We have a small 300 watt inverter and a DVD player in a cabinet in back. The little inverter needs some air flow so I replaced the face of the cabinet door with some decorative type mesh. Also installed a little 12 volt fan for good measure.
Ever wonder what our cabinet doors look like inside? The surround is solid and the face is a couple thin laminates sandwiching some styrofoam.
jor
Thanks for the photo of the cabinet door insides. I need to do the same thing for my inverter.
Where did you pickup the mesh, Home Depot?
Where did you pickup the mesh, Home Depot?
I got it on Amazon (mesh (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JXM3E4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)). You can get the same one at Home Depot for about 30 bucks.
jor
Here is an alternative that avoids the need to alter and preserves the cabinet in question. Mount the small inverter and DVD player to one of the shelves behind the TV using VHB tape or Velcro. We did this and both devices are well ventilated by way of the lack of four sided enclosure on these shelves.
I’ll attach photos next time I visit our coach.
Warren
Here is an alternative that avoids the need to alter and preserves the cabinet in question. Mount the small inverter and DVD player to one of the shelves behind the TV using VHB tape or Velcro. We did this and both devices are well ventilated by way of the lack of four sided enclosure on these shelves.
Yep, that’s kinda what I did. Didn’t actually mount them; they just sit there on non-skid matting.
Thanks for posting photos Greg. Saved me the trouble.
Greg,
Interestingly, this is how I approached my first DVD/Inverter connection. However, I soon found that the inverter may have drawn down my OEM installed AGM batteries. This prompted a different approach.
I removed the DVD player that used 110 volt power and installed a Blu-ray player that had an external wall wart which itself relied on a 110 volt power connection. The player was being fed 12 volt power from the external players wall wart power supply.
Knowing that the player actually only needed a 12 volt power plug, I checked YouTube videos to locate Amazon parts to make this happen.
My current Blu-ray player now runs on 12 volts with no need for an inverter and thereby reduces an additional drain on my house batteries (which have since the player’s installation been upgraded to Lithium’s).
Actual cost of the 12 volt player and adapters was around $100. No muss. No fuss.
Kent
In my case, I want more air flow for my 3000 watt inverter, behind the right side of this cabinet, so the alternatives won’t work.
I’ve been keeping the cabinet door open, but would rather have a mesh and close it.
After removing the cabinet door face as shown in the photo, what else do you remove before mounting the mesh?
Obviously you just don’t mount it across the hole, looks like more of the cabinet door was removed.
After removing the cabinet door face as shown in the photo, what else do you remove before mounting the mesh?
After removing the door:
Prepare Door1. Cut out the face of the door with a sabre saw;
2. Clean up the four surfaces with sand paper and a utility knife;
3. Fill the exposed just-cut door surfaces with plastic wood;
4. Sand the surfaces;
5. Paint those surfaces.
Prepare Mesh1. Cut the mesh to size;
2. Make a frame for the mesh using 1/2" aluminum stock (Home Depot) by cutting them to size with 45 degree angles;
3. Drill mounting holes in the aluminum frame pieces;
3. Lay the mesh and aluminum frame pieces in place and screw down.
Thanks Jor for the details.
Very good job, cannot tell where the painted plastic wood is.
Decided to take the plunge, literally, using my multi tool to do a series of plunge cuts.
The core in my 2017 cabinet is similar, but it had a floating frame, just floated in a channel.
Thinking I can expose the channel on the backside and then attach the screen.
Or just squeeze the screen into the channel and shim the screen to hold it in place.
Turns out that squeezing the screen into the channel and a few improvised shims, along with a bit of Sharpie magic on the blue tape is all I need.
Will work on making the backside look a bit better later.
Turns out that squeezing the screen into the channel and a few improvised shims, along with a bit of Sharpie magic on the blue tape is all I need.
Great idea. Much better solution.
jor