Dornier Shelter help

[apexcamper]

I have a Dornier shelter that I purchased and want to convert to a nice cabin for travels. It has several electrical items that came with it. I am wondering what functions they serve, particularly the 24v circuit breaker box, which appears to have a battery voltage meter for the shelter batteries. I am hoping it also charges the batteries.

For the full writeup (in English) see my posts here
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/t ... dget/page7

Here are the main components I am needing information on -

Ich habe einen Dornier-Schutz, den ich kaufte und möchte in eine nette WohnKabine umwandeln. Sie hat einige elektrische Einzelteile, die mit ihr kamen. Ich wundere mich ueber die Funktionen, denen sie dienen, besonders den Sicherungskasten des Stromkreises 24v, der scheint, ein Batteriespannungsmeßinstrument für die Schutzbatterien zu haben. Ich hoffe, dass er auch die Batterien auflädt. Hier sind die Hauptbestandteile, von denen ich Informationen benötige - (ich entschuldige mich fuer mein schlechtes Deutsch)

probably getting rid of this


Will resuse the large master-switch and circuit breakers


Not sure what this is


The heater, have to learn how it functions




The important one, need to know what all features this has and if I should save it or remove it -

[Wilmaaa]

Welcome

And no worries, you can write in English as well, no need to get G00gle to "translate" it into German.

[apexcamper]

Well, if everyone will tolerate English, I might as well post up everything we are doing here as a build project.

So Hello all;

We have started our own build!!!

Based on information and advice gained from several blogs and forums, as well as my own experiences and former vehicles (oh, and budget....budget was a MAJOR consideration), we went with an Iveco 110-17AW. It may have an Iveco cab, but under that is ALL Magiurs-Deutz.

The final "sold" point was the large cab with lots of windows. I have a family of 3+2 (hubby, wife, 12yr daughter, plus Whippet hound and Pomeranian) and my job has relocated us to Germany. Since we were now in a place with so many travel opportunities, we wanted a long range traveler where we could all be together.

My plan is to do as much of the work as possible and document everything I do. We will be building our own aluminum frame with some wood and foam core FRP or Monopan for the box. These are pricey materials and I do not have a large shop to work in, so this will be a slow process.

Since that will take quite some time, we have decided to outfit a 4.25m Dornier shelter so we can start traveling. This will also allow us to get better at the skills needed, and help us decide what we do and don't need for our expeditions.

Here is our truck as we got her


As she was, waiting for us at Philipps


Should have negotiated for a full tank...oh well, first stop, wallet-raping gas station


Doing the 6.5 hour road trip back home


Home safe and sound

first step - the cab.
We removed the rifle mounts and some metal brackets (for items we don't have and don't know what they went to anyway), as well as the handle bar for the back seats. We started on this the night of our road trip to pick her up, so my apologies about there not being any day photos of the Cab as we got her.


Here you can see the handle bar and upper rifle rack behind the driver's seat


behind the passenger seat, the handle bar goes all the way across


Floor behind passenger seat

Once we got all those items out, it REALLY opened up the cab

Behind passenger seat


Behind driver seat


Behind driver seat, a close up of where the racks where.



We are planning on eventually installing a 4-point system, but for the time being our shelter will just be placed on the bed. I was concerned about how much the bed would flex, and figured I could test that easy enough. I just took the truck into a ditch by my house...I, apparently, have a very flexible frame.


Here it is in the ditch...the sides of the ditch get steeper as you move away from the front. It doesn't look it, but the front and rear axles are a fair amount of degrees apart.


Here you can see how much the front tire is up inside the wheel well and how opposite the rear tire is...as well as the impressive amount of bed flex.


Another view showing the massive amount of bed flex


And for all that my bed only came off the sub-frame a half inch at the front


Another shot of the bed rolling up on the springs from the sub-frame


Even halfway down the bed, it came up about a quarter of an inch


I wish I had taken some pictures of the back axle (didn't think about it till writing this) at the peak articulation...the anti-sway bar is HUGE and would probably give me a lot more flex and keep the bed from deforming by disconnecting it. I don't know how good an idea that is with a heavy shelter on, or if maybe just disconnecting the front ones would be enough help (do they make quick disconnects for trucks this size).

[apexcamper]

Here is the box, you can see the exhaust for the heater up front with it's own roll cage. The only windows are at the back, so we will cut and install some...great practice :-)



Maggie is prepped and ready.



Using an old forklift, they managed to get it on straight, not on the first try, but straight none the less



AWESOMELY the box is designed for the truck itself, so we were able to use the shelter mounting points and chain tie downs that were already there. (ya...it was 35 degrees and raining slush)



It is really great to see things progressing again...I need a grinectomy



So there she is...we are going to leave the drop sides on for now since it gives us a little storage front and rear (front storage is 1 stinking inch short of holding a Jerry can long ways...1 stinking inch).

Sorry for the dark photos, I get off work at 5, sun sets here at just after 4...


As it sits on the truck, this is taken from the rear facing forward, from the entry door.



Here it is from the front facing backwards towards the door



starting at the back, just inside the door on the drivers side is a massive 220v circuit breaker box and master AC on/off switch.



The whole thing is encased in an acrylic cover that unlocks, and a smaller acrylic flap that swings open to access the small breakers.



I will have to figure out what all this means



Below that connected to both the ac breaker box AND the outside shore power socket is a large transformer of some kind, NO CLUE what purpose it serves ( ideas??? ) [on the right]



here is the only identification plate on it



continuing forward on the driver side is a large desk with rubber top surface.



The desk has overhead racks the full length with lamps and track locks for the ceiling, walls, and floor



all the drawers push button release, the top two (left and right) have some kind of stone or ceramic surface



that lifts on a hinge to access the rest of the drawer with a rubber mat in the bottom



all the drawers are the same size, about 4 inches deep, except the bottom two on the right (forward) side, they are about double height or maybe 6 inches.



Now reaching the forward wall on the driver side is another panel that eludes me. The plate on it only says "zusatzlüfter 24v" which I translate to mean "auxiliary fan" so I am guessing it is some kind of small air filter system separate from the heater.



Forward wall center bottom is the big money. A large Webasto diesel heater that feeds it's air into perforated wall sections running down the length of both sides of the shelter. Literally the walls breath hot air. It gets it's diesel from a Jerry can that is placed inside a sealed box with it's own exterior vent and drain. a special adapter is sealed onto the opening of the Jerry can and lets the heater drink.



The Webasto identification plate



Forward wall passenger side is the 24v breaker system. It feeds 24v power strips down both sides of the shelter.



Forward on the passenger side wall is a large rack, at the top is a huge 220v AC to 28.3v DC converter. It gets it's AC from the AC breaker box inside the door on the drivers side, and feeds DC to the DC breaker box right next to it.



This thing is a monster, and we are very excited about having it. We'll get as many 24v appliances as we can for our camper, use this thing for shore power, and when we get back to the states, all we need to do is replace it with a 110v to 24v converter, and we are golden. Looks like it provides roughly a kilowatt of DC power.



at the bottom of that rack is a seal battery box with cables to the 24v breaker box.



and oh look, batteries, large 100amp/hour batteries. I am sure they are dead, but at least no core charges (can you recondition batteries? ...I think so)



moving rearward down the passenger wall is another smaller desk with the same overhead racks, no drawers, and a rubber topped surface



at the back of the passenger wall, just inside the door on the right (passenger) side is a panel in the wall that I believe was to originally allow phone or some kind of telecommunication setup through the wall, since similar posts can be accessed there from an outside hatch.



We also got a ladder, more like stairs, with folding hand rail that matches up perfectly with the hand rail on the inside of the door.



So...there is our shelter "walk-through". Anyone with any information on the appliances inside this thing, I would love to know more specifics. We are very happy with it and look forward to stripping the inside and seeing what we can make of it

[Pirx]

Hallo Forum!

Leider kann ich unserem neuen Mitglied und Threaderöffner seine Fragen nicht beantworten. Ich würde das zwar gerne tun, da ich aber keinen Shelter mein eigen nenne, fehlt mir das Wissen dazu.

Ich bin mir aber sicher, daß hier im Forum das gesuchte Wissen vorhanden ist. Und ich fände es gut, wenn der hoffnungsvolle Fragesteller hilfreiche Antworten bekäme und nicht mit seinem Problem alleingelassen wird.

Wenn über Smartphones, V-Männer und Schlüter-Parkplätze diskutiert wird, gibt es eine rege Beteiligung. Hier in diesem Thread ist dagegen bisher gähnende Leere ...

Ich finde das sehr schade!

Pirx

[Wilmaaa]

Falls jemand gerne antworten möchte, aber sich nicht auf Englisch traut, schreibt einfach auf Deutsch, wir kriegen das schon übersetzt

If someone would like to answer but can't write in English, he/she can write in German and we'll translate

[Wilmaaa]

Und vielleicht sind die Fragen ja auch vor lauter (schönen) Bildern untergegangen.

Maybe the questions haven't been seen by everyone because of many (nice) pictures.

[ud68]

Dear apexcamper, welcome here.
Unfortunately you got no answers regarding your questions until now.
I cannot answer because I do not know the answers. I might help you translating some of the labellings at your equipment, please let me know if needed.

First a lot of readers here should be able to read/write English but however it is not their native language.
Second some very different questions are hidden between the pictures (they are needed and helpful).
This in summary might cause some unusual silence here.

I have some Ideas:

* Are you able to sort/summarize the questions in some way? (perhaps editing ("ändern") your older posts and give names to the pictures like pic1, than summarize the open questions underneath my post like "pic1: I want to know...."

* If possible you might place for some specific questions an extra thread (for example "how to operate heating system Webasto HL 10011/5" could be a separate theme)

Hope this helps you and all members here to find answers.
Udo

[Wilmaaa]

I wouldn't suggest editing the existing posts - this makes it even more difficult to follow the thread.
But maybe one picture per post plus the question would help

[Tomduly]

Hi apexcamper,

We have a small shelter (type FM1, yours is FM2) made by Italy-based Piaggio (Genova). It is like your box from the German army.
First of all, don't feel too impressed by the overengineered look of such shelter equipment. Most of the stuff serves rather simple purposes, but design rules of the military required oversized (and over-prized) devices.

The webasto Diesel heater at the front end of your shelter is bulky, noisy and oversized in terms of requirements for a heater inside an insulated camper (what your shelter probably will become to). One of the type signs indicates, that last service ocurred at 1996. There was a law at that time, that the burner compartment of such heaters for safety reasons had to be replaced every 10 years. It looks like, that the heater compartment of your Webasto is expired, since last service was 15 years ago. Recommendation: remove the Webasto monster and replace it by a new and smaller one.

The huge transformer is an insulation transformer providing 230V AC with floating ground. This kind of transformers is used for safety reasons, when operating 230V AC equipment under unsafe conditions, e.g. repair shops or in mobile military radio stations (probably your shelter was operated as electric repair shop or directional radio station - German abbreviation RiFu - Richtfunk). Recommendation: remove it. be careful it's really heavy. You may sell it to a radio amateur or to a scrap dealer (lots of copper wire inside).

The green battery box at the floor: it's a good place for NATO standard batteries - if you want to use this battery form factor. Personally, I like them, since our ex-army Unimog is equipped with the same type of batteries and I prefer to have simple and compatible equipment in both truck and shelter. But be aware, the orignal "GEL" type batteries are extremely expensive when you want to purchase them from a normal battery dealer. And: at least the German army does not like to see "their" original batteries being sold on the free market.

Concerning the two grey batteries still placed in the box: they appear to be original GEL type batteries. It's worth a try to charge them with a battery charger (suitable for sealed-lead acid or GEL type batteries). Once fully charged, these batteries only discharge by some percent per month, so they survive long time without being charged. Charging procedure will last possibly a couple of days (but keep an eye on them...), since the charge current at the beginning will be extremely low, due to oxide on the battery plates.
Your battery box as shown on the picture is not properly fastened: the two brackets mounted on the floor should be close to the ends of the box. The brackets come each with a pin at a small chain (the right one is visible in front of the box on the floor). Once the brackets are close to the box and the box is pushed backwards until it touches the rear part of the brackets, the pins can be inserted through a hole of the brackets and a corresponding hole in the foot of the battery box. These fastening pins are spring-loaded and secure the battery box. To remove the box resp. the pins, just pull at the large ring of the pins, to release the inner spring mechanism and unlock the pin. My recommendation: if you want to use the NATO form factor batteries, keep this battery box. It is gas tight when connecting a venting hose to the brass tube(s) at the outside of the box. The internal power fuse is a good idea and the NATO "pig-nose" connector at the box is rated for 150 A continuous current at 28V and it is compatible to the "jump leads" (i.e. charging leads) used with almost every NATO vehicle.

The AC/DC converter from Benning is a good piece of equipment, but far too oversized for camper requirements. I'm not sure if it can be used as battery charger and power converter. If yes, you should keep it. If not: offer it to a radio amateur working with converted military radios (because of the 28V) - you will make him happy.

The auxiliary fan is just another fan. Imagine, you are at military service, in summertime outside in the field, running a multi-kilowatt transceiver station in this shelter: you would be happy for every breath of fresh air. If you plan to travel to southern Europe or Northern africa: keep it!

The "telecommunication setup" at the wall, accessible from in and outside, looks like an overvoltage or lightning protection circuit for telephone lines. Scrap.

The 230V and 24V breaker boxes are nice but cloddish and oversized. The 24V box contains indeed a battery voltage monitor with a chain of LEDs, it can be easily removed and connected elsewhere to the 24V "bus" in your shelter or vehicle. It's self explaining with only two wires: "+" and "-"

Regarding the original "furnishing", e.g. the drawers, benches and so on: it depends on your plans to which level of cosyness you want to transfor your shelter. The drawers are of excellent quality, but made from metal and painted in military green they look better in a garage or work shop than in a living room or kitchen of a camper - at least for me.

You wrote, you re-located to Germany? Which region?


Cheers

Tom

[Mike]

Hi apexcamper,
i think everyone who sell a komplette Shelter get this problems, but the things inside a Funkkabin are to 99% shit for a travel home.
The heater is for people who live near a Airport and they need this noise also in the vacation. It is also a Batteriekiller.
The funiture are to heavy and the electrik is too big.
My advice is:
Clean the shelter complette inside and prove the place you need (wc, kitchen,bed...) with paperboxes and carton


Gruß
der Mike

[Pirx]

Vielleicht ist es etwas untergegangen:

We will be building our own aluminum frame with some wood and foam core FRP or Monopan for the box. These are pricey materials and I do not have a large shop to work in, so this will be a slow process.

Since that will take quite some time, we have decided to outfit a 4.25m Dornier shelter so we can start traveling.

Der Threadersteller plant den Bau eines Sandwichkoffers für den LKW. Der Shelter soll nur als schnelle und günstige Übergangslösung dienen. Daher ist es sinnvoll, so viel wie möglich von den vorhandenen Geräten weiterzubenutzen, auch wenn diese überdimensioniert sind.

Pirx

[WOODSMAN]

Falls jemand gerne antworten möchte, aber sich nicht auf Englisch traut, schreibt einfach auf Deutsch, wir kriegen das schon übersetzt

If someone would like to answer but can't write in English, he/she can write in German and we'll translate

I manage with the Google translate and learning some German. Useful website.

[Tomduly]

Der Threadersteller plant den Bau eines Sandwichkoffers für den LKW. Der Shelter soll nur als schnelle und günstige Übergangslösung dienen.

...ist mir nicht entgangen

Daher ist es sinnvoll, so viel wie möglich von den vorhandenen Geräten weiterzubenutzen, auch wenn diese überdimensioniert sind.

Naja, einen Nachmittag in eine Entschrottungs-Aktion zu investieren halte ich für empfehlenswerter, als mit einem sinnfreien 80kg-Trenntrafo, Werkbänken und Aluregalgestellen (in der Optik einer leibhaftigen Radio-Fernseh-Techniker-Hölle, es fehlen nur noch alte Oszis und Bildröhren-Regenerier-Computer...) an Bord die erste Europatour anzugehen. Aber das sollten wir dem Threadersteller überlassen, seine Haupt-Frage, war ja, was diese Einbauten und Gerätschaften alles darstellen.

Und die Absicht

"probably getting rid of this"

deutet ja schon mal in eine gewisse Richtung.

Grüsse

Tom

[egn]

Ich habe ihm auch schon empfohlen alles zu entsorgen. Das Zeug behindert nur den Umbau. Es sollen immerhin 3 Leute ihren Platz finden. Die Elektrik und die Heizung kann mit geringen Kosten ersetzt werden.

[marcus70]

zumal das neubeschaffte Material auch wieder im neuen Koffer Verwendung finden kann.
Grüße
Marcus

[apexcamper]

Thank you all for the replies. Everyone has made it obvious that the way to go is remove as much as we can. We will clean it out as complete as possible and save as many useful items as we can. We are mostly interested in the track system hardware - that will be an excellent way to install walls, counters, and cabinets that can be reconfigured...and the wiring and circuit breakers - really liked the idea of removing them, and use them in my own 24v bus).

User PIRX was right, this shelter is meant as a temporary camper, a sort of "get in and go" while we spend a couple of years building our own proper box. We still want the shelter to be comfortable and usable, but it is on a much tighter budget and will not have all the amenities of a serious expedition wohnmobile.

We are looking at this as the "medium range, week long trips" phase of our build, allowing us to spend some time in small quarters with greatly rationed resources. We plan to learn what we don't really need or want, and what we absolutely can't live without. This will allow us to make the proper box as perfect for us as possible on the first try.

I am still probably keeping the heater and 220v/24v converter simply to save money, but they are easily replaceable if I change my mind. I am also thinking that high dollar items I install in the shelter could easily be removed and installed in the new box if we are smart about the installation.

The burner chamber in the heater needing replacement is a concern so I will pull that out and inspect it.

--Does anyone know what I should look at closely on the heater/burner chamber?--
--Welche Probleme/Schwachstellen sollte ich bei der Heizung/Brennerraum inspizieren?--


I will work on my thread formatting, posing questions that are more clearly defined. My apologies if it caused confusion. I read several forums and I am always drawn to those who use a lot of photography to document their work. I will separate my photos from my questions in the future, but expect me to always flood my threads with pictures.


@Tomduly: I live just west of Regensburg in Hemau, Bavaria

Emil (user EGN) has extended an invite to me to attend the Christmas Stammtisch in Wolfratshausen, so we will be there, family, truck and shelter. I look forward to meeting the people there, learning about the equipment and sharing experiences.

Much Thanks

Cade