BlueGerbil
C´est le gerbil plus bleu
Like many of you I feel the need to have some power in my RTT - and light.
I was thinking about the following things:
- In the RTT I´d like to mount this tripple outlet with 2x 12V and 1x USB - that should be enough for charging the iPad, iPhone etc.
- On the inner side roof I´d mount some LED stripes in a surface mounted aluminium profile together with a dimmer
- On the outer side of the roof I´ll later mount a small solar panel, the wire goes through a sealed small hole into the RTT and is routed to the floor.
Now I have to route the power from the vehicle into the RTT and later the power from the solar panel into the vehicle where it´s handled properly (solar charging controller, feeding my IBS dual battery system)
I was thinking of mounting two of these "AquaSignal" connectors - one to the vehicles roof, the other one into the "floor" of the RTT.
The AquaSignal connector has 5 pins, each can transmit 16A of power. So I´d have more than enough wires for the solar panel and the light/power combo in the tent. While driving the solar panel feeds power into the electrical system of the car and in the evening, when I pop the RTT I can use the outlets and lights. Should I need to remove the roof rack and RTT from the vehicle I just unplug the two connectors and there we go...
What do you think of this idea?
My main concern is drilling a hole in the shell of my RTT - it´s a Maggiolina Carbon Fibre Small - so not exactly the cheapest one. On the other hand - people are using this AquaSignal thingies on their much more expensive boats...
I´d like to avoid dangling cables, fed through the window or the rear hatch and into the RTT via the regular opening. Or do you have any other ideas how to route power to and from the RTT in a secure, weatherproof and "nice" way?
I was thinking about the following things:
- In the RTT I´d like to mount this tripple outlet with 2x 12V and 1x USB - that should be enough for charging the iPad, iPhone etc.
- On the inner side roof I´d mount some LED stripes in a surface mounted aluminium profile together with a dimmer
- On the outer side of the roof I´ll later mount a small solar panel, the wire goes through a sealed small hole into the RTT and is routed to the floor.
Now I have to route the power from the vehicle into the RTT and later the power from the solar panel into the vehicle where it´s handled properly (solar charging controller, feeding my IBS dual battery system)
I was thinking of mounting two of these "AquaSignal" connectors - one to the vehicles roof, the other one into the "floor" of the RTT.
The AquaSignal connector has 5 pins, each can transmit 16A of power. So I´d have more than enough wires for the solar panel and the light/power combo in the tent. While driving the solar panel feeds power into the electrical system of the car and in the evening, when I pop the RTT I can use the outlets and lights. Should I need to remove the roof rack and RTT from the vehicle I just unplug the two connectors and there we go...
What do you think of this idea?
My main concern is drilling a hole in the shell of my RTT - it´s a Maggiolina Carbon Fibre Small - so not exactly the cheapest one. On the other hand - people are using this AquaSignal thingies on their much more expensive boats...
I´d like to avoid dangling cables, fed through the window or the rear hatch and into the RTT via the regular opening. Or do you have any other ideas how to route power to and from the RTT in a secure, weatherproof and "nice" way?