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Old 08-09-2011, 12:51 PM   #161
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Air Conditioner Installation - Done

I've completed the installation of our air conditioner. I had originally planned to buy a 5000 btu with a flat face but stuck with the older sloped face, frightened by the economy I guess.

Though old it's working well and cools the trailer down while drawing less than 5 amps. I ran it for eight hours as a test of the moisture drain system and the hot air exhaust.

There are two muffin fans, as shown earlier, that exhaust the hot air thru the floor. I really like not cutting thru the exterior fiberglass walls of the trailer. The most recent exhaust temperatures have been in the 107F range.

The water also drains thru the floor. The AC unit is elevated about a 1/2 inch in the front to encourage water to move to the rear of the bottom of the AC unit; to it's natural drain hole.

I have not finished the underside of the floor yet, waiting for two screened vent covers to come into our local West Marine.

The door above the AC unit was moved up about 4 inches and the front of the hanging closet cut to provide full door access.
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Old 08-09-2011, 04:11 PM   #162
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I've been hoping for an update on this mod. Great to hear it works Norm, I plan to do the same... Actually, I will be "borrowing" lots of your ideas...

Thanks, John
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Old 08-09-2011, 05:00 PM   #163
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Little things

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Originally Posted by John_M View Post
I've been hoping for an update on this mod. Great to hear it works Norm, I plan to do the same... Actually, I will be "borrowing" lots of your ideas...

Thanks, John
There are a number of little things I did that I did not show. To the right of the air conditioner there is a switch that turns on the 12 volt fans that suck the exhaust out.

There is an H shaped wooden structure that is screwed to each side of the cabinet to keep the air conditioner in place.

To drain the water I used 3m 5200 to put a small piece of plastic hose in the Air COnditioner's drain hole. The hose is 1/2 dia. and about 3" long and drips into a 3x3x1" plastic container. I cut a hole in the bottom of the container and put another piece of plastic hose in the hole, again cementing it in with 3m 5200. The water from the air conditioner drips into the container and flows through the bottom of the trailer. This class of connection makes it easy to take out the air conditioner. To help draining the AC is tipped towards the rear.

The only unknown is how will it do on a really hot day. All of a sudden fall seems to be upon us here in southern NH. I expecting a early winter. It seems a real capacity test (how cold can you go?) will have to wait until we reach the South this fall unless we get some Indian Summer.

I have an electrical outlet under the sink next to the hanging closet. The purpose of this outlet is to supply the hot water heater and the AC, as well it is a very short run to the breaker box. Both draw little power and are rarely on at the same time. I used a hole saw to cut thru the side of the hanging closet to run the cord.

When you get ready I can give you more pictures of some of these details.

Norm
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Old 08-10-2011, 03:01 PM   #164
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Thanks Norm!
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Old 08-13-2011, 08:58 AM   #165
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Pet Peeve -Silverware Drawer

Something that's bothered me since day one is the silverware drawer, located under the stove. At least in the 1991 Scamp 16s this draw slides on two aluminum "U" channels in pieces of wood screwed to the bottom of the stove. It's a kludge and worse it simply doesn't slide well. A very poor solution for the trailer's heaviest drawer.

Today I replaced this with a more traditional American solution, the easiest one I could think of that would provide smooth rolling motion.

It consists of a center rolling track and rolling wheels at each edge of the drawer. If anyone wants details or pictures I'll post them.

Norm
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Old 08-14-2011, 05:00 AM   #166
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LED Installation

I bought 6 LED bulbs based on the thread 'Cheap Leds' in this forum. With shipping they were about four dollars a piece.

At least in my case, the sockets had to be tweaked a little to make good contact. It seems the diameter of the LED's sockets are a little less than my former bulbs.

As to light output they seem to be equal to the bulbs they replaced. Over our dinette we have two fixtures. On one side I initially left an incandescent and on the other I installed a LED. Last night I went out and turned both on and could not detect any difference with my eyes in the intensity of light output.

There is a decided difference in color. Incandescant lights produce a yellow light while the LED's produce a white light. Personally I like the whiter light because it creates a higher contrast on the printed page.

Norm
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Old 08-14-2011, 12:35 PM   #167
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LED Current

I went out and measured the current draw of one of our 64 LED bulbs. It was about 0.23 amps.

This compares to about 2.0 amps for the typical incandesant bulb.

This equates to about 1/8th the current to run an LED.

Norm
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Old 08-14-2011, 12:40 PM   #168
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Yes, you can turn on every LED light (8) and it will be the equivalent of one single incandescent light. Personally, I like the warmer yellow spectrum, the blue light gives me a headache.
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Old 08-15-2011, 08:53 AM   #169
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Originally Posted by honda03842 View Post
I went out and measured the current draw of one of our 64 LED bulbs. It was about 0.23 amps.

This compares to about 2.0 amps for the typical incandesant bulb.

This equates to about 1/8th the current to run an LED.

Norm
Thanks Norm for sharing this info. I installed some 68 LED bulbs in our Scamp and am happy with them so far. I only bought four of them and put them in lights that get used the most. Now I'm thinking I might do the rest of the lights.
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Old 08-15-2011, 11:32 AM   #170
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Norm... How much cooler are they? I've heard a few people say that once they install the LED lights that they notice a difference in how much heat that is given off.
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Old 08-15-2011, 02:48 PM   #171
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I did buy 8 of them, enough for all lights plus a couple of spares.

The LED's are cool compared to an incandescant. Certainly at least 1/8th the power being dissipated per bulb. It really means you can no longer use your lights as a 150 watt electric heater.

It will definitely help us on this years trips when boondocking.

Norm
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Old 08-19-2011, 02:05 PM   #172
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Screen Door

We've been considering a number of screen door options. The least expensive solution was the hanging curtain with the center magnets; we saw it on sale for around $10 and bought it. In part we choose this solution because we rarely seem to need mosquito protection.

Yesterday we tried it on the trailer. It works pretty well. You simply walk thru the center forcing the rather weak magnets apart. After you go thru they snap back together thru the magic of force at a distance.

(Force at a distance is the property of magnets where opposite poles attract. Actually no one in our world knows how this works. How do two things without any physical connection pull themselves togther? It's true magic.)

The curtain is designed for a 36" door so it's too wide and will need a little needle work. As well it needs to be hung above the door.

I mounted a board over the door to support the screen curtain. I also added a little shelf to the top of the board for things like our badges and keys. The mounts for the screen curtain will allow quickly remoxing the curtain when its not needed.

In the picture you'll notice a piece of red yarn, used to sub-consciously remind us of the top of the door way.
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Old 08-19-2011, 02:59 PM   #173
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Norm... How much cooler are they? I've heard a few people say that once they install the LED lights that they notice a difference in how much heat that is given off.
Can't speak to the 68 element LEDs but using an infrared thermometer I get 133F on a 36smd in a nozzle-style fixture as against 167F for an 1141 incandescent in same fixture. I have four 36s in the aft berth and two 68s in the galley; I will have to check the temp on the latter.

jack
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Old 08-19-2011, 04:17 PM   #174
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Jack, I went out and tested the temperature of our LEDs using the touch method. (The maximum temperature that one can keep their fingers in contact with something is between 114 and 120 degrees F.) I turned our lamp on for 5 minutes and was able to keep two fingers on the LEDs.

Norm
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Old 08-19-2011, 06:13 PM   #175
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Jack, I went out and tested the temperature of our LEDs using the touch method. (The maximum temperature that one can keep their fingers in contact with something is between 114 and 120 degrees F.) I turned our lamp on for 5 minutes and was able to keep two fingers on the LEDs.

Norm
Have to take it up with Rat Shack, Norm. You can each check the calibration of the "digits" on your--uh--instrumentation. I believe both you and I purchased the same 36 element bulbs but perhaps not. It is possible that the aluminum hood or nozzle is both collecting and holding heat on my 36s. I tried the rule of [scorched] thumb and I am too wimpy to keep my paws on the end elements of those for even 5 seconds. The elements in the 36s are larger in area than those in the 68s which I have. I took the plastic shields off the dome lights over the sink and I could keep thumb and forefinger on the 68s for 5 seconds but wouldn't have enjoyed 10 seconds. Not quite like leaving your fingerprint stuck to bearing cap but uncomfortable. After five minutes the 68s read 122F on the Ratshack thermometer.

I believe you will find that the lumens game with these is counterintuitive. I was told by the seller Shun Tam that his 36s produce more "light" than his 45smds. I'm not an electrical "train driver" but think that generally where there's light there's heat (resistance is resistance no matter whether in chips or wires). I checked the size of the elements in his illustration of the 45smd bulb and as expected they were smaller than those of the 36. So light and heat should correlate with total surface area of the smds and perhaps the 68s which I have also have a smaller total area of "smuds" than do the 36s which I have. One possibility of using a descriptor or rating based on number of light-producing elements (this n that quantity of smds) is that the potential customer will assume a higher no. promises a higher level of illumination and buy, say, a very long tower bulb with 102 elements and really not get that much more illumination. I'm betting the real correlation is to price of the bulb (the 45s were cheaper than the 36s, as were the 68s from a different seller). What think you?

jack
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Old 08-19-2011, 06:41 PM   #176
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Jack 122 F is probably in the ball park for the finger test; I'm old and may have reduced sensitivity.

I did purchase the 68s. I have no quantitative way to measure temperature or light output other than my fingers and eyes. As to light output they look similar to the incandescents. Tomorrow I'll leave them on for a more extended period and see how the 'digits' hold up.

In general I would assume the light emitting area of the LEDs is the key parameter since I suspect most similarly colored, commonly available LEDs operate in the same efficiency range.

It would be interesting to measure the amount of current your 36's draw compared to the 68's.

Norm
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Old 08-19-2011, 07:39 PM   #177
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Norm, how do I check the current draw? Need a lead with gator clips and a multimeter or is there more to it than that?

jack
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Old 08-19-2011, 07:52 PM   #178
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Yes, set the meter to DC current and insert the meter between the base and 12 volts while touching the outer case to ground.

The way I did it was to loosen the bulb and pull it forward in the socket a little. With the meter on the current mode, I touch one probe to the contact of the lamp that normally contacts the bottom of the bulb amd the other to the bottom of the bulb.

Norm
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Old 08-19-2011, 09:09 PM   #179
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Quote:
Originally Posted by honda03842 View Post
Yes, set the meter to DC current and insert the meter between the base and 12 volts while touching the outer case to ground.

The way I did it was to loosen the bulb and pull it forward in the socket a little. With the meter on the current mode, I touch one probe to the contact of the lamp that normally contacts the bottom of the bulb amd the other to the bottom of the bulb.

Norm
Kool, thanks.

jack
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Old 08-20-2011, 03:46 PM   #180
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Cool Air Pressurized Plenum for AC

Our air conditioner gets it's intake cool air via three holes in the closet floor and exits the hot exhaust thru another hole in the floor.

The exhaust hole has two muffin fans to push the air out of the bottom of the closet. My plan had been to use a baffle to seperate the exhaust from the intake. This works but it's not the best solution; I had always considered adding fans to the intake side.

To accomplish this I made a wooden duct about a 1.5 feet long whose opening is towards the center of the trailer. Two 100 cubic feet per minute, 12 volt muffin fans will be located in the duct. My feeling is that this will reduce the temperature of the exhaust air.

I will provide pictures in the morning.


Norm
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