Category Archives: Aftermarket

Refrigerator Alternative to Built-In Weekender Cooler

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The Eurovan Weekender comes with a built-in cooler box located under the seat directly behind the driver’s seat. This cooler is a 12 volt unit powered by the auxiliary battery. It is turned on by plugging its cable into the receptacle at the back of the driver’s seat. Once plugged in, the cooler runs all the time, regardless of whether the engine is running or not. We’ve never used the builtin cooler box. It is way too small for our road trips and it is cumbersome to open and close.

When we first got our Weekender we already had a portable 12 volt cooler that we had been using with our previous vehicle. We stored this in the cabin area while driving and outside when we were camped. Because it was a cooler, it worked like the built-in cooler: it ran all the time and it cooled the interior to a fixed amount below the ambient temperature. If it was really hot outside this meant the interior contents were barely cool; if it was really cold outside the interior contents could be frozen (that actually happened to us). One other issue with the cooler was that it consumed a ton of electricity from the auxiliary battery because it ran all the time.

We wanted a better solution and started looking for a 12 volt refrigerator. We settled on a Dometic CFX28 – a 28 quart unit that is one of the smallest in their line. We chose it because it was big enough to store our stuff for road trips and small enough to carry in and out of the cabin area. Plus, being a refrigerator, we can set it to keep the interior at a constant temperature and it only runs when it need to cool. The electrical consumption is also much less than our old cooler. It uses 0.75 amp-hours per hour, which means that our 61 amp hour auxiliary battery could run it for over 3 days without recharging. It will also run off of AC as well as DC, giving us more flexibility in camping areas with electricity.

Dometic CFX28 refrigerator
The Dometic CFX28 refrigerator: MUCH better than the built-in cooler box!

The biggest challenge we had with the Dometic was figuring where to plug it in while camping. There are three 12 volt outlets powered by the auxiliary battery. Two in the cabin area under the rear bench seat – one on the left and one on the right. We use the one on the right for when we are driving. There is also one at the rear of the van on the right side. This one is perfect for when we are camping because we clear out the cabin area to pull out the bed. You can close the rear door over the power cable without any problem, so you can leave the refrigerator running while you’re sleeping.

Refrigerator power cable in rear outlet
Refrigerator power cable installed in the rear 12 volt outlet

There was one big lesson we learned while trying out the Dometic refrigeator: can’t use 12 volt extension cords with it. The voltage drop from one of these extension cords was enough to cause problems with the Dometic. When we use the power cord that came with the refrigerator and plug that into any of the three outlets in the van, the unit works flawlessly. We really appreciate having the Dometic when we are camping at a site without power. It works great!

Photo of Dometic refrigerator plugged in at campsite
Refrigerator plugged in at campsite. The rear door can be closed safely over the cable.

Upgrading the Radio (again)

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I’m late getting this post online. In November 2017 I saw that Pioneer had come out with some single DIN size touch screen DVD Receiver called the AVX-3300NEX.. This unit comes with a 7″ touchscreen that unfolds when you turn on the vehicle. When you shut off the engine it folds neatly away. It will play CDs and DVDs, is SiriusXM compatible and can be used with a backup camera.

We had been living with the Pioneer stereo for a year and enjoyed it, but the controls were difficult to use because of their small size. The idea of having a touchscreen for controls PLUS a backup camera were too much for me to resist, so I decided to go for an upgrade. I could use my existing Sirius XM tuner, so the main job was installing the backup camera and stuffing the unit into that single DIN height cavity. I contracted the job out to the same local store that installed the old unit.

The first photo shows what the new unit looks like installed and operating. When the unit is powered up it slides forward and unfolds  into place. When the transmission is put into reverse, you get a clear backup camera image with range finder lines to guide you.

As you can see, it covers two of the upper air vents. The second photo shows the profile view. The unit can be operated without the screen being up. A simple click of one button will retract the view screen even if it is playing. The third picture below shows what this looks like. It’s clean and simple and I just love it!

Adding a GPS Unit

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In recent years I’ve relied on my smartphone for navigation chores. It’s worked pretty well, but can really drain the battery quickly. It also requires you to stay in areas where there is cell phone coverage.Having in-car navigation is really handy, and I want to have capability  in Westy. That said, I don’t want to be limited by cell phone coverage.So I recently started reviewing dedicated GPS navigation units.

There are three main brands: Garmin, Magellan and TomTom. Sizes range from 5-inch to 7-in screens. Some feature real-time traffic displays, and others are special units designed for RV’s.

The RV model was interesting because it contained a built-in RV park/campground database as well as customization for the size of your RV. After looking into this model I decided it wasn’t a good fit. It doesn’t feature U.S. Forest Service campgrounds, and the owner reviews were not great.

The unit I ended up getting was the Garmin DriveSmart 50LMTHD. This has a 5-inch screen, detailed maps of North America with free lifetime map updates, real-time traffic alerts and voice activated navigation. It is also Bluetooth enabled, meaning you can integrate your smartphone with it to place and answer calls (that’s nice, but we already have that with our Pioneer in-dash system). This model is sold exclusively at Costco, and is a good deal at $199.99.

I wasn’t sure if the 5-inch screen would be big enough, and I also wasn’t sure about where to mount the unit. After looking into it, I saw that there was an air vent mount available for the 5-inch model, so I got one to go with it. Here’s how that looks in Westy:

We tried out the GPS on our trip to Camp Sherman and I was really impressed with it. The 5-inch size is plenty big, and the mount is perfect. It keeps the display below the dashboard, and there is a power outlet right below it. The features of the GPS unit take a bit to get used to, but it is really nice to free up the navigation chores from our smart phones. Here is how the GPS unit looks installed:

Tinting Westy’s Windows

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One of the things immediately apparent with Eurovans is that the windows are not tinted. It’s very noticeable when parked next to current SUVs.

There are a LOT of windows on the Eurovan, and one of my worries was security. When we’re on a road trip, we’re going to have tons of stuff stored in Westy. A lot of this can go in the “trunk,” which is really the area under the rear seat that folds into the bed. This will hold a lot of stuff, but it’s inevitable that we’ll have other things stored on top of the rear shelf or in the middle passenger area on the seats or floor. Here is a stock photo of how clear the windows are from the factory:

After living with Westy for a while, it is very clear just how visible everything is from the outside with those factory window tints. Security is a big concern. The last thing we want is to have a smash and grab while we’re on a road trip. This led me to start looking into getting the windows tinted.

After-market window tinting applies a film on the inside of the windows. There are two main variables in tints: the amount of visible light transmission, and the amount of infrared rejection. States regulate how dark you can make the tint on your windows. Here in Oregon, the visible light index must be 50 or higher (50% or more visible light transmission) on the driver and passenger windows. The cargo area and rear window can be as dark as you want, but the most common rating for these is 20 (20% transmission).

The other factor to consider when selecting a window film is the infrared rejection. If you’ve ever left your car out on a sunny day, you know how hot it can get inside. The higher the rating for infrared heat rejection on a window film, the less heat builds up. We thought this was a very important criteria for Westy because there are occasions where we will be parking it while we’re out hiking or whatever, and we don’t want to come back to a blisteringly hot vehicle.

The other thing to remember about after market window tinting is that this is a job best left to professionals. You can buy the tint film and do it yourself, but you can bet the result will not be as good as the professional installation. We researched installers around us and found a local shop that had been in business for many years and had great reviews online.

The shop walked us through our options for various films, and our final two choices were the 3M Color Stable product and the Wincos product. They are very similar except that the 3M film has a 50% infrared blocking rating and the Wincos has a 92% infrared rejection.

We ended up picking the Wincos product with the 50% rating in the front and the 20% rating in the rear. The result was amazing. Westy now looks awesome! There is MUCH more security than before; you can’t really see the details of what might be inside. Here’s a photo of how Westy looks now. I’m going to try to get another photo like the first photo in the future so you can see the change in similar lighting conditions.

Replacing that Factory Radio

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We knew beforehand that our Eurovan Weekender was equipped with the factory radio. This is an AM/FM unit with a cassette player. Sounds archaic by both today’s standards and even those from 2003! I had a 2003 Jetta that had a better sound system than that. And who has cassettes anymore? Good grief!

We really enjoyed SiriusXM in our old Jeep. It was wonderful to be able to listen to commercial-free music anywhere. No finding local stations, no hunting the right kind of music; with SiriusXM it was always there.

So, one of the first priorities for our new Westy is to replace that factory radio. The space available isn’t large enough for today’s fancy displays; the Eurovan has what’s called a single DIN opening. Nonetheless, there are lots of choices for direct replacements in the single DIN size.

I found Crutchfield to be the best online source for finding the right replacement radio. You can enter in the year, make and model of your car and their system will present all the radios that will fit. Not only that, you can filter out what features you want to narrow your selection, like SiriusXM, CD, Bluetooth, HD radio, etc.

I ended up selecting the Pioneer DEH-X6700BS CD Receiver. It had uniformly great user ratings and has all the features we wanted:

  • AM/FM Receiver
  • CD Player
  • Bluetooth Connectivity
  • Hands-free calling
  • SiriusXM Capability
  • Siri Eyes Free (for iPhone/iPad)
  • Can customize colors to match the dashboard light scheme

I bought both the receiver and the SiriusXM tuner and the installation kit to remove and replace the factory radio.

I knew I could replace the radio – I had done that many times in the past with other cars. The installation of the microphone for the hands-free calling and the SiriusXM antenna are another matter. Both require that you are comfortable routing wires inside the trim and outside the vehicle. I am not comfortable doing that.

A specific issue with the Weekender is where to put the SiriusXM antenna. Normally the antenna is placed on the roof of a vehicle and sticks to it by magnetic attraction to the sheet metal. With the Weekender, that’s not possible – the roof is made of fiberglass, not metal. It seems the most frequent spot that Westy owners choose to locate the satellite antenna is on the dash.

In any case, my plan is to go to a local car stereo store and pay them to install the gear. They do this all the time and can get it done far better and faster than I could! I’m planning on getting this done in the next week or so.  I’ll post when the job has been done and report on the results.

UPDATE – Radio replaced successfully!!

Today I took the radio, SiriusXM stuff and parts from Crutchfield to a local car stereo installer. They were familiar with the Weekender and recommended putting the antenna on the metal shelf above the passenger seat. I had thought this would be a good spot, but I couldn’t see how the antenna wire could be routed from there without drilling holes. They said no problem – and no holes. Boy were they right! They did a fabulous job and the satellite signal is very strong. They also installed the Bluetooth mic for my smart phone. Everything works great and I’m a VERY HAPPY Westy owner!