Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Start with adding up your loads together. Like do you plan on running the fan 24/7.

If you're charging phones and cameras, are you like using cinema stuff and need lighting to go w/ it?

Working on a laptop, are you planning on getting external monitors too if you're doing more technical work or spreadsheets?

Also consider atmospheric considerations. If there're a ton of fires, 3 days in place, your battery might die from running the fridge and a heater alone etc.

 

Uhhhh... ask MapJunkie.

 

It's actually pretty easy once you dig in. Intimidating at first for sure. I was there too.

I definitely didn't want to add an inverter (for laptops, etc). Lots of extra juice needed. But, my little Mac can charge via USB, if slowly.

The fridge is an absolute game-changer and should be your number one priority, IMO... maybe second to lights.

 

Being an electronics engineer the electrical stuff is the fun part for me. All the mechanical and fabrication stuff I see guys doing on this thread is really intimidating for me. My next project is installing a heating system and Im a little worried

 

Your charger would be connected directly to the battery, to ensure it was able to read the most accurate voltages. I have a Victron IP54 charger with a lithium charge setting. If you have a lithium battery it is important to get a charger that knows how to wake up the battery when it in low voltage shutdown. In such a state, the battery will show 0v. This will cause many chargers to shit down, leaving you with a dead battery.

 

On the topic of the solar pre-wire. I've got that on my order and plan on adding a couple 100watt panels to charge a Goalzero 1500x to power the fan and cfx55.

Does anyone familiar with goalzero and the fan have an idea what kind of connector the fan comes with and how I should best plug it into the battery?

 

The VO fan install comes with bare wires in the truck bed. You can choose the connector type you want to install on both sides. It is a blank slate for you to design to meet your needs.

 

Okay, simple question for you folks with Deaver's on your truck, specifically 2nd Gen but I'm sure 3rd is probably the same. I don't see any holes on the spring pack brackets to reattach the parking brake cable brackets on either side? What are you supposed to do with the dangling brackets on the parking brake cable? Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

 

I gotchu. Looking at driver side

 

Got the heater enclosure prepped today, next step will be to install the heater and all of its supporting components.

 

I've got the same thing going, Goal Zero 1500x
Powers up the National Luna 60, the fan, heater, water pump, cabin lights, and exterior lights on the camper.

 

More data on the Chinese Diesel Heater from our trip this past weekend in the snow



Lowest setting is 1.2hZ. I actually went up to 2.0hZ bc it was pretty cold, but didn’t want to go too high to conserve fuel. Ran it for 17 hours overnight and into the morning and it used 2/3 of the tank. Had another Liter of kero that I poured in the next day. That lasted 12 hours which got me to the next morning.

 

damn that's nice... will be wishing i had that for our trip this week! lows in the 20s expected.

 

Yea it was in the low 20s overnight. Pretty sure you have a legit sleeping bag, but the heater is definitely a luxury.

The baby can’t use a blanket yet so I didnt use one either, just so I have a good gauge on whether or not she’s warm enough with just layers of clothes. The heater definitely came in clutch and made it possible for us to do this.

 

Hey what's the fuel capacity on your all in one heater? I'm curious because I'm not using the supplied tank that came with mine and switched to a stainless steel beer growler. I believe its one liter.

 

5L

Here’s a pic of the unit without the encasing.



You can see that the fuel line isn’t at the bottom of the tank so there’s a decent amount of kero still in the tank that’s unusable. I mounted the unit at an angle so more fuel can reach the fuel line. I tilted the unit in this pic to kind of show this.

 

do you know that even with it mounted in the middle (fuel line) that it doesn't have some form of tube or setup that pulls from the bottom? Now with your kid you see all these designs that focus on that so the kids moving it around still get all the goods.

 

This is the same tank I have on my wish list for the heater install!

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000246595956.html

black friday deal. 6 weeks for delivery

 

The t-slot extruded aluminum arrived. About 70 lbs. worth including some hardware. I modeled all of the cabinet frames (Google SketchUp and cardboard mock-ups), made drawings, and then a coded and labeled inventory list. I had them all cut at the factory and oh man, I'm glad I did. Now it's a matter of connecting the pieces per the drawings.