jbeletti's 2015 Landmark 365 Ashland

[klindgren]

Re: My Mods: Added Entertainment System Equipment

Sounds like Santa has had elves do this sort of thing for him his whole lide and has not had to learn it

But seriously, if you can hookup a DVD player, you can do this stuff. Prepare yourself to be "taken to school" when I see you in MB. Ask me anything and I will do my best to assist you and Carol. I enjoy it and, I want to "stay on the list"

You got that right!! If the elves can't do it, I do without. Heck, I couldn't even think up half this stuff let alone do it. I think I'll send a PM to Dave and tell him he needs to extend his Rally a couple more weeks just so I can keep you captive with all the questions I have (or will come up with between now and the end of the week.) Thanks

 

[jbeletti]

Re: My Mods: Added Entertainment System Equipment

Now get you a small piece of paneling and place it over all that and it would really be a VERY neat and organized setup! Nice job Jim. Looks like your used screw zip ties to mount everything to the wall.

Yes Michael - Screw Zip Ties - Love 'em! Just went to Lowes this afternoon to restock Zip Ties and Screw Zip Ties plus supplies for another project.

I like your paneling cover idea as it would dress it up. But for me, it's a cabinet that stays closed, so I'll leave it as-is and it will be easier for me to make additions, changes and to troubleshoot.

 

[jbeletti]

My Mods: Added Travel Latches to Pantry Roll-Out Drawers

While at Lowes this afternoon, strolling through the hardwre aisle, I had an epiphany on how to secure some roll-out drawers in a tall pantry cabinet that sometimes roll-out and bang into the inside of the two long doors that hide the four drawers. The doors pops open a small amount on each trip. There are no knobs on the doors to catch the slide fascia on if the doors came open too far and we didn't notice. Still, I want to try to settle all of this down.

I purchased four 2 inch brass plated Window Bolts. I only used the bolt piece and the screws. I did not use the catch.

The left side of the cabinet opening had a generous width interior vertical stile. I used that stile as my mounting surface. The drawer boxes have full-extension drawer slides on each side. I mounted the bolt so when they're in the locked position, the bolt is in front of the end of the drawer slide.

We're heading to a rally tomorrow, so we'll get a chance to test the theory of this $12 mod.

 

[jbeletti]

My Mods: Added LED Strip to Switch Panel

Due to the location of the Switch Panel in the LM 365 Ashland and the fact that the double doors that cover the switches, when opened, act as barn doors, little ambient light and ceiling light reach this space.

Adding light to this area is important to me, though I'm not sure what the right approach is. I could possibly add a light in the ceiling over the stairs, or I could add lighting inside the cabinet in some manner. Either way, the lighting will need to be switched, perferrably automatically.

As I was organizing my bins in the storage bay of the coach, I found two 24 Inch, 6 LED Light Strips. I received these from Lippert as product samples. These lights get used in or near the main entrance door threshold. Outside I think. Anyway, I had my second epiphany of the day. Why not use one of these strips above the switches in the switch panel area to shine/wash light down the panel the switches are located in.

First, I did a quick check for fitment. 24" is about what I needed - perfect! Then I connected the strip to DC power to see what sort of light it put out. Well, a bit of a disappointment here. A very low color temperature - probably sub-3000 Kelvin. And a very low output in Lumens. I could see a dropping resistor connected in series with each LED. For the cost of these short strips, it's not worth trying to hack it up to change the resistor in an effort to gain a brighter light. But still, I thought I'd install them and run them for a while.

So I installed the strip using on-hand, black plastic cable clamps and small screws. I drilled a hole into the left side wall of the switch panel space, into a hollow area and fished a wire up to the top where I could access a screw terminal set I'd previously installed for quick access to DC power for various projects. I rigged up a temporary manual switch that we can use while we evaluate the effectiveness of this particular strip.

And while I feel this strip isn't up to the task, I think it has served as a decent "proof of concept" such that I'll likely replace it with a brighter strip later and install a normally-open magnetic switch to use in the circuit so when the left door is opened, the light comes on and stays on until that door is closed.

So far, my investment is near-zero as I had all parts on-hand. I did a bit of online research and looks like I can get a brighter strip in the $10 range and a few dollars for the magnetic switch.

 

[Bones]

Re: My Mods: Added LED Strip to Switch Panel

Due to the location of the Switch Panel in the LM 365 Ashland and the fact that the double doors that cover the switches, when opened, act as barn doors, little ambient light and ceiling light reach this space.

Adding light to this area is important to me, though I'm not sure what the right approach is. I could possibly add a light in the ceiling over the stairs, or I could add lighting inside the cabinet in some manner. Either way, the lighting will need to be switched, perferrably automatically.

As I was organizing my bins in the storage bay of the coach, I found two 24 Inch, 6 LED Light Strips. I received these from Lippert as product samples. These lights get used in or near the main entrance door threshold. Outside I think. Anyway, I had my second epiphany of the day. Why not use one of these strips above the switches in the switch panel area to shine/wash light down the panel the switches are located in.

First, I did a quick check for fitment. 24" is about what I needed - perfect! Then I connected the strip to DC power to see what sort of light it put out. Well, a bit of a disappointment here. A very low color temperature - probably sub-3000 Kelvin. And a very low output in Lumens. I could see a dropping resistor connected in series with each LED. For the cost of these short strips, it's not worth trying to hack it up to change the resistor in an effort to gain a brighter light. But still, I thought I'd install them and run them for a while.

So I installed the strip using on-hand, black plastic cable clamps and small screws. I drilled a hole into the left side wall of the switch panel space, into a hollow area and fished a wire up to the top where I could access a screw terminal set I'd previously installed for quick access to DC power for various projects. I rigged up a temporary manual switch that we can use while we evaluate the effectiveness of this particular strip.

And while I feel this strip isn't up to the task, I think it has served as a decent "proof of concept" such that I'll likely replace it with a brighter strip later and install a normally-open magnetic switch to use in the circuit so when the left door is opened, the light comes on and stays on until that door is closed.

So far, my investment is near-zero as I had all parts on-hand. I did a bit of online research and looks like I can get a brighter strip in the $10 range and a few dollars for the magnetic switch.

View attachment 35998 View attachment 35999 View attachment 36000

If you would like to get a brighter set up may I suggest the LED daylight running lights located at your local auto parts stores. They run on 12 volt and some are bright. You can also trim the strips as well and have a very low profile. They are stick on too.

 

[porthole]

Re: My Mods: Added Entertainment System Equipment

H'mm - if all of this was mine, I'd have it on a Costco $99 UPS - or - more then likely it would be on an full time inverter circuit (an inverter with a built in transfer switch).

One more thing to add to the list - you welcome

How does the DTV OTA work overall? Tied into the coach's antenna? Can you DVR it?

Today, I added/wired/rewired my entertainment equipment. The gear I have at this time is:

• Samsung Blu-Ray / DVD Player (came with coach)
• 47" LG LED TV (came with coach)
• Samsung Sound Bar and Sub-Woofer (came with coach)
• DirecTV Genie DVR Receiver
• DirecTV OTA Tuner
• Roku 3 Entertainment Appliance
• Netgear Switch (to connect above gear and more to LAN/Internet)
• Apple Time Machine (Networked computer backup device - back up my laptop to this)
• MonoPrice 1x3 HDMI Switcher (switch DirecTV Roku 3 and Blue-Ray through here to TV HDMI 1)

The Netgear router above connects via Ethernet to my commuincation gearin order to be LAN available and Internet enabled.

Tomorrow I'll be adding a small USB hard disk drive to the USB port of the Roku 3. The USB drive will have digital media (movies, pictures and music). The Roku 3 can transcode digital movie files, show pictures and play MP3 music.

View attachment 35990 View attachment 35991 View attachment 35992

 

[jbeletti]

Re: My Mods: Added Entertainment System Equipment

H'mm - if all of this was mine, I'd have it on a Costco $99 UPS - or - more then likely it would be on an full time inverter circuit (an inverter with a built in transfer switch).

One more thing to add to the list - you welcome

How does the DTV OTA work overall? Tied into the coach's antenna? Can you DVR it?

Duane - for us, UPSing the entertainment gear is not needed. All the telecom gear (JetPack, both WiFi Rangers and Home Automation Hub) are 12 VDC powered. I am all for DC powering (without converting) anything that is essential - giving me maximum runtime.

We don't want much OTA TV, but yes, the OTA tuner works well and yes, the locals are incorporated into the DTV guide so live OTA TV is pausable and recordable. Love that aspect. I'll show it to you this week so you can see it in action.

 

[travlingman]

Re: My Mods: Added Remote Control Caddy

My LM 365 came with these cool remote control caddys on each side of the bed. I guess you can use them for other things (glasses, phones etc.). Anyway, I ordered one from Heartland Customer Service and installed it next to my chair in the living room. I'm showing it with remote controls in it but I'm thinking of using it to store my cell phone and charge it in there at night. May have to drill a hole in the bottom to route the charging cord into it. For now, I did add 2 layers of shelf liner to the inside-bottom to cushion whatever I store there. I'm including the part number (P/N 0171598) and description that was stuck on the caddy in case anyone else wants to order one from Heartland.
View attachment 35748 View attachment 35749 View attachment 35750

Mine finally got here. What did you use to mount as they are fairly heavy for their size?

 

[jbeletti]

Re: My Mods: Added Remote Control Caddy

Mine finally got here. What did you use to mount as they are fairly heavy for their size?

While at the Louisiana rally earlier this month, I was adding shelves and needed some short screws. Cookie to the rescue. He had a bag of these tiny square drive screws. They're about 5/8" from the tip of the screw point to the top of the head. With 4 of them, it's seems to be held securely. Not much need to go with longer screws as the holding power is just in the luan sheet. If one wanted more holding strength, maybe use a small plastic wall anchor for each of the 4 screws.


On edit:
I just ordered 4 more of these. Going to use 2 of them to hold the laptop power supplies so that just the thin cord from the output of the power supplies are loose and usable. This gets the power supplies and cords off the floor on the sides and behind our theater seating. The dogs LOVE to hang out back there and one of them (Tinker) was a chewer when we adopted here a couple months back. Cost me one 85 watt Apple PSU ($$$). May as well remove some of the temptation.

I've forgetten what I'm planning to use the other 2 for, but it will come back to me

 

[travlingman]

Re: My Mods: Added Remote Control Caddy

While at the Louisiana rally earlier this month, I was adding shelves and needed some short screws. Cookie to the rescue. He had a bag of these tiny square drive screws. They're about 5/8" from the tip of the screw point to the top of the head. With 4 of them, it's seems to be held securely. Not much need to go with longer screws as the holding power is just in the luan sheet. If one wanted more holding strength, maybe use a small plastic wall anchor for each of the 4 screws.
View attachment 36218 View attachment 36216 View attachment 36215 View attachment 36217

On edit:
I just ordered 4 more of these. Going to use 2 of them to hold the laptop power supplies so that just the thin cord from the output of the power supplies are loose and usable. This gets the power supplies and cords off the floor on the sides and behind our theater seating. The dogs LOVE to hang out back there and one of them (Tinker) was a chewer when we adopted here a couple months back. Cost me one 85 watt Apple PSU ($$$). May as well remove some of the temptation.

I've forgetten what I'm planning to use the other 2 for, but it will come back to me

Thanks. Off to Lowe's I go.

 

[dalspot]

Re: My Mods: Added LED Strip to Switch Panel

That sounds like a great solution for my dark kitchen cabinet under the sink! Would you mind sharing your $10 strip and magnetic switch source? Are they 110 or 12-volt?

So far, my investment is near-zero as I had all parts on-hand. I did a bit of online research and looks like I can get a brighter strip in the $10 range and a few dollars for the magnetic switch.

View attachment 35998 View attachment 35999 View attachment 36000

 

[jbeletti]

My Mods: Water Pump Switch Project

Update for 6-Apr-2016
It's been over 5 months since I installed the 3 additional water pump switches. And they've worked well - very handy.

Well, today I finally added the 4th and final switch (kitchen) and connected the Pump Status LED on the front of the coach.

Water Pump Circuit ON


Water Pump and Refer Inverter Circuits both ON


Kitchen Water Pump Switch Installed (sorry for the blur)


Update for 24-Oct-2015
Today was "the day"! Today I installed the previously built water pump switch circuit and pulled 3 of the 4 wiring harnesses needed for my 4 switch locations. I also completed the installation of the first 3 switches. AND IT WORKS!

I installed the Water Pump Status LED (blue) on the front of the RV. Noticed it's inop Easy troubleshoot tomorrow.

Here's a link to the entire image gallery for this project and below are a few of the pictures.


Video of switch in action <CLICK IMAGE BELOW)



--------------------------------
In our LM365, there are two water pump switches. These switches are SPDT type used to make a 3-way circuit to turn the water pump on or off from two locations. Landmark 365 comes with one switch outside on the off-door side inside the UDC (universal docking center) and another switch inside the coach in the switch panel with all the other switches.

I want to install switches where they are even more convenient for those times when we are boondocking (a couple times a year) and every day we travel.

The system I've devised will have 5 switches as follows:

1. UDC
2. Kitchen Sink area
3. Bedroom Sink area
4. Commode Room Sink area
5. Switch Panel area

At it's heart, the project uses a Precision Circuits "Water Pump Relay". This relay is what is referred to by some as a ground switch. Reason being is that when a switch lead on the relay is momentarily grounded, it latches or unlatches the relay. I ordered the relay on eBay ($42).


I also wanted a visible indicator that the water pump circuit is on, so I sourced momentary switches with a built-in light. My first order (via aliexpress.com and shipped from China) was a bust. I didn't realize the switches didn't have a dropping resistor built-in and I burned out the LEDs. Oops! Also, the electrical contacts were teeny and I'd have to solder everything. I'm quite capable in this area but my old eyes and fat fingers wouldn't have liked it.

Round 2 of switches were ordered via eBay ($8 ea delivered) and shipped from China (though also available from the same seller on aliexpress.com). The new switches I selected were better for me in these ways:

1. Larger diameter - easier to fit a finger tip in the center to activate
2. Built-in dropping resistor (no soldering - ya!)
3. Supplied with an automotive-style socket with 6" leads (ya again - no soldering!)

I searched high and low and found narrow, stainless steel wall plates ($6.95 ea) with a round hole in the center. I need to enlargen the hole to accommodate the switch body and I need to source some matching wood thread screws as I can't use the machine thread screws that were supplied as I'm mounting the wall plates directly to wood (cabinet stiles in 3 cases).


To streamline all the electrical connections, I decided to buy a Faston 4-pole, 5-position terminal strip. I sourced this via eBay UK ($12.79).


With all the parts now in-hand, it was time to use a VOM (volt, ohm meter) to detemine what pins were for what on the switches. More often than not, items I've ordered that have shipped from China come with zero documentation. Last night, I was able to sketch out a circuit and do a sort of bread board test. Success after a few bad starts.

Today, I spent time measuring wire lengths required for 2 of my 5 runs. I made up the wiring assemblies for those 2 runs and wired the relay to the terminal strip.


Time to test! Using an 110 VAC to 12 VDC power supply, I successfully tested the circuit with the first 2 switch assemblies. Ya!

I plan to make up the final 3 switch assemblies, then packup all the gear into the RV for installation in the near future. When this project is complete, I'll photos of the installed switches and relay/terminal strip.

This could just be one of the few projects I do that Nancy "really gets" and feels she benefits from it. Some of the other projects I do are a bit obscure and seem to benefit only me

I've attached a schematic in the event anyone wants to try this using the same switch and relay I used.


Below is a quick video showing a successful bench test of the curcuit with the first 2 switch assemblies. Note how when switch is used to activate the circuit, the light turns on, on all the switches. Exactly what I was looking for.

 

[sjandbj]

Re: My Mods: Added Travel Latches to Pantry Roll-Out Drawers

Jim,
I must say I have enjoyed all the post regarding the mods on your new rig. Thanks for all the great ideas and 1st class documentation.

Regards,
Steve

 

[2psnapod2]

Re: My Mods: Added Remote Control Caddy

I sure wish that Heartland would have a few of the hard to find screws on hand at the rally. Maybe a box of each in the rally hall would be nice.

 

[danemayer]

Re: My Mods: Added Remote Control Caddy

I sure wish that Heartland would have a few of the hard to find screws on hand at the rally. Maybe a box of each in the rally hall would be nice.

One box would probably be gone the first 15 minutes of the first day - probably before the first cup of coffee was poured.

 

[jbeletti]

Re: My Mods: Added Travel Latches to Pantry Roll-Out Drawers

Jim,
I must say I have enjoyed all the post regarding the mods on your new rig. Thanks for all the great ideas and 1st class documentation.

Regards,
Steve

Glad you enjoy the posts Steve. You're too kind on the documentation though. What detail I do put out helps me as much as anyone for when I need to reorder something

 

[porthole]

Re: My Mods: Added Remote Control Caddy

I sure wish that Heartland would have a few of the hard to find screws on hand at the rally. Maybe a box of each in the rally hall would be nice.

When in Elkhart - the RV Surplus stores are a must.

Buy all types of RV related screws by the pound. Get some plastic Plano compartmented boxes from HD, Lowe's, West Marine, Walmart etc and you'll have your assortment when needed.
With the Plano boxes, they make 3 different types of latches for the boxes.

The cheapest have latches where the hinge is integral with the lid, and it just snaps over a bump. These tend to break off with repeated use, and do not latch securely enough to hold several pounds of screws.

The better types are obvious, the latch is a separate (and colored) hinged piece that latches securely.

The best boxes have 3 latches that clamp each of the non hinged sides of the lid and also have a rubber o-ring to keep them water proof.

 

[porthole]

Re: My Mods: Water Pump Switch Project

And they call me Mr. Gadget


This is a great idea. We will travel with full water many times, 110 gallons, and after reading the woes of one member who had a cat turn on the the faucet, we make it a habit to run with the water pump off.

Never fails when you stop for a bathroom break, the water is off. A switch in the bathroom/s is a great addition.

In our LM365, there are two water pump switches. These switches are SPDT type used to make a 3-way circuit to turn the water pump on or off from two locations. Landmark 365 comes with one switch outside on the off-door side inside the UDC (universal docking center) and another switch inside the coach in the switch panel with all the other switches.

I want to install switches where they are even more convenient for those times when we are boondocking (a couple times a year) and every day we travel.

The system I've devised will have 5 switches as follows:

1. UDC
2. Kitchen Sink area
3. Bedroom Sink area
4. Commode Room Sink area
5. Switch Panel area

At it's heart, the project uses a Precision Circuits "Water Pump Relay". This relay is what is referred to by some as a ground switch. Reason being is that when a switch lead on the relay is momentarily grounded, it latches or unlatches the relay. I ordered the relay on eBay ($42).
View attachment 36283

I also wanted a visible indicator that the water pump circuit is on, so I sourced momentary switches with a built-in light. My first order (via aliexpress.com and shipped from China) was a bust. I didn't realize the switches didn't have a dropping resistor built-in and I burned out the LEDs. Oops! Also, the electrical contacts were teeny and I'd have to solder everything. I'm quite capable in this area but my old eyes and fat fingers wouldn't have liked it.

Round 2 of switches were ordered via eBay ($8 ea delivered) and shipped from China (though also available from the same seller on aliexpress.com). The new switches I selected were better for me in these ways:

1. Larger diameter - easier to fit a finger tip in the center to activate
2. Built-in dropping resistor (no soldering - ya!)
3. Supplied with an automotive-style socket with 6" leads (ya again - no soldering!)

I searched high and low and found narrow, stainless steel wall plates ($6.95 ea) with a round hole in the center. I need to enlargen the hole to accommodate the switch body and I need to source some matching wood thread screws as I can't use the machine thread screws that were supplied as I'm mounting the wall plates directly to wood (cabinet stiles in 3 cases).
View attachment 36287

To streamline all the electrical connections, I decided to buy a Faston 4-pole, 5-position terminal strip. I sourced this via eBay UK ($12.79).
View attachment 36285

With all the parts now in-hand, it was time to use a VOM (volt, ohm meter) to detemine what pins were for what on the switches. More often than not, items I've ordered that have shipped from China come with zero documentation. Last night, I was able to sketch out a circuit and do a sort of bread board test. Success after a few bad starts.

Today, I spent time measuring wire lengths required for 2 of my 5 runs. I made up the wiring assemblies for those 2 runs and wired the relay to the terminal strip.
View attachment 36284

Time to test! Using an 110 VAC to 12 VDC power supply, I successfully tested the circuit with the first 2 switch assemblies. Ya!

I plan to make up the final 3 switch assemblies, then packup all the gear into the RV for installation in the near future. When this project is complete, I'll photos of the installed switches and relay/terminal strip.

This could just be one of the few projects I do that Nancy "really gets" and feels she benefits from it. Some of the other projects I do are a bit obscure and seem to benefit only me

I've attached a schematic in the event anyone wants to try this using the same switch and relay I used.


Below is a quick video showing a successful bench test of the curcuit with the first 2 switch assemblies. Note how when switch is used to activate the circuit, the light turns on, on all the switches. Exactly what I was looking for.

 

[jbeletti]

Re: My Mods: Water Pump Switch Project

And they call me Mr. Gadget This is a great idea.

Thanks Duane! I love doing mods. If I owned this unit, it might be as modded as your unit. Then I'd never want to get rid of it

Mod on!

 

[jbeletti]

My Mods: Experimental use of Refer Latch

This mod is an experiment. I'm not yet fully-committed to drilling holes in the refer door to install this. So for this experiment, I'm using 3M trim tape. I think I'll try this out on our trip to Goshen and use the velcro strap loosely as a backup. I may slip a strip of paper between the door case and door gasket on both the freezer and refrigerator sections to determine if the doors came open at all during travel.

Note that this latch is used on some residential refers by some RV OEMs. I personally saw it in use in a Lifestyle RV (Calvin and Judy H's new coach).

I welcome any feedback.

On edit: This latch was sourced via Amazon.com (link) - $20