Singer JTIDS S250 Shelter Project

[Weller]

Posting photos and progress on my recently acquired S250 shelter.



Here she is about to get loaded on my vehicle. I decided to load door forward so I could quickly transfer shelter from my pickup to humvee.



Smooth ride home, barely noticed the load, but my gas gauge did.



Took about 15 minutes to transfer to a hmmwv (temporary).



Even though GP has better photos than GL used to, opening a shelter (my 7th) is always a surprise. It had the typical dirt, but other than the standard missing parts, it was intact and ready for powering up.

Spent the weekend cleaning and cataloging parts (Bendix, GlenAir, etc.) and taking photos. I don't think there was a single cable missing from this unit, that was happy surprise number one.

It's wired 3 phase and 28vdc yet I'll likely convert to 120vac and modify the DC for solar plus vehicle input. I put in two 12 volt batteries for testing and all was operational (except one missing light bulb). Happy days.

 

[NDT]

Good looking shelter. What is it's designation?
There is a big 'ol bracket that goes on the floor of the HMMWV to hold the S250 and retains it. Also extends out the tailgate so you have a porch.

 

[Weller]

Thanks, designation undetermined but most likely utilizing as a remote relay station (I live off grid) for my cell service, wifi, etc. Good to know there is a bracket, it's great on the HMMWV, except for ECU location to drivers seat.



A look behind the panels shows promise, will be fairly easy to add solar as a back up charging source.



One box appears dedicated to 28vdc which works great for my use.

 

[Weller]

Opened the top panel to find a coaxwitch antenna switch. Antenna ports will come in handy for an external cell antenna.



Bottom panel is the 3 phase input with 60 amp service.



I'll likely park this too far from my generator to run 3 phase so DC inverter to 120vac is my first planned modification.

 

[Weller]

Got all non essential (to me) cables removed and on to the "what did this do" phase.


There's a micro switch on the door but not sure if it is supposed to turn lights on when I open the door or power something when I close it.


There's mounting brackets near the floor and one appears to be for an axe, not sure about the other two.


I'll restore the fire extinguisher bracket and keep where it is. The drain hole plug was missing, will check my other shelters for possible part number.


There's two hex shaped brackets under the operators table, not sure what they held.


I'm starting to have quite a collection of connectors I don't think I'll be using.

I imagine these shelters ran the smaller 208v Nordic Air ECUs, and that's one cable I didn't find. With the dual 24v exhaust fans, this shelter would make one heck of a soldering/testing station for my small electronics.

 

[Weller]

I'm assuming these were antenna mounts (the big shackles on the side of the S250). Looks like it would have been pretty heavy and somehow re positioned on the swivel seen in the last photo. If anyone comes across what this looked like in the field please post or help me better understand its use. Thanks!

 

[Wire Fox]

Very cool. This is a project that I want to take on some day for similar use. Those brackets you're seeing appear to be for a QEAM telescoping mast. Here's a page that has just a touch of information about them: https://www.willburt.com/products/telescopic-masts/qeam/ With those search terms, you should be able to dig up some more information on your specific configuration if you want to keep digging.

 

[Weller]

Awesome, thanks for the link.

 

[dtdoyle01]

I have a similar shelter as yours. I picked it up from Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ. There were two both mounted on M1028 CUCV. I purchase the camo truck. The other was tan. The camo one had the mast, the tan one didn't. I suspect you have the shelter from the other CUCV. They both came from Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, AZ. My 1984 CUCV M1028 only had 7700 original miles on it. They parked these in the field for testing. I have other Pictures, but not on this computer,

 

[Weller]

Awesome, thanks. That makes sense as a week prior to buying the S-250 I bought an S-280 shelter with Fort Huachuca printed on the side. Both came out of Yermo, CA.

Seeing your photo inspires me to fabricate something for a TV and Cellular antenna. The truck looks awesome.

 

[dtdoyle01]

Thanks, I put a lot of work into it. Here is what it looks like currently in the shelter. I have just updated the backend with another radio, monitors and I built two remote wireless CCTV cameras with 1.2 mile line of sight range. I will take more pictures when I finish the wiring.

 

[dtdoyle01]

What are your plans for yours?

 

[Weller]

Yours looks awesome inside, well done.

I purchased mine before I put much thought into use (buy first - think it out later), the use tends to find me. Right now it's stored on my HMMWV and I'm leaning towards removing all the 3 phase cabling and rewiring for 120v, while keeping the 28vdc.

Yours came with the ecu?

 

[dtdoyle01]

I gutted mine and rewired it to 120v, and I converted one end of the original power cord to a 3 prong. There was no ECU. It did have the lower 19" rack, and I added the top rack on the table. I also installed a bunk on the right side. I still need to make a Cushion for it. I installed a folding seat out of a Chrysler mini van for the "Command Chair" lol. Got it new from a company that does conversions. Mounted to a base I got out of a 90's era Ford van. Perfect height. If you decide to pull any of the mast clamps of the side and want to part with one, please let me know. I have a broken one.

 

[dtdoyle01]

Side note: I gutted to AC unit and installed a small 120v, 5000 btu window unit. After I drilled some breathing holes in the sides, it works like a champ.

 

[M813rc]

Another QEAM that will work with those brackets is the AB-1386U. I have one for my S788 shelter. The mast goes up/down using a speed-wrench type handle.

Cheers

 

[dtdoyle01]

Very cool, looks like it will fit just fine. I could use one of those myself. The insides of my mast were rusted and frozen. Spent quite some time trying to free them. Finally, I just gutted it and drilled holes for pins in every section. I have to manually raise mine section by section. No easy task, but it works.

 

[Weller]

Another QEAM that will work with those brackets is the AB-1386U. I have one for my S788 shelter. The mast goes up/down using a speed-wrench type handle.

Cheers

Awesome, I am keeping the antenna mounts for sure.

 

[Dock Rocker]

Could someone with a 250 shelter get me the inside dimensions of the widest part of the shelter. I am looking for the inside width. I have gotten two conflicting drawings with the measurements. One of the widths will work for what I want it to and the other will not. I just need some confirmation.

Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dtdoyle01]

I will measure one of mine when I get home from work in about 4 hours. Unless someone else does it before hand.