LMTV Upgrades

[theeagle]

Thanks for this! I recently bought an m1079, and my connectors are opposite of yours(or at least they are labeled as so.) On the left side(closet to back of van) is the power out, and on the right side(closest to front of van) is the power in. Also the Power in on my m1079 van is male. So visually it looks the same as yours but its reversed.

I'm wanting to create something very similar to yours, that would allow me to connect the van input to output from generator(not 3 phase), Rv location, or standard extension cord.

Can you please provide details of how you wired the plug, what pins are for what?

 

[kenet3621]

Thanks for this! I recently bought an m1079, and my connectors are opposite of yours(or at least they are labeled as so.) On the left side(closet to back of van) is the power out, and on the right side(closest to front of van) is the power in. Also the Power in on my m1079 van is male. So visually it looks the same as yours but its reversed.

I'm wanting to create something very similar to yours, that would allow me to connect the van input to output from generator(not 3 phase), Rv location, or standard extension cord.

Can you please provide details of how you wired the plug, what pins are for what?

On eBay I bought a cable that I thought was correct but turned out it fit the power-in socket (male rather than female). Rather than return the cable, I decided to rewire the inside panel of the truck so the power-in became power-out! Very simple to do. The connector I bought was standard military and I wired only a positive, negative and ground. Inside the van panel I swapped power-in and power-out so everything still ran through the breaker panel. I made a ground wire from an old welding rod cable. Once everything was working, I even swapped the instruction plates on the outside of the van. I hope the attached photos will help you.

 

[theeagle]

Thanks! Now that makes sense of my confusion of the differences.

I have one of the original 50ft generator cables, I'm debating as if to figure out how take it apart and use one of the ends to make the connectors to make the wire or if I should just order a "new" connector to make the wire somewhat as you do did.

I've never wired a 3 phase panel before can you lend any insight as to which wires and positions I'm too use to make things work properly.

Was anything inside of your van 3 phase? Did you have to rewire any of the breakers?

Thanks again!

 

[kenet3621]

I know nothing about 3 phase so I just used 120v. The only breaker change was feeding the panel at the top and feeding the right side. I am not an expert electrician so I just metered out each connection and slowly I got it fixed with no problems. Every outlet and all the lights worked perfectly. Good luck you can do it!

 

[theeagle]

Thanks for these pics, I'm going to open my box up today, and I think I'm going to do the following:
- Take out the van's output end connector, and use it to connect to the original cable that I have, and mod that cable and end to connect directly to a generator.
- "Patch" the whole that used to be the output connector with a standard RV Twist or generator end.

This way I can still make good on use of the original cable and have if ever needed, and be able to connect a basic generator for most everyday use. Or at least thats my plan in theory.

Any thoughts from anyone?

 

[kenet3621]

If I understand you are going to "replace" your output with a new RV connector like this...




That sounds like an easy solution to me.

 

[theeagle]

Exactly thats what I'm thinking! Thanks once again! where did you happen to find that? do you happen to a link, model or what its technically called?

 

[kenet3621]

Epicord 30 Amp Twist Lock Power Inlet - Google search - about $15.00

 

[theeagle]

Thanks again, I've got this ordered and on the way!

 

[theeagle]

Newbie to the board, I have a 98 m1079, that I recently acquired that I'm putting on a fast track.

Has anyone happened to have added solar panels, and have an example of their setup. I'm looking for solutions on having options for best solar and generator setup to run cab ( ac,computer, camera system, lights, water pump, water heater).

Any

 

[coachgeo]

Newbie to the board, I have a 98 m1079, that I recently acquired that I'm putting on a fast track.

Has anyone happened to have added solar panels, and have an example of their setup. I'm looking for solutions on having options for best solar and generator setup to run cab ( ac,computer, camera system, lights, water pump, water heater).

Any

best bet for answers on this type setup will be at Expedition Portal https://expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/power-systems-12v-solar-gen.48/

 

[theeagle]

best bet for answers on this type setup will be at Expedition Portal https://expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/power-systems-12v-solar-gen.48/

Thanks I've gotten registered and will begin to seek enlightenment!

 

[kenet3621]

Check out this video by SS member Adventure Driven...

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showt...-their-M1079&p=2107425&highlight=#post2107425

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showt...-their-M1079&p=2107425&highlight=#post2107425

 

[Awesomeness]

m1079... solar panels... I'm looking for solutions on having options for best solar and generator setup to run cab ( ac,computer, camera system, lights, water pump, water heater).

It's worth pointing out that those are fairly lofty power consumption goals for solar. At high noon, the maximum amount of solar energy that hits a square yard of the Earth is about 1000W. The world record for laboratory solar panel efficiency is around 25%, and common off the shelf panels are 8-15%. That means under the best conditions you can only get a maximum of 80-150W out of a square yard (9 sq ft) of panels. Panels also degrade over time, typically losing about 1-3% of efficiency per year for the first 1-3 years, then dropping off to losing about 1% per year after that, finally settling around a typical ~10% total efficiency loss of the panel.

So assuming the roof of the van body is roughly 12.5' x 8' = 100 sq ft, and you can get 80-150W per 9 sq ft, you can only get 888-1666W max out of the roof, on a perfect cloudless day at high noon with the brand new panels facing directly at the sun (which they aren't). According to this site you'll probably need all or much more of that to run the A/C alone. In typical, not-perfect conditions, it will be worse.

Having a generator is likely essential.