Great thread. Have added to favourites!

I’m just glad my shonky wood working skills have not made it into this thread.

Timing belt was ok to do, there was good instructions with the belt/tensioner kit. The one thing I didnt have was a tension gauge, but I’m happy enough doing without it.

strangely i have a tension meter for timing belts…..

did your kit come with a tension pully and a toothed pulley ? mines only came with the tension pulley – but was the one noted for my engine number – and the one with the tension pulley and the tooth pulley was for another engine number…..

might have to reevaluate my 188 quid insurance as well … docs came through today and having a read of them its a specialist policy – thats cool. How ever its basically a classic car policy but for motorhomes. I need one of my vehicles to be insured regularly (IE using and accruing NCB) will need to phone the lads up and speak to them as his is not what i was sold – i was asked if i had another car …. i said yes and i do …. but its a classic on a modified classics policy – which also accrues no NCB

Bollocks.

check rustymacs lovely wood work there with the speaker boxs. I repurposed his old shed 12v stereo system (now upgraded to garage with power) for the van … so its got 4 inch and 6 inch rounds stuck under the seats where you cant see em —-or retrieve em without pulling the double out….. and 2 regular speakers in the dash hooked up to some sony bluetooth ipod stereo thing with remote…. i just need to work out the wiring to have selective switched live – Ie ignition off it uses leisure battery or defaults to igniton live when ignitions on …. i was just going to wire it to the leisure battery but i dont want to have to turn the stereo off every time i get out the car. I think it can be done i just havent had time to work it out yet.

yep mine came with replacement toothed pulley, i think it was a gates one.
My stereo is off leisure battery only, i usually manage to turn it off, or turn the volume down at least.

You could have the switched and permament live both from the leisure battery, but have a relay in the switched live which is operated by the ignition. And then have a overide switch in parallel with the relay so you can power the stereo up whilst ignition is off.

That’s exactly how I will be wiring my radio, relay on the switched live, with an override switch to turn it on when parked up.

I also read about a technique where the relay latches on with key on, and only releases when a door is opened.

This van has daytime running lights and no accessory position on the ignition which is really annoying, you have to have the front sidelights on and all the dash lights on ready to start, just to listen to the radio!

Turns out the insurance couldn’t give a hoot. So long as I can prove I have access to drive multiple vehicles and that the ivecos not my only car life is good. I have to send them the docs to prove it. Equally they will stick my ncb on the camper and it will accrue but they cannot apply the ncb to the price as it wasn’t earned on a vehicle of this size and they have already taken into account my driving experience of smaller vehicles in the price.

Armed with that good news I popped out side and dealt with the nasty gouge in my wood work.

Got on it with the filler and stain pens and got something good enough for the girls I go with. It used to really draw your eye now you have to look for it.

So I came in for a cuppa

Also spooky is what I want a double pole change over relay and a single pole change over one-off switch

That once I trigger the over ride that should stay latched bias to the leisure battery until I turn off the override switch and engage the engine but there’s no risk of connecting the front battery to the rear if I forgot to turn of the over ride if I do it through the relay right ?

So you will take a permanent live off the leisure battery, and then behind the dash, break out a separate positive feed into the relay. The permanent and switched (relay out) then connect to the radio.

The existing vehicle switched live will head into the relay, and the permanent vehicle live will head into the over-ride switch. The output from the switch will re-join the switched live at the relay. Negative at the relay can also come off the existing radio loom.

The only risk I can see is if the relay breaks down and a large current tries to flow through it to equalise the vehicle and leisure batteries…I would just fuse everything as low as possible, presumably you could go for the smallest 1amp blade fuse for the vehicle feeds at the relay?

The only unknown is what else might get turned on when you feed 12v onto the switched live…might get some other items turn on. Hopefully nothing big like the air blower!

Edit: I just got a radio loom ‘extender’ off ebay, both male and female power and speaker plugs for less than £3. So I can just chop the lot in half and plug them in, leaving me with all the wires ready to solder up. Don’t need to start pulling pins out of the existing plugs 🙂

In my camper I had two changeover relays, one for each the permanent and switched lives to the radio. Normally radio was powered via the van battery / ignition. Then an override switch in the back triggered the changeover relays so that both permanent and switched lives switched over to the leisure battery. The override switch being in the back meant I could switch the radio on/off from the bed. Remote control on the radio was also handy but didn’t work from the bed as line of sight through the bulkhead window was required.

The leisure battery live behind the dash came from the split charge relay that I handily located in the engine bay next to the van battery right by a big cable grommet to behind the dash. The radio change over relays went under the dash behind the removable glove box compartment.

My head hurts.

Did I mention I hate electric wizArdry.

I think i need to buy rustymac some beer and sit down on a night and work it out. He speaks fluent electric. I’m scratching round in the dirt.

@spooky_b329 & mark90 Any of you lads have a wiring diagram for this?

I’m of the KISS philosophy and that as the stereo can be switched on or off by both the button on it and off by removal of the face plate or the button on the remote that this is over complicating things.

To save the start battery the easy option is to just wire it to the leisure battery.

Yep, my old one was wired to the leisure and I didn’t bother with a relay as the head unit had an auto off after 1 hour.

I’m gonna get a rare ride on the bike in a minute but I’ll try and remember to draw up a wiring diagram for it this evening.

VB = Van battery
LB = Leisure battery
IS = Ignition switch
RS = Rear radio switch, ie the switch to switch the radio over to leisure battery power

87a is the normally closed relay connection (to terminal 30)
87 is the switched relay connection (to terminal 30)

Split charge relay not show, just the radio switching relays.

I *think* it’s right trying not to be distracted by arguing kids.

It could be described as over complicating things, but I’m quite comfortable with wiring so was happy to do it for my convenience. Only needed to run one small switching wire from the rear to the relays in the dash, everything else was picked up in the dash or engine bay.

So with Marks, I’d be slightly concerned that during switching, you could either connect both batteries momentarily, or, you could lose all your radio settings/presets during switch over.

This is what I plan with mine…radio always fed from the leisure, but senses the ignition position for auto on/off, and over-ride to allow use with key out of the ignition.

The vehicle and leisure batteries are connected via the split charge/battery to battery charger during driving, so I don’t see a benefit to having the radio operate from the vehicle battery.

Edit: The switched feed on the leisure side can run ‘backwards’ to a reversing camera, this is needed as if you leave the camera wired to the vehicle loom, it could result in the two batteries connecting through it (or the radio), if you connect it directly to your leisure battery, it will always be powered and sip precious amps.

In practice I never had any issues with mine. It was all properly fused too, not shown. I like your solution, simpler. Though I wanted to be able to run without the leisure batteries if necessary, not sure why as it never happened to be the case.

I did actually drive my old van a few times with no leisure batteries as I removed them during a refit. The leisure battery leads were disconnected (and taped up) and the feeds to the main fusebox were still connected, so as long as the split charge was connected, the radio worked 🙂 Wasn’t planned but very convenient :d

cheers folks , i think ive got my head round spookys diagram and it really doesnt involve much more work than firing a lead up for the leisure battery.

I need to fire one up from the vehicle battery also triggered by the switched live which will also live under the glove box and will power my 4 cab usb outlets and ill fire the reversing camera over onto that as well most likely and that will leave only the radio on this circuit.

So you’re going to run an additional vehicle feed for the USBs, and you’ll need to use a second relay, operated from the radio switched live, to make these ignition controlled.

I would keep the reversing cam on the leisure side, otherwise you have the camera connected to the vehicle feed for power, and a potential path to the leisure feed due to the video cable running back to the head unit. (sorry, this is irrelevant if you have a standalone camera screen which I think you do…my camera feeds into a double din head unit.)

I was going to run a beefed up feed from the leisure and then split it out into separate feeds to radio, dashcam and 12v sockets. Dashcam will run all the time unless I unplug it, as the solar will easily keep up with it. I have one in the work van and it only gets turned off when I’m on holiday.

Interesting! When my broken ankle gets better I can get to work on mine.
88k miles, medium wheel base sprinter, with some rust spots, inside is nearly done.
https://goo.gl/photos/AaAQenGeevVjfvhM6

Mine has a Airtronic D2 diesel heater that needs some attention!

Yeah I know I need a second relay I understood how to wire that up but I was barking up entirely the wrong tree for the stereo.

Your drawing has helped immensely

I do have a separate headunit and switch for the reversing cam. I didn’t want it off the reverse switch.

Woo and indeed hoo

Dash light disco is fixed.

Sorted the door switch as above and rewired all the pad depth sensors .

Lights all off.

Also gave it full filters and fluids service. Quite an easy job thanks to its self priming electric primary fuel pump 🙂

New low level lights in run off a switch direct from leisure battery to allow you to light up to get in to the power management system without falling over all the stuff that’s fallen out the cupboards 🙂

The seats are an acquired taste. Personally i hate them and will probably throw a nice tasteful tartan travel rug over them when i find one.

All the roofs back up the lights wired back in and everything’s working as it should.even the power aerial – and i dinnae even have a telly, the mattress is back in. Started getting it stocked up with plates and cups etc. First trip next weekend over to laggan area 🙂

There’s a lady stowaway/hostage in your van. You ganna make use of her? 🙂

That’s Mrs tr. Despite having had it for 3 weeks that’s the first time she’s actually been able to climb up to the bed.

The ladder it came with wasn’t fit for **** all.

Found some appropriate bedding in asda today.

So we got to use it this weekend.

Stayed at loch garten on Friday night then down to laggan on Saturday

It must be a logarithmic gauge- although it did suck up 130quid of BP ultimate before i went (don’t normally run that just thought I’d do the first tank on it to give the injectors a clean.)

What surprised me most is dispute its size it’s much less stressful to drive than the 25ft coach-built i hired once. It’s narrow enough to fit down b roads without panicin every time you see a car. The only time you really have to worry is in reverse or turning tight junctions- need to swing the front out a bit.

I’m sold

I’m sold too. Mrs_oab wants a camper, and im keen to go normal van not coach built. Having driven lwb high roof transits for years, my experience is like yours – much easier than coach built.

Nice. That’s what having a camper van is all about.

one slight hickup at the weekend was we ran out of juice and that was even being miserly … only had the fridge on 12v when the vehicle was running/driving and being minimal with all else. Anything more than one light on caused it to have a fit.

the 75ah leisure battery wasnt exactly at full capacity – 60% according to my smart charger and that was post battery recovery charge session…..

thats the old battery up front with the new one behind getting a pre fitting balance charge to stop them equalising when connected. together

so i splashed out on a pair of 115ah batteries and hooked them up in parallel as after looking at hooking the fridge up to gas moutning the vents is going to be a mare due to the door rail – then the door shielding the vents when open. So solar and big batteries it is.

Solar install in may but for now a pair of big batteries JUST fits in where the old ones were 😀

and no longer do i have a black out when ever the taps turned on and the pump kicks in or the fridge is on or the heater comes on(it was -1 on friday night)

i think i actually turned them 90 degrees since that photo as the terminal clamps went on better,

bit of a tight squeeze i did actually do some CAD yesterday before ordering to make sure they would fit. Still need to screw down the securing brackets. Whole area under those seats is vented to atmos under the van which doubles as a drain as thats also the watertank incase of a leak.

The van also came with 5 keys to operate it …. great – except that it was 1 key for pretty much each barrel on the van. so although i got the central locking and that pretty much null and voided the issue It annoyed me and i still had to carry at least 2 keys and 3 if i wanted to fill up with fuel……

so i got on ebay and bought a set of 6 lock cylinders and an ignition barrel which came with 2 “dumb” key blanks . I also bought 3 iveco central locking fob blanks and had the dumb key pattern copied over.

I moved the electronic gubbins over to the good keys and swapped all the cylinders over – 1 in each door – one in the fuel cap and one in the glove box. plus changed the ignition barrel and we are back operating off one key for everything so i now have 2 fully functioning keys as per factory and 3 dumb no electronics keys which will be good for if we go swimming/kayaking/mtbing in the pishing rain…..

minor detail for most but something im pretty hot on now after getting locked out of a vehicle i only had one key for (but not enough to pay dealer prices to sort it …..) total cost of rekeying the whole car was 80 quid.

some little dash touches i retrieved from my little white van when it sold last week – also stole the floor mats from it too since the guy knocked me down another 150 quid from what i thought was an already fair price ….. how ever caught me in a rush as i go back to work next week so needed/wanted it off the drive and it sitting for another month and half would have meant it lost more than 150 quid in value even in expiring mot.

hooking the fridge up to gas mounting the vents

2/3 way absorption fridges do use a lot of power on 12V. Compressor fridges are much much more frugal with power. Though they are also much more spendy to buy.

I could run for 3 days with a battery bank the same size as yours with no need to recharge. Lights, radio, water pump the only other draws.

More reading and maths says stuff the 12v .

Run the 12v through an inverter an use the 240 it’ll draw a fraction of the amps even accounting for inverter inefficiency i should still be quids in over running 12v biggest benefit being the 240 has a cycling thermometer inline. The 12v just goes on and off.

Running it off gas isn’t out of this realm i just need to recess the vents into the body work which is more fab work to do neatly than i have time for right now.

Came to a similar conclusion with fridges… the modern 240V A+ (and A++) fridges are way more efficient than the expensive 12v ones, so run an inverter and you’re away.

On top of that, if you’re running from solar, you get the power when you most need it.

Regarding Solar, if you’re thinking of semi flexible panels, it’s worth checking as I found that 80w ones actually work out cheaper per watt than 100w ones and being smaller, are easier to find spaces around rooflights etc to mount.

That said, I’ve just checked ebay to try and give you a link and the panels I managed to get for £65 a pop are now closer to £85 a pop, so maybe I got lucky.

We were up at the Gisburn PMBA Enduro at the weekend, arrived Friday and left Sunday evening. The solar panel was a god send. The rain was torrential all the time but the panel kept the battery well topped up. The diesel heater and fan was running all the time. Fridge was running on gas.

I was planning to fit 1*100 watt panel between my sky lights and that leaves room for a second if so needed 80 watts makes it abut tught.

How ever I’m not changing the fridge as that means major interior mods to the units as almost all compressor fridges are quite a bit bigger. Will bear it in mind next time i build 🙂

Next step currently will be to get the water pump and timing belt changed and when I’m doing the solar in a couple month i will also be changing the split charge system as it’s no where near man enough which probably caused my issues with the fridge when the engines running…..Was still draining leisure battery with the engine running.

The front to back cables are only 2.5mm^2 which will be causing a serious voltage drop. Should be 16mm^2 + especially more now with the big batteries which could draw alot of current after being parked up for a bit.

If you’ve got the cash go for one of these instead of split charge, much better and actually a proper multistage charger

Battery to Battery Chargers (12V-12V 50A input) or (12V-24V 50A input) 30 Days Warranty Only

I run one of these plus have 2x100w solar and 2x110ah batteries. Pretty much never run out of power. I do have a 12v compressor fridge though. in summer the panels pretty much keep up with the fridge use on their own.

Yeah more chance of me changing the fridge than one of them happening.

But the ring rscdc30 battery to battery charger might as it can also used in place of the solar controller.

I think spooky has one of those in his daily.

I guess modern vans need that set up anyway or the canbus/smart alternator goes crazy

Maybe silly question, but do you find you really need to run a fridge? Occasionally in midsummer it might get a bit warm but not often. It’s not like anyone takes one bike-packing.

I’d assume if you were away for multiple days in a van then a fridge allows more options for food. Bikepacking (or touring as it really is) limits what you can carry so a fridge isn’t practical…with a van that has space and carrying capacity it makes more sense and allows far more days away before resupplying is required.

It’s nice when your in France not to have to buy milk and butter daily. It’s also nice to have a cool post ride beer instead of having to run down the shop buy em and drink em in one hit because once they go warm they won’t cool down again.

And like dick says. If I’ve got the space and the fridge came with the van I’m gonna use it.

Never had one before mind. And when bike packing my diets different. This things more a home from home.

Think of it as a disagreement with holiday homes taking homes away from the locals and empty houses don’t spend money meaning community’s suffer. At least here i spread my custom around lots of areas(areas i may not have visited if i had to pay for accommodation before anyone points out the obvious non spend) and put money into the area via shops/cafes/pubs/restaurants/campsites/attractions while I’m there