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Copyright (C) 2011-12 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
Travels in the Southwest and beyond with descriptions and images of places, people, products and more. Our mobile Earth-ship, a Nissan NV 2500 High Top Van, transports us on many of our adventures. For the cost of about $31,000 this rig features a new 2500 level equipped V8 Truck/High Top Van and camper that is fun to drive and very comfortable. Hard to beat that! For more info check out the Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nissan-NV-Camper-Van/203674276362671
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Outfitting the Nissan NV - A rack for kitchen items
Next we needed a cabinet, dresser or rack to fit between the cots and the drivers seat. It would hold our pots, pans and other kitchen stuff. On top it would hold a microwave. We do a lot of heating of stuff like rice in a microwave.
We had a tough time finding the right piece of furniture for this job. We ordered a wicker dresser that ended up being too weak and not very well made.
We live in a town that has a national laboratory nearby. There's a big old warehouse called the "Black Hole" that carries tons of old junk that the lab has sold off as scrap. I figured we were bound to find something among all the racks of electronics and test equipment stored there. It's a massive place and we searched every aisle for something that would work. We finally found our rack way in the back in the very last area we had to check. What we discovered was some kind of old storage rack made of heavy duty plastic that had shallow drawers that slide out. It could even be a dissection rack from biological testing, at least that was my guess.
It looked perfect and its measurements were just right. We purchased it for $25 and carried it out to the the van where it fit like a glove in the spot we planned for it.
The blue strap holds the rack and contents in place while the vehicle is moving. The Nissan NV comes with a set of nine or so floor connectors that you can tie things to. I used strong strap to connect the cots and the rack to the floor. I also used some air conditioner type metal straps to connect the rack to the side of the van. I've been over some incredibly ruff dirt roads and the setup has been holding together just fine. The microwave is also connected to the van with metal straps, so it won't go anywhere.
There is a bucket down at the bottom of the rack that servers as the toilet, when needed.
The van will put out 400 watts using a built in inverter that was intended for workmen power tools. There are two normal wall outlet 120volt AC plugs (one in the front and one in the back), in addition to two cigarette lighter 12volt DC plugs in the front.. We tried to find a microwave that was 400 watts but they all seem to require more juice. We ended up getting a small sized 700 watter from Lowe's that fits perfectly in the lab rack.
To power the microwave and to recharge our assorted electronics, we purchased a portable gas powered generator. I did a lot of research before buying the generator. It was a toss up between Honda and Yamaha. I finally settled on a "Yamaha EF2000iS 2,000 Watt 79cc OHV 4-Stroke Gas Powered Portable Inverter Generator (CARB Compliant)." It cost just under a thousand bucks new on amazon.com. The Yamaha has a nice "eco" feature that lowers the noise and gas consumption of the generator when it detects that less power is being used. It's amazingly quiet, not like a lot of the big noisy generators that you normally hear in campgrounds. I chose Yamaha because I read somewhere that the time between major engine maintenance was longer, but realistically Honda and Yamaha generators are both highly thought of.
I wear a CPAP machine to open up my nasal passages while sleeping. For a long time I haven't camped much because I had nowhere to plug my CPAP machine. Recently, we discovered a portable battery that was made for my CPAP. (You can see it on the step in the above photo.) It's made by Respironics. When fully charged I can sleep with my CPAP turned on all night for about three, maybe four nights. Some people lug a huge marine battery around for their CPAP but I couldn't see doing that. This battery is in a soft case and has straps to easily carry it with. It's a fifth the size and weight of a marine battery. I can charge it from a normal wall type outlet or a cigarette lighter outlet. It's takes about three hours of wall charging for one night's use. I completely charge it before a trip and then charge it as I drive if I'm out longer than three days. I plug it into the generator if I am not driving soon enough.
http://www.thecpappeople.com/Products/Respironics-Universal-Battery-Pack__1028869.aspx
Copyright (C) 2011 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
We had a tough time finding the right piece of furniture for this job. We ordered a wicker dresser that ended up being too weak and not very well made.
We live in a town that has a national laboratory nearby. There's a big old warehouse called the "Black Hole" that carries tons of old junk that the lab has sold off as scrap. I figured we were bound to find something among all the racks of electronics and test equipment stored there. It's a massive place and we searched every aisle for something that would work. We finally found our rack way in the back in the very last area we had to check. What we discovered was some kind of old storage rack made of heavy duty plastic that had shallow drawers that slide out. It could even be a dissection rack from biological testing, at least that was my guess.
It looked perfect and its measurements were just right. We purchased it for $25 and carried it out to the the van where it fit like a glove in the spot we planned for it.
 |
| Greg next to the new "kitchen" rack with microwave. |
 |
| Another view of the rack with one drawer out part way. |
There is a bucket down at the bottom of the rack that servers as the toilet, when needed.
The van will put out 400 watts using a built in inverter that was intended for workmen power tools. There are two normal wall outlet 120volt AC plugs (one in the front and one in the back), in addition to two cigarette lighter 12volt DC plugs in the front.. We tried to find a microwave that was 400 watts but they all seem to require more juice. We ended up getting a small sized 700 watter from Lowe's that fits perfectly in the lab rack.
To power the microwave and to recharge our assorted electronics, we purchased a portable gas powered generator. I did a lot of research before buying the generator. It was a toss up between Honda and Yamaha. I finally settled on a "Yamaha EF2000iS 2,000 Watt 79cc OHV 4-Stroke Gas Powered Portable Inverter Generator (CARB Compliant)." It cost just under a thousand bucks new on amazon.com. The Yamaha has a nice "eco" feature that lowers the noise and gas consumption of the generator when it detects that less power is being used. It's amazingly quiet, not like a lot of the big noisy generators that you normally hear in campgrounds. I chose Yamaha because I read somewhere that the time between major engine maintenance was longer, but realistically Honda and Yamaha generators are both highly thought of.
 |
| Yamaha Generator charging cell phones, an ebook, mp3 player and cpap battery. |
http://www.thecpappeople.com/Products/Respironics-Universal-Battery-Pack__1028869.aspx
Copyright (C) 2011 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
RV Battery system research
60 Watt bulb draws about .5 amps (per hour). amps = watts / volts.
60 watts = 120 volts * .5 amps
My small battery is rated at 14.4 Ah (Amps per hour). Therefor it can power a 60 watt bulb for 28 hours: 14.4 Ah / .5 amps = 28 h
How many amps does a 60 watt bulb draw?
Answer:
I = W/E. Divide watts by volts. Since household wiring is basically 110 volts.
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About 1/2 amp.
The simple way to do this is to divide the RATED wattage by the RATED voltage (120v in most cases). Then if your actual voltage is lower than 120v, your amps will be slightly below 1/2 amp. If your actual voltage is higher than 120v, your amps will be slightly higher than 1/2 amp. At 110v you get about .46 amps.
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About 1/2 amp.
The simple way to do this is to divide the RATED wattage by the RATED voltage (120v in most cases). Then if your actual voltage is lower than 120v, your amps will be slightly below 1/2 amp. If your actual voltage is higher than 120v, your amps will be slightly higher than 1/2 amp. At 110v you get about .46 amps.
Copyright (C) 2011 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
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