Under drivers seat electrics, battery in front of wheel arch

[Pelicansquawk]

I have a diesel heater mounted under the van. And so far not utilising the space under the drivers seat. I can’t fit the 280ah battery, plus inverter etc under the seat, but was wondering if I put the inverter, charger, mpp etc under the seat, and the battery in front of the wheel arch, would this distance be too long? It’s a LWB t6.1

Tia

 

[roadtripper]

Presumably the rear wheel arch?

Generally that will likely be too long for the high current wires between the battery and the inverter - it can be done but they are going to be large to cope with voltage drop.

You'd be better off putting them together in the rear, in fact I'd put the MPPT there too especially if you have barn doors and use the tailgate hinges grommet to route the solar panel wires in.

 

[Pelicansquawk]

Presumably the rear wheel arch?

Generally that will likely be too long for the high current wires between the battery and the inverter - it can be done but they are going to be large to cope with voltage drop.

You'd be better off putting them together in the rear, in fact I'd put the MPPT there too especially if you have barn doors and use the tailgate hinges grommet to route the solar panel wires in.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I think the plan is now to put the battery just in front the wheel arch by the kitchen unit. I have a tailgate, but was going to run the solar cables through the existing grommit. My only issue is I feel like I'm not making great use of the space under the drivers side. I'm open to any ideas.

Thanks

 

[JoshB_]

You aren't going to run into volt drop issues in a van......

How big's your inverter?

I'll go for the middle ground and assume 2000W, that will draw about 170A, so you're looking at a 50mm cable minimum.
A copper stranded 50mm cable has a resistance of about 0.4ohm per kilometer. So given a max run of I'd say 2M, your cables resistance is 0.0008ohms.
If your inverter is on full chat, which lets face, will be rare, then (V=IR) you're going to "drop" 170x0.0008, 0.14 volts per run. Hardly worth worrying about!

 

[roadtripper]

It's a lot cheaper running 240v cable the length of the van than 50mm 12v

And the cable is easier to handle and route

That's why most folks put the inverter and battery close together

But yes with inverter cables the sizing is going to be dominated by the sustained current and heating risk rather than voltage drop. Voltage drop can be an issue with the length of charger leads as most smart chargers need accurate voltages to determine SoC, though many have the option of a second low current sensing wire to solve that.

 

[JoshB_]

Agreed, I’ve got my inverter next to my battery, which is situated under where the traditional kitchen would be.

My other concern with such a long run of inverter cabling is how susceptible to damage it then becomes.

 

[Pelicansquawk]

Thanks everyone for the reply. I think I’ll stick them all together near the wheel arch. Then the only long runs will be the 240v, the solar panel cables, and the cable from the starter battery to the b2b charger.