track days in september

I skipped the club track days weekend in August as it was blisteringly hot. While The Barn project is now racing against the on coming winter I took a couple of days off to play at the track. That was the plan.

special club day in september

 

We had a special club day in which we ran motorcycles and cars. They were not on the track at the same time. We alternate the sessions for cars and bikes. It worked out very well.

the barn at the ranch - part 1

 

I decided to write a series on The Barn that finally broke ground. Actually it happened in early July this year, so there will be a lot of catch up posts, and few writings.

she gave me a heart attack - Isolde had no pulse - part 3

I know my vehicles really well as I do all the services and repairs. While I knew I pin-point diagnosed the recent engine failed to turn over, there is something in the mind that something can still go wrong. Taking a 6 hours round trip into town is not something to be taken willy nilly. A few months ago I notice there had been slight loss of engine coolant. I did visually witness some wetness on the ground immediate below the water pump, and I replenished the small amount of coolant lost.

gone tools crazy

 

I had lived with the minimum of hand tools up until now. I decided to treat myself to some that I long should had bought. These tools used to be quite expensive but now they cost a fraction of the old days. For  general purpose electric wire tools Klein Tools has always been the standard.

brunnhilde's ventilation fan - part 4

 

Some cheap thrills arrived from Amazon. All these years only now that I broke down and bought a cable tie gun as they are so cheap now and they are knockoffs of a classic American design. You never have too many precision wire cutters so I bought 5. Also this cheap 12Vdc digital thermostatic switch.

brunnhilde's ventilation fan - part 3

It is time to cut the foam board for the bath skylight ventilation fan. I bought this piece of 1/4" foam board many years ago and it has served me well in many projects. Some pieces has been reused a number of times, and this piece is no exception. I used it to insulate the big skylight in Brunnhilde against solar gain before I painted the outer shell white. Double pane clear skylight is stupid in my book. Dometic actually makes skylights that are white but of course on one buy them.

in good shape, isolde - part 18

 

It's been so long that I cannot remember the last serial number of this series. I did some search which is not reliable but the best I can ascertain is this one is 18. The last post of the series was back in 25 April, 2016. This is a short post of I upgraded one of the 12V receptacles to one with built in USB type A receptacle 5V charge ports, and a built-in voltmeter.

she gave me a heart attack - Isolde had no pulse - part 2

 

These two posts were written real time with the progress of troubleshooting as the event unfolded. By mid morning today I knew I was onto the scent to the cause of the problem. It is not the ignition hall effect sensor in the distributor. It is a component in the ECU module that failed the moment when the engine stalled when I was ready to leave for the city. I count myself very lucky that it occur right in the garage rather than on the road. Also have I rely on even the best of Vanagon mechanic I have good reasons to believe he would not perform troubleshooting down to the component level as I did.

she gave me a heart attack - Isolde had no pulse

A few days ago I loaded everything and ready to go into the city in Isolde. As I started the engine within a a couple of seconds the engine stalled out. No amount of cranking would restart it. I thought that is odd, as Isolde has been flawless in the last year. I immediately suspected it may be a problem with my home brew only-I-know immobilizer. I designed this immobilizer that is easy to use, impossible to find, simple and reliable.

some wildlife at the ranch

Some recent wildlife at the ranch.

she gave me a heart attack - Brunnhilde had no pulse

 

I was doing a bunch of stuff, including giving more thought to the rooftop PV panel installation and the tradeoffs. I also wanted to reset the service reminder that has been plaguing me during the trip to Florida in February. Disaster struck.

Brunnhilde said that is too loud

 

The Coleman Mach 8 Polar Cub roof top air conditioner is a very loud machine to operate, partly because of its low profile design at the time. I am not at all impressed with all the RV rooftop ACs designed in the US. They are very crude in design, loud, and far from ergonomic, but this is the market we are in. There were not much choices when I install it about 5 years ago. The excessive exterior noise is one of the biggest problem, and I finally ready to confront it head on.

brunnhilde wants some sun

 

I have been pondering the difficult challenges of installing photovoltaic panels onto Brunnhilde but the roof area small and all have been utilized except the curve front portion. I am not interested in the flexible kind of panels due to their relative poor reliability as well as the difficulties of securing them from aerodynamic lift, short of drilling holes into the fiberglass high top. I know people have installed them with high strength tapes. It is not something I would do as the bond is only as strong as the weakest point, and with the James Cook top it is the paint finish.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 10

 

I did some final things to wrap up the Ink Bird cum refrigerator control for the Dometic fridge. I met all the goals I set out and the out of pocket cost is just $13. I open up the compressor compartment again to put in the CPT module, and a piece of note of instruction on how to revert back to the Westfalia Central Electronic Console should the Ink Bird fail on the road. It is very easy to forget all these a few years down the road.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 9

 

It is an anticlimax to wrap up the Ink Bird as the digital thermostat and control for the Dometic refrigerator. I dread the final steps which involve running a cable from above the burner hobs over through the overhead cabinets, down the closet to the water boiler compartment, then into the cabinet that houses the refrigerator.

brunnhilde's ventilation fan - part 2

After days of endurance test of the ventilation fan, I am pleased that it is here to stay. The best things about it is it consumes very little power and moves reasonable volume of air, and is whisper quiet. It works well in windy location where it is not safe to fully open the skylight, but leaving it in the safe mode.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 8

 

Living within my means is always the motto. If you have very little battery bank reserve you just find ways to reduce power consumption. That is why Brunnhilde have no power hungry appliances. The roof top air conditioner does not count as it requires shore power or the generator to supply its power, and during use, any other power consumers are insignificant in comparison. Now with the refrigerator, water boiler, or the diesel furnace. They need to consume as little current from the house battery bank as possible.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 7

I decided to forge ahead and cross the Rubicon, that is modifying the Black Water (as dirty as the Black Water Iraq war badass covert contractor) level indicator panel and repurpose it for the refrigerator control panel. As it turns out there are many constraints on where I can cut the opening for the Ink Bird. There are the existing graphics that I want to obscure and preserve. I have to comprehend the cabinet opening which turns out to be not symmetrical WRT to the faceplate. It is offset to one long side.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 6

 

I thought I would spend a little more time looking closer in repurposing the black water level indicator faceplate for he refrigerator thermostat. My goal is to make the hack look factory without showing any sign this is a hack.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 5

 

I have a setback in my desire to add a display blanking feature to the Ink Bird temperature controller. When I formulated the idea, I didn't give much thought of the complexity of the segmented LED display. While I was right to expect it being a dumb segmented display, I didn't give much thought to the number of segments this purpose made display has, and the number of pins that requires to support them. A rough count I found 34 segments to be switched on/off. Yet there are only 13 pins on the package.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 4

In my haste to get the bench testing started, I didn't pay attention to the optimum location of the thermistor. I mistaken the evaporator expansion port as the factory thermistor. I would soon notice the frequent cycling. For resistive heating short cycling is not a problem due to conservation of energy, but not the case with compressor refrigeration.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 3

 

The prospect to have a dedicated digital thermostat for the refrigerator and able to see the cold plate temperature (of the thermistor) got me excited with this little project. If done right it costs so little and I have fun along the way. I like little electronic projects like this that enhances the existing design, while being challenged to maintain the aesthetics and integrity of Westfalia's design spirit.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 2

Between time and monetary critical projects I put in some time towards this fun project. I open up the cabinet under the refrigerator to take some photos of the wiring and components to plan my bench test with the digital temperature controller.

brunnhilde's refrigerator control - part 1

I am warming up to the idea of taking away the refrigerator's control from Brunnhilde's Central Display Console. There is another wrong with it. The biggest motivator for me is to be able to read off the actual temperature inside without needing a improvised digital thermometer like I am using now. This home brewed refrigerator controller, if carefully and thoughtfully designed and implemented, will add a nice touch to ergonomics and aesthetics. 

brunnhilde's ventilation fan - part 1

A few years ago I designed this 200mm thermostatically operated ventilation fan in Isolde. I have been wanting to install a similar fan in Brunnhilde's bathroom skylight, but hoping to find a fan with slightly more CFM.

brunnhilde's digital thermostat - part 6

 

It has been quite a journey since when I decided to tackle the Honda EU2000i generator's inability to reliably power the 9200 BTU Coleman Mach 8 Polar Cub roof top air conditioner. My determination and self-reliance paid off and I can now declare victory.

mega winch for the car trailer - part 2

 The ATV winch includes a harness that has a hardwire control 3 position rocker switch that is momentary, In-off-Out. It is set up for mounting onto the tubular handle bar of a ATV. I made a adapter bracket so it can be mounted at a convenient location on the trailer.

brunnhilde's digital thermostat - part 5

The 110Vac version of the temperature controller took a long time to arrive, because Amazon bundled a few of my other orders into one shipment to save shipping cost. I was full of anticipation not knowing if the algorithm in the AC version would be the same as the 12Vdc one that I blew up. This one is actually an older design and not branded as Ink Bird. I chose this unknown brand to save over 18%!

mega winch for the car trailer - part 1

Emboldened by the success of utilizing Brunnhilde's starting battery to power the winch on the car trailer, we want more. The low cost China made 2000 lb Warn winch has such a hard time winching a car up the incline. I have been wary the motor may burn out so I carry a manual winch just in case.

brunnhilde's digital thermostat - part 4

 

I was going to wait until the replacement Ink Bird temperature controller arrives before removing the Kerstner control panel to transfer the four mounting hole locations over to my custom faceplate, in case I need to use the air conditioner.

brunnhilde's digital thermostat - part 3

 

Hand cutting a piece of 0.063" sheet aluminum to fabricate the faceplate by hands for the air conditioner was not something I look forward to do. I have done similar fabrication many times before but each successive iteration I grew less enthusiastic due to the grunt work it entails. Drilling round holes are easy, but not so with square or rectangle ones. And not having a proper sheer squaring all four sides is tedious and laborious iterative hand filing.

brunnhilde's digital thermostat - part 2

While waiting the transit of the Ink Bird temperature controller I spend some time fabricating the custom faceplate to take the place of the Kerstner air conditioner control panel. I cannot shoehorn the Ink Bird into the Kerstner control panel as there is simply not enough space for it.

brunnhilde's digital thermostat

I have been dissatisfied with the air conditioner's mechanical thermostat. Its temperature range does not allow one to keep a warmer cabin temperature so the air conditioner when used making the cabin temperature too low. Due to the small cabin space and you cannot escape from the high velocity of the frigid air streams. I tried tuning the thermostat to no avail. Time to do something about it. 

well pump not well

 

I have been noticing that the well pump at the ranch at times would continue to run after the target pressure set point has been reached. The pressure gauge has been getting more and more sluggish over the course of my brief ownership of this property. I had bought a replacement well pump pressure switch in the event the switch should fail.

ink bird temperature controller mystery - part 2

 

When I decided to write about the controller and title it a mystery because I had reservation of what was represented on the product page. It is one of those thing that taxes your ability to process ambiguous and conflicting information.

brunnhilde said no to trailer winch battery - part 5

 

I continued the work to get the trailer winch power supply project wrapped up, by routing the much more flexible 10 AWG wire pair down to the trailer hitch, and finished with an Anderson connector.

ink bird temperature controller mystery

My no thrill electronics toys from China have been arriving faster than I have time to digest let alone putting them to use. I have been wanting to play with this Ink Bird temperature controller since its initial debut many years ago. I purchase the ITC-1000F version as it has 110Vac power supply rather than the original 12V. I want to use it to replace the mechanical thermostat for the rooftop air conditioner.

brunnhilde said no to trailer winch battery - part 4

this drain valve has irked me since day one as it is totally useless for draining the water boiler

The most expedient way to drain and clean the water boiler is to remove the anode rod which you want to do anyway when winterizing. The drain valve does nothing but to leave another place for freeze damage so it's got to go. Doing so allows me to reclaim a few cubic inches of precious storage in this compartment.

brunnhilde's bilge ventilation

 

When making modification or alteration to most thing, I developed a habit of not overlooking the utilities what being removed that may seem obsolete or no longer needed. Often when one making altering something the focus is the incoming new, and the outgoing old is regarded as something to be disposed.

brunnhilde said no to trailer winch battery - part 3

I was hoping being able to receive the parts from Amazon for the trailer winch power supply in time to use at the race track. Unfortunately only the battery cutoff switch that I order last arrive first, and the rest was delayed by a day.

operate power windows without a key

 

Brunnhilde is built on a Mercedes Benz T1N Sprinter that was designed and developed in the late 90s, and mainly as a commercial van with immense cargo or passenger capacity and fuel efficient. Much conveniences of a modern sedan or even SUV or truck were not the the things the designer had in mind in those days. One of these is the ability to operate the front power windows without turning the ignition key to the engine run position.

brunnhilde said no to trailer winch battery - part 2

Carrying a tiny AGM battery in the water boiler compartment is a viable solution to power the winch. That avoid the increase in the trailer tongue weight imparts onto Brunnhilde which has a 500 lb maximum. In the existing arrangement, I intended it as a test of concept and planned to refine the design to further optimize it. As it stands it requires the passenger side rear door as well as the water boiler compartment door both be open during the operation.

brunnhilde said no to trailer winch battery

 

Brunnhilde is known to haul all sort of thing, including a car trailer fully loaded across the Continental US. For most street cars converted into track cars, I have no problem driving the cars up and down the trailer with the ramps. However, with radical race cars they are next to impossible to do so because of the aggressive racing clutches, and non-existent flywheel mass due to sequential gearboxes.

brunnhilde cutting her landline - part 2

 

I continued the work of repurposing the defunct POT and cable TV jacks on rear quarter panel.

air conditioner soft starter for Honda eu2000i generator - part 5

I have been doing more testing of the air conditioner powered by the Honda EU2000i generator in full sun hot days at 1,880 ft elevation. When I install the air conditioner back in 2015 I could not imagine there are that many parameters that affect the generator's ability to support it in Eco mode, as well as the tuning I would found in recent tests.

air conditioner soft starter for Honda eu2000i generator - part 4

 

It must be a labor of love. It is a major PITA to make the Kerstner AC control panel functions exactly as original. The Coleman Mach 8 Cub does not have variable blower speed control. Instead it has High and Low. Due to the shaft size of the original potentiometer and the tight confine it is very difficult to find a two position switch. Since I have the TRIAC speed control I decided to find a potentiometer that is approximately the right value (to increase the odd that I have one on hand) and move it off the TRIAC speed controller and locate it back onto the control panel.

air conditioner soft starter for Honda eu2000i generator - part 3

Yesterday was the first day the weather gotten hot enough to do some testing in the later part of the day when the van has been heat soaked in the sun. To my disappointment in no time the generator's overload protection was tripped. My heart sunk to say the least. I was running ethanol mixed premium fuel (not that premium octane has any benefit). I tried a number of time restarting and monitoring it still running in Eco mode, each time upon restart the engine will stumble and slow way down to which point the AC voltage dropped way low. What happen? I scratched my head dumbfound.

air conditioner soft starter for Honda eu2000i generator - part 2

 

One more thing. As I wanted to keep the Westfalia interior unadulterated, I adapted the air conditioner controls to use with the Coleman Mach 8 Cub AC. For the blower speed the Coleman has a fan high/low selection switch, while Westfalia had a variable speed control. One with think it should be easy to just swap out the potentiometer and put in a SPDT toggle switch. No. the nut and lock washer for the potentiometer is hidden behind the aluminum sheet that forms the faceplate of the controls. It is secured by high strength double sided pressure sensitive adhesive tape. To remove the faceplate you have to destroy it.

air conditioner soft starter for Honda eu2000i generator

 

Here is some preview of my recent battle to sort out some pesky issues with the Coleman low profile AC which I had planned to use my Honda EU2000i generator to power it, in Eco mode which is a very tall order. I want to use Eco mode as the generator will only run as fast as the load requires, hence gives the longest running time and most fuel efficient. However even not running in Eco mode, the surge current when the AC restarts it would often trip the overload protection of the generator. You cannot reset the electronic breaker without powering done the generator and then restarting it.

brunnhilde cutting her landline

 

We have been wanting to do this a very long time. That stupid landline POT jack on the rear of the camper is finally due for repurposed for something useful to meet a new need. I once planned to install a jack for portable solar panel. But I soon realized storing even a modest size panel is challenging, not to mention I have to worry about strong wind blowing it over. Very often at the race track I get to plug into 120Vac for light usage. This means nothing over a couple of hundred watts or less.