Convert pop-top to an Electric pop up roof

Open the sliding door fully Amelia, thats sufficient, no need to open windows too. Your pop-top is a giant bellows, you need to let a huge volume of air in or out as its raised or lowered.
 
Phil_G said:
Open the sliding door fully Amelia, thats sufficient, no need to open windows too. Your pop-top is a giant bellows, you need to let a huge volume of air in or out as its raised or lowered.
Click to expand...

Thanks Phil. I knew about the need to open the door when the roof has to be closed but I was not aware it is also important when pushing it up.
 
Phil_G said:
Just checking that you caught this Amelia as its crucial, .... open the sliding door fully when raising or lowering.
If you dont, it will be very hard to raise, and on lowering, the cloth will billow out into the hinges where it will be 'scissored'.



Stronger gas struts will fix the 'raising' problem , but how about a lightweight electric winch to pull it down?
the sort they sell for pulling a dinghy onto a trailer?
Something like this?

View attachment 97878
Click to expand...

I’ve not been doing this. My much better method is to lower the roof until nearly closed then hold the whole weight of the roof on my head-nearly breaking my neck-whilst I pull the sides in around the front (the rear has a bungee). Then I just lower the roof the final few inches and just remember not to try to turn my head for a few hours to recover.
I’ll open the door in future.
 
Deaky said:
The only problem with stronger gas struts it that it makes the roof more difficult to pull down. I had exactly this problem when my Hilo was fitted. There is no way the wife would have ever pulled it down.

I have fitted electric rams to mine. It's quite an involved job. You still need to give the roof a helping hand to get going because of the position of the rams when its down. Lowering it is a breeze.

In all honesty I don't think you'll find an installer who will do this for you. There is just too many risks

You might be able to find someone who will fit some adjustable gas springs so if the new ones are too hard to pull down you could let a little gas out.
Click to expand...

Hi Deaky, out of curiosity, who fitted your Hilo and did you have any issues. Need to get my roof done to get on with my conversion and very nervous about having issues/devaluing my van. Thanks. Mike
 
MFielding said:
Hi Deaky, out of curiosity, who fitted your Hilo and did you have any issues. Need to get my roof done to get on with my conversion and very nervous about having issues/devaluing my van. Thanks. Mike
Click to expand...
Hi @MFielding. My roof was fitted by a company in Worcestershire. Loads of leaks and a few other minor issues. It was eventually sorted by Hilo. I definitely wouldn’t recommend them. PM me if you need to know who. The best install of a Hilo I’ve seen so far was by Jaibow.
 
Amelia, I had the same issue opening my Hilo pop top roof. In the long wheelbase van the roof is longer and heavy, so getting it started was a real struggle for me.
But I have just this morning discovered a way round this issue. I sat on the (revolving) passenger seat (facing the driver's seat) and held one of the wood poles from my windbreak with two hands up against the roof by the central handle, with my elbows on my knees for leverage. My wife reached released the locking catch inwards, and I was then easily able to push the roof up with the pole. No bending, twisting or putting 50kgs on my head! Such a relief!
HiLo.JPG
 
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Bigsidavies said:
lower the roof until nearly closed then hold the whole weight of the roof on my head
Click to expand...
I have a Hi-Lo and put a block onto the bedboard to drop the roof onto whilst I sort out the sides etc. Then just remove the block and drop the roof down the last few inches.
 
Amelia said:
Hi. I want to have my manual pop-up roof changed into an electrical one. Any recommendations near London? It seems that most convertors are far-away.
Click to expand...
Why don't look at Austops website?They have fitters near London,and they can upgrade manual pop top roof to electric pop top roof.
 
DXX said:
I’m guessing you have two handles left and right on the roof with which to operate it up and down?
It’s very important that both sides go up and down evenly. Therefore if you consider using an extension pole you’ll need a point to engage it in the centre of the roof.
You could make a tight strap between these two handles with some kind of hook in the centre of the strap, use a piece of broom handle with a matching eye to connect to the hook.
Once you’ve determined this will work you could get an additional handle attached to the roof a mid point or refine the temporary arrangement.
You could use an attached cord to lower the roof as well.
Put some padding on both ends of the pole and you won’t scratch or rip anything in the van.
Whatever you try make sure the roof goes up and comes down both sides evenly without trapping the canvas.
Click to expand...
I'm interested to understand the potential consequences of not pulling the roof down evenly? The reason is that I'm planning to put a roof box on one half of my pop top which might make it difficult to pull down evenly.
 
dave1986 said:
I'm interested to understand the potential consequences of not pulling the roof down evenly? The reason is that I'm planning to put a roof box on one half of my pop top which might make it difficult to pull down evenly.
Click to expand...
Twisting or putting too much strain on a strut is one worry
 
JOG said:
Twisting or putting too much strain on a strut is one worry
Click to expand...
I'm still struggling to understand. I thought that gas struts which are mounted on pivoting ball and socket joints were designed specifically so they could be twisted? i.e the ball and socket just twists/rotates so there is no twisting stress on the actual gas strut or piston (only a compression force as is expected). Please correct me if I'm missing something ?
 
I have a Cali. I can’t recall if the struts have a ball and socket, but I don’t think they’re designed for lateral stresses beyond “some” lateral movement. I would worry that opening/closing unevenly would cause such stresses on the strut or its fixing. My thinking stems from common sense rather than any engineering background.
 
Deaky said:
The only problem with stronger gas struts it that it makes the roof more difficult to pull down. I had exactly this problem when my Hilo was fitted. There is no way the wife would have ever pulled it down.

I have fitted electric rams to mine. It's quite an involved job. You still need to give the roof a helping hand to get going because of the position of the rams when its down. Lowering it is a breeze.

In all honesty I don't think you'll find an installer who will do this for you. There is just too many risks

You might be able to find someone who will fit some adjustable gas springs so if the new ones are too hard to pull down you could let a little gas out.
Click to expand...
Hey, could you share the details of how you did this on yours, or a link if you already have? Thanks!
 
Deaky said:
The only problem with stronger gas struts it that it makes the roof more difficult to pull down. I had exactly this problem when my Hilo was fitted. There is no way the wife would have ever pulled it down.

I have fitted electric rams to mine. It's quite an involved job. You still need to give the roof a helping hand to get going because of the position of the rams when its down. Lowering it is a breeze.

In all honesty I don't think you'll find an installer who will do this for you. There is just too many risks

You might be able to find someone who will fit some adjustable gas springs so if the new ones are too hard to pull down you could let a little gas out.
Click to expand...
@Deaky which electric rams did you fit? I'm looking to do the same.
 
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