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The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners ClubŪ The Mitsubishi Pajero, Shogun, Montero, Challenger, Raider and EVO 4x4 Owner's Club
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Mystery Machine ***
Joined: 04 Jul 2003 Posts: 179 Location: Bristol
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 16:25 Post subject: 'Volts' Wagon! |
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Fitted a few months ago, but here are some of the pics of the invertor install in my L300.
It took about 3days to do properly due to having to design a mounting plate to sit inside the heater control panel that would hold the mains sockets in the right place .
It was also quite fiddly cutting away the hole in the panel to get the sockets to sit correctly, and re-shaping/trimming the sockets themselves to give a neat look.
The wiring was fairly hard, but having done it now, could do it easier a second time round (sussing out how to remove the side panels was a job in itself!! - see FAQ on how I did it!!)
View from the boot. The invertor is hidden inside the seat base. The carpet under the seat is left partially open to allow air to get to the unit & fan. This set-up allows all interior funcionality to continue as normal, with no interuption to interior space or use/flexibility of seats in ANY position.
Looking closer you can see the invertor inside the seat base. Plenty of air is able to get to the unit, but a metal bracket is being laser-cut to hold the air slot open, without risk of being pushed shut from items in the boot.
With the seat folded up, and the carpet pulled back you can see the location of the invertor and the route of the wiring.
A close-up of the unit. Being a Sine Wave Invertor, the unit is quite large for 150w (approx the size of a 600/800w normal invertor) This was the best place I could find to put it without affecting any of the interior.
A close-up of the flexi-conduit used to enable the seat to be slid backwards/forwards & tipped up without affecting or damaging the wiring.
A close-up of the cable with the carpet put back in place - this is how it looks from the boot with the seat folded up. I'm quite proud of how professional it looks!
The flexi-conduit from inside the passenger area. This is with the seat down and slid back - as it would be seen 90% of the time. Sorry for the quality of the pic - it was getting dark & the focus was all over the place!!
The sockets installed in the gap left when I removed the rear slave unit. It all looks so easy from this shot - hiding all the hard work that went into getting it to look correct!
A close-up of the sockets. The grey colour looks different here! The actual colour 'in the flesh' is much nearer the grey of the panels. (HONESTLY!! ) The round switch to the right of the sockets is the remote switch to turn the invertor on & off. This itself is switched by the accessories circuit, so the invertor cannot be left on by accident & run the battery down.
How it looks from a distance - as mentioned already, the colour of the sockets look 'browner' here, they are much more grey when you see them for real.
Any comments/suggestions for improvement welcome?
When the weather warms a little (& it's less wet! ) I'll get to work on integrating a self switching electric hook-up system to shut down the invertor as soon as the van is plugged into the campsite mains power (now where did I see that cheap electric hook-up kit for sale?? )
Bruce. |
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 16:25 Post subject: Google Ads keep the POCUK free to join! |
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sambsam ***
Joined: 14 Aug 2003 Posts: 197 Location: Hove
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 23:23 Post subject: |
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Very sweet and neat - beautiful installation |
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Ginja Nutz **
Joined: 27 Feb 2003 Posts: 108 Location: Norwich, Norfolk UK
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 0:47 Post subject: |
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Neat Job !
Have you actually run the unit 'in anger' yet
I was wondering if you were having any heat dissipation problems with the unit being enclosed like that.
Does the seat get warm
I have a 300W unit to fit in my L400 and was curious... |
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hairyben **
Joined: 22 Dec 2003 Posts: 107 Location: Camden. Frontier land.
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Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 11:10 Post subject: |
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Max Power wrote: |
Pukka trick mods geeza |
seriously it looks good, trouble with me I have all sorts of fantastic ideas but never actually do anything about them. At the moment moolahs tight but I've got a few ideas for things I wanna do to the bus, and as I intend to keep it a few years will probably get round to it.
Do you use the inverter with the vehicle being driven? I know a big inverter would sap power but does the unstable input voltage cause any issues with the output or inverter operation? |
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Mystery Machine ***
Joined: 04 Jul 2003 Posts: 179 Location: Bristol
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 19:43 Post subject: |
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Ginja Nutz wrote: |
Have you actually run the unit 'in anger' yet
I was wondering if you were having any heat dissipation problems with the unit being enclosed like that.
Does the seat get warm |
So far I have run a laptop (around 75W) a phone charger and camera charger together for a good few hours and no real sign of heat build-up!
From the seat, only minimal heat/warmth could be felt, so I guess the cooling fins on the body, combined with the built in fan are doing their job OK!
hairyben wrote: |
Do you use the inverter with the vehicle being driven? I know a big inverter would sap power but does the unstable input voltage cause any issues with the output or inverter operation? |
Yes I've used it while 'parked-up'. Watched the whole of Blade 2 recently with the power running the whole time, the accessories circuit on and the head unit pumping out the sound all round!
No problems with the battery the next morning (Phew!) although I would like to build a volt meter in to keep an eye on the battery state to avoid running it flat! I understand the unit shuts down when it detects the battery drop - leaving enough power to get the beast started! But I don't want to rely too much on that!!
Hope this answers your questions?
Regards,
Bruce. |
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carm6 *
Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 16 Location: London
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 20:08 Post subject: |
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Looks like a beautiful installation. Very well done . I was thinking about doing this to my L400. And you have gave me a few good ideas thanks. |
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Marcus Bloke *
Joined: 08 Feb 2004 Posts: 12 Location: Beaconsfield Bucks.
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Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 18:27 Post subject: |
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Hi Bruce
Sweet instalation,
I have fitted 3 inverters in to my old mercedes van at differant times starting with a 300w, then a 1500w and finished up with the daddy a 2500w.
These I used them for my power tool as I am a builder, also as I Converted the van into a camper later on and they used to run a microwave, frigde, telly and video at once no probs, well the bigger two did !
They DO turn themselves off prior to the batteries running down beyond being able to start the van, but if you want a volt meter try caravan accessory shop as they sell units with extra accessory switches built in.
I also rigged up a switching unit to go between inverter and mains power hook up with out too much fuss.
Any way your wagon starting to sound good, now how about that intercooler instalation, thats the one I want to hear about as its got me stumped. |
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