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...
Forum Discussion
Electrical Outlets
As the electrical system has progressed I thought it was time to add a 110 outlet. This is the front panel from the sofa-bed laying face down. Found what I thought was a good place to mount the electrical box. There are several types of electrical boxes but used one that was on hand.
Create the opening for the box by drill four holes from the back with a spade bit.
Formica covers the front side of the board. To reduce the possibility of splintering the finish I'd stop the drilling from behind after the spade bit center emerges and flip the board over and finish the hole from the front.
Use a jig saw to complete the opening.
Check that the cover plate will hide any sins in the cutting of the opening.
To mount the box I added a couple wood pieces on each side then bent a backing metal strap such that the front of the box was flush. Then bolt the box to the strap.
For the wiring I used a heavy duty power cord. This is the type of cord that has the standard three prong female end that matches most every computer power supply. Work with computers long enough and you'll end up with a bunch of these.
Bolt the front of the sofa-bed in place.
Plug the new outlet into the main power strip.
It's because of this outlet that I went with using a power strip instead of hard wiring all the outlets into a junction box. Since I have occasion to disassemble the sofa-bed I'd need a way to disconnect this outlet so the power strip made more sense.
The weather has been heating up lately so I wanted to use a fan in the van. Need to install a 12 volt outlet for that. Here's one I'd used before. Notice it has a plug so it too can be disconnected.
Like the new 110 outlet, wire it to the inside front of the sofa-bed.
Mount it so the outlets are horizontal.
Wire it to the fuse panel and ready to go. For a 12 volt fan I can highly recommend a Endless Breeze from Fan-Tasic. Does a great job without draining the battery.
As the electrical system has progressed I thought it was time to add a 110 outlet. This is the front panel from the sofa-bed laying face down. Found what I thought was a good place to mount the electrical box. There are several types of electrical boxes but used one that was on hand.
Create the opening for the box by drill four holes from the back with a spade bit.
Formica covers the front side of the board. To reduce the possibility of splintering the finish I'd stop the drilling from behind after the spade bit center emerges and flip the board over and finish the hole from the front.
Use a jig saw to complete the opening.
Check that the cover plate will hide any sins in the cutting of the opening.
To mount the box I added a couple wood pieces on each side then bent a backing metal strap such that the front of the box was flush. Then bolt the box to the strap.
For the wiring I used a heavy duty power cord. This is the type of cord that has the standard three prong female end that matches most every computer power supply. Work with computers long enough and you'll end up with a bunch of these.
Bolt the front of the sofa-bed in place.
Plug the new outlet into the main power strip.
It's because of this outlet that I went with using a power strip instead of hard wiring all the outlets into a junction box. Since I have occasion to disassemble the sofa-bed I'd need a way to disconnect this outlet so the power strip made more sense.
The weather has been heating up lately so I wanted to use a fan in the van. Need to install a 12 volt outlet for that. Here's one I'd used before. Notice it has a plug so it too can be disconnected.
Like the new 110 outlet, wire it to the inside front of the sofa-bed.
Mount it so the outlets are horizontal.
Wire it to the fuse panel and ready to go. For a 12 volt fan I can highly recommend a Endless Breeze from Fan-Tasic. Does a great job without draining the battery.
