Changing the Cabin Lights to LED

Posted on September 25, 2021 by westy_admin

There are two interior cabin lights in our 2003 Weekender. These use fluorescent bulbs and consume about 11 watts of power. That’s a relatively minor drain on our auxiliary battery, but a more important issue is the availability of replacement bulbs for the fixture. These bulbs are 4-pin design that are secured to the fixture with set screws. As far as I know our bulbs are the original, and after doing research I found that replacements are hard to find and are very expensive.

That made me start looking for an alternative to the fluorescent bulbs, and so I started searching online. I found that a lot of RV owners are changing out their fluorescent lighting to LED. I found a really good thread on The Samba.com that described what other owners did, so I decided to give it a try.

Choosing the right LEDs

One of the first things I had to do was get up to speed on LEDs. There are several things to consider:

What color do you want? (warm, natural, daylight). These are expressed in terms of the temperature in degrees Kelvin.
How much light do you need (measured in lumens)
What kind of LED do you need (normal, waterproof, etc.)

The stock fluorescent light in our Weekender uses 11 watts of power. I had to search to find the lumen output, but it appears to be 400 lumens. LED strip lights come in two main densities, measured in LEDs per meter. The standard density is 30/meter with an output of 540 lumens/meter. The high density is twice that.

The space available on the fixture measured 10″ x 1-5/8″. The standard density LED strips can be cut every 4″, so we could have 8″ strips in there. Each 8″ strip contains 6 LEDs, and the lumen output of each is 120 lumens, so 3 of these strips would give us 360 lumens, which is close to the 400 lumens in the fluorescent bulb.

I ended up getting a full reel (16.4 feet) of warm white (3000K) LED strips with a density of 30 LEDs per meter. These are called IP20 Flex Strips. I bought these plus the wiring accessories at LEDSupply.com.

Removing the ballast electronics

The fluorescent bulb ballast electronics need to be removed for this conversion. This is done from the back of the fixture. There is a plastic nameplate cover that must be removed first. It snaps out by using a small screwdriver to pry it up over the tabs. Once this is removed the electronic circuit board will be visible.

The circuit board is attached to the switch on the front of the fixture by two solder joints. These solder joints mechanically attach the whole board to the cavity. The two solder joints are shown in the photo below. After de-soldering these two joints, the circuit board can be removed by pushing it out starting with the four screw terminals. Then use a screwdriver to push it out the rest of the way.

After removing the circuit board, the power switch can be removed by popping it out to the front of the fixture. This switch has thin wires to connect it to the circuit board which aren’t very useful for other terminations.

The next step I did was to remove the fluorescent tube clips from the cavity of the fixture. I used a pair of wire cutters to trim the two ears. I also trimmed the ledge portion back so that it would be flush with the back of the cavity so that the LED strips would have a continuous surface to attach to.

Installing the LED Strips

The next step was to cut three LED strips and solder lead wires to the ends. I also installed heat shrink tubing over the solder points to protect the exposed solder pads. I used #20 stranded wire that I had bought with the LEDs. The LED strips were 6 LEDs each.

Each strip has a self-adhesive backing, so installing them in the fixture was simple. I chose to put them as shown in the photo: Two on opposing sides (walls) and one on the bottom of the cavity. I tried different configurations using masking tape to hold the strips in place and then powered on the LEDs using a power supply. I found that this configuration produced the best light. The resulting light was more diffuse than putting all the strips on the bottom, and I liked that better.

Replacing the Switch

The next step was to put in a new switch. The old switch is a single pole, single throw (SPST) rocker switch. It measured 21 mm x 15 mm and was rated at 6 amps at 125-250 VDC. This switch has spring clips on the sides to hold it in place in the mounting hole.

I did a search on the Internet and found new switches with the design, size and rating as the old one – but with terminal lugs for quick disconnect terminations.

Here is the Amazon listing for these switches. These also have the shoulder spring snaps, and they fitted perfectly into the existing hole.

Terminating the LED Lead Wires

The leads from the LED strips were trimmed and stripped, and then these were terminated with quick-disconnect terminals. The positive (red) wires were terminated with a female terminal to fit on the switch lug. The negative (black) leads were terminated with a male terminal. The male terminal had to be narrowed down to fit the existing terminal in the wiring harness.

Testing the completed lights

When both fixtures were finished they were reinstalled in the cabin. Then came the final step: testing! The light from the fixture is great. The color is nice and warm and the illumination level is excellent. It seems to be a bit brighter than the old fluorescent bulb, but who knows how old that bulb was!

Energy Savings from the LED Lights

Before I started the project I measured the current draw of the fluorescent fixtures so that I could compare them to the converted LED version.

The old fixture drew 0.9 amps at 12 volts, or 11 watts. The new LED fixture draws 0.38 amps at 12 volts, or 4.6 watts. That’s about 60% less power and means you can run both lights for less power than one of the old fixtures.

Removing the Factory Cooler

Posted on August 24, 2021 by westy_admin

Space is at a premium in a Eurovan Weekender. When you stop for the night, there is a lot of loading and unloading that happens. Right from the start we decided not to use the factory cooler. It’s located under the jump seat behind the driver. At first we used the space inside the cooler to store miscellaneous items. That proved to be problematic, because to access this area you had to raise the seat cushion and open the top of the cooler. That got me thinking about the possibility of replacing the entire cooler with something that would allow us to use it for storage more conveniently.

The first thing I found out was that the removal of the cooler was simple. In fact, it’s even documented in the VW owner’s manual (Section 3.1.1, page 91). All you had to do is unplug it (ours was already unplugged) and slide it out.

There was a surprising amount of space available without the cooler. The dimensions were 10 1/4″ H x 16 7/8″ W x x 17 1/2″ D. I started looking for some kind of storage box that I could put in there. What I wanted was something with an open top and a handle that would make it easy to slide in and out.

After much searching on the Internet, I found a tote box at Wayfair that was a good fit and was gray in color. It’s made by Rebrilliant and is a gray plastic storage tote. Here is a link to the Wayfair listing. The tote measures in at 8.5” H x 14.75” W x 20.75” D. That’s a bit deeper than needed, but it fits fine.

Here’s a shot of the tote with some of our junk in it.

One thing that I found out was that I had to add something to keep this tote in place while driving. Just starting from a stop would send it moving backwards in the cabin. I noticed that there was a metal brace left in place on the floor at the front of the opening. I looked around my shop and found a piece of aluminum in an L shape that was 1″ in width. I cut a piece off to fit under that brace and simply slid it in place. It’s a nice snug fit and serves perfectly as a stop for the tote when driving around.

The tote slides in place and is easily removed by lifting the front and sliding it back. Here’s a photo of the tote with the bracket keeping it secure.

Refrigerator Alternative to Built-In Weekender Cooler

Posted on April 19, 2021 by westy_admin

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.

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.

Fixing the Pop Top Seal

Posted on June 2, 2018 by westy_admin

Since we’ve owned our Weekender I’ve noticed that the rubber seal on the edge of the pop top was coming loose on a regular basis. It seemed like normal driving was making it come loose, and made me think that the old gasket either needed to be glued in or replaced. This problem didn’t seem unique to our car – I’ve seen the same thing on other Weekenders.

I noticed that when I closed a door, and especially the rear hatch, the whole roof would bounce up and down from the air pressure. This loosened the compression on the seal, and if that seal wasn’t firmly attached it would eventually cause the seal to sag downward. This is bad if you’re in a rainy climate (like us) because it makes it more possible for water to enter into the interior.

I started looking around for articles on this seal problem. I found some information on TheSamba.com, but that was for emergency repair. So I checked on GoWesty.com, and they had replacement seals in stock for the Eurovan Weekender. They also had instructions. Here is a link to their part page. After reading through the instructions I thought it didn’t look too difficult, so I purchased one of these replacement seals plus some adhesive to glue the two ends together.

It was still winter when I bought the parts, so I put them away for a nice, sunny spring day. Finally I had the perfect combination of weather and free time to do the job, so I started in.

I followed the directions, first removing the old seal. I found that it had been glued in place at the corners of the pop top, but every where else it simply fell off on its own weight. I cleaned off the glue and the dirt from the pop top surfaces.

The next step was to install the new seal. The biggest question I had was interpreting the instructions where they say to “install the new seal with the bulb and the ‘fang’ on the inside of the U-channel oriented inward.” This didn’t make much sense to me, so I compared the old and new seals. They were very different! Here’s a side-by-side photo.

You can see several things in the photo. First, notice how different the seals look. You can also see how much narrower the gap in the u-channel is in the new seal when compared to the old one. The u-channel, bulb and fang are identified in the photo.

Once I got the nomenclature figured out, I started putting on the new gasket. I began by using only finger pressure, but this took a lot of effort and my progress was very slow. I tried using my rubber mallet to tap the seal in place and things went much faster. When I got to the front of the pop top I absolutely needed the rubber mallet – there was no other way to get the leverage needed to put the seal in place.

When I got to the end I used a Ginzu knife to saw the seal off to the proper length. The inside of the u-channel has aluminum fingers that make the channel hold its shape. I didn’t know this until I started cutting the seal, but it was no problem to cut it.

I smoothed both ends of the seal with a sandpaper block, cleaned them, and then applied the adhesive to glue them together.

The seal replacement took about an hour and half total. There was a lot of learning that went on, so I’m sure if I had to do it again it would take maybe half of that. I’m very happy with the result, and based on how tight the new seal fits I’m sure it won’t be coming loose any time soon.

January 2021 Update

It’s been over two years since I replaced the pop top seal, so I thought I’d post an update. The new seal has worked perfectly! It’s weather-tight and has not moved at all since installation. The sagging of the old seal was my main headache, and the new seal totally fixed that problem!

Upgrading the Radio (again)

Posted on February 1, 2018 by westy_admin

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!

Road Trip to Tahoe

Posted on October 16, 2016 by westy_admin

We did our first real road test of Westy in mid-September. This was the first real road test for Westy – about 1500 miles, and she performed flawlessly. This was a 6-day 5-night trip. We camped two out of the 5 nights. Here’s a recap:

Day 1 – Portland to Chiloquin, OR via Crater Lake National Park (281 mi)

For our first leg we drove down I-5 from Portland to the Springfield area and then took off on Oregon Highway 58 across the Cascade mountains. I’ve always wanted to drive this route but never had driven it before. It links the Willamette Valley and Central Oregon, crossing the Cascade Range at Willamette Pass. What I didn’t know was that this is a popular alternate route for trucks on the I-5 corridor, avoiding the steep grades and winter closures of I-5 over Siskiyou Summit. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any problems from the truck traffic. Oregon 58 ends at U.S. Highway 97, where we headed south. We could have driven straight down Highway 97 to Chiloquin, but decided to detour through Crater Lake instead. This only added 40 miles and we were treated to a beautiful view when we got there.

As we saw frequently this summer, there was road construction going on in the park, so we had several one-lane delays. After a brief stop at the visitor center, we continued south and rejoined Highway 97 near our destination for the night: Collier Memorial State Park. This is a beautiful setting and has abundant campsites and RV parking spots. We chose an RV spot for the night because it offered an electrical outlet, so we could plug in our portable cooler. You can see the cooler in the bottom right of the photo above.

Day 2: Chiloquin, OR to Tahoe City CA – (384 mi)

It was cooler than we expected at this spot. In fact, it got down to freezing the next morning, and we didn’t have any hot breakfast food to look forward to. So, we decided to just pack up, break camp and head down to Klamath Falls for gas and a hot breakfast. We ended up at Casey’s restaurant based on a local recommendation. Casey’s is an old-fashioned cafe with breakfast cooked to order. Great food and fast service at reasonable prices.

After breakfast we continued on our way to Tahoe City. The route took us through Alturas, CA and then down Highway 395 to Reno. From Reno we hopped onto I-80 West to CA-89 and Tahoe City. We stayed at America’s Best Value Inn right downtown. Tahoe City is a nice quiet town right on Lake Tahoe with lots of local shops. Westy cruised right along and made the leg on one tank. of gas.

Day 3: Lake Tahoe Area

We spent all day exploring around Lake Tahoe today. It’s truly a beautiful place, and the views of the lake are stunning no matter where you are. The only downside we experiences was road construction. The main road around the lake was closed just south of Inspiration Point, so we couldn’t make the full loop.

Day 4: Tahoe City to Belden, CA (231 mi)

The next day we were back on the road and drove from Tahoe to Belden, CA via Folsom to see friends. Our stop that night was a small RV park on the Feather River called Caribou Crossroads. It sits in the canyon by the river and is a very nice spot.

We ran into a bit of a problem because some of the power pedestals did not have a 20 amp receptacle, but we managed to get things to work with an extension cord. Add to to-do list: purchase a 30 amp to 20 amp pigtail adapter to avoid this problem in the future.

Day 5: Belden, CA to Yreka, CA via Lassen Volcanic National Park (236 mi)

The next day we continued driving up the North Fork of the Feather River past a number of PG&E hydro projects. Then we headed Highway 89 through Indian Valley and past Lake Almanor up to the south entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We spent a couple of hours exploring the park and had lunch. Then we continued on to Yreka, CA for the night where we stayed in a motel.

Day 6: Yreka, CA to West Linn, OR (320 mi)

Day 6 was our last leg of the road trip. It was all Interstate driving. Nothing exciting to report about that!

Summary

This road trip was a big success for us. We got to refine our planning and camping skills on a multi-day trip and see how Westy performed. Westy proved to be up to the challenge and gave us a trouble-free, comfortable ride. Our overall fuel economy for the trip was 20.25 MPG. Time to plan our next trip!

Shakedown Camp Out

Posted on July 25, 2016 by westy_admin

CampSherman_-07-2016_1 OK – enough time spent prepping Westy. It’s time to try Westy out on an overnight camp out. We decided to go mid-week to one of our favorite spots – the campgrounds on the Metolius river in Camp Sherman, Oregon. We booked a spot at the Pioneer Ford campground, packed up food and camping equipment, and took off.

We packed Westy as described on the Organization and Storage page.

We had the chuck boxes prepped ahead of time. These boxes are generous in size and fit right under the rear deck. These hold everything from cooking gear to napkins to silverware to plates.

CampSherman_-07-2016_3 Here’s how the campsite looked all set up. The cooler on the right side of the picnic table is our Coleman electric cooler. We like it because it goes where we go – campsite, motel, wherever.

The shakedown trip was a total success and we learned lots of tips for our next trip in September.

Adding a GPS Unit

Posted on July 22, 2016 by westy_admin

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

Posted on May 5, 2016 by westy_admin

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.

Fixing scratches in the windshield

Posted on January 5, 2016 by westy_admin

One of the things I noticed right away in our Westy was that there were very fine scratches in the windshield. These scratches were where the wiper blades contacted the glass. The scratches weren’t deep enough to feel with your fingernail. They weren’t very visible during the day; the effect was more like a haze on the glass. At nighttime, however, the lights of oncoming cars really showed the scratches up, and they cut down on visibility.

I tried all kinds of conventional glass cleaners and polishes, but these weren’t effective. I had hopes for a Rain-X product that coats the glass. You spray it on and wipe it off. It did help slightly, but didn’t eliminate the problem.

I finally started searching the web to see how other folks tackled this problem. One person applied carnuba wax to the windshield every year to hide the scratches! I did try a small area using this approach, but it was a waste of time.

Most of the articles I found suggested that you need to use a special glass polishing compound (cerium oxide) to get rid of the these fine scratches. I finally found a Glass Polishing Kit on Amazon that came with the polishing compound and a set of pads for your electric drill. The reviews were pretty good so I decided to give it a try.

The Results

I applied the polishing compound to the windshield and worked on small areas at a time – about 1 foot square. I found that I had to frequently re-wet the pad on the drill because it dried out quickly. After completing the first pass, I cleaned the windshield and saw significant improvement. The scratches were still visible, however. So, I repeated the process a second time. The results after two passes was fantastic. It was difficult to see any scratches. The only ones that you could see were the very deep ones. Fortunately, there weren’t very many of those, so I decided to quit there and see how the windshield performed in real-case driving.

I’ve driven Westy for about 4 months since the treatment and I am totally satisfied. The windshield isn’t perfect, but it totally acceptable. There is no sun or headlight glare on the glass, and the visibility is great.

The one thing I did notice after the process was that I had to thoroughly clean up the splatter from the polishing process. This dried to a white color. I used bath towels to cover all around the windshield to minimize the splatter, but it got into places I didn’t expect. So, be prepared to look your rig over carefully and thoroughly afterwards to clean up all the mess.

Westy.Blog

Life and Times in our 2003 Eurovan Weekender