Building a chase vehicle..

[Brett Adair]

Well, since I saw Drummonds vehicles I decided that I have alot of work to do. I wanted to see if I could get any advice on what and how to install certain things within the vehicle. I have an '01 Mitsubishi Montero and I chase in it currently, but would like to deck it out like many others have done with there vehicles. I have the laptop, cell, 2 meter, GPS, TV, Inverter....etc. What else should I need?

[Bob Schafer]

Cup holders.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

[Brett Adair]

LMAO.....add those to my list. My biggest problem is that I am not an electrician or a real handy man, but I want to attempt to do some of this myself. Thing is...I wish I didn't love so far away from these professional installers such as Drummond. ;) Anyway, I'll keep in mind the extra cup holders ;)

[David Drummond]

Yeah that 12v electrical stuff can get complicated when you got a lot of stuff going on. What you guys don't usually see is the mess I go through to get it there. Believe it or not, I knew exactly what was going on in these pics. LOL I used to be ASE Certified in Automotive Electrical. That stuff comes naturally to me.


http://wx5tvs.com/ST/console1.jpg
http://wx5tvs.com/ST/console2.jpg
http://wx5tvs.com/ST/console3.jpg
http://wx5tvs.com/ST/console4.jpg

Needless to say, I go through a LOT of zip ties tidying everything up nice and neat before it's done.

[David Drummond]

Cup holders.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

I actually pulled the factory cup holder assembly out of the dash and engineered it in to the back of the console I made, so we could keep them.

[JF Massicotte]

Hi Brett

Automotive electrical is not too much complicated. However, if you have no experience with this you should keep it simple. The best thing to do would be to start with the most important little part you think you will need. If you believe it is 2 meter, then go with 2 meter...


I also have many plans for my chase car, and I'm doing it step by step. We chase with a laptop and it is the very first thing to come in our way in a chase, so fixing a permanent holder with touchescreen is my first priority. Only after that will I go with more equipment and so on.


Ask your friends if they know better about car electrical... almost everyone has a friend who knows much about cars.


I also suggest you look at some websites about how to build safe car electrical systems and so on....

I almost like being new to storm chasing... everyone can do it but those with no experience or knowledge that go for the wedge at night will probably fail.

[Brandon Sullivan]

Hey Brett. The only thing I have to chime in is.. Try a ChargeGaurd if you can get one. They are very nice. Basically what they do is regulate your energy.. They hook directly into your battery, and you hook all your equip up to them. The chargegaurd also can turn all your equipment off at a certain programmable amount of time. So your battery wont be run down. When you start your vehicle they automatically turn on! You can PM me if you want more info.

[Jay Cazel]

How about a light bar!!!! :D j/k


One tihng I was looking into was a second battery to run all the equiment with. Tyler Costantini and Chris Wilburn have this set up, that way the cars battery is just used to start the car, and if for some reason it dies you can switch over to the other battery to start the car. Then where you start the car the second battery will charge back up. Really a nice set up.

[Brett Adair]

Nice! Thanks for all of the info. I like the car battery idea as well as the charge guard. I was looking at David's photos and thinking, "No way in hell, I'll cross some wires and burn everything up!" I think I may actually try to do something along the lines of mounting all of the antennas and trying to find places to mount the equipment.....but let someone else do the wiring. That will probably be a pretty penny to pay someone else to do it, but I believe it would be my safest bet. The hardest thing may be attempting to build a customized weather station mount. I'm going to take some photos of the top of my car and the inside to give you guys a good idea of what I am dealing with.

[Jay McCoy]

I have a suggestion if you are going to get somebody else to do the wiring. Talk to your local sheriff and especially volunteer fire depts. They usually either have somebdoy or contract out to somebody who does this sort of setup regularly. I found one in Amarillo that takes care of the local sheriff and many small companies with their communications and lights. He has installed everything on my truck from the radios/scanners to all my emergency equipment like lightbar/siren/strobes/center console.. etc.. and I have never had any issues with my stuff. It does cost some but will be cheaper than a regular mechanic will charge thats for sure. It only took him less than 2 days to have all my lights and 6 types of radios and a LCD tv installed with all wiring hidden.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/tornadodreams/chasetruck2004002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/tornadodreams/truck006.jpg

[Joey Ketcham]

If you do decide to use a 2nd battery to power on your equipment make sure that you mount it somewhere that's outside the vehicle and away from the occupants, perhaps under the hood if you can. I strongly discourage anyone from using a car battery inside the vehicle to power up equipment. It is very dangerous to the occupants to have the car battery inside the vehicle. Car batteries contain sulfuric acid which can release fumes that are very dangerous. Sulfuric acid is clear, colorless and odorless so you wouldn’t even know you’re breathing it. Sulfuric acid is also very corrosive and can be found in the air as small droplets or it can be attached to other small particles in the air.

When concentrated sulfuric acid is mixed with water the solution gets very hot, it can also catch fire or explode when it comes into contact with other chemicals and metals. There is also a risk of the battery exploding.

I don’t know the rest of the facts about the dangers of a car battery in an enclosed area, but I know that earlier this year I mentioned the idea of doing this to my dad who has been an automotive tech basically his whole life and to sum it up, he said I would have to be stupid to think that putting a battery inside a vehicle would be a idea thing and explained the dangers of doing it. He told me of a guy he knew that had a car battery inside the vehicle, one day it exploded while the guy was in there and caused the guy some pretty serious injuries.

Honestly, in my opinion a power inverter will work just fine. I've used a power inverted to power up my equipment since I started chasing in the 90's and I've never been in a situation where I've lost power, and I've certainly never found myself in a situation where having a car battery inside my vehicle would have saved the day.

Just food for thought.

[Steve Miller OK]

Myself and a few of the people I have helped on their vehicles use coax cable with shielding to run from the battery to a distribution block inside the cab. This almost totally cuts out whine you might normally get from your ignition.
Jeeps are especially bad about throwing off noise.
We run the center wire as hot although we have reversed it before with no difference in positive noise reduction ability.
Hope this helps.

[Brett Adair]

Okay....I have gotten with my guys at our EMA office and we are going to get this thing done with Allcomm and McCord. They are two companies that work on our 800 mhz systems along with our police vehicles within the county.

We are also looking into these guys for a wrapping solution.

http://www.adsonwheels.com/

I do notice that NBC 5 out of Dallas I believe has used them and wrapped there chase hummer. Picture below..

http://www.adsonwheels.com/images/zoom/vehiclewraps/vehicle_wraps_car_graphics_302.jpg

Okay....so if I were building this thing from the ground up (since I am basically having everything wired 12 volt now), what would you put in it. On the list already I have...

1. Laptop Mount
2. 2M ICOM V-8000 75 Watt
3. GPS Unit
4. Dual Band Antenna
5. Bluebox (Router Repeater) with external antennas
6. Cell Antennas
7. Mobile Internet
8. Light bar (pending) with strobe emergency lights in tail/parking.
9. External Weather Station (pending)
10. Laptop with appropriate software
11. First Aid Kit, Cooler, and amenities

Now, for the weather station would it be okay to go with a wireless one as long as I purchase a radiation shield for the thermo sensor? What else could I use?

[Steve Miller OK]

With all the external stuff plus wrapping, you need to add "Three chase buddies" to your list because every time you pull in to a hotel parking lot for the night you will be at risk of getting your vehicle broken in to. You will need these extra chasers to work in shifts overnight and watch your assets!

Serious though, I would up that ham to a dual bander just for frequency coverage purposes. My opinion...

[Chris Hayes]

The setup in our truck is very basic. We have a 2m ICOM ham radio, CB radio, laptop on the Jotto desk, and the GPS hooked up to the laptop.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s242/t80tank/JottoDesk-2.jpg

[James Siler]

I have a question. I am goint to start getting my 94 ford F150 ready to chase in 08 and I have thought about takeing out it's bench seat and putting in bucket seats. Can I do that? Cause that way I can install the laptop mount in the center alont with possiablly a small tv and my scanner. Any input from you guys is very much appreciated.
James

[David Drummond]

I have a question. I am goint to start getting my 94 ford F150 ready to chase in 08 and I have thought about takeing out it's bench seat and putting in bucket seats. Can I do that? Cause that way I can install the laptop mount in the center alont with possiablly a small tv and my scanner. Any input from you guys is very much appreciated.
James

That one should be easy, assuming it's a standard. You could change the seats, but would probably require some re-engineering to get the buckets to fit. If it's not a standard, you could build a pretty nice little console to fit on the hump between the seat and the dash to mount stuff in and still keep your existing seats.

For laptop mounts, for those that can't afford the big ones, or just don't want to put out that much money for a jotto. I bought one of these last year and I LOVE it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/LAPTOP-COMPUTER-MOUNT-BRACKET-FOR-ALL-SUVs-and-TRUCKS_W0QQitemZ160176405562QQihZ006QQcategoryZ116 346QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
.
.

[James Siler]

David, it is an automatic. I have thought about just designing a console for the center. ANd the laptop mount is one I have been looking at but couldn't make up my mind. But since you have given a good personal recommendation by using it then my mind is made up to get it. Concerning my truck it is in the shop getting the suspension redone since I wrecked it a year ago. But that statemeant leads to my next question, what is the offical name of the metal guards that cattlemen usally put on the front of there trucks or also on the front of police cars? Just thought I would show what I did last November.
757

[David Poch]

David, it is an automatic. I have thought about just designing a console for the center. ANd the laptop mount is one I have been looking at but couldn't make up my mind. But since you have given a good personal recommendation by using it then my mind is made up to get it. Concerning my truck it is in the shop getting the suspension redone since I wrecked it a year ago. But that statemeant leads to my next question, what is the offical name of the metal guards that cattlemen usally put on the front of there trucks or also on the front of police cars? Just thought I would show what I did last November.
757

There are different names for different types of bumper guards or replacements. Grill Guards, Bull Bars, Push Bars, etc.

You can get some good ideas here http://www.westinautomotive.com/index.html

I am looking into something like this for my Ram 2500. http://www.ranchhand.com/frontbumperbullnose.aspx

David

[David Drummond]

The only drawback I had about that laptop mount was that the adjustment screws were hex head. Meaning you had to keep an allen wrench handy. That has turned out to really be a non issue though. I have found that you can tighten then just right and have enough resistance to keep it from moving on it's own, but you can still move it. I still keep the allan wrench handy in chase I need to make major adjustments. For me, it's a small price to pay for the money I saved over a jotto. I did brace mine against the center console, as the floor mount bracket was a little week for my large and heavy laptop.

http://wx5tvs.com/images/stories/chasevehicles/ourvehicles/2004montana16.jpg

[Brett Adair]

David,

Can you post a pic of how you have that mounted? I have the same laptop mount currently and can't find a place to mount the damn thing. It's like my flooring in that Montero is freakin plastic. I'll look for a better place.

[John Erwin]

I have a question. I am goint to start getting my 94 ford F150 ready to chase in 08 and I have thought about takeing out it's bench seat and putting in bucket seats. Can I do that?

Having done that once the only issue I had was that I needed to drill some extra holes to account for the different seat mounting arrangement. Please ensure that whatever seats you use will bolt into the reinforced portion of your floorboards, not simply into the weaker non-reinforced floor metal. Other than that the seats fit right in. I also upgraded the carpet at the same time for a factory looking job.

/threadjack

[Tim Samaras]

Once upon a time...(David, feel free to start a new thread if appropriate)

There were several advantages to stuffing your chase car full of gear.

Back in the 80s and early 90s chasers would do anything to get a peek at a radar or a visible satelite image or at least a verbal description of whats going on. That meant packing a TV, scanner, computers, ham radio...even a DirecTV dish to get the latest from TWC. They would put monster antennas all over their car (the 'porcupine' look), and strange looking gizmos everywhere. There was little/no internet, thus chasers had to stop by the NWS offices to get their data, as laptops were way too expensive back then. Also, listening in on the NWS broadcasts, and plotting reported surface observations was the way of life back then. I did subscribe to the Accu-Weather data modem service...way back then...

The folks that outfitted their cars back in the 90s/early 00s were called techno-chasers. Heck, I had an amateur television transmitter in my old Nissan truck to send LIVE television pictures back to the NWS Denver. I used an 11 element UHF beam on a mast and rotor, and a 20 watt amplifier. I'm sure Dean Cosgrove remembers my old goofy lookin' truck. Yes, I was one of those goofy techno-geeks that love that stuff...still do.

My point is that I'm not so sure one needs all that 'stuff' these days. A celphone, laptop, and a data cable is all that's needed. Cellular coverage is so good, that I don't worry about 'data holes' anymore. With the spotter network available now, and being able to call your report in WHILE STILL CONNECTED...gets the job done to report what you see. There are chasers that actually broadcast LIVE TV pictures through the internet as they chase.

Cool stuff.

So...sintered to the basic question...why have all that 'stuff' all over your car anymore?

Tim

[David Drummond]

David,

Can you post a pic of how you have that mounted? I have the same laptop mount currently and can't find a place to mount the damn thing. It's like my flooring in that Montero is freakin plastic. I'll look for a better place.

That's the only pic I have. It's screwed right through the carpet in to the floor with sheet metal screws. I had to drill a pilot hole for the screws.

[David Poch]

For laptop mounts, for those that can't afford the big ones, or just don't want to put out that much money for a jotto. I bought one of these last year and I LOVE it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/LAPTOP-COMPUTER-MOUNT-BRACKET-FOR-ALL-SUVs-and-TRUCKS_W0QQitemZ160176405562QQihZ006QQcategoryZ116 346QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
.
.

I've seen that mount before and wondered about it.

How does it hold up to bumpy roads? My truck rides pretty rough and I need something that will stand up to a lot of bouncing and shaking around. Does it take any of the shock away from the laptop or is it pretty stiff?

I need something that will absorb some of the shock and not kill my hard drive.

David

[John Diel]

David,

I have a Jotto Desk which is very similar to what David Drummond has, though it looks a little less complicated. Mine is mounted about the same way DD's is as well. Mine holds up to very heavy vibration very well. You actually want less bounce while driving or you won't be able to see the monitor (not that you should be looking at it while driving, of course).

The swing arm actually takes a good amount of the shock and tends to dampen the vibration quite a bit. However, it MUST be solidly mounted to the floor board or Transmission hump or it will shake itself loose.

I'm driving a Ford Explorer up and down washboard, potholed, and just plain lousy Oklahoma roads and so far, I haven't had a lick of trouble.

[Stuart Robinson]

David – I am curious!

What is all the grey felt like stuff that you have all over your dash board?

I am guessing that it is Velcro so that you can stick and fasten down any loose items that are inside your car. One of my pet hates is loose equipment that fly’s around inside the car every time you turn a corner. I often use thing Velcro strips to fasten items down. The bonus is that Velcro can be removed with out leaving a trace that it was ever there…

As for me – when I chase I use the bare minimum of equipment that I can possibly get away with (simply because I have to fly over to the US and then rig out a hire SUV)

I make up a custom (fused) power cable that runs direct from the battery to the front passenger area. From here I power up my laptop and my 2Meter radio.

I find that a simple laptop / Data card combo covers about 90% of my chase needs. The remaining 10% is covered by a baron.

Therefore I agree with Tim! Keep the fit out simple and equipment to a bare minimum - this way there is less to go wrong.

[Skip Talbot]

I've seen that mount before and wondered about it.

How does it hold up to bumpy roads? My truck rides pretty rough and I need something that will stand up to a lot of bouncing and shaking around. Does it take any of the shock away from the laptop or is it pretty stiff?

I need something that will absorb some of the shock and not kill my hard drive.

David

I recently upgraded from a cheap e-bay mount, and, if you can afford it, you should definitely go with the Jotto. The quality is directly proportional to the price, and you'll notice a Jotto may run almost 10x the cost of that e-bay mount, but it is indeed 10x better. If you are a solo chaser, not having an easily adjustable mount may work for you, however, you're still going to have to regularly tighten everything to make sure it doesn't come flying apart.

As for vibration dampening, any mount is going to absorb much energy. What you can do is put some foam on the table part of the mount for the laptop to sit on top of. That will prevent some jarring collisions as the laptop rattles around on top of the stand. Most laptops are designed to take some abuse though and I never hit any problems after the couple of seasons I've used these mounts.

[Skip Talbot]

By the way, does anyone have any good internet resources/guides on automotive electrical?

[David Drummond]

I've seen that mount before and wondered about it.

How does it hold up to bumpy roads? My truck rides pretty rough and I need something that will stand up to a lot of bouncing and shaking around. Does it take any of the shock away from the laptop or is it pretty stiff?

I need something that will absorb some of the shock and not kill my hard drive.

David

It has some flexibility in it and will absorb some shock. On that last chase I was going down a pretty decent backroad and a pretty good clip. Hit a BIG hole I saw at the last moment so hard it dislodged the rear ac/heater control that mounts in the ceiling of my van. The laptop lid closed from the jolt but stayed put and it's taken ever rough road I put it down.

[David Drummond]

David – I am curious!

What is all the grey felt like stuff that you have all over your dash board?

I am guessing that it is Velcro so that you can stick and fasten down any loose items that are inside your car.

It's just a dashmat.

http://www.global-accessories.com/dashmat/index.html

Great for protecting your dash from the sun, cutting down glare, and yeah, velcro sticks to it really well.

[David Drummond]

I recently upgraded from a cheap e-bay mount, and, if you can afford it, you should definitely go with the Jotto. The quality is directly proportional to the price, and you'll notice a Jotto may run almost 10x the cost of that e-bay mount, but it is indeed 10x better.

I have to disagree with this somewhat Skip. My chase partner HAS a jotto in his truck. It's seen years of use, and now it's darn near impossible to keep the main adjustment tightened down so the laptop doesn't go swinging around all the time. It has some pluses, but I just couldn't see $150 more in pluses to go with that.

[David Drummond]

By the way, does anyone have any good internet resources/guides on automotive electrical?

Check out Autozone. They used to have a really good auto electric book for less than $20

[Graham Butler]

I have to disagree with this somewhat Skip. My chase partner HAS a jotto in his truck. It's seen years of use, and now it's darn near impossible to keep the main adjustment tightened down so the laptop doesn't go swinging around all the time. It has some pluses, but I just couldn't see $150 more in pluses to go with that.

It is much better since we added the washers but you have to make damn sure you wrench it down good and tight or else the Jotto will pivot. Its kind of discouraging to turn a corner and all of a sudden the driver has a 8lbs laptop hitting them in the shoulder. Between David's and my mounts the only difference is that the jotto desk laptop portion is plastic and the entire unit looks better made. Does it work better? That is debatable. If I was starting from scratch, now that there is a cheap alternative that is so effective, I would likely opt for the ebay mount.

Graham

[Mike Hollingshead]

May I recommend one of these for a laptop mount.

http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cgi-script/csPublisher/library/Brawny.jpg

That's the depth of my chase ride mounting methods. With bucket seats it works well to stick on the lower end and set the laptop on that and then the other side on the other part of the seat. From time to time I have to replace it(spills, cleaning windows, the car....etc).

[David Poch]

Thanks for all of the info on mounts. Now I just have to research and pick what I think would be best. RAM also has one for my truck and it looks pretty beefy.

Wish there was a way to compare them all in person before deciding what is best...

When I have it in the car the bucket seat usually worked good. (Never tried good ole Brawny though!) I was always afraid of it smashing into the dash if I had to stop real quick.

[James Siler]

I have another question, yes they keep coming! Anyway, does anyone here use sticky pod for the video camera mount on there dash? I have been debating on getting one but if I could get something that would perform better and even have less shock and vibration I would be willing to save me money for it. Thanks again.

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

I am making a camera mount from an old police camera mount a guy gave me. After some rigging and work with a hack saw, I am going use one of these (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270183669055&ih=017&category=31715&ssPageName=STORE:PROMOBOX:ENDSOON#SLIDESHOW) on the mount I am making to finish it up. That way I can still turn the camera where its needed. To keep the mount steady I may have to find a way to brace it to the dash or use velcro so it does not go flying up and smash my camera if I hit a bump. I hope to have it done this week so I can quit messing with it.

[David Drummond]

I have another question, yes they keep coming! Anyway, does anyone here use sticky pod for the video camera mount on there dash? I have been debating on getting one but if I could get something that would perform better and even have less shock and vibration I would be willing to save me money for it. Thanks again.

They had these at the chase convention one year. Had interesting possibilities. For years we've used a RAM mount for the camera, with a tripod head on top, and it's worked pretty much flawlessly.

[Maggie Kahman]

Cup holders.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

Yes, cup holders are very important;)

[Maggie Kahman]

Thanks for all of the info on mounts. Now I just have to research and pick what I think would be best. RAM also has one for my truck and it looks pretty beefy.

Wish there was a way to compare them all in person before deciding what is best...

When I have it in the car the bucket seat usually worked good. (Never tried good ole Brawny though!) I was always afraid of it smashing into the dash if I had to stop real quick.

What about Duct Tape?? You can use that stuff for just about anything. Its the most versitile stuff on the face of this earth!

[David Mikulec]

Thanks for all of the info on mounts. Now I just have to research and pick what I think would be best. RAM also has one for my truck and it looks pretty beefy.



I've got a RAM system in my 99 Taurus and am very pleased. Very sturdy, built like a tank. I don't care that the laptop tray is plastic but it's well built. And the floor plate has enough extra holes I was able to rig up an in car video mounting system using components from the Sticky Pod folks and an old fluid head. :cool:

[Caleb Lawrence]

A winch and a Pull Pal.

All the technology in the world won't help you get unstuck when you're in the middle of nowhere.

[Brett Adair]

I have a camera mount for my dash, but I would like one with a tripod head so I can actually turn it if I wish instead of keeping it 100% strait ahead. Anyone have any ideas of how to go about fabricating this? I think Drummond has one of these as well.

[David Mikulec]

Brett, I don't know if this info is of any help but it may give you an idea or two... I built mine using 3 Stickypod extension tubes and a fluid head from an old Radio Shack RST-84V tripod stuck up top. The tubes are bolted to the floor plate of my Ram laptop mount and the whole rig is quite sturdy. It took me about a month to find the tripods on eBay as they've been out of production for about 7 years. I'd owned one previously and knew they were sturdy. They had a hefty quick release plate and best of all a removable head on a standard 3/8 stud. I use it along with one that's still intact when I chase with my miniDV. http://www.stickypod.com/osc/index.php?cPath=21

[Joey Ketcham]

I've been doing some work on the inside of my Expedition getting it ready for the 2008 chase season, so far I've got my ham radio installed, got a laptop mount installed and recently acquired an HP laptop that I will use along with AT&T mobile internet.

I've uploaded pics of it on my online gallery at http://www.kschaser.com/cpg1410/thumbnails.php?album=49

[Brett Adair]

Well, I attempted something like Joey did with his laptop desk since we have the same one. My Montero didn't want to cooperate as much as your Expedition did apparently, so I am going to have mine professionally mounted I suppose.