Yet another cartop enclosure

DIY & accessories
1

Have gradually designed an enclosure in which to keep a GTM atop my Honda Ridgeline. There is a knockout in the bottom to allow an external power wire entry, but my intended use is with a goofy
“lipstick” external PS. The things are not pass-through charge, but are always-on. I tested a GTM paired with one as aux power and it made it just shy of a week before becoming exhausted. Just started timing relay mode…I am guessing life will be well north of a week. The batteries charge via a micro-USB port. I got five and 4 18650 3500mAH batteries to go with, so it’s trivial to keep the next battery charging in the truck and remove the top of the enclosure and swap it in weekly.

Printed out of Taulman t-glase, so waterproof. Will mount it atop the truck (with nothing inside) and test-drive it for the rainy week we have coming up, to see if a design change accomodating an o-ring is required to seal things up. t-glase prints SLOWLY, so I am hoping not.

–Richard

IMG_1773
IMG_17733024×4032 2.05 MB
IMG_1774
IMG_17743024×4032 2.04 MB
IMG_1775
IMG_17753024×4032 2.06 MB
IMG_1776
IMG_17763024×4032 1.96 MB
IMG_1777
IMG_17773024×4032 2.39 MB

1 Like
2

Nice enclosure, but may I suggest you look for a right-angle USB plug that goes the other way - so the cable exits the GTM downward? As it is you are looping the power cable over/around the antenna, which may not hurt range but certainly isn’t helping.

3

Agree. I have one that is micro-USB reversed right angle, but that one isn’t right-angle for the USB-A. I may gen up the courage to buy just the ends and solder the two leads I actually need with a short length of bell-wire, so no wrapping.

That said, I’ve mounted the thing on my truck (empty) to see if it gets wet inside, rattles, whistles or hums at speed…or just disintegrates at speed. Or immediately gets stolen.

–Richard

1 Like