Wiring Help please

[Steve Mo]

Hi all.
I'm about to start sorting out the van for a trip to France and decided some light and heat would be a grand idea. Based on this I want a very simple set up, some lights and a couple of USBs for the phone charging - See attached diagram. I've reached out to Renogy for some assistance but they're a bit slower than expected.
My intention is to have the leisure battery under the drivers seat along with the 20A DC to DC charger.
This is my first stab at anything like this so any advice from the forum would be massively appreciated. Thanks in advance and I look forward to your combined input. Many thanks, Steve.

 

[roadtripper]

Some initial quick thoughts

LiFePo is now cheap enough that I wouldn't fit AGM, for the effort and expense put in LiFePo will be smaller, lighter and higher capacity.

You probably want to fuse the supply cable from the starter at both ends, slightly larger at the starter end. It's less critical when you don't have to worry about a charge relay sticking but it's easier to isolate and replace in the van rather than under the battery (if using the traditional feed) or the plate fuse (if a 6.1)

Your ground can go via cable or via chassis earth, just whatever is logistically easier. A transporter is non isolated however so you'd normally ground to the chassis on the leisure side as well, currently the diagram shows it as isolated meaning you have to run return grounds on each circuit.

You're dropping to smaller cables on your circuits from the switch panel but relying on a single 15A fuse that feeds it. That's not a good idea for two reasons, you should fuse to protect each size of cable appropriately and right now any fault will kill the whole panel and hence all the lights, fuse each light circuit and a fault is more likely to leave some working rather than plunging you into darkness.

I'd fuse the supply from the DC-DC to the bus bar as well. I prefer any source to be fused and that also gives a point of isolation when doing maintenance.

 

[Steve Mo]

Some initial quick thoughts

LiFePo is now cheap enough that I wouldn't fit AGM, for the effort and expense put in LiFePo will be smaller, lighter and higher capacity.

You probably want to fuse the supply cable from the starter at both ends, slightly larger at the starter end. It's less critical when you don't have to worry about a charge relay sticking but it's easier to isolate and replace in the van rather than under the battery (if using the traditional feed) or the plate fuse (if a 6.1)

Your ground can go via cable or via chassis earth, just whatever is logistically easier. A transporter is non isolated however so you'd normally ground to the chassis on the leisure side as well, currently the diagram shows it as isolated meaning you have to run return grounds on each circuit.

You're dropping to smaller cables on your circuits from the switch panel but relying on a single 15A fuse that feeds it. That's not a good idea for two reasons, you should fuse to protect each size of cable appropriately and right now any fault will kill the whole panel and hence all the lights, fuse each light circuit and a fault is more likely to leave some working rather than plunging you into darkness.

I'd fuse the supply from the DC-DC to the bus bar as well. I prefer any source to be fused and that also gives a point of isolation when doing maintenance.

Hi Roadtripper.
Firstly, many thanks for taking the time to have a look and pitch in - its really appreciated. I agree wholeheartedly that the LiFePo is the way ahead but for now I'll have to make do with the AGM. I've added in the fuses at the switch panel and dropped in the additional fuses as suggested. The earthing is now in place but if you have a spare minute I'd sure appreciate it if you could cast an eye over the amended Diagram (Wiring Draft Version 2.0).

 

[Deaky]

I would add an additional fuse between the starter battery and DCDC charger, one fuse each end.

 

[roadtripper]

I'd agree with Deaky and still advise the fuse on the other end of the feed from the starter.

You've added an isolation switch for the switch panel I'm not sure you need. If you just want to isolate the panel occasionally then you can just pull the 15A fuse that feeds it. However if you have unstitched USB sockets and want to be able to turn off the panel to stop that parasitic load then that makes sense - though I'd rather have them explicitly switched so your lighting remains available.

 

[Steve Mo]

I would add an additional fuse between the starter battery and DCDC charger, one fuse each end.

Thanks Deakey. I'll drop that into the diagram and use that as the plan for wiring up the van. Appreciate the help mate, many thanks.

 

[Steve Mo]

I'd agree with Deaky and still advise the fuse on the other end of the feed from the starter.

You've added an isolation switch for the switch panel I'm not sure you need. If you just want to isolate the panel occasionally then you can just pull the 15A fuse that feeds it. However if you have unstitched USB sockets and want to be able to turn off the panel to stop that parasitic load then that makes sense - though I'd rather have them explicitly switched so your lighting remains available.

Again many thanks Roadtripper for all of your help. I've taken on board the input from Deakey and added that into the plan. All being well I'll kick off the wiring next week. Very best of regards. Steve.