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Modernizing my 2008 Safari Cheetah


McHughes

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On 6/5/2020 at 4:42 PM, McHughes said:

Installed LED lighting in the outside door handle. Replaced the porch light with motion sensing. Added LED lighting under the kitchen and living room slides. 

Mike,

Would love to see a little more info about wiring the LED lighting under the kitchen and living room slides.  I've been thinking of doing that, but struggling with where to run the wiring and what circuit to connect to.

Also any insight about installing the LED lighting in the door handle.  Was wiring already present? Or nearby in the passenger side panel?

Thanks,
Scotty

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15 hours ago, Scotty Hutto said:

Mike,

Would love to see a little more info about wiring the LED lighting under the kitchen and living room slides.  I've been thinking of doing that, but struggling with where to run the wiring and what circuit to connect to.

Also any insight about installing the LED lighting in the door handle.  Was wiring already present? Or nearby in the passenger side panel?

Thanks,
Scotty

Scotty,

We have different floor plans but I found an unused circuit under the sink that I used to power LED strips under the cabinets. I also attached small micro switches to the door frames that control the LED's via opening and closing the door. I bet you have some unused circuits also in both those slides. LED's use significantly less current than incandescent bulbs. If you have changed over the bulbs in your slides to LED's then there is ample current in those circuits to power additional LED strips. You could tap into those circuits for the power. I did not choose that path because access to the wiring was not convenient.

 

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The under slide lights are two strips of LED (amazon for about $12 each) on each side.  The inside strip (stuck to the coach wall just inside the slide lip and out of the weather) is an RGB connected to power and controlled by a remote.   Think Christmas lighting. The outer strip is  white and connected to the cargo bay lights and controlled by the original bay light switch.

To get power to the outer strip I ran the two leads down the existing tube on the drivers side that contains the power for the living room slide.  On the drivers side I added a tube to pull the wires out with the slide like it does on the opposite side.  Used a 1/2" piece of PEX tubing.  You can see it in the pictures.

Pretty easy to do.  Great lighting when needing to access the cargo bays at night as well as indirect lighting for the campsite that does not disturb the neighbors.

 

 

drivers_lighted.jpg

passenger_lighted.jpg

driver_side_tube.jpg

light_tube.jpg

 

Edited by McHughes
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As for the door grab handle lighting.   I removed the door handle brackets and drilled the center out to about 9/16".  Dropped a 1156 base flat disk bulb in the hole and twisted on the base from underneath.  Then just let it hang on the bulb.   Drilled a 3/16" hole through the wall (behind the bracket) and wired the bulb to the porch light in the electrical panel next to the passenger seat.  It has been so long ago I no longer have any pictures.

Edited by McHughes
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Adding additional shelves to pantry and clothes cabinets.  Image of new and old side by side.  New has darker grey felt. Could not find any felt that was a lighter grey.

 Difficult to tell which is factory and which is the addition once installed.

finished_shelf.jpg

installed_shelf.jpg

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Added 2 MaxAir II vent covers to keep the rain out and to allow vent to be open while driving.

vent_cover.jpg

Added Winegard ToGo C2 Roadlink to replace the full motion sat dish.  Was a great deal.  $30/month for unl AT&T.  That is, until AT&T cancelled the plan.

New rate $90/month for 22Gb.  Not really sure if I'll continue with AT&T.

togo_c2_roadlink.jpg

Added Air Force One Toad braking system with Blue Ox Avail tow bar and KarGard II shield.  Also added an ISL  Toad-Charge for my 2016 F150 4x4.

air_force_one_controller.jpg

air_force_one_connector.jpg

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We are still on the fence on what to do. We also have a small travel trailer, and we can't decide whether to sell the coach or keep it and update it so that we have it later in life when we can really get out and explore the open road. As you said, new coaches are expensive, especially if you want one built with the quality of our Safari. For example, the cabinets in our Safari are all solid wood (maple in our case) and are very heavy. Our TT has really flimsy pressed wood and plastic melamine finishes - and that seems to be what most coaches are built like nowadays, that is unless you spend some serious cash.

I'm having fun watching your work either way!

Edited by Rob and Amy Harper
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Minor upgrades hardly worth mentioning. 

 Added on/off switch to dash to turn on the radio without having to turn ignition key to accessory.  Radio was already powered from coach batteries but switched "on" by the key. Now either work.  Added a diode to prevent back feed into ignition from the radio when it is enabled.

Added momentary switch for the 'Safe-T-Plus on the fly centering" to the drivers side panel.

Custom switches were by  "rockerswitchpros.com"

 

 

rado_on_off.jpg

wheel_center_switch.jpg

Edited by McHughes
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Slide topper repair/maintenance.   Replaced the slide toppers with black vinyl from "Tough Top Awnings" and stripped and refinished the covers due to damage from tree branches and peeling paint.  Bare aluminum primed with epoxy sealer then a two stage urethane black and clear.  Replaced a couple of end caps ordered from Carefree.

tough_top_awning.jpg

slide_topper_cover.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
23 hours ago, wobrian@myglnc.com said:

 

Where did you source the weep covers?

You might try this place:

Parkin Accessories

2920 Gateway Dr

Elkhart, IN 46514

800-637-8938

http://www.parkin-acc.com/page51.html

If you go to the link above you will see the weep hole covers. Notice that there is a left and a right.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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