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With the never-ending journey of creating a smart house that works for the individual or the family to set the mood or the environment I embarked from inside the home to outside the home.
With my outside area split in 3 sections.
Entertainment
Pool area
Fire Pit Area
I wanted to be able to have individual control over all 3 and also within those zones.
Prior to changing to smart lighting I had already installed standard downlights in some areas and a standard spot light (plug in)
I decided to change all downlights to Arlec 92mm Grid Connect RGB downlights and added 2 more over the fire pit area in the eves.
I installed a hard-wired par38 spotlight base that I had in the shed then changed the bulb to an Arlec par38 Grid Connect RGB LED
I also installed the lytworx festoon smart lights.
I pugged my DIY Kombi Bar in through an Arlec Grid Connect Power Outlet
I utilised some of the large Tiki solar lanterns but instead of putting them in the ground I removed the spikes and used some 25mm full gal electrical saddles and screwed them to the fence posts, and I also added to more solar lights to the gardens.
So now with all being smart I am able to group the sections and control them as that group or I can control individually.
If I don't want the spot light on I can turn it off under the app.
The big advantage to this only 1 electrical feed was required and I didn't have to run multiple switch wires for zones.
I hope this inspires some.
Talk about setting a mood @CSParnell; parties at your place must be a hoot. I'm sure your ingenious work will inspire many of our members to give smart lighting a go. I know I've been considering all my options since reading your posts.
Many thanks for sharing.
Mitchell
That Kombi bar is absolutely amazing @CSParnell!! Could you run us through how exactly you went about creating it? Any pics of the build process?
Mitchell
The Kombi Bar is a DYI not for the faint hearted I would have to say.
Apart from being an electrician, I have been restoring VWs off and on for 20 years including body work and paint work.
To tackle a project like this you will need to be able to:
Metal mig weld
Body fill
Metal shaping
2 pack or enamel paint
Be confident with metal work
Confident with cutting timber
Able to wire up extra low voltage LED
Now I started with a 1970 wreck kombi that was on a farm where I negotiated for a reasonable price to cut the front off.
Once home I stripped back all the paint and body filler to reveal what I had to work with which like usual wasn't much so a lot of panel beating and welding in new pieces were required.
From there I built a skeleton frame out of 20x20 square tube to create the bar shape.
The curves were created by notching the internals of the tube then bending it and spot welding it to the correct radius.
I tack welded the front to the skeleton.
The sides were 1mm cold rolled sheet steel and I notched the edges to slip behind the front edge which then were spot welded to the front and spot welded to the frame.
The bench top was scribed and cut with a jig saw, same was done with the 2 lower shelves.
New bumper brackets were welded up with 20x20 tube.
Heavy duty Castor wheels were added to the frame so it can be moved.
The whole front and sides where coated in body filler and sanded and sanded and filled and sanded until it looked as it should.
The metal work, timber, bumpers light surrounds were all sprayed in 2 pack clear over base in a controlled environment.
After assemble LED strip lighting, H4 LED globes and also speaker system was installed.
Project time was 5 weeks part time.
There is also a uniqueness to this bar and its made from kombis that are of that shape from 1968 to 1972 called a lowlight.
That's some genuinely inspirational work right there, @CSParnell. I'm even more impressed that it's not only a bar but also a DJ booth.
I've done a little bit of panel work myself, so I can appreciate the effort involved here.
Great work!
Mitchell
