[AllanHvass]

Remaining photos showing one more of the windows blinds in foam, the blind for back window and spacers to hold in place, the stick + plate to put pressure for driver seat sensor, and the storage of mattress and plate in back row.

 

[AllanHvass]

Possibly wear key fob around your neck to avoid getting locked out?

Yes, though there's a risk of having at least to use the emergency opening with the physical key within the car key. But the real problem is (perhaps with no good solution) how to be able to use the buttons on the key to lock and unlock once the car has been in start mode for some time. So if you go out for 30sec to do what you do in night time, you can't lock the back door when you get back in without trying to crawl long over the drivers seat and press the touch button in the control panel in the driver's door.

 

[AllanHvass]

This is awesome, and nice work!

I would like to share a slightly different method here that also worked for me, in case it can help anyone:

From: https://www.vwidtalk.com/threads/the-current-state-of-camping-mode-hacks.15066/post-268851

"I have successfully car camped multiple times in cold / 25 degree weather with the car a toasty 75 degrees inside all night. My 2021 ID.4 is on 3.1, and here's what has worked:

• You need a kettlebell that is at least 35-40lbs (even 30 lbs won't work), and it has to be positioned in the center of the seat about 6" forward of the seatback.
  • The Kettlebell works well since it concentrates the weight directly over the in-seat occupancy sensor. Other weights, even if they're heavy enough, may not work. I've tried lots of things, but only the kettlebell has worked.
  • I bought my 35lb Kettlebell at Walmart.
  • Look under the drivers seat for the round seat occupancy sensor and place the kettlebell on top of that location, again around the middle of the seat about 6" from the back.
  • While 35 pounds in the right place worked for me, it may require more weight or stuff placed on top of the kettlebell if it's not perfectly centered or has a towel underneath it.
    • I use a towel folded underneath it to protect the seat. It may leave a divot in the seat foam in the morning, but it seems to go back to normal with only a bit of time. The towel spreads the weight out a bit more and prevents this divot to a degree, but may require another 5-10 lbs to compensate.
• The drivers seatbelt has to be buckled.
• The car has to be turned on by pressing the brake pedal or pressing the power button.
• You will know when the kettlebell is in the right place because the infotainment will reflect the changes. I believe some of the indicators are the A/C changing from ECO to SYNC (or vice versa) and the car making the disengagement noise when the weight is removed. There may be more too.
• Make sure to not lock the keys in the car during the night if you go outside. Always take them with you. It can be very, very bad if you're trapped outside in sub freezing temperatures.
  • Make sure you're familiar with how to use the manual key and manual door release (where you unlock with the key and pull extremely hard until the handle opens upwards) in the event some weirdness happens.
• Bring some other towel or covering to put over the infotainment screen and speedometer screen to make it easier to sleep.
• Turn off recirculation and auto-recirculation in A/C settings to prevent CO2 buildup in the non-moving, closed car.
• Charge your car to at least 90% before doing this, since the car will keep heating the cabin until the battery hits 0%. You don't want to get stuck somewhere. The car will give you a KW/h measurement from, I believe, the "vehicle data" screen. You can multiply ex: 2KW/h draw * 8 hours = 16 KW used * 3.0mi/kwh = around 48 miles used overnight.
  • Your milage, of course, may vary.
• You can get coverings for the front, side, and rear windows. I got these magnetic blackout curtains from Amazon for the side windows, which work great to keep it dark and better insulated: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085XDM6Y4/
• Another important note - safely stow the Kettlebell when driving. I put it in the rear-right area near the trunk use heavy-duty rope to affix it to the metal "U" shaped thing that's there. You don't want that thing flying forward if you were to get into an accident.

The car performed wonderfully for camping. At 28 degrees, my non-heatpump car used about 30% battery overnight to keep the cabin safe and warm. It's a bizarre design choice for VW not to offer this.

And - last but not least, be careful. This is presented for educational / entertainment purposes only and I am in no way responsible for what you choose to do with this information and not responsible for if you get hurt. Information is not guaranteed to be accurate, true, or correct."

Thanks for this, agrees with everything. I did think and test also with a kettlebell, but exactly what you call out at the end of it dangling around in the car and not fit under the false floor in the trunk + also the cost for it was what led me to take the other approach with just a stick and base plate, that also works well. Agree on the need to watch out for recirculation of air, those are not enabled normally on my car, which is why I forgot to even mention that as settings to potentially change.

And especially the recommendation of always bringing the key with you and be prepared (know how to) open the door using the physical key is important.

 

[AllanHvass]

Great to see you found it useful and took it even to the next level. I also considered folding legs but didn't do it, to not make the setup too complex. It looks to me like it would be worth raising the platform at least 1cm in general, to not platform and back seat be more flush. But a good thin top mattress on top of the air mattress is definitely key, air mattresses alone are not super comfortable and gets sticky with sweat etc. over the night. And overall, the back of the ID.4 can't be 100% flat all across because the back seat row don't fold completely flat, so my platform is actually still very slightly upward tilting, but I found it no problem at all, as it's in that end you sleep with the head.

But keep going and let's see if you don't get very satisfied with a good mattress setup.

 

[AllanHvass]

While definitely not perfect vs. the width of the ID.4 trunkt, how about just going with the Ikea options, e.g. a 53" memory foam mattress like KNAPSTAD Mattress topper, white, Full - IKEA . It's really about 5" too wide, and especially at the wheel trunks will struggle to not compress and fold too much, but definitely much better than a solution of trimming a larger mattress, and I suppose the fitting sizes will also be available then for the sheet and top cover.

 

[AllanHvass]

Hej Allan!
What are your experience with sleeping in and camping with the car?
Have you used the stow away room between the seats to place som cooking a.o. gear?
Måske på Dansk? Mvh.

Hey Schuller - I sold off the kit after a few usages, it was mostly a "can I do it" project. So can't say too much. However sleeping went really well, though overall you shouldn't be too claustrophic to sleep there, as total head space isn't too big. I did have the dog sleeping in the space between the seats, so there's definitely some space there to utilize.