Friday, September 11, 2015

Passport Modifications

Mods already?

Yes,... only a few weeks of ownership and I'm already doing some modifications.  Actually, most are additions, as the camper is really well constructed and everything has been working well.

1) Bathroom Improvements:
  • Shower Guards
  • TP Holder
  • Narrow Trash Can
  • Floor Mat
  • Shower Stuff Holder
  • Door Hooks

2) Dry-Erase Board:
The dry erase board is mounted in the camper along the entry wall and will allow us to write notes to one another,... the meal list for the week, and also emergency contact information.  One thing we are going to teach the kids how to do is to notify emergency services if needed.  Upon arrival at a campground, this is a way we can write the address and site number for quick reference.  Hopefully never needed, but best to be prepared than not.


3) Battery Disconnect Switch:
The RV/Marine Deep Cycle battery we have is a Group 27 Interstate Battery.  Even though you aren't camping and using the lights or fans, the battery is still being used by the CO/LP Detector when you are parked at home waiting for the next trip.  A few weeks of this, and you'll go out to a dead battery.  So, a simple way to terminate any loads on the battery is by adding a disconnect switch up front to make it easier than unboxing and taking the leads off the terminals after each trip.  The marine switches are great for this application and I used them before on the Popup with the solar solution.  For this, I'm just going to add a battery tender lead directly to the terminals since I only have one lead going to each terminal on this setup, unlike the multiple that the popup had.  All complete, it looks proper and is clean and simple.

4) Backup Lights and Wheel Lights:
This started out as a rather simple endeavour,... that had some minor complications.  Finding the proper LEDs was actually pretty simple and mounting them to the back of the camper symmetrically was a trick, but got it.  Each hole in the camper side wall was pre-drilled and then prior to final fasteners, filled with clear RV silicone and the fastener installed.  The passenger side LED passed right into the rear storage compartment, but the driver side one I thought would be there too, but was off by about 2 inches and ended up in the box for the main power cable.  To access it, I needed to figure out how to remove the bulkhead that is within the back bench area.  Lots of sweat and some contortion,... and I got it removed without scratching anything and I have a pretty good access to get the wiring organized.  This also opened up the access port where the wires pass from the underside of the floor to a wiring box.

The wire feeding this signal is the center pin on the truck connector.  This is the Yellow wire in the harness on the camper side, and needed to be run from the terminal box on the tongue down the length of the camper.  I chose to use Yellow automotive wire to keep it clear what the use was for and run it in the wire loom along the length of the camper, driver side, with the turn/brake signal wires.


Pilot Drilled the Wall, and Thru-drilled for wires

4" diameter round LED light mounted and sealed in place

Centered and Symmetric below the Stock tail lights
To aid in backing up, I found short 4 inch LED strips that could be placed at the edge of the wheel wells over each of the tandem wheels, to gently light the wheels themselves and a few feet around them.  These are also tapped into the yellow reverse light signal wire.  More info to come on these as I get them installed and tested out.

And I am still reading the booklets and trying to make a checklist of things.  The more you read online at the Keystone Forums or in the manual, the more there is to remember.

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