!
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Old 07-14-2015, 04:19 PM   #199
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Excellent trip pix! --- Thanks for sharing and reminding the rest of why we are building these fool things. Good to see some road trip shots.

Any "Close Encounters" while you were at Devils Tower?
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Old 07-14-2015, 05:24 PM   #200
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lol, no close encounters that I can remember.

That night, right before we got to the park, the bus overheated for the first time on me. It happened in some of them hill climbs. I pulled over and opened the hood and turned the valves back on to the heaters to help pull some heat away form the engine. Worked fine and I took it alot easier the rest of the way into the park. We spent part of the next day hiking around the tower. That afternoon we picked up and headed to Custer South Dakota. I had made reservations a couple weeks before. Then it was late afternoon and pretty warm. Once again on the first big climb out of the area the bus overheated again up the long slow grade. I had the heaters blasting, but it wasn't enough. I had to pull over again on the side of road and pop hood and wait. It doesn't take but a couple minutes for it to cool back down to normal. After that I took the interstate around to Rapid City and came into the Custer from the east. No problems but just slow going.

We made it to Fort Welikit campground and found our site.
20150709_194540 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

It was a pretty nice campground and gave us a place to stay for the week while we did the tourist stuff.
20150707_184346 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

We had a good week then on Saturday morning we left, and headed for Fort Collins Colorado. We went south then west back to Wyoming. Of course I ended up on a detoured road and ended up on some of those long grade steep hills again and overheated couple more times. Kids at this point are getting used to it, and just as annoyed as me. It seems to be getting worse. We finally run into a nice rain around Cheyenne all the way to Fort Collins and it keeps the bus running really cool running 75mph. We get to the wifes family and park for the weekend.

Not that interesting, but you can almost see the mountain in the background.
20150713_085855 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr
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