Building the Escape Pod
We wanted to be able to listen to tunes while we’re parked up camping without running down the starter battery. When we added rear speakers to the van, we wired them with a switch so that we could use them either with the regular stereo or with a separate amplifier. Here’s how we did it.
Continue reading “Adding rear speakers that run from either the stereo or a separate amp”
We gave in. Even after changing out the front speakers and adding a subwoofer, the Audio 15 stereo that comes as stock in newer Sprinters was just not up to the job.
We chose to replace it with an aftermarket unit from Sony that has Apple Carplay and Android Auto so that we can use our phones to provide navigation and music through the stereo.
The swap-out wasn’t hard, but there are a couple of sticky points along the way. Read on for the details.
Continue reading “Adding an aftermarket stereo head unit to a Sprinter”
We’ve already written about how flimsy the Sprinter’s antenna (aerial) is. We’ve repaired ours before after snapping off part of the housing when we caught the mast on something.
This time, we needed to remove the antenna from the roof to really glue it back together properly. Here’s how we did it, and some other options if you can’t make the repair work.
The stock Sprinter stereo doesn’t have great dynamic range. It does relatively OK in the high end because it has separate tweeters, but the door speakers just aren’t big enough to reproduce low frequencies very well.
The head unit doesn’t have a dedicated subwoofer output so you have to get creative if you want to add better bass. Here’s how we did it.
Continue reading “Adding a subwoofer to the stock Sprinter stereo”
We’ve got L-track mounted in the floor of our van. It’s ideal for placing bike fork mounts pretty much wherever you need them. Here’s how to build your own fork mount that attaches to any piece of L-track on your floor or wall.
If you have an alarm in your Sprinter, or if you specified the overhead cubby option, there’s a neat source of power you can hook in to for things like dash cams or equipment that would fit in the DIN cubby hole.
Continue reading “Getting power from the (optional) overhead cubby”
Our bed is 42″ off the ground. We used to have the factory bench seat right in front of it, but now we’ve just got a blank space. We needed some way to get up and down from the bed platform.
Continue reading “Step ladder for our platform bed”
We just bought the Nature’s Head composting toilet. After testing it out in our spare bathroom for a week, we installed it in our van. Here’s how we chose to fit it in.
Continue reading “Installing the Nature’s Head composting toilet in a Sprinter”
We love our bucket and bag toilet solution, but it’s not really suitable for longer term use inside the van. We decided to try out a composting toilet instead. First, we had to find a suitable one.
Mercedes has to disassemble every cargo Sprinter van it ships to the USA, and then reassemble it over here. That’s to avoid the chicken tax.
They worked out it costs them around 7% more on the vehicle price to do this, but that’s still better than paying the 25% tax.
Now that there’s a large enough market in the USA for Sprinters, Mercedes is building a plant in Charleston to make them directly in the USA. Its opening will probably coincide with the introduction of an updated Sprinter model.
Continue reading “When will Mercedes start building Sprinters in the USA?”