Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
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Upgrading the Blower Motor Controls - Post #3
Here's the CCC on my workbench.
The two halves are held together by plastic tabs.
This layer of clear plastic is used to spread the illumination from the two light bulbs across the width of the CCC. It will shine out through clear places, like where there is lettering, on the covering sheet.
The next step took a bit of pondering since I'm making this up as I go. Had to decide both how and where was the best place to mount the potentiometer (pot) from the control module to the CCC. Thought of a bunch of different ways to position the pot and power the blower motor but finally decided to replace the current blower motor switch with the pot and install a selector switch in the switch panel below the radio. Since the fan can be powered from the house batteries I'll add a LED to indicate when the fan is on.
The indicator LED will extend through the front of the CCC so need to know the size of the hole to drill. Looks to be 3/16".
I started using a red LED ("Hal's Eye") for the indicator then later changed over to a more benevolent blue LED.
To clear space for the LED do a little surgery on the clear plastic with a Dremel.
Drill a hole through the front half of the CCC for the LED.
Test fit.
Also do some more surgery on the back half of the CCC.
To keep the LED forward enough to protrude through the front half of the CCC once two halves are snapped back together I built a small acrylic base.
Next work on the pot.
The stem on the pot is shorter than on the blower switch so it will be mounted to the inside of the front half of the CCC instead of to the rear of the back half.
To use the original blower motor knob I had to remove the internal metal sleeve and do some filing.
Because the electrical contacts on the pot are exposed I wanted to add insulation. Used Liquid Electrical Tape I bought at Lowe's
Wire up the LED. It's slightly out of focus but there is a resistor connected in line with the LED. The resistor reduces the voltage so the LED doesn't burn out.
Here's where I changed over to the blue LED.
continued -
Here's the CCC on my workbench.
The two halves are held together by plastic tabs.
This layer of clear plastic is used to spread the illumination from the two light bulbs across the width of the CCC. It will shine out through clear places, like where there is lettering, on the covering sheet.
The next step took a bit of pondering since I'm making this up as I go. Had to decide both how and where was the best place to mount the potentiometer (pot) from the control module to the CCC. Thought of a bunch of different ways to position the pot and power the blower motor but finally decided to replace the current blower motor switch with the pot and install a selector switch in the switch panel below the radio. Since the fan can be powered from the house batteries I'll add a LED to indicate when the fan is on.
The indicator LED will extend through the front of the CCC so need to know the size of the hole to drill. Looks to be 3/16".
I started using a red LED ("Hal's Eye") for the indicator then later changed over to a more benevolent blue LED.
To clear space for the LED do a little surgery on the clear plastic with a Dremel.
Drill a hole through the front half of the CCC for the LED.
Test fit.
Also do some more surgery on the back half of the CCC.
To keep the LED forward enough to protrude through the front half of the CCC once two halves are snapped back together I built a small acrylic base.
Next work on the pot.
The stem on the pot is shorter than on the blower switch so it will be mounted to the inside of the front half of the CCC instead of to the rear of the back half.
To use the original blower motor knob I had to remove the internal metal sleeve and do some filing.
Because the electrical contacts on the pot are exposed I wanted to add insulation. Used Liquid Electrical Tape I bought at Lowe's
Wire up the LED. It's slightly out of focus but there is a resistor connected in line with the LED. The resistor reduces the voltage so the LED doesn't burn out.
Here's where I changed over to the blue LED.
continued -
