ZJ Console Ideas

[Kraqa]

So im gonna be building a new console for the ZJ and im looking for ideas. It needs to house some cutting brakes, cup holders and a lockable compartment.


Does anyone have any ideas or pictures of cool storage ideas? coincidentally i just bought a 3d printer at work. so i can definitely make some cool shit with it for this project. It will be here in a month.

here is one example i saw on IG and saved for later























Mine will be different since it plan on keeping the front half of the factory console with the tranny and t case shifter in it.

i also am looking at (if i have enough room) making the compartment under the arm rest a cooler.

i do have this koolatron cooler that i use only 1 to 2 times a year. its pretty decent at keeping cold things cold, definitely not an ARB by any means. its uses a fair amount of power (4 amps @ 12 volts) , but i'm not sure if thats the fan or the inverter thing that actually heats/cools. it will kill an optima in 2 days if left plugged in. i think i will run each separately and see which one is the power hog.


i wonder how efficient it would be if it had a controller, and when it is cooling a much smaller space. i can't help but think that simply plumbing the AC vent into the console would cool it as much as this would (i know AC only really blows around 16 degrees is ur lucky). if it was well insulated, and on a rocker switch to have on-of-acc on so you can set it to not run when the truck if off if you want.


Once i get the old console out tomorrow i will know exactly how much room i have to work with. this may not even be viable.

[Kraqa]

link to the vehicle its going in.

http://mallcrawlin.com/forum/showthr...ear-Suspension

[OverkillZJ]

Well that's a step from the old plastic junk!

[kg6mov]

There’s two kinds of vehicle fridges generally. There’s the expensive ones with a full compressor and refrigerant setup, and the cheap ones that use a peltier heating/cooling element.

The kind you’ve got looks to be a peltier style. The element is a funny ceramic piece that gets cold on one side and hot on the other, so they have a fan to get rid of the heat on the outside and a fan to circulate the cold on the inside. Unfortunately the peltier bit itself is the main power draw, it’s a constant as many amps as you’re willing to feed it, and you can cool better by feeding it more amps.

The full compressor setups use less power generally, and at the very least are as constant a draw on the battery. They will also get colder than the peltier elements can.

If you just want to keep drinks cold you could diy the peltier style in just about any container you can build. If you want more than that it’d be better to try and modify a compressor style.