Removing / venting rear window to cool/heat vault for DIY camp mode?

[Cybergirl]

Yeah I get it. I could see how it was headed. Before I was 8 years old I had spent one year of my life in a tent. Bears all around. My family works in bears. I go to Kodiak every couple years. Sleep along bear trails. Stared down a bear as an 8 year old with a lady(stranger ) from Switzerland at Brooks Falls in the 80's. Yeah I know bears. Below are my babies. I have watched them grow in Kodiak. Sadly one isn't with us. One has become a mom however.

So it really is a mindset. My tents seen in my Avatar are in a high black bear and Grizz area. See them all the time. Never have a problem. Yet I do have a Karelian Bear Dog named Sky.

Cool!

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[Gigahorse]

IMO, not having a pass through is a big miss on the design. Clear passage from second row to the bed will make the CT so versatile for camping/boon-docking/stealth camping.

I wonder why they didn’t make the tailgate panel the storage unit for the Vault cover! They removed the ramp that was shown in the prototype anyways. They could have made the Vault cover a bit more compact and stored it in the tailgate panel. This design would have freed up the space completely to make a retractable pass through. With the rear seats down, a family of two adults and two kids could have easily camped in there!

Other than range and price the cutting of the midgate was the biggest miss on the CT. People who use the CT as a minivan don't realize it but people who will use it for work, camping, overlanding, etc will greatly miss the midgate.

 

[Gigahorse]

I'm not sure I understand your point. I'm talking about off-road travel and hiking during the day, not staying in one place. Everything is securely stowed in the truck bed. In late afternoon we find a campsite, set up camp, prepare dinner, wash the dishes, and relax around a campfire, if permitted, or watch a movie. At day's end we prepare the vault for sleeping with air mattress and bedding, climb into the vault, close the tonneau cover, and go to sleep.

Yea people who have not truck camped before really don't understand the great things about it, or the challenges. Not a big deal to bundle up in the winter, but if it is 90 degrees with 90% humidity the HVAC from the CT will make a miserable night a nice one. A breezer style window and possibly a small fan will get the job done, really wish Tesla had kept the midgate in the design.

 

[BannedByTMC]

Not everyone needs hard metal retractors. Originally they were planning to put a ramp in the tailgate. Lightweight cover can solve fit issue. Electric assisted tailgate can solve the heaviness issue
Partial cover or other issues - minor inconvenience for the pass through feature. They could have given this as an option.

Tesla likes to keep things simple, especially on vehicles they are struggling to ramp production. I don't think we'll ever see what you describe.

 

[Wraven]

Install a sensor that knows the window is open and prevents the cover from moving.
Also- how about a setting in the ui to lock the cover, like the child lock safety setting. Easy to implement.

sounds like more complexity more maintenance via software for such an incredibly inefficient use case, “heat or cool a rather large and empty space for osmosis to take over and spill into another large space, not sealed or insulated though a tiny window”

I wish Tesla found a way to get heating and cooling to the bed, but the above just sounds like an inefficient and frankly bad engineering solution.

 

[Green Gene]

You might want to look into Breezer windows once they have one for the CT / CB.

https://breezerwindows.com/

FWIW

Cheers

Thanks. I had no idea they were out there. This is a great idea. I wrote in and asked if they had a model for Cybertruck and if so when would it be out. If I maybe so bold as to suggest anyone else interested in this to write and ask if when they plan on making a product for Cybertruck. The more people that show interest the more likely they will build one.

 

[XCeilidhX]

Thanks. I had no idea they were out there. This is a great idea. I wrote in and asked if they had a model for Cybertruck and if so when would it be out. If I maybe so bold as to suggest anyone else interested in this to write and ask if when they plan on making a product for Cybertruck. The more people that show interest the more likely they will build one.

They have already confirmed they are working on one.

Cheers.

 

[JBee]

I'm not sure I understand your point. I'm talking about off-road travel and hiking during the day, not staying in one place. Everything is securely stowed in the truck bed. In late afternoon we find a campsite, set up camp, prepare dinner, wash the dishes, and relax around a campfire, if permitted, or watch a movie. At day's end we prepare the vault for sleeping with air mattress and bedding, climb into the vault, close the tonneau cover, and go to sleep.

Do you both fit in the CT bed? Looks very short when you add a matress?

Another option is to just cut two holes either side of the rear glass and install two 5-6" PC fans, one pushing and one pulling to get the air flowing from the cabin to the bed. They will barely use any power and could run off a USB pack or CT plug overnight, even without the HVAC on for the milder nights to give some airflow.

I'd also be concerned about extra noise when driving from removing the glass.

You can also get a Ecoflow portable air-conditioner with its own battery, they are just a bit pricey, or a really small portable houshold one you can plug into the rear outlets. They are also heat pumps, but would use less because they are only cooling the bed area.

 

[Cybergirl]

Do you both fit in the CT bed? Looks very short when you add a matress?

Yes. If one is 5'-10" or less, not a problem.

Another option is to just cut two holes either side of the rear glass and install two 5-6" PC fans, one pushing and one pulling to get the air flowing from the cabin to the bed. They will barely use any power and could run off a USB pack or CT plug overnight, even without the HVAC on for the milder nights to give some airflow.

One fan has to be ducted to the foot of the bed or it won't work.

I'd also be concerned about extra noise when driving from removing the glass.

I will eventually replace with an after market slider or have one custom made.

You can also get a Ecoflow portable air-conditioner with its own battery, they are just a bit pricey, or a really small portable houshold one you can plug into the rear outlets. They are also heat pumps, but would use less because they are only cooling the bed area.

Yes, very pricey. It could work, but it has located outside the vault with a duct supplying hot/cold air to the vault through a hole cut in a removable panel inserted into the tonneau cover track at the gate.

 

[Gurule92]

I want to remove the rear window on my Cybertruck so that there's a way to cool the vault from the cabin HVAC (Camping Mode). It would also provide a pass-through from the vault to the cabin that would be useful when sleeping in the vault. I examined the way Tesla mounted the glass panel and it looks like it can be removed from the vault side with not much trouble. It involves removing the plastic applique (photo) to expose the confinement elements. It also appears that the glass panel is not a structural component (it does not appear to be supporting the glass roof).

It looks to me like an aftermarket slider replacement window could easily be designed to replace the fixed glass panel. I'll follow up when I have more information on the removal.

I think the reason Tesla didn't design their own slider was to avoid the liability of someone getting injured. Although the tonneau cover will retract if it senses resistance while closing, a child's hand/fingers could be badly hurt if caught
in the path of the cover while being closed.

If anyone has experience removing the rear window I'd be interested in hearing from you.

Why not just plug in something? Like an ac or heater?

 

[Cybergirl]

I removed one of the plastic appliques and discovered that the backlite glass is held in place with an adhesive at each end. I'm not sure how to break the adhesive bond. Anyone have

Why not just plug in something? Like an ac or heater?

Heater, easy. AC not that simple. Also, I want some air circulation/venting to control humidity.

 

[Gurule92]

I removed one of the plastic appliques and discovered that the backlite glass is held in place with an adhesive at each end. I'm not sure how to break the adhesive bond. Anyone have

Heater, easy. AC not that simple. Also, I want some air circulation/venting to control humidity.

Maybe like a little swamp cooler. Can also vent the vault cover. I really want a roll/slide window so if you get it lmk lol but I just think using it for hvac in the vault would be really inefficient.

I wonder if you could like Crack the vault cover and slap an rv ac unit on it lol

 

[Cybergirl]

I removed one of the plastic appliques (it's held in place with double sided tape), and discovered that the backlite glass is attached to the steel frame with an adhesive at both ends. The bottom of the glass is inserted into a rubber seal, and the top there's a paper thin gap between the glass and the steel frame, and I don't think the top is glued. I'm not sure how to break the adhesive bond. Anyone have a suggestion (without breaking the glass).

With plastic applique:

With plastic applique removed:

 

[Beyond]

Might be a problem for the kiddo's. Probably the open direction doesn't have a force stop...

Call it Madame Defarge mode. ;-)

 

[swinefeaster]

What I want is a Cap that has some way to extend onto an open loft gate, since I am 6'. Then just a plugin heat pump would do. I also don't like tents cause of bears etc. I spoke with space camper guys and they liked my idea, who knows when it'll happen though.

https://spacecampers.com/products/the-cap/

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