Lets see your dirtbag modile

Lets see pics of your van, motorhome, or station wagon. Here's mine:

I bought a van a few years back and recently added a bivy platform with space for storage below. I've got plans to pull out the bench seat I added and put in a counter area. I'm also planning to add a couple deep cycle batteries, constant duty selenoid (for charging them), and an inverter to power my laptop and some interior lighting.

Camping at Albertsons, near Red Rocks

Keough Hot Springs camping near Bishop, CA

Before adding the platform

Sweet rig. Vans are best for this type of setup.

I have a P/U with a topper and sleeping system because I use it for other things, but I'd definetly have somethign like yours if my vehicle was primarily my home.

Anyway, I'm interested in how you plan on wiring up power. I've researched abit, but can't find a lot about wiring the batteries so they charge as you drive.

Evan

Evan Horvath aka Evan1984 wrote:I've researched abit, but can't find a lot about wiring the batteries so they charge as you drive.

Evan, I've got a rig that does just that. Look up ISOpwr by West Mountain Radio. I am a licensed ham radio operator and I wanted to be able to operate my radio from an auxilary battery that gets charged from the truck battery whenever the truck is running. ISOpwr is a product that does exactly what I need for $79.

I have a 12-volt absorbed glass mat (AGM) rechargeable sealed lead acid (SLA) battery with a capacity of 35 amp hours. It weighs about 25 pounds. You can certainly get a larger battery to fit your needs. I prefer the battery manufacturer Powersonic.

Here is a diagram from the West Mountain Radio that explains how to hook it up. Where the radio is depicted, that is where you can use any 12-volt accessories.
ISOpwr Diagram from West Mountain Radio
ISOpwr provides seamless solid-state switching. When the truck is running, the accessories are being powered from the truck battery while the auxilary battery is getting recharged. As soon as you shut down the truck, ISOpwr switches modes and the accessories get powered by the aux battery, and the recharging stops, saving the truck battery.

The ISOpwr uses the Anderson Powerpole connectors to make power cable connections. These are genderless connectors that easily crimp on to various gauge cables.

I've used this setup for a couple of months now and have had no problems. The switching is perfect and the radio never sees any transients, spikes or dropouts. My radio (ICOM IC-2820) uses 50 watts on transmit and around 5 watts on receive, so once the truck is shut down I can operate for several days of average use on the 35 amp hour battery.

ISOpwr by West Mountain Radio

John, KF7HAB

Evan, I found good info about the wiring on this site:
cheaprvliving.com/howtohave…

Sweet van dude. Evan, check out this link. lots of other good info on his site too.

I've also got a full size Ford Van- in general, I prefer them to anything else I've travelled and camped in. I used to tour (music) out of an '85 E-150 with a bed, stove and sink- my current one is a '93 E-150 with the same setup. The photos show the steel frame for the bed, counter and kitchen area- I'm planning to add some wood doors below the stove/sink this winter. There's also a small shelf above the sink; this is for the blue water jug to sit over the sink when I'm parked- running water without an electric pump.

E-150 kitchen area

E-150 bed/counter frame

Small Honda, gear stashed in packs, and a tent. I traded the vehicle comforts for the 40 mpg ride.

Evan Horvath aka Evan1984 wrote:Sweet rig. Vans are best for this type of setup. I have a P/U with a topper and sleeping system because I use it for other things, but I'd definetly have somethign like yours if my vehicle was primarily my home. Anyway, I'm interested in how you plan on wiring up power. I've researched abit, but can't find a lot about wiring the batteries so they charge as you drive. Evan

I plan on using one of these for my setup: yandina.com/c100InfoR3.htm

It's basically a relay that senses when your alternator is generating current (car is running) and lets both batteries charge at the same time. When the car turns off the Yandina isolates the two batteries so you don't end up running down and ruining your starting battery. I'm also going to have a battery charger in this system to charge the batteries up when I have shore power.

As far as inverters go it's better to try and run everything you can off of DC power and only use an inverter for things that only run off of AC power. Take a laptop for example...if you run it off an inverter you are taking DC power from your battery and converting it to AC power so you can plug your laptop AC adaptor into it which then converts the power back to DC so the laptop can run. Efficiency is lost at each of these conversions so it's much better to just buy a DC adaptor for your laptop.

Peter, sweet setup man!

Here's mine:

Hard to beat this customized rig...

supertopo.com/climbers-foru…

I've seen the tent on top rig a few time but I just don't see how that's more convenient than throwing you tent on the ground. Then again I'm just thinking about my own drunken ass trying to get up and down a ladder.

Wow! that thing is incredible. gotta have the Maker's Mark onboard.

I' getting ready to roll off cross-country on my first *real* road trip... I've lived in a van for a long weekend before. I've lived in an off-the-grid/no water cabin for the last 5 months. But I've never lived on the road for an extended time...so this should be interesting.

Here is Swanky,

Swanky

and here is a link to the sleep platform build-out just completed(pictures).
happiegrrrlclimbing.blogspo…

I haven't gotten the rest in place yet. Picking up the thing from the mechanics(hopefully this afternoon....) and then have til Sunday to get set to go.

Happygrrl, good luck on your trip. What spots will you be hitting?

Nathan - I will start out in Jtree and go from there. I have a friend who is joining me at the start of January, and my hope is that he will pretty much hang with me the rest of the winter(rope gunning, going where I might be to timid on my own, generally entertaining me and such - hahahah).

If that happens - I am hoping to really get around - Red Rock, Bishop, Cochise, Hueco, and a few other places. But of course it will be more up to him, since he is the stronger partner and would do more leading.

If he isn't as committed to the trip as I am hoping, then....well I will then see who I can dig up to go where. Easily Red Rocks, of course. But as for the other places, it will just have to be a matter of getting hooked up with people I feel comfortable with.

The agenda is pretty unset, at this point!

i don't think you'll have any issues finding partners wherever you go hippiegirl, even if your solo. every trip ive ever gone on i meet so many climbers and everyone is down to climb together.

Ol' Toby wrote:Hard to beat this customized rig... supertopo.com/climbers-foru…

darn tutin! thats a sweet rig

home sweet truck

this is Gerty i live in her about half the year such a fun ride.

The Beast
This is mine!

Astro

Interior

This was my camping mobile for the last year. Pretty nice ride with AWD and fairly economical for a van. It's for sale now if anyone is interested. It's in Las Cruces, NM. Only an hour from Hueco Tanks.

I've gotten a VW rabbit diesel truck with a camper. It suits me better and much better fuel mileage. I'll put up a picture soon.