Dan’s mods

[DanielBoondock]

Meta thread of small mods and things I got for the trailer and found worked well, for your entertainment and interest …

First up, the Kelty Trash Pak garbage bag

 

It’s big and fits perfectly attached to the front Seabiscuit box. Made to attach to a back spare tires or other places, there’s lots of strapping so plenty of options. If animals are around you can hang it or put it in the truck. It’s waterproof, super sturdy and big enough to separate out compose vegetable scraps, recycling and trash. Quick, it’s been discontinued and is on sale for $90, so get it while you can if interested from Kelty, REI or or favorite outlet. 

Second in that picture is the Icon Trailer lock. If you follow lock picking - like the Lock Picking Lawyer channel where he picks hitch locks in under a minutes, you’ll know that most locks don’t slow anybody down who has a little determination. Brute force they can drill out, either the cylinder or the body. This lock is nearly immune to all that. Case hardened steel with a structure that’s hard to cut. Anti drill spinner on the lock, and a tumbler system that’s very difficult to pick. In addition I have a chain around the wheels that’s similarly hard to remove, I’ll detail that later. 

Finally in that picture is CG Gear RV mat over by the door. It’s double layer loose woven plastic material that was designed for helicopter temporary pads for the US Air Force. They needed something that could be thrown down in the field apparently which wouldn't  hold dirt or sand. Indeed it just drops through and it always stays clean. 

[DanielBoondock]

Lighting is everything … Oliver does a fantastic job with lighting, there’s a ridiculous amount of it in such a small trailer, but it’s all white. Not restful at night, a reddish light just like a campfire does wonders for slowing you down at the end of the day before going to sleep. And the problem is LED’s are just too actinic, you can’t get a bare LED to soften up, but is there a way? Philips figured it out with the Hue system.

I think Hue lights work by having an inner phospher coating. So, use tuned LED’s to excite the phosphor which then gives broadband emission. At any rate its the only LED’s I’ve seen that look good. We’ve got them all over the house and my family is addicted to the soft, warm reddish glow at night. Here’s what I did in the trailer. Now the theory of lighting says three levels ideally. Upper, middle and lower. Oliver follows this, except the upper lights are down spots, ideally you have up spots and the ceiling reflects. Here you can easily get two level lighting with Hue

Get a Hue bridge and these lamps. Two desk lamps (for the twin), one for bedside and the other for the dinette. The lampshade looks dark green but that’s reflection, it’s all a soft matching white. Internal battery and you can plug in the charger to the TV plug as shown

 

Two Hue under bed down lights to illuminate the floor. This is surprisingly pleasing and effective, just hide the wires under the carpet and use the plug as shown. Attach with two 3M Commander velcro-velcro non permanent strips and they’ll stay in place for travel. No internal battery, must be powered. 

 

And corner of the kitchen. Again battery powered, you can see the charger cable which plugs into the kitchen overhead socket

What these do is give soft, out of your eyes ambient light that - while it’s white here during the day - can change color to dark reddish at night. The placement is perfect to cover all the major hidden areas and it creates a triangle of coverage. I can’t tell you how comforting it is to come into a strange place and have your trailer interior lit up with such soft perfect lighting. 

Then for the outside get the party lights - all controlled by the same Hue bridge (link to the item as I don’t have them set up at the moment. Put them under the awning, suction cups on the side, etc. Plug into the outdoor socket. 

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Hue-Festavia-Ambiance-Dimmable/dp/B0FML94K5G

These aren’t cheap but you get what you pay for!

 

 

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, DanielBoondock said:

No internal battery, must be powered.

Very nice! Is there anything comparable in 12V lighting?

Love soft lighting, but the installation could be improved. I imagine this is just your first take. Cut the wire, drill 1/4” or smaller hole behind the light to a power source in the basement. Then no clumsy adapter or wires showing.

Our Charley would say, what’s all this new stuff in my spot down here, Dad?! 🤣

[DanielBoondock]

47 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

Very nice! Is there anything comparable in 12V lighting?

Love soft lighting, but the installation could be improved. I imagine this is just your first take. Cut the wire, drill 1/4” or smaller hole behind the light to a power source in the basement. Then no clumsy adapter or wires showing.

Our Charley would say, what’s all this new stuff in my spot down here, Dad?! 🤣

Thanks jd. Yeah set this up in Hohenwald and haven't touched it since. Before doing anything drastic involving cutting tools I'm going to sit with it a good long while - like the first year, to make sure it's the way I want it, it works long term, etc. And I may not mess with it, this works really well and I'm not noticing the cables as long as they're relatively tidy. 

On 12V I don't think Hue does a lot of that except possibly the Hue LED strips, but pretty sure those don't give you the phosphor, just a white plastic diffusor.  

EDIT: Those floor lights are 24 V so you could put two batteries in series, or some combination

Edited 17 hours ago by DanielBoondock

[jd1923]

2 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

Thanks jd. Yeah set this up in Hohenwald and haven't touched it since. Before doing anything drastic involving cutting tools I'm going to sit with it a good long while - like the first year, to make sure it's the way I want it, it works long term, etc. And I may not mess with it, this works really well and I'm not noticing the cables as long as they're relatively tidy. 

On 12V I don't think Hue does a lot of that except possibly the Hue LED strips, but pretty sure those don't give you the phosphor, just a white plastic diffusor.  

EDIT: Those floor lights are 24 V so you could put two batteries in series, or some combination

Yes, good idea to live with new accessories for a while, proper install when certain.

24V now we're talking! Most AC adapters convert to some lower DC voltage. All you need is a small DC-DC converter which runs off your 12VDC system, so no inverter or shore power needed.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D082AX8/?th=1

@Snackchaser introduced us to this device to power a Starlink Mini, without using their adapter, instead running on house batteries. I have one installed in our truck for the Starlink. Adding one under the rear dinette would be simple to power those lights! 😎  

Edited 14 hours ago by jd1923

[DanielBoondock]

13 hours ago, jd1923 said:

24V now we're talking! Most AC adapters convert to some lower DC voltage. All you need is a small DC-DC converter which runs off your 12VDC system, so no inverter or shore power needed.

oh damn there you go again, I don’t need this but Victron integration would be nifty so I want it so now I’ll invent reasons to get it 😅

Been getting by on ATT and a Wi-Fi router so far, the only time I didn’t get good coverage was Lewis Meriweather near Hohenwald. But yeah when I ‘retire’ next year maybe I’ll pick up Starlink as a business expense. Problem is the inverter is always running, I need it to cook, and I’ve got big boy batteries so yeah, for sure I’ll make some excuse lol …

[DanielBoondock]

Blutech water system - this is worth it. I got the boondocking system on Black Friday with the works

Flanking the spare is the CHI filter (chlorine - - hydrogen sulfide-iron) and right is a regular resin water softener. In bumper storage is the Offgrid filter, you can see pics of that on their website but it is small and fits perfectly. Basically it’s a three stage sediment and a UV sterilizer 

 

Super handy to have the three way outlets, I’ll attach a hose for a quick spray down of the truck or trailer. They have a stainless spray nozzle that is stupidly overbuilt. Quick connects on all the hoses. This is  water spout connected normally and you can see the quick connect on the left that makes it really quick and easy

 

Quick connects on the camper 

 

So why all this for a small camper? Good tasting and safe water is one thing, but the treasured component is the softener. I’m mooch camping and the water here is ridiculously hard so it’s necessary. But in general you get no water spots, easy clean up, no mineral buildup in the system or pots, and the kitchenware all stays spotlessly clean. Well worth it in time and energy saved day to day.

The main filter stores in the back as shown. The cylinders go in the truck, or I’m keeping them in the closet. However they sell a bracket so I’m seriously considering mounting them as you see them now since they fit there so perfectly. I’ll post about progress on that project. 

Edited 56 minutes ago by DanielBoondock

[jd1923]

22 minutes ago, DanielBoondock said:

Problem is the inverter is always running, I need it to cook, and I’ve got big boy batteries

Yeah, we run our inverter 24x7x365 but it is nice when all the lighting is low-amp running on 12VDC. 😎