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As a final 'goodbye' gesture to my old Norcold 3-way, I took the time to rip off the old fridge roof-vent, too. A handy chunk of 1/4" HDPE covered that baby over nicely. Really does, as Stephen pointed out, un-clutter the roof considerably. | Done. Now I've got some serious storage space up there. | A few yrs back I picked up a couple of 4x8 sheets of expanded aluminum. Never imagined then how fortuitous a decision that would prove to be. A perfect finish for this job. | |
(1 Comments) BASKET CASE! A PO of #846 had hacked off about 1/2 of the OEM roof rack to make room for huge plastic storage pod he stuck up on the roof. Ugly as shit so I ripped it off long ago. Found this alum square tube rack - old school HD stuff off an older camper - then hired a welder to make some changes to beef it up for my application, ie: make it able to literally carry a moose up there! | Yeah... not quite as pretty as the newer low-profile jobbies, but these guys are proven work-horses and I picked up another that also blows real cold for spare parts. BONUS: tested while plugged in to shore power, running off the genny, AND it runs great off the Cummins alternator at idle! My alternator is a stock Denso (approx 225 amps) with an external regulator mod to a 1-wire unit. Ready for the desert! | Worked like a hot-dam. | So, time to figure how to get the 'wart' up onto the roof without help. The light went 'on' and I came up with this. Had a handy 12ft hunk of heavy walled 2 1/4" alum pipe kicking around. Dam AT-engine crane sure proved its worth. |
All done. I RECOMMEND LEAVING BOTH CIRCUIT FUSES OUT OF THE BREAKER BOX IN THE BEDROOM UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO FINISH THE JOB. Good luck! Terry #846 | Here you can see how I utilized the OEM cable connectors: the top one is the new wire from the proposed roof AC unit above. The one below exits the AC #2 circuit down through into the outside compartment cavity. REMEMBER TO PULL BOTH A/C FUSE-PLUGS FROM THE BREAKER BOX IN THE REAR BEDROOM BEFORE DOING ANY ELECTRICAL WORK! | (Again: I ended up replacing the white 14/3 with red 12/2 lumex.)Here you can see where the wire came into the space. I left the coat hanger all the way into the hole then carefully ran a long utility knife blade (3 + inches) along the metal ceiling plate until I felt it hit the coat-hanger. This will be your 'Ah-ha' moment. You can also see the hunk of pex pipe I used as a conduit. When you remove the long vertical wood finish strip that runs up the corner from the metal junction box you might also find a bunch of sharp pointed metal staples sticking out into the cavity there where your two thick black wire looms ran up to the AC control panel above. The bunch of staples creeped me out so I opted to run the wire past them inside a piece of pex. | (1 Comments) If you use standard 14-2 wire (thinner) you may have an easier time of it. You can see where the wire exits the opening then goes up OVER the alum roof rafter, basically in a line towards where the vertical line of the open wardrobe door edge would meet the ceiling. I make no guarantee that this method won't damage any existing 12-volt wiring during this work. My ceiling light works still. I first piloted a hole with a coat hanger wire (straightened)jamming it back and forth towards the wardrobe. You'll be fighting through spray foam insulation. Once I had a hole I could pilot the wire through easily I cut the coat hanger wire at about 30" and used the 'curly' twisted end as the bit to 'drill' through the foam and widen the pathway. Make this tool - or something similar - then chuck it in your drill and spin the pecker while working it back and forth through the hole to widen it sufficiently to push a wire through it into the closet.NOTE: Ended up ripping this 3-wire chunk out and pulling some red 12/2 through instead. Thanks for the advice, Hal. |
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