The "SJ Cruiser" , a 5x10 benroy in the PNW

[yrock87]

Not a teardrop, but I got a kegerator conversion kit for my birthday! I built a cedar tower for the spout. And then insulated with left over foam from the TD build. I exp ct the Co2 tank Thursday, and should have beer flowing by this weekend.

I need to knuckle down and get the trailer road worth and family ready for a trip to San Francisco over Thanksgiving. But this is one distraction that I found time for. and once it is full of beer it will become the distraction that keeps on distracting... :-D

[yrock87]

PWM controller is wired in! hot glue is your friend. Instead of using 2.5 amps on high and 1.9 amps on low with 3 settings( a rheostat was lowering the voltage, but that burned power as waste heat) now with the PWM I will be using 2ish amps on high and .2 on low. AND it is adjustable from 5 per cento to 100 per cento. Since the original fan is rated at 800 cfm and the tear only has about 120 cubic feet, being able to turn down to say 20% and use less than half an amp will A be more comfortable and B. use a quarter as much power.

The pwm has a digipot for fan speed and a forward-off-backwards rocker. I wired into the existing fuse and lid-lcosed switch.

[MadMango]

Can you give details or a link to your PWM controller?

[bam1028]

How many feet did it take of the rolled aluminum to have enough?

[yrock87]

Can you give details or a link to your PWM controller?

I purchased one off of Amazon, It was about $12. the Fantastic that I am using was a used model cut out of an RV. it appears that the bearing is going out so it is making some whining noises and clunks at lower speeds. I am hesitant to recommend this particular PWM right now because I read that some will cause the Fantastic to whine. the PWM frequency is too low for that motor so you end up hearing that in the form of a whine. I have a second doner Fantastic in the garage that I just tested as is. no whine and no clunck. I will be swapping out to motor assemblies to try to eliminate that whine. I will update as soon as I find out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HT ... UTF8&psc=1 RioRand Upgraded RRCCM6NSPC 150W 6V 12V 24V Reversing Switch Adjustable DC Motor Speed Controller PWM

This particular controller used to be a "color" on amazon with about 12 different PWMs all "colors" of a single item. as a result, the reviews were all jumbled together. the price range was about $8 to $20 depending on the amperage, form (some had pots directly attached to the board while some had a 6 inch wire to the digipot like this one) along with lights and switches being attached. on the reviews then some of these PWMs did NOT work well with fantastics. at $12 I thought it would be worth the risk to see if this one is. NOW amazon has them all as seprate items. the few reviews for this particular board look good, but no confirmed fantastic conversions yet.

I will update this once I do the motor swap and will also post a review to amazon.


also, I can vouch for this particular board being able to (barley) fit into the fantastic shroud. but there are several options in this price range. I ended up going for this one because it had both a forward-off-reverse rocker and an infinite adjustable pot all with 6 icnh wires to provide the greatest mounting opportunity. (board in one spot with controls mounted a few inches away)

I'll also add these few threads as a separate thread. and I will take some photos of the board in the shroud if I need to take it apart again.

[yrock87]

How many feet did it take of the rolled aluminum to have enough?

I used two pieces. 60"x144" and and 60"x 51" (for the hatch) I ordered exactly what I needed once I built the hatch hinge location. the 12ft long piece took some calling to find, and in hind sight I would have been happy with a 10ft piece and using a 2ft diamond plate rock guard. but I do like that I have no joints on the aluminum.

I was trying to figure out my aluminum needs in the design phase. but realized that I would not have a truly accurate measurement until I built that hinge point and then measured with a tape from there forward, wrapping around the radiuses (radii?) to the front-bottom edge. it just happened that that measurement was exactly 12 ft.

[KCStudly]

Probably not an issue for rough measurements, but I found that using a steel measuring tape around profile radii (yes, radii) was problematic for accurate measurements due to the convex shape of the tape not wanting to wrap around the curves. Instead, what I did was to use a strip of thin ply scrap, wrapped that along the profile (clamp one end if possible), and made match or reference marks to key ref locations, like a story pole. Then it was a simple matter to lay the strip flat on the bench either to measure or mark the piece to be cut.

[yrock87]

Okay, I swapped out the fan motors last night and did a test run with my 12v jump box. the PWM and the fan operate perfectly. there is no clunking and no mechanical whine. The fan doesn't turn for the first 10% or so of the PWM range (not enough power to get the largish fan moving) at about 15% is started moving and was nearly silent. by 30% it was moving a good amount of air.

I can now say that I recommend this PWM at least as far as fitting inside the Fantastic shroud and providing functional slowing of the fan. time will tell if it lasts. although it has been rattling around in a cardboard box with the fan for the last 9 months. so that's a good sign...

[KCStudly]

I'm curious if it cuts off at the same point when decreasing. Not sure if it is the same technology used in LED dimmers, but when I bring my kitchen track lights up they don't come on until about 45-50/ct; but when dimming they will run down to about 30/ct before cutting off.

[yrock87]

Got my new gas struts. The 45lb ones I had just didn't cut it. I have a pair of 120lbs installed now. They work like a champ. I could have probably went with 110s, but it isn't excessive.

Lots of other work is getting done. I plan to mount onto the trailer and fully waterproof this weekend. The wife is looking forward to getting her garage parking spot back. I also started electrical work. Things are coming together. My for real deadline of Thanksgiving is approach but I am conditions can't get capable by then.

Picks to follow

[yrock87]

The distraction continues. I built a tower cooler for my kegerator out of an old case fan, 12 power supply and a take out container. Beer is now cold the first time every time. :-)

[yrock87]

Got the lights installed. Exterior porch lights in painted black first. When I installed them I tried two different water sealers. The first light I used self leveling roof sealer, it worked well but was messy and made it difficult to adjust the fit around the wires under the fixture. The second light I just used butyl. That was much easier.

Interior lights are wired up and functional. I am relying on the built in switches for the lights. The exterior lights I wired inside switches for, however I need to build a switch plate due to the switch depth. So they don't currently work, although I have verified they function and are wired correctly.




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[yrock87]

Photos of the installed doors, light, and hatch struts and seals. Next on the agenda is to mount the cabin to the trailer.

I'm trying to decide if I want to seal any/all of the trim with an exterior bead of sealant in addition to the butyl under the trim... I'm not 100% confident that the butyl will hold up.


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[yrock87]

I'm curious if it cuts off at the same point when decreasing. Not sure if it is the same technology used in LED dimmers, but when I bring my kitchen track lights up they don't come on until about 45-50/ct; but when dimming they will run down to about 30/ct before cutting off.

KC,

the PWM cuts off at about the same point either way. it may be 12% up and 10% down, but it is pretty darn close. the rotating mass of the fan seems to help keep things moving. however the difference is about the thickness of a sharpie mark (that is an official unit of measurement for pots right? because you end up putting on/off and an arrow or rising bar)

[yrock87]

I'm curious if it cuts off at the same point when decreasing. Not sure if it is the same technology used in LED dimmers, but when I bring my kitchen track lights up they don't come on until about 45-50/ct; but when dimming they will run down to about 30/ct before cutting off.