The van is purchased and I am about to start on the project but am completely confused by the 12v/240v options.
Any advice or good websites would be great.
Some questions:
-what cable for 12v?
-What strength leisure battery?
-Can I buy these at the local electrical suppliers?
Thanks in advance
Get yourself over to [url=www.vwt4forum.co.uk]www.vwt4forum.co.uk[/url] and look for a guy called upspex, does camper van electric, sells all the stuff you need and knows his stuff.
But to answer briefly
- From your split charge relay to your LB it will need to be 16mm SQ., then once fused from a distribution unit it depends on what its feeding
- 100Ah seems about the standard
- Probably not, a proper LB is different to a starter battery
I used an 80Ah battery via a zig unit and with gas water heater,fridge and hob/oven it lasted a week just running lights, propex heater and water pump if parked up
Also had a 12in B&W TV for news/weather every night for about 15 minutes
Charged when we drove and the fridge was 12v when moving too, but we tended to stop in one place quite a bit
I designed the electrical system myself and rely on separate components rather than one 'box of tricks' read this http://deepredmotorhome.com/electrics.html mine is based on this system with a few alterations to suit my needs.
I have twin 110a/h batteries charged via a Sterling battery 2 battery 50a charger, this allows a proper 4 stage charge of the batteries whilst the engine is running to keep them in top condition.
The batteries feed a fused and switched control panel which in turn powers all the 12v items in the van, it also supplies a small inverter in case 240v power is needed when not hooked up.
I have an Indel B top loading compressor fridge which draws very few amps, all the lights are LED bulbs which pull less than 1a each. I can run for 5-6 days with out any hook up or engine starting to top up. If I run the TV or stereo a lot then it knocks down the power quite quickly but the sterling system charges the batts so fast that half an hour or running the engine will get a lot of power back in.
Size the cable to suit whatever application you decide to use, there is no right and wrong cable size for every system but I would always over cable and fuse down to lower than the cable tolerance if in doubt.
I get most of my stuff online as it's much cheaper than local places.
brilliant as always.
Will look on Vw forum but like the sound of the zig unit as it sounds simple!
Think about your power requirements. Will you use something like an Eberspacher for blown air heating? They can draw a bit of current. TV? Lighting? Go LED for best efficiency.
We run two 120Ah leisure batteries, but we spend weeks on the road, never with hookup. We "wildcamp" most weekends, throughout the winter in Scotland. When it's dark at 4pm, and we have 1 year old nipper, we need the 'van to be warm and cosy, and we watch quite a few DVDs. On series 5 of the West Wing at the mo'.
EDIT: Aim for twice as many Ah as you think you'll need, as you should only ever drain the batteries to max half capacity as you'll knacker them.
EDIT2: Leisure batteries from Ebay.
The best bit of kit in my system without doubt is the NASA BM1 battery monitor, tells me exactly the status of the batts all of the time, shows which appliances are drawing what power and how long the batteries will last etc...
Please please please make sure you fuse the split charge feed at both ends. You need a 60/80/100A fuse at the vehicle battery end and the same size fuse at the leisure battery end.
You can never have too much protection in a circuit.
Also, for the 240V circuit, make sure you use an RCD (a small home/garage consumer unit is ideal) and connect the earth to the camper body/chassis. Again, make sure overcurrent protection is designed in.