Since I have been making semi-regular updates to the work / upgrades / updates I have been making to my U1300L expedition camper, I thought it best to just start a thread so others can follow my progress and hopefully make constructive suggestions / comments.
Just to give other some idea, here is a picture of us at The Great Sand Dunes National Park during a weekend this summer.
Added 12V/24V Blue Sea model 1018 Dual USB Charger to the dash just next to the window washer fluid button. Fits neatly (with a little force) right in the factory openings in the dash plate.
Yes - very happy with the quality of the USB charger unit. I have a lot of Blue Sea equipment and overall their quality seems quite good (as you would expect). A definite upgrade for the truck and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the same for anyone who is running a 12V/24V or 24V system.
Continued work on the electrical system. Kind of funny that Iain is also working on an overhead console (work of art), at the same time I have been working on mine. Beautiful work Iain does - if you haven't seen his - check in out here.
Progress I made today:
Dropped the steering column to work behind the dash. Added in a series of 14 ga wiring, some on always on circuits and others that are circuits controlled by the ignition switch. All in preparation for the electronics in the overhead console.
Next, I pulled the additional wires back through the driver's side A-pillar. Now I have a couple of bundles available for use in the overhead console. Once the first wire is pulled, it can be used to fish all of the other wires which makes life much easier.
Lastly, I have been working over the last couple of weeks on the custom overhead console. The picture is taken outside on my deck - upside down and letting it bake a little in the Colorado sun during the afternoon. You can see I have openings for 2X 5.25" speakers on each side with a storage compartment for the driver and passenger on each side. In the middle, there is two cutouts for SPST toggle switches that will control various items (some of which are already in place). Just below that is the cutout for the in dash DVD / navigation unit that I bought earlier this year. On the bottom side are two surface mount LEDs (14 elements each) that will illuminate with the door switch in addition to driver's side / passenger's side toggle switches that can turn on the light when the doors are closed (map reading lights).
I am in the final body fill / blocking / primer / blocking stage. Once the surface is acceptable (probably going overboard), I will paint the entire console gloss white to match the cab followed by wet sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper as needed. This console has taken a lot of work, but I think it is going to turn out well.
Toggle switch list:
Front Hella Rallye 4000 lights on bumper
Overhead flood lights (need replacing)
Rear flood lights
Interior cabin lights
Winch (as a possible addition)
Solenoid valve controlling coolant flow to hot water tank (future plans)
Others? (2 remaining)
Looks good, I think most people don't realise how much work goes into custom parts. Even simple things can take hours, like running wires through the A/Pillars. One or two small gauge wires are easy, but once you run quite a few wires, in protective sleeves to protect from shorting, and it can take hours.
I ran out of space in my pillars just running the A/C drain and a few of the wires and they were too crowded to pull any more through without risking damage, so the majority of wires and the a/c hoses go up the rear wall of the cab.
Looks good, I think most people don't realize how much work goes into custom parts. Even simple things can take hours, like running wires through the A/Pillars. One or two small gauge wires are easy, but once you run quite a few wires, in protective sleeves to protect from shorting, and it can take hours.
Thanks Iain - yes it is a fair amount of work. Just depends on how "good" you want to make it look. For a full timer like me, it takes a while as you only have an hour or two after work each night or gobble up your weekend time as you work through projects. I found a few tricks to run wires up and down the pillars so next time I have to do it (hopefully a while), it won't be so bad.
Using my DMM, I found that the driver's side door contact switch was not functioning properly and wouldn't allow any current to pass through when the switch was in the open position.
After removing it from the door frame - I attempted to find a replacement NOS part. The part number on the switch was 000 821 31 52 (0008213152) with a rectangular body shape. I had a difficult time finding one that was the same shape as mine (found others that were similar - but exactly the same), so I decided to attempt to open the switch and take a look inside.
The switch was actually pretty easy to open if done carefully. Inside I saw the plunger, contact plate, return spring, and two terminals. One terminal was heavily corroded while the other terminal was in good condition. Maybe the corrosion happened on the downward facing terminal? After a bit of cleaning work, I was able to get the second terminal in decent condition. After snapping things back together - I had a working switch again. Not that I expect it to last another 30 years, but will get me going in the meantime.
Anyone have a good source for this contact switch? Will the more "wedge" shaped switch work as a direct replacement?
You can still buy them from Mercedes or the Vendors (EI and Eurotruck sell them), the face of the new ones looks a wee bit different but they function the same.
Thanks for confirming Trev. The shape looked a bit different so I wasn't sure if the cutout dimensions would even be the same. I got curious and opened mine up all the same. I will get in contact with the vendors and order a couple of replacements all the same.
Yep - that looks like it is the Febi Bilstein part number 36744 which as you mentioned is a directly replacement. Thanks a I will get these ordered up for replacements. Thanks for sharing your experience with this replacement part.
Progress update. Been working a lot on wiring and electrical for the overhead console. Not completed yet - but I did do a lot of snipping, crimping, and heat shrinking wires today. Here is a photo of the back of one bank of rocker switches that will control the Hella flood lights on the truck.
Thought I would give an update since the overhead console has been installed for a few months now. After all the priming, painting, sanding, clear coating, buffing etc, the overhead console was looking pretty decent. Then I finished up the wiring making sure that I fully insulated all of the exposed contacts as suggested. The console is actually quite easy to install and remove with just a few screws and Molex connectors for the electrical. Ended up with 12 V (radio and LED lights) and 24 V service (rocker switches) up top which is why you can see the two Blue Sea fuse blocks used for the distribution. It is difficult to get good pictures when the space is small and the sun is shining, so please excuse the rough looking photos.
looking good man! Keep it up. As you wire up more of your switches, you may want to use insulated connectors, just in case one were to come loose behind the console or dash, you have a little more protection against a dead short. Just a thought. Pumped to see it all progress, we need more u1300 campers on the road!
Or since you already have the wires terminated, you can do what I do sometimes. Use another piece of heatshrink over the female connector to insulate it.
Thanks for the advice about the insulated terminals. I will pick some up to finish the rest of my wiring. I though about adding heat shrink to the ones I have already crimped - another good idea!
I wonder why none of the wires MB uses under the dash (in my truck at least) use fully insulated disconnects. Each one of the wires in my case are on their own circuit and individually fused. Anyone want to guess why MB wouldn't use the insulated kind?
Looking back at my photos from when I stripped down the dash, all of the connectors were insulated. Only the fuses themselves were exposed but they had a plastic cover over the top of them.
All the instrument, switch, warning lights terminals were all in insulted blocks, even the connectors to the fuse boxes were all insulated. The only one that were not fully insulated were the non OEM ones someone had added.
I re-used all the insulated blocks when I re-wired my dash. The Auber instruments got a covering of "Liquid tape" brush on insulation
I too have some non-OEM disconnects added behind the dash from the previous owner. I will plan to either insulate them or replace the disconnects with insulated ones next time I am back there.
Have been away from the MB forum for a while and wasn't up to date on the new location of this nice Mog. It was based in Victoria before Have met the original owner and got a tour of the camper. Very nice!
Worked on the initial install of a new Espar Hydronic II D5S on the truck today. I even got the "boxed" version (Espar's / Eberspacher's name for it) to help protect it from road spray and other contaminates. Fit the box just under the driver's side door next to the steps. The box is very nice as it contains the water pump, fuel metering pump, and the heater all in one unit. The top lid comes off very easy for service etc.
Just waiting on a few more waterproof electrical connectors to arrive (mix of Delphi and TE Connectivity) before I wire in the power. Next will be running the conductors for the controller and the altitude sensor in the cabin.
I have a set of hoses that run on top of the driver's side frame rail from the engine compartment to a series of valves just below the driver's seat and adjacent to the heater that was just installed. Another series of hoses then enter the camper's cabin to various components. The valves allow the operator to change the coolant flow between engine / hydronic heater / calorifier / heat exchanger for heating the cabin air.
Currently these valves are manually operated (one inside the cab next to the hand brake / one outside the cab) but in the future I would like to have the valves operated by solenoid and controlled using rocker switches in the overhead console.
Identified the model of the Eberspacher air heater in the camper today. After removing some panels, I was able to see the ID tag on the side of the unit. Turns out the unit is an Eberspacher V7S which is the largest air heater Eberspacher has in their line (according to the website).
The largest air heater in the range for full length trailer heating, either as cargo carriers or exhibition conversions. The V7S features additional interference suppression for use in military applications.
Applications Include: Large winterization projects, personnel carriers, cargo traders.
No wonder we keep this unit on the low setting even when the temps drop below 0 C. The temp is infinitely adjustable on the unit and I have a thermostat that controls the on/off of the heater. Here are some specs just for reference:
Low: 3,000 W (~10,250 BTU/hr) @ 0.4 L/hr
High: 12,000 W (~41,000 BTU/hr) ~ 1.3 L/hr
I also have a 1550 W (~5,300 BTU/hr) hydronic fan heater that can supplement heat if needed (not used much at all to be honest).
Can you draw up a diagram of how the system works, I set mine up with a "T" from the heater feed line, to the Webasto, then to the rear of the camper where it splits into the hot water tank, the cabin heater and the rear storage heater. All three have manual valves at the moment, but I was thinking of changing to electric ball valves one day. I have 10m of hose I have an small auxiliary pump inline to keep the water flowing, not sure if it was necessary, but can't be a bad thing. The downside of the way I have mine, is that the water always flows through the Webasto heater. I spoke to the Webasto tech support, and asked whether this would be a problem, and he said it was quite a normal set-up, and would not have any effect. I thought I had a diagram of my set-up, but can't find it, but will draw another one. The one thing I was told to watch out for was "short cycling" - if I don't have enough volume of water to keep hot, then the hydronic unit will start up, gets to the shut down temperature before it has gone through it's full start-up cycle and shuts it down, which is very bad for it - clogs up the burner. That's why I have mine always running through the engine - enough water there to make sure it goes thought the full cycle.
My other concern was to eliminate "dead legs" in the pipework when a portion of the system is not in use. Not having water flow through something can lead to corrosion problems - the coolant goes into an "anerobic state", and can eat away even stainless steel pretty quickly.
They certainly didn't want the patients in the ambulance to go cold did they, looks like your heater is designed to heat up the box, even with the door open
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