Badjamins van conversion

Additionally, I have carped on quite often that the heat dissipation fins on the back of B2B/MPPT's needs to be clear for as much airflow as possible so to be clear the wooden batten I have secured to only goes as low as indicated below.

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I would imagine the up currents it produces may amplify my flatulations...
You better hope they don’t ignite them :rofl:
 
Did you ever figure out where the ignition wire goes? I have the same Renogy charger and not fitted the wire, seems to be working fine.
 
Ign wire goes in the renogy

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Then, I'm told the wire goes under van floor to fuse box and red piggy backs onto a fuse. Black just goes to earth/neg somewhere...

Don't come here for technicals hehe
 
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I routed my ignition wire to a fuse in the centre column and roughly in the centre of the column. I can’t give you a location picture, as the wife is away in the van. This is the fuse board under the gear stick.
That's where I'm goin. I already have a piggy back fuse in there for the rearview mirror cam.

It may be a better idea to not post a pic with your fuse Screenshot_20250731_194026_Google.webploc. Just in case my van is different
 
Tomorrow I'm starting the slow job of putting rear quarter panel in and tall unit so as to mark out orientation and position for control panel, fuse board and ceiling lights, then whip it all out and decarpetify and remove part of insulation to neaten up my conduit route in rear quarter. Also drilling out 16mm positive cable hole and adding a gland and conduit for that.
 
Okay trimmed back carpet

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Trimmed channels in insulation so rear quarter panel not bowing out

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I drilled out the live feed access hole we drilled with the step drill bit. Wasn't scary in the slightest. Have installed a gland to protect cable

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Just put ceiling panel back in and rear quarter panel so I can mark out the footprint of tall unit on ceiling and also mark a rough location for fuse board.

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Bit stuck now. CBA...
 
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Okay I'm confused. My control unit is fused in line from each of the 5 switches... no fuses on 12v or usb's though.

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Do I wire the pos and neg for the control unit into my fuse board? That'd pretty much mean the fuse board only needed one connection so may as well have been an in line fuse instead of a board...

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I've decided to use the in line fuses on the control panel I bought. I will fuse the feed to the control unit via a small 6 way fuse board allowing me to retain the 16mm feed from Leisure battery and the 10mm negative to chassis. The fuse for the whole control unit will be big. Two x 2.1A usb sockets I can work out but I dunno how to figure what ampage the 12v lighter socket is... am stopping now til saturday though so plenty of time to overthink it
 
but I dunno how to figure what ampage the 12v lighter socket is
They are normally 8A max’ as far as I’m aware but check the socket for ratings. Obviously the cabling and connectors need to be at least able to carry the same.
 
For that fuse panel yes, just connect the pos and neg. But check all those in-line fuses as you will have to change some as they will probs all be 5A.
But we’ve run 16mm2 for the fuse panel so you may as well connect the fuse even if you use it as a big busbar.
But keeping the fuse box gives you the option to add unswitched items at a later date, such as wiring your lights up with a switch near the sliding door, or having reading lights in the rear that have their own individual switches.
Also for cupboard neatness you could get rid of all those wires and in-line fuses at the rear of the switch panel and just run the lives back to the fuse box in a nice little bit of black conduit. Then pop the fuses in the fuse box. Much easier to see your fuses then and much easier to change the fuses.
 
For that fuse panel yes, just connect the pos and neg. But check all those in-line fuses as you will have to change some as they will probs all be 5A.
But we’ve run 16mm2 for the fuse panel so you may as well connect the fuse even if you use it as a big busbar.
But keeping the fuse box gives you the option to add unswitched items at a later date, such as wiring your lights up with a switch near the sliding door, or having reading lights in the rear that have their own individual switches.
Also for cupboard neatness you could get rid of all those wires and in-line fuses at the rear of the switch panel and just run the lives back to the fuse box in a nice little bit of black conduit. Then pop the fuses in the fuse box. Much easier to see your fuses then and much easier to change the fuses.

Yeah, I agree that losing the inlines and having it wired to the fuseboard would make it more low profile and aesthetically pleasing.

I've sent the 12 gang fuseboard back and am gettin a slim 6 gang and will see how it is for space and wiring on Sat. I'll be making a cover to hide it all anyway.

Can't wait to get this bit done now. The ceiling lights I bought were carp so need to order different ones.

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Progress with blood and sweat.

Routed in ac charger plug to unit, and the EHU cable. B pillar bit me. Got seat out and installed battery tray with some minor alterations. Pretty good. Done some connections. More to come.

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I swear there was no insulation tape nearby so had to make do with first aid kit as it was within reach (i was fading fast)

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One of the velcro straps from our matress purchase 5 years ago that i refused to chuck as it might come in useful, came in useful

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Finally crawled to some insulation tape and sorted the wound

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More this weekend!
 
Progress with blood and sweat.

Routed in ac charger plug to unit, and the EHU cable. B pillar bit me. Got seat out and installed battery tray with some minor alterations. Pretty good. Done some connections. More to come.

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I swear there was no insulation tape nearby so had to make do with first aid kit as it was within reach (i was fading fast)

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One of the velcro straps from our matress purchase 5 years ago that i refused to chuck as it might come in useful, came in useful

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Finally crawled to some insulation tape and sorted the wound

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More this weekend!
Poor love! The underseat stuff had me when I did it, claret everywhere! Stanley was sharp! Didn't notice I had a cut! Really is blood sweat and tears!
 
I have mentioned this before but still, I'm not sure if I wanna route solar cable all the way to my seatbase to go in the MPPT on my renogy B2B/MPPT

I'm thinkin of getting a cheap panel for the roof (not pop top) and routing a cable down to the cupboard to my ecoflow... whilst the rear is stripped out...

Am skint so won't be getting a pop top any time soon and it's unlikely I will be off gridding any time in the next year. I have a 100w solar suitcase that I can plug in to the ecoflow but I want a passive set up that is always there that will keep the ecoflow full without me having to lug a suitcase panel out every time there's a gap in the clouds

I can use that to charge leisure battery in a pinch but I doubt I will drain much from the leisure battery with what I'll be using (no inverter)

I will mostly use eco flow for CPAP machine and maybe a kettle boil.

Advice and feedback if anyone can be @rsed
 
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Have you decided how you’re getting through the roof to the inside from the panel? That to me seems to be the biggest decision and effort.

Once you’re inside you could have a temporary cable set up depending on how much you want to do. You could run down to an ecoflow for now but still allow the option of extending the cables to the seat base in future.
 
Have you decided how you’re getting through the roof to the inside from the panel? That to me seems to be the biggest decision and effort.

Once you’re inside you could have a temporary cable set up depending on how much you want to do. You could run down to an ecoflow for now but still allow the option of extending the cables to the seat base in future.

Well I was gonna get a solar panel with a hidden out feed for the cables and just drill through the roof and seal it on there. When I eventually get a pop top it can potentially be retrieved with fishwire and be re installed or upgraded.

I have the cable for my suitcase that's propably long enough to route in prep and can be left in the roof void for now. Cable should drop down through the top of the unit from ceiling panel and be clipped in all neat I reckon. Should be relatively easy... in my mind
 
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