panagah Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Hi all I have just purchased from Olearys, (very helpful and good service always worth mentioning) two omni roof lights transparent ones. They are designed to give more light in to the motorhome being transparant and are going to replace my 40x40 solid white ones I have. Looking at the job it looks like something that I will undertake myself and does not look to difficult a task. That is what worries me. Has anyone carried out a similar fitting that could comment on any pitfals likely to occur. From reading some other threads it seems the main problem is removing the old ones sealent. Does anyone have any tips they would like to share. I have also purchased a seat swivel which having looked on here and other forums means I think I have enough information to carry out this job and am aware of the pitfalls ie possible drilling and cutting. Thirdly (yes I have been splashing out cheaper than changing motorhome) I have purchased a sog toilet system which I will also fit myself. I have again see lots of info on the instalation of such and it looks like an easy enough job but I cant help thinking one thing. When the fan is rigged up using ht ecorrect polarity of course, what makes the fan come on and switch off? preumably the switch will be connnected to the toilet flap to switch on but would not mean that when the flap is closed does that immediately turn the fan off? if this is the case does this mean that when the fan comes on it is only on for a very small ammount of time. Or is the fan on constantly? I have not sat and really read the instructions just yet but any advice/pitfalls would be greatly received. I also intend to take pics as I do it to put on my blog as a step by step guide so you can all have a laugh at my struggles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Hi Paul, the rooflights are pretty straight forward. I'd suggest you clean and dry the area around the skylight before you remove the old one as this gives you a more pleasant working environment and reduces the chance of cr@p getting into the 'van through the big hole. Removal of old sealant is best done with a sharp edged paint scraper and lots of care and patience. Don't forget the new mastic seal when you fit the new ones. Seat swivel shouldn't be a major problem, depending on what type you have and assuming your motorhome is Fiat/Peugeot based you will probably have to cut off the two downturns at the front of the seat slides and drill a couple of holes to bolt the slides to the swivel. Can't help much with the SOG, I did wire one up once for a customer but it was so long ago I can't remember precisely what went where. I believe the fan only runs when the blade is open. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panagah Posted January 26, 2008 Author Share Posted January 26, 2008 Dave Newell - 2008-01-26 11:35 AM Hi Paul, the rooflights are pretty straight forward. I'd suggest you clean and dry the area around the skylight before you remove the old one as this gives you a more pleasant working environment and reduces the chance of cr@p getting into the 'van through the big hole. Removal of old sealant is best done with a sharp edged paint scraper and lots of care and patience. Don't forget the new mastic seal when you fit the new ones. Seat swivel shouldn't be a major problem, depending on what type you have and assuming your motorhome is Fiat/Peugeot based you will probably have to cut off the two downturns at the front of the seat slides and drill a couple of holes to bolt the slides to the swivel. Can't help much with the SOG, I did wire one up once for a customer but it was so long ago I can't remember precisely what went where. I believe the fan only runs when the blade is open. D. Thanks Dave, I have read the SOG instructions and your right th efan runs when the flap is open, this means when using the toilet you have to open the flap first, hopefully there wont be any splash back :-> Is it best to heat the paint scraper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 No blow back is guaranteed with SOG because there is always a path to atmosperic pressure via the connection you will be making to the waste tank for the fan pipe. Dave has covered most else. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panagah Posted January 26, 2008 Author Share Posted January 26, 2008 Clive - 2008-01-26 12:30 PM No blow back is guaranteed with SOG because there is always a path to atmosperic pressure via the connection you will be making to the waste tank for the fan pipe. Dave has covered most else. C. No clive not blow back, splashback 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Splashback is down to how much curry you had previously. Blowback is a common problem on first opening the flap having driven up a mountain - Believe me! Its when the pressure inside the dump tank is substancially more than that outside. SOG (Or my Pongo) overcome Blowback as a by-product of their design. Splashback I am afraid is down to you to open the flap first! Happy Travels. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 I had a feeling that there was a website showing the instalation of a sog system. Could not find it, but this link may help (pdf file showing installtion instructions) http://www.outdoorbits.com/system-kits-motorhomes-p-26.html Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 panagah: SOG System: The critical decision that has to be made with a SOG is exactly where to drill the hole in the cassette-locker door to take the fan-motor. The deeper the cassette-locker the more space there will be for the cassette-to-fan ventilation hose to fit between the outer end of the toilet-cassette and the inner side of the locker door and, consequently, the more latitude there will be regarding where the hole in the door can go. (This is dealt with in the SOG instructions.) From what I recall, the diameter of hole recommended in the instructions is a tad small. Presumably you will be using a hole-saw, so I suggest you drill a test hole in a bit of plywood before drilling the hole in the door just to ensure the diameter of the hole will be correct. I also strongly suggest that (if at all possible) you remove the cassette-locker door before drilling the hole. My experience indicates that it may be slightly easier to install a SOG when the cassette-locker's door hinge is on the left of the locker's opening as this arrangement allows a more natural curl for the ventilation hose. The SOG kit's wiring harness is supposedly 'universal', but I found it a bit tight cable-length-wise for my Hobby. Probably I could have fudged it but I chose to modify the harness instead to provide extra length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Can anyone offer some clarification on the SOG system, please. A) Does it entail any difficulty regarding routing the feed cable for the Fan Motor, where do people pick up the feed ? B) When the Toilet has been used with Chemicals previously are there any special cleaning reuirements, before fitting the SOG system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panagah Posted January 27, 2008 Author Share Posted January 27, 2008 flicka - 2008-01-26 11:55 PM Can anyone offer some clarification on the SOG system, please. A) Does it entail any difficulty regarding routing the feed cable for the Fan Motor, where do people pick up the feed ? B) When the Toilet has been used with Chemicals previously are there any special cleaning reuirements, before fitting the SOG system Wel on the first point I think I will be picking up my power source from the electic flush. Having had alook it looks quite straight forward. point 2 I cant help you with. Thankyoualso for the advice on drilling in to a bit of wood to test the diameter (cant see who it wa) something I would not of thought about but deffinately a sound bit of advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 flicka: The SOG toilet-cassette ventilation system is intended for electric-flush Thetford toilets and there is a specific SOG kit depending on whether the toilet is a bench or swivel-bowl type. (See link provided above by tonyishuk) As panagah suggests, you'd normally pick up a 12V feed for the ventilation fan by 'piggy-backing' on the toilet's electric-flush power supply. The SOG instruction leaflet is best described as "adequate" and is a bit light on detail when it comes to the electrical installation, referring just to cable colours (which didn't match the colours used on my Hobby). Although the leaflet warns that polarity should be checked, in fact the fan-motor has reverse-polarity protection and will only run when polarity is correct - otherwise the fan could end up blowing into the cassette rather than sucking from it, with predictably unpleasant results! Routing of the fan-motor power-supply cable should present no difficulties. It's likely that most motorcaravanners planning to DIY-fit a SOG kit will have a Thetford C-200 toilet in their motorhome. The SOG C-200 instruction leaflet refers to "external ventilation" when describing how an existing plastic component (the "saddle bracket") must be modified. The term "external ventilation" relates to C-200 toilet installations that already include Thetford's own ventilation kit. A few motorhome manufacturers (Hobby is one) now fit the Thetford product as standard and, as this involves a (smaller than SOG) hole being drilled in the cassette-locker door for the ventilation- hose's outlet, there could be problems should one wish to install a SOG system. The Thetford kit comprises just a narrow diameter hose leading from the cassette to the outside air and there's no fan to provide suction from within the cassette. You can't have a Thetford external ventilation kit AND a SOG kit on a C-200 toilet: it's got to be one or the other. There was a step-by-step SOG C-200-fitting article in the January 2005 issue of Practical Motorhome magazine and, if you obtain a kit from Symonspeed, I think a copy of that article is normally provided. No preparatory cleaning of the toilet-cassette should be necessary when moving from a chemicals-to-SOG regimen. As I'm sure I've said in the past, I remain unconvinced that the SOG concept produces significantly accelerated decomposition of waste within the cassette. The primary benefit as far as I'm concerned is that, when the cassette's blade valve is open and the ventilator-fan operating, no odours from within the cassette or toilet-bowl can enter the bathroom. Besides being eco-friendly, the removal of the need to use smell-masking chemicals also encourages the motorcaravanner to empty the cassette at any interval he/she so chooses, as there's no incentive to delay emptying until the cassette is near full in order to maximise the financial outlay of each dose of toilet chemicals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panagah Posted January 27, 2008 Author Share Posted January 27, 2008 Well that's the SOG fitted. A little under 2 hours, report to follow as Im off to work to pay for it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panagah Posted January 27, 2008 Author Share Posted January 27, 2008 Well as stated I have now fitted my SOG. Thankyou for all teh advice i found it quite useful. I will post on my blog with pictures of the process involved when I get the chance but here is a brief overview. Firstly, when opening it I was somewhat bemused that I had in fact paid nearly £90 for something that must contain a very good profit. The instructions are just about adequate. And I mean just about. The only problems I really encountered were drilling the whole in the door. This proved somewhat tricky but was eventually overcome with a bit of patience and perseverence. The only other problem was locating the correct place for the microswitch and the modification to the white plastic bit. This required a little sawing to enable the cassete to fit with the new hose replacing the pressure valve. The problem with the micro switch was that when fitted or located to the place it was meant to be my wife would open and close the hatch in te van and it would not shut properly and sprang back ever such a small distance but enough to give the impression the hatch was still open. However when the casette is placed in the slot the yellow hatch opener on the casette is what causes the resistance to prevent this from happening. The wiring was very straight forward with the feed taken from the water flush. All in all a quite simple job that took less than two hours to complete from start to finish even taking photos as I went. I am no DIY expert with only reasonable skills so I would suggest on this basis if you can drill a hole you could do it. So awaiting the arrival of either my seat swivel or rooflights to see where I go next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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