New to me grandby

[97grandby]

Well had a mostly free day and spent some time working on the truck and camper. I installed a garmin 760 rv GPS and fixed the damage from the first trip. The GPS adds blu tooth hands free calling, hard wired back up camera and of course navigation. I only have one cigarette lighter in the truck so I hard wired it in to the fuse box on an extra spot I have available. We gave my dad a full GPS system and stereo in his truck and had a poor experience with a wireless back up camera so it was important to me to find a hard wire set up. Took me about 2 hours to install and wire everything thing up. Works pretty well so far. Soon as you put it into reverse it switches over from GPS to the rear camera. Should make backing up to my trailers much easier.



1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

Here are the pictures of the kick panels I made for the door repair/ patch job. I'll take a few more with the clamps off tomorrow. I used a ton of Jb weld so should stay on for a long time.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[DrJ]

That looks like great work.
All that's missing is a WandertheWest Sticker on the back.

I know I didn't feel my camper was ready for takeoff without it.

 

[ForTravelsSake]

Looks like a nice fit with your truck.

We have been thinking about getting the Garmin 2798 with back up camera. We don't have a navigation screen in our truck, so thought that this would work for both back up camera and navigation.... But I did have a concern about how the wireless camera would work with the camper. Good to hear your insight.....

Did you use the Garmin BC20 camera or go with a different setup? And, did you hard wire the camera connection directly to the unit in the truck cab? I was wondering if it would be possible to extend the wire with the wireless receptor down the side of the truck, so that it would be on the outside of the rear window of the cab... Would you have any thoughts?

Also, did you choose the Garmin RV version because of the parks and camping information, etc., or for another reason? We've been debating if the extra cost for the RV version is worth it.

Thanks for all the info you have shared.

 

[97grandby]

Looks like a nice fit with your truck.

We have been thinking about getting the Garmin 2798 with back up camera. We don't have a navigation screen in our truck, so thought that this would work for both back up camera and navigation.... But I did have a concern about how the wireless camera would work with the camper. Good to hear your insight.....

Did you use the Garmin BC20 camera or go with a different setup? And, did you hard wire the camera connection directly to the unit in the truck cab? I was wondering if it would be possible to extend the wire with the wireless receptor down the side of the truck, so that it would be on the outside of the rear window of the cab... Would you have any thoughts?

Also, did you choose the Garmin RV version because of the parks and camping information, etc., or for another reason? We've been debating if the extra cost for the RV version is worth it.

Thanks for all the info you have shared.

I went with the garmin for 2 reasons. First is I own a trucking company and that's what we use in our trucks and have had good luck with them. 2nd they have the option of hard wiring the camera. The fact this has all the RV points of interest was more or less an after thought. We installed a alpine gps system in my dads single cab truck and ended up having to re-do the camera as the wireless system was fuzzy and would just loose signal. The bc20 wireless system from garmin has very mixed reviews and is pretty expensive at 150.00 for the camera alone. Once I did a search on garmin so website I discovered only a few gps would allow a hard wired camera. So I searched eBay and Amazon until I found a used one for half the price of a new one. It has life time map upgrades and also added hands calling which is a huge plus. So I spent s little more on the gps but saved a lot buying hard wire camera for only 30.00 on Amazon. The entire project was around 250.00 and a few hours of my time to wire everything up.

I'm pretty sure you could move the sending unit from the back of the truck closer to the cab and that could improve your signal, but to me that is almost as much work as just running it though the firewall. And it's 1/5 the price to get w hard wire kit that gives you a better picture and much more reliable in my mind.


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[ForTravelsSake]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. Also, sorry not to have responded earlier. After reading what you have said we've decided to go with a wire directly to the unit in the cab. You are right that going through the cab is not much more hassle than the rear window, and it will be a more reliable way to do it. Thanks again!

 

[97grandby]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. Also, sorry not to have responded earlier. After reading what you have said we've decided to go with a wire directly to the unit in the cab. You are right that going through the cab is not much more hassle than the rear window, and it will be a more reliable way to do it. Thanks again!

I think you will be happy with the hard wire choice. Just make sure the GPS is compatible with a direct wire. Garmins website will tell you. Then you also have to buy the garmin brand video cord adaptor for around 20.00. This takes your rca video cable from the back up camera and converts it to a 3.5mm connection that goes to the back of the GPS. If your anything like me it drives me crazy to start a project and not have all the parts and adapters to finish it.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[68 Siesta]

That's a fine looking rig. Great workmanship on your upgrades/repairs.


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[97grandby]

Made another small and cheap mod tonight. I put a floor vent I found on Amazon cut into the top of my compressor fridge, I am shocked by the amount of heat that started poring out of it once I cut it open. The vent opens and closes so I can control it as needed. I hope this will help my fridge run More efficiently and not have to run as often. Lots of mods still left to do, but they will have to wait as I'm camping the next two weekends.


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[EDR]

97grandby,

Hi. I read your post about the vent, and it got me thinking.
I recently put a portable compressor fridge in the spot my ice chest was in, and was concerned about the trapped heat. I just took the cabinet surround out, giving me plenty of air space, so it shouldn't be an issue.
I've also thought about how to get cool air back into the space to keep the fridge happy. My last camper with a three way in of fridge had a vented access panel on the wall behind the fridge, as well as numerous holes drilled through the bottom panel with a fine mesh wire put over it inside to keep the bugs out.
I'm thinkIng of drilling a few holes under the compressor area and covering it with mesh. Did you do anything to bring cool air into the compressor area on your build?

Oh, and nice job on the door repair. I recently did the same thing to my truck's tailgate.

 

[97grandby]

97grandby,

Hi. I read your post about the vent, and it got me thinking.
I recently put a portable compressor fridge in the spot my ice chest was in, and was concerned about the trapped heat. I just took the cabinet surround out, giving me plenty of air space, so it shouldn't be an issue.
I've also thought about how to get cool air back into the space to keep the fridge happy. My last camper with a three way in of fridge had a vented access panel on the wall behind the fridge, as well as numerous holes drilled through the bottom panel with a fine mesh wire put over it inside to keep the bugs out.
I'm thinkIng of drilling a few holes under the compressor area and covering it with mesh. Did you do anything to bring cool air into the compressor area on your build?

Oh, and nice job on the door repair. I recently did the same thing to my truck's tailgate.

I haven't done anything else yet other then the top vent. I left about a 1/4 inch all the way around the fridge so I am waiting to see how well it works before "poking" more holes in my camper. So far seems to work much better. My camper batts don't seem to be holding their charge as good as I would like so I need to to do some digging into that before the 4 day expo trip next weekend. Just got back from a fathers and sons camp out with our church and had a blast up Lovell canyon west of Las Vegas about 30 miles. I was the only one with a truck camper every one else was sleeping on the ground or in a mini van. Needless to say lots looked a bit envious of my comfortable camper.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

New larger vent along with a fan, cut off switch, 8 gauge direct wire and hopefully that fixes my fridge not working correctly. Next step is swapping batts out.



1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[68 Siesta]

I think you are doing all the right things. I'll bet it runs great now.


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[DrJ]

Hopefully some of the other guys that are having a hard time with heat exchange in their fridges are looking at your solution. Looks like a great idea!

 

[97grandby]

Well only kinda of a camper project, I added a 40 inch projector screen and led projector. The LED projector has its own 3 our battery so it uses zero camper battery and works pretty slick. Plays movies off of my IPhone or IPad so no need for a DVD player or anything. The projector has a built in speaker but I use a Bose sound dock that has a 10 hour battery so again zero battery. They fold up very small and everything folds up nicely for storage. Biggest part is the tripod.


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[97grandby]

Couldn't leave well enough alone around my fridge. Added a dual USB 2.1 amp charger, voltage read out(about .3 lower at fridge then at batts with a voltage metter but gives a good idea) and a cigarette lighter port. Figure might as well put the old fridge wiring to good use as it already had its own 15 amp circuit just sitting there. Plus it's wired to the fridge fan in my vent to help remind me its on.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[craig333]

Is it switched? If its like mine its amazingly bright at night. I frequently get up and turn it off.

 

[97grandby]

Is it switched? If its like mine its amazingly bright at night. I frequently get up and turn it off.

yes, I have it on a power switch. The switch is just to the left.


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[97grandby]

Well guess I am all in now with my fwc. I just sold my Thor 18 ft toy hauler. It was a lot of fun to play around with and learn about remodeling campers. I changed the floor plan, plumbing, cabinets and built a table. Was fun but just to much of a pain to pull and try and go off roading. Now time to make more mods and improvements to my grandby


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[68 Siesta]

Congrats on the sale. I'd like to unload my fifth wheel but the wife says I have to wait until the kids are grown. Something about camping in a slide in camper with 4 kids.


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