the dog house gets another mod

[mossemi]

Paper Towel Holder

 

Like many OTTO’s, I have had misgivings about drilling holes in our Ollie but I have slowly gotten over it.  I have changed out my curb side porch lights and they required new mounting holes.  Then I moved my television to the center position and as DavidS mentioned, that job was a big step in getting over the trepidation of drilling holes in fiberglass.

 

So during our trip to the rally and Mississippi and Arkansas we camped without disconnecting the TV several times and since I had less to do setting up, I was often the first into the Ollie and I noticed paper towels unraveled and in the sink or on the floor.  When I whined about it, Krunch said suck it up, it happens all the time.  Little did I know living in the dark as I do.

 

So the suction cup mounted paper towel holder had to go and I remembered Overland’s posting about the countertop extension and the subsequent postings about paper towel holders.  Overland used this one and DavidS used this. I chose the Kamenstein because of DavidS's endorsement. It has a bottom that is pretty flat and it might work with VHB tape, but I was going to screw mount mine.

 

There is a lot of good information in the forum about drilling fiberglass and using fasteners like this post. I have followed the advice of other OTTO's and I am using masking tape to mark my hole location and to minimize gelcoat damage. I mounted my new paper towel holder above the sink where the old suction cup mounted one was located.

I started with an 1/8” pilot hole then used a countersink bit. Then used a 3/16” bit and the countersink bit again. And I finished with a 1/4” bit and the countersink bit again. Then I was off to the neighborhood Ace hardware store where I picked up 2- 2 1/2” #10 pan head bolts, 2-#10 fender washers and 2-#10 nylok nuts, all in stainless. And then I found the holy grail, stainless t-nuts. If those would work I wouldn’t need the nylok nuts, but I would need shorter bolts, so I picked up 2- 2" bolts.

I was planning to use the pan head bolts inside the upper cabinets and the nylok nuts underneath the paper towel holder to reduce the rubber mat distortion inside the cabinet. With the t-nuts inside the cabinets there is barely a ripple. I did use the fender washers between the bolt head and the paper towel holder base to minimize the bolt penetration and thread lock on the bolts.

Hope someone finds this useful.

 

Mike

[Trainman]

Your install look great, I've given much thought to installing a paper towel holder and I think I going to look for a paper towel holder that has a little larger mounting base, I think I will use double sticky tape, I have found that using this tape and sticking to fiberglass is almost impossible to remove easily. Plus if I was to permanently mount it the wife would want it somewhere else next week.

 

 

 

trainman

[mossemi]

Well that is the consequence of being happily married.  There are lots of options available and I hope you have better luck with tape than I have.  My failures are probably a result of my poor installations or overloading.  I have had very good success with different suction cups.

 

Mike

[mossemi]

Drawer Locks

 

There have been quite a few postings about galley drawers opening during travel.  I am constantly amazed at the ingenuity and craftsmanship of my fellow forum members.  My first drawer management version consisted of small Harbor Freight suction cups and 1/2” PVC pipe.  It was a simple fix and worked well, but then I followed topgun2's recommendation to clean the inside of the dog house with the Norton's Duragloss recipe.  The inside was clean, shiny and so slick, I couldn’t get the suction cups to stay in place any longer.  So we once again had the unexpected open drawer experience during our rally trip this year and the hunt was on for a new solution.

 

This was the product I chose and we will test it on our next trip with fingers crossed.  And this is how I mounted them to the cabinet supports and drawers.

 

Edit:  The drawer locks worked very well on our last 2900 mile trip.

Edit:  The link above to Amazon actually takes you to the 8 lb. version of the latch.  I used the 5 lb. version and 
corrected the Amazon link.

 

 

Mike

[mossemi]

Pantry Lights

 

We have used several different battery powered, motion detecting LED lights in our pantry.  And we have never been happy changing batteries or waving a hand to try getting the lights to come on.  I have seen Snowballs pantry LED fixture and really liked that application, so I went down that rabbit hole looking for my own solution.

These are the lights and switches I used.

Lights

 

 

Switches

 

 

Door magnet

 

 

Frame switch

 

 

Results

 

 

 

 

[mossemi]

Victron Venus OS on Raspberry Pi

 

I wanted access to Victron's VRM server for remote access to my solar/battery system, but I couldn’t justify the cost of the Color Control GX display or the newer Cerbo GX and GX Touch 50 display. While talking to a friend who has a CC GX, he mentioned the Raspberry Pi based CCGX.  So this is the result.

 

Mossey

[Overland]

So is that not the touch display?

[mossemi]

30 minutes ago, Overland said:

So is that not the touch display?

Nope!  That is a Raspberry Pi Foundation 7" display with a Raspberry Pi 3B+ single board computer running the 2.60 version of Victron's Venus open source software.

Mossey

[topgun2]

You da man - but I warned ya 😝

[Overland]

Cool. So is there any control functionality in the display or via software?

[mossemi]

2 hours ago, Overland said:

Cool. So is there any control functionality in the display or via software?

I believe I can do anything that the standard CCGX or the Cerbo GX and GX Touch can do.  Since I have never had a chance to play with a CCGX, I’m not really sure.  And I only have a MPPT CC and a BMV, so I can only see the DC side of things.

You tell me if it looks like any functionality is missing.

The missing data is while out camping as I don’t have any connectivity without WiFi and my storage solution didn’t work, so it’s back to the drawing board.

Mossey

[Overland]

It all looks very similar. So you’re using VRM for control?  If so, then I think you have the same control as a CCGX. Basically duplicates all the same menus.

Very cool. 

[topgun2]

This looks even "cooler" in person!

[mossemi]

17 hours ago, Overland said:

It all looks very similar. So you’re using VRM for control?  If so, then I think you have the same control as a CCGX. Basically duplicates all the same menus.

Very cool. 

I initially used the touchscreen for system setup.  And I have made changes through the VRM remote console, but the touchscreen is much easier to use.

Mossey

[Overland]

Ah, so it is a touchscreen, just not Victron's - I get it now.  I thought you were saying that it was just a display.  It sounds like you've got exactly what you'd have with the CCGX or Victron's touch control, so, awesome!  The CCGX is fine, no complaints, but the touch screen (both yours and Victron's) is larger and I imagine easier to use rather than the clicky buttons.  I'd prefer the touch for sure, but it would be a big expense relative to what I'd gain.  Plus I've got a big hole where the CCGX is now, so I'd have to figure out what to do with it.  Then again, if I can do it with a Raspberry Pi  for not much money, and get a screen big enough to cover the hole....

Can you list what parts you bought?  I can think of two or three people here who might be interested in following your lead.

Have you given any thought to replacing the tank sensors so that they work with the Victron?  I think about it every now and then but have never looked into what it takes - I just know that the SeaLevel sensors are proprietary and won't work with the Victron.

 

[mossemi]

I was able to reuse the Zamp CC hole to mount the display/RPi with industrial Velcro.  The wall thickness blocks two of the four USB ports and I would probably separate the display and RPi which would allow access all four USB ports.  I have taken a peak at the tank sensor issue and there is some mention of the SeeLevel sensors on the the Victron support pages, but the Venus software is provided by Victron free of charge and it is open source they do not provide much development on non Victron products.  If SeeLevel tank sensors are supported, it seems like it will be done by the Victron community.  I seem to remember some talk about an interface between the Victron and SeeLevel sensors, but I am not positive.

I will work on a parts list of the products I used instead of what I bought.  I'm not very good at planning so I generally bump my head a lot as I work through issues.  So I purchased some items I didn’t use and some items that I would have needed with a CCGX or Cerbo GX installation, like VE.Direct to USB Interfaces.

[mossemi]

Update to include a parts list and to provide some comic relief to anyone wondering how much money I spent on this modification.  

Mossey

	Victron Venus on Raspberry Pi for the dog house
$11.99	RS Raspberry Pi 7-Inch LCD Touch Screen Case, Black
	touch screen and Pi housing
$20.81	Raspberry Pi For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))
	education purposes
$11.98	Distributed By MCM Official Raspberry Pi Foundation 5V 2.5A Power Supply Black
	Pi power supply
$7.98	SanDisk Ultra 32GB microSDHC UHS-I Card with Adapter, Silver, Standard Packaging (SDSQUNC-032G-GN6MA)
	for Pi OS
$7.85	30 PCS Raspberry Pi 4 Heatsink Kit with Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape, Aluminum Heat Sink Cooler and Copper Heatsink for Raspberry Pi B B+ 2/3/4
	probablly not required, but I used the anyway
$41.79	Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Board (3B+)
	the actual Pi computer
$69.99	Raspberry Pi Official 7 Inch Touch Screen for Raspberry Pi 4 / pi 3/pi 2 Model B
	touch screen
$6.99	Pastall Raspberry Pi Camera Cable, 6pack 15 Pin (15cm×2pcs/30cm×2pcs/50cm×2pcs) FFC Ribbon Flexible Flat Cable for Raspberry Pi Module Camera
	the display came with cables, but I wanted longer ones for mounting options
$8.23	Blue Sea Systems 1014 Socket 12VDC MOUNTING Bracket, Beige
	I glued a piece of PVC material inside the stereo cubby hole and used this to mounted the USB socket
$38.55	Blue Sea Systems Fast Charge 4.8A Dual USB Charger Socket Mount, 12V/24V
	4.8v output for 2 ports, suppling 2.4v for each
$28.05	Victron Energy VE.Direct to USB Interface
	BVM connection to the Pi
$28.05	Victron Energy VE.Direct to USB Interface
	MPPT CC connection to the Pi
$28.21	GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver (Black)
	for locational data and geofencing
$9.99	ELUTENG USB 3.0 90 Degree, (6Packs) Right Angle USB Extender Adapter Male to Female USB 3.0 Super Speed Connector UP Down/Left Right USB Extender Coupler Vertical L Shape for USB Devices
	normal straight USB connections would not work due to the stereo cubby hole wall thickness
$51.02	StarTech.com 4-Port Industrial USB 2.0 Hub with ESD Protection - Mountable - Multiport Hub (ST4200USBM),Black
	powered USB hub to power the USB cable from the street side area below the bed to the Pi in the stereo cubby hole for data transfer.
$5.99	StarTech.com 15 ft USB 2.0 A to B Cable - M/M - USB 2.0 Cable - Black - USB Type A (M) to USB Type B (M) (USB2HAB15)
	15 ' USB data cable
$6.35	SanDisk Ultra SDSQUNS-016G-GN3MN 16GB 80MB/s UHS-I Class 10 microSDHC Card
	tesing this MicroSD card for data storage while without WiFi coverage
$11.99	SanDisk - SDDR-B531-GN6NN MobileMate USB 3.0 microSD Card Reader - SDDR-B531-GN6NN Black
	USB card reader for microSD, allowing it to plug into the USB hub
395.81	it wasn't cheap, but I had fun and learned a little about Raspberry Pi and I kept the Amazon team in business

[John E Davies]

My game developer son loves the Raspberry Pi’s, he made me a Pi Hole ad blocker for my home network. It works very well, when we travel we both notice how many more ads appear, even with device ad blocker apps installed. 

Those Victron Energy cables are crazy expensive, aren’t they? 😬I do mods all the time and it is insane how much you can spend, especially when you have to buy hardware or other parts online in bulk quantities. I needed just two 2” white plastic hole plugs, but I had to buy 25 ... anybody need some?

Thanks very much for your posts. I do suggest that you start a new one each time with the subject in the title; that would help other members to find the information..... not everybody reads every single post, like some of us with too much spare time.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[SeaDawg]

On 8/20/2019 at 4:09 PM, mossemi said:

This was the product I chose and we will test it on our next trip with fingers crossed.  And this is how I mounted them to the cabinet supports and drawers.

I like that it worked for you. Thanks for the link. I have a "new" drawer under the fridge that very occasionally comes open. 

This looks better than typical child safety latch.

[mossemi]

I updated the Drawer Lock post:

I used the 5 lb. pull latch.  I updated the Amazon link in the original post.  I guess the supplier no longer offers the 5 lb. version and the original link pointed to an 8 lb. pull latch.

Mossey

[Jim and Frances]

Great information!  Thanks for your time in posting it.

 

[sunshdw]

I can feel my wallet crying already and I haven’t even gotten my Ollie yet!

[mossemi]

1 hour ago, sunshdw said:

I can feel my wallet crying already and I haven’t even gotten my Ollie yet!

It has been my experience that a fat wallet leads to low back problems, so my advice is to get 2 wallets and share the pain.  And it does help with elevating back pain.😉

Mossey

[mossemi]

Broken Closet/Toilet Flange Replacement

So as is usually the case with whatever I touch, I break something else!  Or maybe it’s just an opportunity to learn something new.

While camping over the Thanksgiving holidays, we suffered a water pump switch problem in the bath vanity.  I had to remove the vanity caddy while troubleshooting and there were 2 wires off of the switch mounted at the top of the caddy when I pulled it out.  I doubt 2 wires fell off at the same time, so I think maybe 1 was off and caused the problem and the other fell off during caddy removal.

This gave me the opportunity to start a plumbing project and install a hatch in place of the caddy as NCeagle did here.  So I was sitting on the throne cleaning up the hatch caulking job and broke the closet/toilet flange while rocking around.  After removing the toilet, I removed the 4 screws holding the flange in place and remembering someone else’s flange replacement, I just pulled up on it and one side moved a half inch or so. I then moved a piece of wood under that side and worked the other side and the flange pulled out.  The 4" tail of the flange fits into a rubber gasket in top of the black tank.

I have ordered some parts from HD that may or may not be correct one’s, but I’ll know in a week or so and post the conclusion to the story.  
Until then, enjoy the pictures

Mossey

Break

flange description 

tank and gasket

Edited February 8, 2022 by mossemi
Edit pictures

[topgun2]

I've never before seen those parts - and hope that I'll never have to see mine.  However, it appears that in the top photo the bottom of the flange has been cut off and then "filed" down.  Is that correct?  If yes then is that so the flange will "slide" into that rubber gasket in the top of the black tank?

Bill