My BaseStation

[Base23]

Went to Birdwood for the long weekend camping and a friend's property.
It was quite cold at Birdwood max of about 13 and min of 1.6 so kids were happy I fitted electric blankets for them.
Here are a few picks of the trip.

 

[Budorat]

Wow, just wow. I just finished reading your entrire thread. I have to say that I am impressed with all the mods that you have done. You have given me lots of ideas for when we receive our 18.58.2 OB Expanda first weekend of August. We have just upgraded from a 2015 Swan Outback, only had it 6 months and decided we loved the lifestyle but wanted something a little bigger. I tried to convince SWMBO that we should get a Basestation but my negotiating skills fell short of the mark this time, not that we really have tp room to store a Basestation. Great van, great mods. I will keep a close eye out for your next mod.

 

[Base23]

Fitted a anderson plug to the front of the A frame tonight.
I wanted the anderson plug to connect things like air compressors and portable solar panels.
I am also thinking it could come in handy to connect my mates van to my van while we are free camping as he has no solar panels on his van.

I ran the cable through the frame as there was already a hole in the frame


I mounted the anderson plug in a vision trailer plug cover and screwed it to the A frame.

 

[Dobbie]

Looks good.

For others fitting an Anderson I'd strongly suggest you spend the extra and make the whole thing waterproof.

We had one on the swan and it was a pain to keep clean and protected so put the Narva waterproof one on the Expanda.

Also, if using it to add extra solar you do need to wire it direct to battery and use panels with their own separate controller.

 

[Base23]

Looks good.

For others fitting an Anderson I'd strongly suggest you spend the extra and make the whole thing waterproof.

We had one on the swan and it was a pain to keep clean and protected so put the Narva waterproof one on the Expanda.

Also, if using it to add extra solar you do need to wire it direct to battery and use panels with their own separate controller.

Thanks ,

I used a trailer vision anderson plug cover as they seem to be waterproof and have connected directly to the battery through a 40 amp fuse on the positive side and the negative is to the load side of the drifter shunt. That way I can still measure what is going in and out of the battery.

 

[Dobbie]

Just as an aside....and to stray off your thread...we noticed our battery was somewhat low today. We'd had to move the van under cover because of rain, storms and the great south east wet so in to the nest went the van, on Saturday.

Battery was reading 12.0 this morning so I hooked up the external solar and by 5 pm it was back to 13.6.

Happy days but pleasantly surprised the external stuff worked so well. Haven't bothered to monitor it before as it just worked so I'm happy.

 

[Base23]

Finally got the replacement WDH frame brackets today for my Andersen weight distribution hitch. Adersen have made longer brackets to suit the jayco outback chassis. The Jayco outback has the tow hitch mounted to the lower of the A frame so that made the chains for the WDH run on an angle and because of that the chains would rub on the edge of the frame bracket tube and also was bending the tow ball connecting plate. The longer brackets hang about 90mm lower but I don't think it will cause any problems.

Original brackets


Longer brackets made for the Jayco outback chassis


I mounted the so called outer bracket(the one the chain connects through) to the inner of the A frame chassis so that the chains clear the jockey wheel. This makes it easier to connect the WDH up to the car being able to wind the jockey wheel down and take the load off the chains.
Also lets me stow the jockey wheel in the clamp when towing.


When I connect it to the car I will add some photos of the chain angles.

 

[Base23]

The factory external speakers that I have fitted to the Basestation work well but you can also hear them whilst inside the van.
So when the kids and myself are outside watching a movie or listing to music and my wife wants to be inside and read a book she get annoyed at how she can hear the sound from inside the van.
On the weekend I set about trying to fix this problem. I started by removing the external speakers and that was an effort, It took me about an hour to carefully cut all the silicon away just to remove them.

The right hand speaker goes in the the cupboard above the kitchen sink and is in its own box so you can not see the back of it when you open the cupboard. When I removed the speaker it had at lot of connections behind it (HDMI and RCA plugs) that I taped up and made neater and then pushed the up to the roof and fitted a piece of ply at a lid for the speaker box.
I then used some sound deadener mat and insulation and stuck it to the inside of the box.
The left speaker just went into the over head cupboard where the radio and sat receiver are located and was not fitted in it own box so I just made up a cylinder with the matting and insulation to enclose the space as best as I could.

All the cables I found when I removed the speaker


Tucked them up towards the roof


Made a lid for the speaker box


Lid fitted


I then fitted sound deadener mat


and the some sound insulation


Then refitted the speakers and tested.


The end result with the noise level inside the van was not as good as I would have liked but it is definitely quieter.
Will have to wait and see if my wife complains about noise next time she is in the van.

 

[Smergen]

Top job again @Base23. If nothing else, you've at least cleaned up a bit of silicon and reapplied it to your (much better) standards.

Will have to wait and see if my wife complains about noise next time she is in the van.

Did she know you were doing it? Might be a bit of a placebo affect!

 

[Base23]

Top job again @Base23. If nothing else, you've at least cleaned up a bit of silicon and reapplied it to your (much better) standards.



Did she know you were doing it? Might be a bit of a placebo affect!

She knew I was working on the van but she did not know what I was doing, I don't think she wants to know what I do to the van any more.

 

[pauljygrant]

She knew I was working on the van but she did not know what I was doing, I don't think she wants to know what I do to the van any more.

Snap! I get the odd sarcastic comment about spending time in the shed working on the caravan - she does appreciate most of the mods but now have to balance my time and get work done to the house and garden to 'earn' time in the shed!

 

[Drover]

The secret is, when it's your home it's all good.....................................................so long as you don't get in her way..:fear:...........or start swearing...........................or make a mess................or spend money.........................mess up the bed.................................oh hell, I miss my shed........................:focus:

 

[Base23]

As I tow the basestation with a MY14 Jeep grand Cherokee that has auto lights that come on at dusk and runs DRL ( Day time running lights) during the day means the van tail lights only come on when it gets dark.
Yes I could just turn the light on manually and all would be good but I thought I would fit 2 tail lights on the rear of the van that are on all the time when connected to Jeep.
The Basestatiin had 2 small reflectors in the lower corners of the rear of the van

I replaced them with a Narva reflector that has 3 led lights in it


To do this I had to remove the stick on factory reflector and then drill a 35mm hole and 2 screw hole for each light/reflector on either side of the van


To power up the new lights I got it from the tail light loom under the van. there was a black wire in the loom not being used going to pin 2 on trailer plug that has12v power when car running.(also charges van battery)


Light/reflectors Lit up only. This is how it will be when driving Jeep with headlights off (DRL on)


All tail lights on (Jeep lights on)

 

[Drover]

Love your mod, great idea................ just don't get an inspection done, park/clearance lights must all be on together, I don't believe there is an allowance for daylight running clearance lights not that I think your rig would attract attention and SA doesn't have yearly inspections ?? Does It???
Mind you I would do it myself .

 

[Base23]

Love your mod, great idea................ just don't get an inspection done, park/clearance lights must all be on together, I don't believe there is an allowance for daylight running clearance lights not that I think your rig would attract attention and SA doesn't have yearly inspections ?? Does It???
Mind you I would do it myself .

Cheers
SA does not have yearly inspections and even if I do get checked all I would have to do is turn the switch off that controls the power to pin 2 to the trailer plug and the new clearance lights would not come on.
I just like the Idea of being able to have some rear lights on the van without having all the lights on during the day. Brake light are also more noticeable in day light when they are not all ready half illuminated as tail lights.

 

[davemc]

Hey @Base23 with the Anderson plug did you take it from a split in the 12 pin plug or run it back to the batteries?
Want to setup something and get a better air compressor. Just went through a fuse per tyre using my cheap air comp into the outside 12v
Need some more fuses now and its so slow to pump up with the compressor I got for kids toys.

 

[Base23]

Hey @Base23 with the Anderson plug did you take it from a split in the 12 pin plug or run it back to the batteries?
Want to setup something and get a better air compressor. Just went through a fuse per tyre using my cheap air comp into the outside 12v
Need some more fuses now and its so slow to pump up with the compressor I got for kids toys.

Ran all the way back to the battery. Used a mega fuse and holder at the positive terminal.

 

[Drover]

Air compressors really need to run off the car battery with the engine running so they get heaps of juice, kill a battery and cook the wiring otherwise very quickly I have found.

 

[davemc]

yeah I know probably should of got a Anderson when they setup the car

 

[Drover]

When I use mine on the ute, I plug it into the Anderson at the rear and on the van I cheat and tap into the anderson which runs the fridge from the ute, it has an anderson inside the fridge vent, so I plug the van into the ute a longer air hose is on the mod list.