Dan's '66 Tradewind Improvements

[dbj216]

Your new cushions look very comfortable and quite nice. I like it. The final decorating with upholstery and curtains can make a huge difference in the comfort feeling of the trailer. I have that job to do in the Overlander, but not for a while yet.

I did not know that about the Herr operators. I didn't figure out how to take them down. I did get 5 of the 6 in the 66 working after soaking in penetrating oil and the lubricants. The last one I could not get the second stage to lift. I guess it is the "shorty" version.

The son's 69 Globetrotter has the "ball screw" type lifter. And my 75 Overlander has a more complex linkage arrangement. I think they are less prone to "rusting tight".

David

[Slats]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

TIPS ON REPAIRING HEHR VENTS
Our Tradewind has 3 Hehr vents.

Dan -


I have the original Hehr vent screen and fan from my Tradewind, if you want it. I replaced it with a fancy fan from VTS.

[TouringDan]

Slats

That is a mighty nice offer Slats. I believe I will accept your offer if you don’t mind boxing it up and sending it to me. My address is Dan Engel, 85 Westfield Dr., Lynchburg, Va. Just let me know how much I owe you and I will send you a check.

Thanks again, Dan

[Slats]

Dan -

We'll be passing through Lexington on our way to the Outer Banks late tomorrow evening. If you want to drive up from Lynchburg and meet up, I can hand it off to you.

[dbj216]

The Airstream community. Great isn't it. David

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by dbj216

The Airstream community. Great isn't it. David

Absolutely great David. Slats and Terry stopped by today with the fan and screen for a HEHR vent. I just love that personal delivery service. Now we will be able to install the fan in the front vent. We will be able to provide 12v power to the vent from the light that is right next to the vent.

Thank you so much Slats!

Dan

[dbj216]

My wife doesn't like buying anything online unless it is "free shipping". Slats adds a new level to "free shipping".

Very neat to see Trade Wind enthusiasts getting together.

David

[Slats]

We're back home from the Outer Banks. My only regret of the trip is that we didn't set aside more time for our visit with Dan and his wife Brenda. They are very likeable and fine folks.


Well, maybe another small regret. The occasion unfortunately allowed Terry and Brenda the opportunity to compare notes the adverse effect of Airstreams on their home maintenance and repair honey-do lists.

[ttbikes]

Originally Posted by Slats

We're back home from the Outer Banks. My only regret of the trip is that we didn't set aside more time for our visit with Dan and his wife Brenda. They are very likeable and fine folks.


Well, maybe another small regret. The occasion unfortunately allowed Terry and Brenda the opportunity to compare notes the adverse effect of Airstreams on their home maintenance and repair honey-do lists.

That last one made me laugh. I am going out to work on the airstream after I finish checking Airfourms. I will do this knowing I need to paint the house and repair some of the windows.

[TouringDan]

WIRING UP THE TRIMETRIC TM-2025-RV BATTERY MONITOR

I originally installed the battery monitor two years ago but never wired it up because I really didn’t need it. I have had a Voltminder installed and basically used the battery voltage to determine the state of charge of my two six volt golf cart batteries. The installed battery monitor is shown in photos 1 and 2.

Since I recently installed some solar charging capability I felt it was time to finally wire up the TriMetric battery monitor. The difficult part of the job was running the supplied gray wire (containing two twisted pairs of #22 wire) from the battery monitor in front by the refrigerator to the battery at the rear. The difficult part was getting from the gaucho through the tub/shower to the area behind the toilet console where the two golf cart batteries are located. When I ran the gray wire I also ran a #14 set of stranded low voltage wires in case I needed them some time in the future. The key to running these wires was cutting a 2.5” hole in the wall between the gaucho and the fiberglass tub and running the wires in the 3” space between the inner and outer wall of the tub. The next photos show where the wiring was run.

Dan

[dbj216]

Well, did it work like you expect? "Now for the rest of the story.".

David

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Well, did it work like you expect? "Now for the rest of the story.".



David

David

Good question. I don’t know if it is working properly yet. I have been waiting for the batteries to fully charge for 3 days and they are not there yet. I will need to spend some time playing with it to see how it works.

Dan

[TouringDan]

VICTRON 75/15 CHARGE CONTROLLER INSTALLATION

I have decided to add 200 watts of solar charging capability so we can camp without hookups longer and will no longer need to bring our generator with us or (more importantly) camp in generator free camping sites.

I like doing things simply and cheaply, when possible, so I decided that I didn’t want to mount the panels on the Airstream but rather just carry them in the bed of the truck and pull them out when I needed them and just connect them to the charge controller.

I mounted the charge controller next to the batteries and just above the 1,000 watt pure sine inverter. I installed a 30 amp fuse before connecting it to the battery. The connections for the solar panels are just under the rear section of the belly pan. I have 60 feet of #10 wire to allow me to hopefully find some sun to place the solar panels.

I will test them this weekend or on our next camping trip.

Dan

[dbj216]

I think the "portable" solar panels are great. I've given thought to them, but so far the generator wins because of its power to run the AC. We'll see what the future brings.

Gee, the back of your Trade Wind is getting chock full of improvements.

David

[steinVT]

If and when I go solar, it will be portable too. Not only to keep them off the roof, but many campsites we go to are so wooded you might have trouble finding sun. Anxious to hear your results.

Mark

[TouringDan]

NEW 12 VOLT PANEL INSTALLATION

I have had a new Blue Sea 12 volt panel for over 2 years now and have never installed it for a couple of reasons. First, I have had this Airstream for 7 years now and have never even had to replace a fuse! Second, I have looked at the original 12 volt panel and never really understood it. I hate to admit this as I can wire an entire house yet I don’t understand the 12 volt panel on my 66 Airstream (see the photo below).

Well, I had to loosen the panel to run some wires behind it and I decided that even though I didn’t understand how it was wired, I did understand how the new small Blue Sea panel had to be wired in, and so I would go ahead and install it.

The installation was simple and straight forward. The original panel had three circuits protected, I believe, by 40 amp fuses. I believe 40 amp fuses are too big for the wire, #10 aluminum, and not needed for the load, so I installed 25 amp fuses for the 3 circuits with two spare fuses. No fuses blew and everything works .

The electrical upgrades are now complete and I like the looks of the rear now with the two golf cart batteries, the battery monitor, the 1,000 watt inverter, the solar with two 100 watt portable panels and now finally a new 12 volt panel with three 25 amp blade fuses.

Dan

[TouringDan]

SOLAR NEWBE TEST RESULTS

We went camping for 6 days last week off the grid at Lewis Mountain CG in the Shenandoah NP. The solar worked great as we have two portable panels that can be placed in the sun while the Airstream, for the most part, is in the shade.

The Victron controller shows the results on your phone and I like this feature. The status photo shows 190 watts from the two panels that were connected in series. The history photo is nice but I don’t completely understand it. I see that the maximum power from the panels was 201 watts at some time. I see that the total energy(?) yield from the panels on the last day was 900 watt hours. One question I have is that this didn’t all go into the batteries so where did it go? Another question I have is the consumption of 30 watt hours. What does this mean?

Because of the solar we didn’t have to be concerned about our power consumption. So in addition to the normal power needs of led lights, water pump, cell phone charging, etc. we had power to operate the Dometic 65 qt fridge that we now carry in the Tundra and our 300 watt rice cooker (and anything else that needs heating up appliance).

Dan

[dbj216]

High tech TouringDan with his own solar power plant. Maybe you can sell those missing watt hours to other campers near by.

Very nice looking campsite. A nice place to spend six days. We plan to travel to Ouray, Colorado, the first of August to attend a vintage Airstream rally. I hope to meet other vintage Airstream enthusiasts there. There are no hook ups, and I don't have solar. Wish I did.

David

[TouringDan]

David

I have read about the rally you are going to in Colorado. Sure wish I could go. Then I could sell you some of the extra power I will be collecting from the solar panels ([emoji1]).

Are you taking the million dollar highway? I took it in a snowstorm going skiing to Telluride two years ago. That was scary.

I would take an extra battery or two, from your Overlander, to make sure you don’t run out of battery power. I also now travel with a 20 ah lithium jump box as I often run the battery on my Tundra down powering my Dometic fridge in the Tundra. It is quite handy to have as it also has two usb outlets for charging cell phones and iPads.

Enjoy the rally!

Dan

[Slats]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

We went camping for 6 days last week off the grid at Lewis Mountain CG in the Shenandoah NP. The solar worked great as we have two portable panels that can be placed in the sun while the Airstream, for the most part, is in the shade.

Dan -


You convinced me that your way is the way to go solar.