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PolarBlair

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Everything posted by PolarBlair

  1. How the hell did I miss that?! Watching it now 😯 👍
  2. Apparently it's in Laos. Unless there's also a Vientiane in Oz. I really like the idea of being able to reclaim the wheel arch spaces with storage cubbys that could be accessible just by opening the rear double doors.
  3. Thanks for that! So definitely an aftermarket option then. Does beg the question why this wasn't a factory option as it's clearly so useful! Maybe one day.... Right now my loadspace looks like this Work in progress. Had been putting off adding the switch panel and light until I was ready to DIY a headliner of some description but who knows when I'll get round to that.
  4. Came across this randomly on FB: https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/680632000647921/?ref=category_feed Then noticed the rear double door! I'm probably late to the game but had no idea this was an option. Its got me thinking how useful it would be to have on my 130. There's no further information on the listing. Does anyone have any info on these?
  5. Didn't seem worth making a new post but I recently found myself with what felt like half braking power. Found this post very useful so thought I'd share my situation and ask if anyone has advice. So apparently some previous owner put in a barbed T-piece. It looked like the remnants of black adhesive which had been blocking it off had failed at some point causing the vacuum leak. I'm assuming someone had an accessory that needed a vacuum? No dangling hoses as far as I could see. It was spliced in near the vacuum pump. Temporarily put on some random hose I had lying around and blocked it off. Hey presto - working brakes! Luckily had some barbed fittings so put in a straight join with a bit of tiger seal making sure none was on the end of the barbs to avoid blocking the vacuum line. Going to give it at least 24hrs before running again. So - any ideas what this could have been for? Or have I deleted a factory T- piece that should be connected to something?
  6. I had considered that but I use a wireless remote for my winch so the extra wiring seemed like more bother than it was worth. You could definitely use it for a switched winch isolator too. I've got 3 kids so I just went for a dumb isolator that sits in the battery box. Don't trust those wee blighters as far as I can throw them!
  7. App feels reasonably well thought out. Nothing special but still bare bones and functional. It asks for some permissions all of which I denied except Bluetooth and only when the app is in use. I believe it asks for storage permissions to let you use your own custom button images. Synced up immediately and I was able to easily set the button functions. Flash interval can only be set through the app from what I can tell however selecting modes between constant/ momentary/ strobe is much easier and faster using the app. It reacts immediately with no delay that I can detect. This is the main screen: This one is for programming functions: "Strobe" can be set to blink as quickly as 0.2s intervals which is ok but not what you would call a strobe function. Fine for amber beacons flashing though and better than the stock flash speed of 0.8s. You can also have it in landscape so for those that don't want the control panel visible at all, it's entirely possible to just operate the unit from your phone in a dash cradle. If I want to use this to remotely switch on a parking heater, I'll need to figure out some kind of Bluetooth repeater setup as there's no way it will reach from my house into the shed. Could be perfect for anyone that parks on their drive though.
  8. No, not yet. I have downloaded it but not synced it up yet. To be honest, beyond finely tuning RGB colours I don't really see the point. You could in theory use it for remotely switching lights but if you're standing next to your truck anyway, it seems easier to me to just reach in and hit a button. That being said, you could use it to remotely switch on a parking heater like a thermotop-C. I've just acquired one and only realised it could be handy for that while writing this reply. Got me interested now. Next time I'm in my workshop I'll try the app and report back. Edit: By loading the app I've just noticed you can set flash speed. So maybe it can be used effectively for strobe function. I'll have to take a look. I'm not with my truck but I downloaded the app and it seems fairly straightforward. Will update once I've had a chance to test it.
  9. So I've been hankering for a lightbar for some time and decided to treat myself. Christmas sales were on so I got a basic 52" lightbar and a 12 gang switch panel for £308 including shipping. 12 Gang Panel: https://www.led-colight.com/products/new-12-gang-rgb-switch-panel-system-with-app-control?_pos=3&_sid=585b8c220&_ss=r 52" Lightbar: https://www.led-colight.com/products/colight-10inch-f13-series-spot-flood-beam-thick-light-bar-with-drl?_pos=13&_sid=4c5246c44&_ss=r I initially saw adverts on FB for Auxbeam but their 12 Gang panel was twice as expensive as the Colight version. Both are solid state relays which although they market that as a selling point, to me says that should a relay fail, there is no way to replace it. I've also seen unbranded identical versions of both these units on eBay for less money, but at Colights prices it was only saving £30 or so didn't seem worth the risk. 12 Gang Switch Panel Review: The 12 gang control box itself is built off a thick steel plate with the electronics potted with what I'm assuming to be some kind of epoxy. Fitting instructions are easy to follow and if I understand it correctly, there is a small switch that lets you either have it hooked to the battery permanently live, or activated via ignition live using a small fused jumper. Cable length is more than you will ever need. You could mount the control panel anywhere, even in the 2nd row if you were so inclined. The big selling point is only having a single wire to run through the bulkhead from the switch panel to the control box. I fabbed a bracket out of some stainless plate I had lying around so it could sit on top of the brake master cylinder. Power is supplied via my leisure battery and 25mm² leads. The 150A breaker seemed like a good idea so that sits in the battery box right next to the pos terminal. (This was the before shot - after getting all this put back in, I was in such a rush to close it up and never touch it again I forgot to take an after shot) Did a quick bench test too and you can see what the inside of the relay box looks like. I wanted quick access to turn off the lightbar while simultaneously turning off high beam I put it to the left of the steering column. The included steel bracket is extremely robust and is a two part hinged construction that allows for a variety of mounting positions/ angle adjustment. It's out of the way of my knee and unlikely to get bumped in this location. Also the easiest wire run. Only had to pop the gauge cluster out. I've gone with green but it has RGB which I believe you can fine tune more precisely to your taste via the app beyond the preset colours. I haven't hooked up the app yet but don't really feel the need to. I have mine on the lowest of 5 brightness settings. Brightness and colour are controlled by the dedicated buttons below the master power switch. Annoyingly only one blank sticker is provided in what is otherwise a very extensive range of stickers for anything you could imagine. So I used a bunch of numbers and a couple of arrows to cover the blank slots for now. You can quickly turn off the whole panel and all items by touch with the red power button. Handy for not blinding people on backcountry roads. Negatives Each button can be set to momentary, toggle or "strobe". But the strobe is more like blinking on and off relatively slowly. If you want amber strobes to work, they will need to have that function embedded because the strobe function on this panel is unusable. Only a single blank sticker included. Wouldn't have killed them to add a few more. 52" Lightbar Review Not much to say here other than I'm pretty happy with performance for the price. It's pretty basic and can switch between DRL mode and flood beam.Its Not going to compete with the likes of Lazer but it's still like a daylight switch. I have reasonably powerful LED headlamps but the lightbar puts them to shame. This is also not fully representative as my phone automatically adjusted for brightness, dimming the image. On back roads you can see over the hills and far away! Negatives The lightbar switches between DRL and full beam every time power is cycled. So if you're using it on back roads and turn it off for oncoming traffic, you have to turn it back on to get DRL, turn it off, and then turn it back on again. That could easily have been voided with an additional wire letting the user decide what mode to select. To the Rescue! I had just got the defender back together and was heading to bed when I saw that some poor delivery driver was stuck not far from me and had been there for most of the day already. Conditions were not great and only getting worse and the extra light output was brilliant for peace of mind being able to see right into the distance. Nice and sheltered on my drive though! Before anyone says it, I was only standing this close while picking up slack and checking everything was in position. Winching was done with me well away! With another truck pulling the van from the front, while we were anchoring the back wheel, we got him out and stopped him sliding past the point of no return down the bank and probably rolling into the field. Got the chance to use both the lightbar, switch panel and winch in anger and was pretty happy with all of it. Haven't had it long enough to be able to say anything about longevity, but certainly appears to the best bang for buck option short of unbranded eBay offerings.
  10. I just ran a wire down to the obd port and pushed it into the slot for pin 7. I've since had the centre console out so just spliced it to the wire behind the port. Then it just needs ignition live and ground. Lots of choices there. I think I used a fuse jumper.
  11. That's a fair point and chances are given the size and relative "floppiness" of the ender 5+ frame I doubt I'll ever get it to silly speeds. But even a slight improvement would be worth it. Especially given the print volume, what would already be a long print can take aaaaages. I'm definitely not anticipating it to perform like a large scale voron. I imagine just converting to direct drive would already yield a noticeable improvement. I think it needs a bit of an overhaul anyway. It's got a Capricorn Bowden tube but pushing it much faster than 40mm/s ruins the infill with underextrusion. I've tried increasing flow but no joy. I've been using some fairly cheap Overture filament recently so that could have something to do with the drop in performance. It's a fair ways down the priority list anyway. Number 3 child arrived a few weeks back so I usually only get to play after the kids have gone to bed.
  12. It could of course be done but as soon as you're adding gauge pods I think you're better off modifying one of the MUD gauge pods to be honest. The displays all have a fairly chunky bezel on them so would look pretty smart sticking out of a cut slot. I only went the 3D printing route to use the faceplate. I think it would also work out cheaper using the pods. If I recall correctly they're available in a few different sizes. I imagine you could even get some switches under the display depending on which size bin owl unit you went for.
  13. For the most part the build volume has been fine but then I've gotten used to the 350x350x350mm build volume from my ender 5+ Now I have the X1 I have bit more confidence to tinker with the 5+. When it's your only printer you don't want to poke it too much incase the magic blue smoke gets released. High on the list would the mercury 1.1 core XY upgrade. I think this even allows you to utilise the full extents of the print bed increasing the printable area to 370x370mm The instruction manual isn't quite complete so I'm waiting for all the kinks to ironed out. With an all metal hot end direct drive extruder it should really transform the 5+. It won't have the smarts of the X1 but will be darn close to print speeds.
  14. Maaaaaaaaybe 😜 Been very happy with the print quality. My ender 5 plus did manage ASA just fine but I was using FormFutura Apollo X ASA which is a bit expensive at £30-40 per 750g. Did print as easily as PLA without an enclosure or even any odour mind you. But so far I've just been sticking to Bambu Labs own filament as the AMS reads the RFID chip and does all the settings for you. Like printing on easy mode. So far my only gripe is the build volume. Will be very interested if they do a large format printer one day.
  15. Would anyone be interested in the enclosure if I made it available for purchase? I recently upgraded to a much much more capable up to date printer and could produce this in substantially better quality. I can't remember what filament I used for mine but the new machine is capable of excellent quality prints in ASA. Great UV and heat resistance and doesn't become malleable up to 95C. Basically a better version of ABS plastic.
  16. You can of course mount it externally but I'm not sure how much I trust the waterproofing so I went for internal. Would solve the condensation but this way keeps the lens clean. I imagine having it mounted externally and periodically cleaning it would eventually scratch the lens. It has a wire you can link to your reverse light to kick it into "reverse mode" but this only gives you the distance bars which I generally find to be pretty useless. Makes sense for radios that can take a video feed to automatically display the reversing camera but I run it to only show the rear view so for me it didn't feel worth it. The GPS function is a bit of a gimmick but does display direction and speed. Going into the menu then shows further information - number of satellites, their signal strength as well as lat&long which could come in handy. Also means time is automatically updated so unaffected by battery disconnect. There is PC software for the videos that apparently geotags the clips which could be useful info in the event of an accident.
  17. Makes sense. Sounds like I should just wait and do it properly.
  18. A quick search confirms that they're carp too 😔
  19. Even something more beefy like this? https://www.pfjones.co.uk/ptc-ceramic-in-cab-heater-12v-300w-auto-heater-fan.html Long term plan is to duct heat to the back but that's a ways off.
  20. Sounds like a cheapie 12V blower would be the easiest option with the added benefit of giving passengers/ dogs in the rear some heat. I did wonder how well those elements would stick over time. Long term I'll probably replace the rear door altogether and at that point get one with a wiper and heated element already built in. Cheers guys 👍
  21. I know the proper way is to replace with a rear screen with the heating element already built in. But I'm wondering if this would work: https://www.holden.co.uk/p/screen_heater_12_volt?gclid=CjwKCAiAl9efBhAkEiwA4TorirVoWxqPYEUW40JHtQ0adB3x6dacUHvX2ohexiwErOvP08hftPZk6RoCuZwQAvD_BwE Certainly seems fairly straightforward and at £36 the price is right. Not having it until now hasn't bothered me but I've recently installed this rear view mirror cam: WOLFBOX Rear View Mirror Camera:Mirror Dash Cam Front and Rear 4K+2.5K for Car with 12" Full Touch Screen, Waterproof Backup WDR Camera, Night Vision, G-Sensor, Parking Assist,Free 64GB Card & GPS https://amzn.eu/d/0YPQ3Fn In case anyone is interested I've been really impressed with only two minor complaints. My bumpy track sets off the collision detection recording even on the lowest setting and I wish they could have made a single combined umbilical for power, GPS and the rear view camera. Other than that works great. So has anyone used one of these transparent heating element kits?
  22. You can do a puma conversion on the older style rear tub, but if you haven't bought a truck yet, I wouldn't recommend it. I only went this far because the truck was handed down to me by my father in law. This is the same truck that's currently sat in bits waiting for a new chassis. Not that I was going to, but definitely can't ever sell it now - I'd never make the money back 🤣 I'll agree with what others have already said - get a newer model that already has a stepped tub with or without the forward facing rear seats. Then you can always grab some second hand seats, or alternatively keep it simple and go for a 110. Personally I'm not a fan of the aftermarket forward facing rear seats that fit the older style tub. They sit too close together and sit too high. Headroom is already limited back there and you have to do an awkward turn round shuffle to fold a seat away just to get in and out.
  23. Truck is back from the garage with it's new alarm. Remote start is going to be pretty sweet on colder mornings 😁 Test fit went well although it does sit a bit proud. I've already reduced this a bit on the model. The lid is also sitting on top of the plastic inserts for the screws of the existing cover so should lower further once removed. Nearly 10mm clearance to the wheel arch underneath but I need to get hold of the isolator to test assembly. Ideally I don't want to have to do any of the wiring with the box fitted. I may have to relocate the glands to exit out of the side rather than the rear. Another option is to keep both locations and have drill locations marked. Good clearance all round. I'll probably increase the thickness of the upstand or radius the base for extra rigidity. Also found a free 10mm long reach snap on spanner when I removed the wing top cover. It made the 3.5hr journey from the garage back home without being rattled loose. I would give it back but I had to wire my heated seats back in myself after I found one of the cables cut! Im calling that fair payment for my time.
  24. To make full use of the isolator I've chosen I ideally need a Y split from the 50mm2 live so the box has two cables going in at one end and two coming out at the other (all positive), 4no total posts on the isolator. I assume 2no. 25mm2 cable in parallel = 1no. 50mm2 cable but not sure. I could go to 2no. 35mm2 in parallel to be sure. The SB350 Anderson connector is rated up to 500A and for ease of installation or to sell this as a complete unit, I'm tempted to crimp on a couple of anderson connectors either side of the box. It would allow someone to fully assemble the box on their worktop, take it out to the truck, screw it in and plug in the two connectors. With clearance being so tight you wont be able to get at the posts on the isolator from below or above once its fitted. I know this will add some resistance or voltage drops but I would imagine this would be negligable with genuine connnectors suitably sized and 50mm2 cable?
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