Front Air Vent

Do any of you guys have a working front air vent. Mine's riveted closed due to the RHD convertion. Thinking of fitting a couple of servos to the flaps to get them operational again, will also be part of my HNC project for next year.
My question is, how far do the flaps lift. Do they go all the way up, or stop when horizontal?

will keep the post running with my progress

I can't remember Steve - only checked my flaps when I colour coded the grille and resealed around them - a year ago now. It would be great to get them functioning again to get more airflow into the cabin. There must be some bits you can pinch off one of those old 757s they've got hanging around the back of LHR!

I would also like to free the air vent flaps on my bus too, was pretty stuffy driving over to the Just Kampers day in the heat, which prompted a similar conversation with Tim. Does anyone know why they were sealed down, is it purley as the lever is disconnected (maybe they rattle about with no lever?) or is there a another reason? Jason anyone at Danbury shed any light on this? Cheers K.

Kev wrote:

(maybe they rattle about with no lever?)

They don't rattle about as they're either screwed or rivetted into the closed position. They are of course a major point of water ingress to the front panel ..... that may have something to do with it.

Progress so far.

Have built a scale mock up and got flaps to open and close, just need to fit it to the van now.





To control the servos I've used a small micro controller which has been programmed to operate the servos on a switch.

picaxe controller

When the switch is on the flaps will open and vice versa.

It all runs on 5v so I've had used a voltage regulator to step down the 12v coming from the van.

Going to run a servo on each flap.

You are Joe 90 kiteman.

Wow, your officially Mr technical

The servos have now been fitted.







Had to remove and cut down the bolt that holds the steering column on the RHD conversion to allow the flap to raise fully.



Got the controls built, just waiting for a couple of parts to arrive today to finish it off then can install into the van.

Wow - good job kiteman!!

All finished

The electronics



I've used a picaxe 08M proto board to control the servos. Had to programme the chip with a simple code. Putting it simply 'If switch is on the move the servos down. If switch is off move servos up'.

Fitted the servos as shown above.

Put a switch in the dash



Then wired it up. Servos and controller have to come off different regulators to stop any interference.

Tested it out and it works a treat.

Just need the weather to warm up again to see how good it works

Fab!

Looks like you might have a little side line business starting shortly steve, how much did the parts cost you?

Thats a really nice job Kiteman

Can you start planning how you're going to make my raising roof electrically operated now please???!!! Naturally using your own Bay as a test bed so you've perfected the procedure by the time you get to mine

Matt wrote:

Looks like you might have a little side line business starting shortly steve, how much did the parts cost you?

The controls were the cheapest bit. £8 thats including the switch, box and microcontroller.
Voltage regulators were £10 each. Can do this a lot cheaper, but the cheaper ones get very hot.
The servos are about £20 each. Had some knocking around already, thats why I chose to do it that way.
Then about another £5 on extras like servo linkages, fuse holder, gromits and stuff.

Get a bit of a buzz coming from the servos but it soon disappears when the enine is running

TimV wrote:

Can you start planning how you're going to make my raising roof electrically operated now please???!!! Naturally using your own Bay as a test bed so you've perfected the procedure by the time you get to mine

I'll have it all done remotely for you. Hot Tub as well

Hi Guys - Danbury have not connected the air vent system before as we cant get hold of the RHD air flow parts to do the job. We are looking into it now though for all 2011 models (yes were working on next years model already!) and will advise you of any changes. All the best - Jason. www.danburymotorcaravans.com

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the reply on this, its good to know the background.

Looks like we need to get our orders in to Kiteman!!!!

Cheers K.

Cheers Den thanks for the kind words matey.

Managed to test them out properly today and they work a treat, lovelly cool air blowing on the legs

Been having a bit of a think after meeting Denni

If people are interested I could probably come up with a DIY version. I'd get all the bits you need, build the circuit board and program the chip etc, all you would have to do is fit it to the van. I can put up a more detailed instal if people want me to, to give you a propper idea on what exactly needs to be done.
Drop me a PM or reply to this thread if your interested and I'll have a bit of a play over the next few days, see if I can come up with an improved mk2 version and see how much it will cost.