Electrifying the Roof Rack

[iandvl]

When the kids come along to camp with us, we haul the gazillion-year-old scruffy caravan and plug into power. It's not really "camping" - rather "glamping". But the kids don't like my idea of camping... Because I camp off-grid, mostly. When I am on my own or it is just the LF (Liana) and I, I tend to run virtually everything off 12V. I have been known to top off my auxiliary battery from the mains at a camp site, but most of the time it is not necessary... It used to be myself on my own pretty much, and my setup worked for me. However, the LF has decided she also enjoys camping without facilities, and that is pretty great. Except that my set up no longer works that well... She never knows what plugs to plug in where.

I have a roof tent with a light, a work light at the back of the truck where the fridge / work areas are, another light I put up under the awning. The work light at the back also does not have an on/off switch. So it's either plugged in (on), or unplugged (off). This addles her brain and I'm permanently on-call to plug and unplug stuff which interferes with my "drink-beer-and-be-introspective-whilst-staring-into-the-middle-distance" time...

I spotted the new roof rack power points from Front Runner a few weeks ago (https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/e ... point.html), and ordered one to see what it looks like. I hatched a plan and ordered a second set before ripping their guts out and modifying them so suit my purposes. I've added switches and they're now wired up semi-permanently to the battery pack in the boot of the truck. Semi-permanently, as the cable is not always plugged in. Now, when we stop to camp, I plug the roof rack in to the battery, plug the RTT and awning light into the Hella plugs, and then we can switch lights on and off as we need using the switches on the power points.

That is the plan in any case, but we'll probably only get a chance to test this in practice at the end of April when we are going walkabout. I shall report back here when done...

[Mad Manny]

Sounds like you need a user-friendly, clearly-labelled, easy to use, accessible, electrical control panel.

[iandvl]

I have one - I even have colour coded plugs. But the wimmin don't normally grok this stuff...

[jakeslouw]

Isn't it dangerous for the kids if you're using the roofrack as a busbar?

[iandvl]

On a side note: all I now need are godlights...

[iandvl]

Isn't it dangerous for the kids if you're using the roofrack as a busbar?

Sorry for the quote, Manny. In this case, I do need it to keep context....

Jakes, technically every vehicle is just a large busbar. Every ICE vehicle is a large busbar which is brought to life by controlled explosions.

The kids will be fine. They must just not chew the wires...

[Shane]

I like the idea! Be sure to post more pics later when you test it!

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[Mad Manny]

Here's Grips' panel...

[iandvl]

That looks very good. But it is overkill for my setup. I do the "less is more" thing...

I'll see how the new setup works end of April when we go walkabout. I'm sure it will suffice.

[iandvl]

Also closing the loop on this. After having complete my last walkabout, I am happy to report that my setup works flawlessly.

No photos of the light setup - thought it would be rather pointless. But everything is painless...

1: Stop at camp site.
2: [set up camp here].
3: Plug RR wire into battery.
4: Plug in RTT wire.
5: Put (side) awning light on side of RR and plug in.

The wimmin is control of all the lights she needs from there on just by switching the relevant toggle switch on or off - without having to bother me about plugging cables in and out.

[grips]

Sounds Lekker Ian. I also need to get power into the Pop-up rooftop.