jscherb

The other day I posted this photo showing two sets of production JKU hardtop slider windows - the top set is tinted to match the factory tint and the bottom set is a mystery set with clear windows. I didn't know why the clear window set were built or why they were sent to me until this afternoon.



The RV window company made an error on the first production run - the windows were supposed to be tinted, but they made them clear by mistake.

The bad news: It'll take another 3 weeks until the window company can re-do the production run with tinted glass, so the release of the tinted windows will be delayed by that much.

The good news: After a discussion between the company that's bringing the window kit to market and the RV window company (I wasn't part of the discussion), it was decided that the clear windows will be sold at a discount. I'm told the clear slider kit will be discounted to $299.99 (I believe the final price on the tinted window kit will be $399.99). Kit will include a left/right pair of sliders, the retrofit kit for installing the windows in the hardtop, weatherstrip, etc., so anyone who wants clear sliders in their hardtop or wants tint but would be willing to install their own tint film can get their windows at a significant discount.

2qik2see

Funny you just posted this because I JUST emailed the company asking about price/eta! What a great idea & $300 sounds good to me! Do you think there will be forum deals/group buys available?

jscherb

You'd have to ask the company if they plan any forum deals or group buys, I really don't know what's in their plans. I just design this stuff mostly for my own enjoyment, I don't work for any of the companies that might bring the designs to market .

jscherb

MORryde shipped the fridge slide yesterday and tracking info says it will arrive tomorrow.

I decided to delay the fridge battery experiments a few days while I wait for some instrumentation I ordered to enable the most accurate testing possible. I ordered a dual LED display volt + amp meter (Mini Panel Meter, Dual LED Display 30 Volts & 10 Amps DC | MPJA.COM):



This meter will allow me to monitor the battery voltage as the fridge drains the battery, and see how the current draw varies over time (fridge initial cooling vs. fridge maintaining set temperature).

kklasman

You must know of Overland Journal (Overland Journal | The Publication for Environmentally Responsible, Worldwide Vehicle-Supported Expedition and Adventure Travel) and Expedition Portal, no? They've done extensive fridge and secondary battery tests, and pretty much everything else you could think of regarding overland travel.

Here's a recent post on this Dometic fridge...I think it's the same one:

https://expeditionportal.com/field-t...fridgefreezer/

Overland Journal is a beautiful magazine with great writing, photography and reviews. A bit spendy, but well worth it.

jscherb

Thanks for the links. I havn't seen that review before, I'll check it out.

Bobby D.

Heater's hard bikini is almost exactly what I've been thinking about. How difficult would it be to keep the back of the hard top in place instead of separating at the seam? I like the thickness of the panel as is but is it feasible to cut the rear "cap" piece to the thickness of the top panel in order to make the tail end of the panel look more finished?

jscherb

You can cut the top off the rear panel, but it's a lot more work because the rear panel is double-walled. You'd have to cut it roughly where the dashed line is in the photo below, but the exact location would have to be figured out to avoid cutting the hatch hinge mounts (assuming you wanted to use them again). There's maybe 4" of space inside the double walls, so you might want to box in the opening with fiberglass on both the top half and bottom half of the cut panel, and then you'd have to figure out the best way to bolt the top and bottom back together (assuming you we going to reassemble the entire hardtop; if you just were building a hard bikini you could toss the bottom half). The amount of work required depends on how you plan to use the parts - if you only plan to use the top half as part of a hard bikini and never bolt it back together with the bottom half less work would be required; if you planned to bolt the top and bottom back together at some point to run a full hardtop it's a lot more work because of the double-walled construction at that point.



BTW the panel in the photo above is a rear panel that's already been converted to modular, you can see the bolt flanges around the edges that are used to attach the panel to the roof and sides.

I've got an extra factory hardtop back panel and roof panel here I don't have any plans for, maybe I'll try what you're asking about some day.

Bobby D.

Thanks! I wouldn't be looking to bolt the parts back together. Essentially, it would be a third jumbo freedom panel to be used when the hardtop is removed. Shade, cuts wind inside, seals against tops of doors etc.

Appreciate your explanations.

jscherb

If you've following this thread a while you may remember in Feb/Mar I designed a range of JK and TL/LJ brackets for mounting the MultiPod LEDs. About a month ago I sent engineering drawings off to a hardware company for manufacturing, and today a box full of preproduction brackets arrived. Now I've got to get them all installed and verified over the next couple of days and get feedback to the manufacturing engineers so these can get into production. There are two copies of each bracket in the box. Lots to install and test, wish I had an assistant nearby .