Replacing the Monitor Panel On Footloose
The original monitor panel in Footloose was an old Jensen system
that was probably state-of-the-art back in 1986 but the probe type tank sensors
were all corroded so bad that they were essentially nonfunctional by the time
I took possession of the coach. The photo below is what the old panel looked
like.
I wanted to use the new Acu-Gauge tank monitor system but the
cutout in my overhead was obviously too large for the small panel supplied with
this system. I also wanted to add some remote control switches for other electrical
hardware on Footloose.
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Switch for the DC water pump(this switch was present on the
old panel).
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Switch for an auxiliary AC water pump.
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Switch for my auxiliary AC Air Compressor used to air up the bus without
starting engine.
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Switch to allow me to remotely gate the Air Compressor in item 3 above
into the Bus Air System.
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Switch to remotely turn on the Block Heater for the Detroit Diesel Engine.
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Switch to remotely turn on the AC heating element in a 3 Way Freezer in
Mid Bay.
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Switch to remotely turn on AC power to my Computer/Entertainment center
so I can reduce inverter load when boondocking.
All of the switches above have indicator lamps in them. I also added an 8th
switch to turn the indicators off when boondocking to save a little energy which
is consumed by the lamps.
I have a friend who fabricated an aluminum panel for me that was the same
dimensions as the original Jenson panel. It has one large cutout for the Acu-Gauge
panel and eight smaller cutouts for the rocker type control switches.
This is a photo of the new panel adjacent to the ACS control panel for my Statpower
sine wave inverter.