I HATE when people mess up my stuff through ignorance.

[Flyinfool]

I HATE when pinheads work on my stuff that don't know what they are doing.

I went to install a rear window defogger on the rear window of the topper on my Pickup truck.

While working on it I turned on the interior light of the topper. It did not go on. first thing to check is the bulb. bulb was black inside so I figure burnt out bulb, no big deal. Bought a new bulb, put it in, 2 minute job. flip the switch an it is still dark.

Break out the volt meter and there is only 1.6V at the light socket.

This is where the fun starts.

I start checking stuff and the other end of the wire has 12V just like it should.

 

After much checking all around I finally found it, the bozo that installed my topper did not have a piece of wire as long as my truck. He used a scotch lock as a wire splice, under the truck right where it will get blasted by salt spray all winter. Yup it was all corroded and that was the voltage drop. then I looked at how the wire was routed and decided that it was going to get snagged and ripped out anyhow. so I had to pull it out and replace with a new wire run correctly, I needed to run the wire to the back for the new defroster anyhow. It is just as easy to run 2 wires as it is one.

 

BUT and we all know there is always a BUT.

 

While running these new wires I found where this same installer tapped in for the High center mounted brake light.......

 

Yup, more scotch locks, and the control module all located where the would get blasted with road salt. Right BEHIND the rear wheel. All the connections completely unprotected and very corroded. Another project to fix before I loose my brake or turn signals.

 

I spent all day yesterday and today cleaning up the mess and getting my defroster installed. And I was able to do all this electrical work without using a single scotch lock. Go figure.

 

Ok Rant Off........

[Great White]

...I went to install a rear window defogger on the rear window of the topper on my Pickup truck...

 

May I ask what brand/type you used?

 

I put a Clear view kit on mine and it worked piss-poor from day one. Then it just became all together useless. They didn't answer any of my emails for help nor return any of my calls. I steer everyone I can away from those Charlton's. I'm considering just scraping the useless thing off and using a 12v heater to duct some warm air on it.

 

I get more window frost clearing from the rear wiper/washer I built.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Great White

[cowpuc]

and people asked me why I insist on changing my own bike tires instead of letting those kids down at our local bike shop do it for me and that's not even lectrical

 

Sorry that happened to you Jeff BUT glad you found the mess and are gonna correct it BEFORE you or some other innocent person gets injured because of the ignorance of someone who should know better!

[Carbon_One]

I hate those Scot Lock connectors. IMO they always cause more problems down the road, even when used inside a vehicle. I toss them when found.

Larry

[kantornado]

You all should of seen the wiring mess that was done on my NAVIGATORS trike. 12 gauge in to 18, 18 into 22 and back into 18, 8 into 10 gauge and into 14. Lucky it did not catch fire. All the fuses were wrong 10 amp in a 5 amp and so on. I just can not trust a shop to do work on our vehicles.

[slowrollwv]

Jeff you should know by now that if you want a job done right do it your self.

[Flyinfool]

May I ask what brand/type you used?

 

I put a Clear view kit on mine and it worked piss-poor from day one. Then it just became all together useless. They didn't answer any of my emails for help nor return any of my calls. I steer everyone I can away from those Charlton's. I'm considering just scraping the useless thing off and using a 12v heater to duct some warm air on it.

 

I get more window frost clearing from the rear wiper/washer I built.

 

I did get the Clear View almost a year ago, at the time they had good reviews. I finally got around to installing it over the weekend, I can see where I do not think it is going to last real long the adhesive on the copper is not that great. But at least the hard part is done, running all of the wiring and doing it right, I brought in a heavy fused power buss right from the battery to a new terminal block under the dash. From there I tapped of another fused circuit thru a relay that is activated by the key. But at least now I have the terminal block for adding in other goodies down the road.

 

But I am very interested in what you did for a rear wiper on your cap, That is my next project on the truck. I have almost all of the parts that I think I will need, A lot of the remaining is to get the courage to drill a big hole in the back of the window frame. Yes I know better than to drill tempered glass.

 

Jeff you should know by now that if you want a job done right do it your self.

 

Normally I do do it myself. Unfortunately there are some things that you do not have much choice, A pick up topper is one of those. The only way to load it on a pickup to bring it home is to install it. So by default they have to install it.

[Great White]

I used a Tahoe dash wiper switch (pops right into my GMC's dash) and a Tahoe rear wiper assembly. I had to take the wiper gear apart and limit it's travel. I then made a pantograph wiper arm in order to pivot the wiper blade itself during the arms travel in order to get a full window sweep from seal to seal.

 

This is an old and crappy pic, but all I have of it:

 

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/gr8twhite/lockeddownalbum/1998%20GMC%20private/Truck%20Cap/CFBF2B09-B969-498C-BF62-9C4438F5D76E_zpszflhogxq.jpg

 

Don't have any video of it running, but this is a quick clip i did up for someone when I was building it. Shows how it moves:

 

[video=youtube;k1LJ5gKeT-8]

 

Sprayer is just a nozzle and a pump.

[Beach Bum]

Let the shop know about the cluster you found. If they don't know about it they can't do anything about it. chances are that they guy who did the install is already gone, and if not maybe they simply don't give a rats ass. If that's the case then I always post a review on Google about shoddy workmanship.

[billmac]

Say Jeff could you get the kid to come over and rewire that snow machine of yours.

[Flyinfool]

The person that did the work was the owner of the business. No one higher up to complain to. Other people farther down in the food chain refused to believe that I had the work done there until they looked up the record to see who did it, at that point they just said oh, the boss does not normally do installs unless some one else did not show up that day and he was filling in on the shop floor, nothing they can do to over rule the boss.

 

You almost had me back in rant mode.

I just deleted an hours worth of typing from this post...............

[djh3]

MAn you guys worry about them rear wipers a lot. I cant keep a blade on the back of the wife's Durango for nuttin. About 3 months and the rubber is junk. So we just dont use it.

You could just get a vacuum motor then you wouldn't have to run wiring back there.

 

Back many moons ago when I worked for U-Haul probably 60% or more of the rear lighting problems I ran across were contributed to them dang things. I will use them, but really hate to unless it looks impossible to run it any other way. Problem is the topper place and trailer hitch joints are working on a "time is money" aspect. So the faster they can turn it out....... But for me sometimes those kind of jobs are, well if its worth doing its worth doing right.

Edited November 17, 2015 by djh3

[Flyinfool]

I understand the time is money thing. But I do not think that U-haul or a topper shop have a line of vehicles waiting to get done where they can not afford the extra 5 minutes to do it right. Odds are that there is no next job lined up. On the day of my install I was the only customer in the place and the phone never rang for the whole 2 hours that I was there. So they really had nothing else pressing to do. and it is not like this was a cheapy, it is their most expensive model and it has almost all the options available.

 

This was 3 years ago, so all but the glass shell is long out of warranty. Otherwise I would have gone back to make them do it right.

[djh3]

I agree. Not an excuse for shoddy work. This is exactly one of the things we try to get across to the students in the Auto Tech class I'm helping with. You either have time to do it rite the first time or you will have to make time to do it a second time. Its a shame they can get away with this kind of workmanship. But maybe they go by the statistics that show most folks trade every 3 years or so. So the chances of it going bad and someone coming back on them is slim.

[eusa1]

while managing dealership repair shops over several years, I have had several so called mechanics work for me, and one of the questions I would ask at an interview point was a series of simple questions and one of them was (do you know what a scotch lock is?) and always got the answer yes, however the next question was do you know why they come in different colors? and then to the meat of the question of "do you use them? and why?

probably passed on a few good techs because they said yes when I was looking for no.

 

the guy that invented scotch locks is a rotten sob.... a rich rotten sob at that!! end rant!