How to Make an Automatic Lift Up Roof on a Camper Van

This is a project we see many times where customers want to convert their camper van roof mechanism into a fully automatic remote control lifting roof. The project is much simpler and lower cost than most people think. After all the only parts required are 4 x 30" linear actuators, 8 x mounting brackets and a 2Cannel remote control system. Total cost is about $500-$600

The Roof on the camper van lifts up by the 4 corners of the unit. 4 of the 30" stroke Tubular Linear Actuators were all used and were all wired up to the same remote control system also available at www.FirgelliAuto.com along with the Actuators and brackets.

The theory is that the actuators are all pointing downwards and pushing from the back, the moving end of the actuator is actually fixed into place as shown here where it attaches to this MB1 bracket on all 4 corners of the camper van.

To keep the roof lifting straight and not wobble around a square bushing with a felt liner was made, this slides over the main body of the actuator and is attached to the body of the camper van. Once installed the actuator body when the roof is been raised or lowered simply slides in and out of this bushing.

Here you can see the bushing attached to the body of the camper van and has the actuator already installed. When the stroke is fully maxed out the bushing is placed such that its right at the end of the body as shown here.

Here you can see the roof fully raised and all 4 actuators working together to lift the roof up together. when the roof is lowered you will see the actuator body slide through the bushing and the actuator is then closed and roof fully down.

The stroke of the actuator is matched to suite how high the roof is desired to be opened. In this case the customer wanted 30" so they could stand inside,

Now when the roof is closed as you can see the actuator body has slid all the way through the busing and is all the way down. The built in limit switches in the actuator automatically stop each actuator when the actuator are either fully extended or fully closed. so even if you keep pressing the down button on the remote nothing happens until you press the up button.