FALCON'S Aventuremobile conversion thread.

[FALCON]

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM


I believe I have almost all the parts I will need. There are just a couple more small things I have to get and then I will get started with the installation.

I have started on a couple things already:
- I installed the roof racks
- I built a frames to hold the solar panels

I’ve done so much reading that once I get to the actual installation I sure hope I feel like I generally know what I’m doing




CURTAINS


I need three types of covers:
- A cover for the front of the bike box
- A cover to block the view from the front of the van
- Window covers

I got started on the bike box and front curtains last weekend. I finished the bike box cover. I went to a fabric store and bought some black fabric that doesn’t let any light through (for the front curtain), and some more visually appealing brown fabric (for the bike box cover and the side of the front curtain that faces back into the living area)

Here is the bike box that I wanted to cover up:

For this cover, I just cut the brown fabric into the rough size needed, hemmed the edges and trimmed it down to the right size, and then installed snaps.

The snaps on the wood are all on the sides facing the front of the van. Here you can see how the snaps on the left/back side of the box work:

I have most of the sewing down for the front curtain so the next step is to start installing with snaps and trim some parts of it. I think the fabric I used is overkill and it is quite heavy and bulky for what it is. I might try to make this serve a second purpose of an awning. Then all I would need are snaps at the top of the van and some poles to hold up the other ends. I imagine the blackout fabric is waterproof. It seems to have some kind of coating on one side of it. But the side facing out looks like it would absorb and hold some water. So I’ll have to consider if it would actually work. Or get out the garden hose and test it some day.

I’ve been rolling around how to do the window covers, considering either your standard cloth pieces that I’ll probably hold in place with snaps (or if not that, magnets), or using roll-down blinds (the ones that you pull down like a projection screen). I’m still not sure which I will do, but I’m leaning towards just using cloth right now.

I’m getting anxious to finish the van and move on to selling my house. I made a list of what I really need to do to have the van good enough for now. I also made a list of potential improvements that I could do some later day. The van list is getting pretty short. Basically:
- Install electrical system
- Make curtains and window covers
- Get something to keep the drawers and cupboard doors closed

 

[masterplumber]

Looking good, keep plugging away and you'll get it done.

 

[Cammalu]

I really love how light and bright and clean looking it all is!

 

[ascii_man]

Amazing thread!

Might want to stop using THE CLUB, though:
http://freakonomics.com/2010/06/08/what-car-thieves-think-of-the-club/

 

[ascii_man]

Many years ago, I thought of getting a hitch-mounted bike carrier for my car; it seemed like removing the tires to get it in back was fairly time-consuming. What were some of the considerations which led you to choose an indoor bike garage? Was it mostly due to theft concerns (I see you have THE CLUB and a very nice bike)? How would you accommodate a second bike if you wanted to travel with someone?

(In my case, I probably will have a regular-length van, so space will be even more at a premium for me)

 

[FALCON]

huh.. thanks for the heads up about the club.

The bike being in the van is mainly for theft prevention. My bike is worth enough that I want to reduce the risk of someone stealing it. I also just have a personal preference of transporting bikes inside a vehicle rather than outside whenever reasonably possible. It wouldn't be too crazy hard to replace the bike if it was stolen. It would cost a couple thousand. (This is quite a nice bike but it is 12 years old. The guy that I bought it from told me he paid $12k for the bike and two pairs of racing wheels)

If someone is traveling with me either:
- They will not be bringing a bike. (and I may leave my bike with family to free up space for other things)
- They will bring along a hitch-mount carrier.

 

[FALCON]

FRONT CURTAIN
I finished a curtain to divide the back area of the van from the front. I expect to use this only when I’m in cities. I made it out of some black fabric that doesn’t let any light through for the front side, and some brown fabric that I think looks better for the back side. The black will face the front of the van. I installed it using a bunch of snaps. I already had holes along the roof where I’d put in screws to hold up the plastic ceiling sheets. So I just added one side of the snaps to all of those screws, and then added snaps for the sides of the curtain also.

Some learnings:
- This took a LOT of sewing. If I was doing it again I might just use only the black fabric and not worry about the back side being a different color
- It ended up very thick and heavy. I sewed heavy duty hems and put a lot of stitches to hold it together. It seems very rugged.

Because it’s so big and rugged, I want to also use it for at least one other function. The main thing I’m hoping for is to use it as an awning. I would just need to add something to secure it to the roof rack (maybe half of snaps since I already have the snaps on the curtain) and a way to attach the other side to some poles. The black fabric appears totally waterproof, except that the waterproof side is on the inside edge, so the side facing outward could get a bit wet. After going through making it, if I were to do it a gain I would give serious consideration to just buying a black tarp and using that for both the front curtain and for an awning.

I need to check this in the dark to see how much light you can see from the front of the van. There will definitely be some getting through, but I think it may not be as bad as this picture makes it look. (notice that outside the window is very overexposed, so the light coming through is exaggerated in this picture. But there is definitely some room for light to get through. In the future, I might add some more fabric between the bolts that will sort of puff up and fill in those gaps where light gets through.

The front portion of the side window is not covered by the bike box. Instead of running the curtain all the way to the driver side of the van, I turned it backwards to the front side of the bike box. This way I don’t have to reach in as far to secure the curtain.

The fabric was not big enough to make it all in one piece, so I had to sew two pieces together. The stores I went to did not have any black nylon (high strength) thread, so I used this brown instead.

Folded up. It’s fairly bulky. About the size of a small/medium watermelon.

Here it is stored behind the driver’s seat. Below it is a camera tripod and the van’s jack. And a machete (I probably won’t keep that in the van, but I expect I’ll have a hatchet and bear spray.)

 

[FALCON]

ROOF RACK AND ARRAY FRAME


I repainted the roof white. This is it with the primer on it.

Then I made a frame to hold the array. I took inspiration from GotSmart (https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Renogy-rooftop-installation-using-racks). I made it using Angle aluminum stock. The aluminum is 1/8” thick with 1.25” edges. 1.5” edges would work better for these Renogy panels. I was thinking that 1.5” would create a lip that goes up above the panel, but now that I’ve made these, I think 1.5” would be right about flush with the top of the panel frames.

I have four 100w panels to use, plus a vent fan already in the roof. I have to put three panels together in front of the fan, and one panel behind it. This picture shows the frame for the single panel. I drilled holes through the side and bottom of the panel frame and bolted it up. The panels are going to have their short sides towards the sides of the van. So the frame will be holding up the short sides of the panels.

Here are the three panels in a frame. I also bolted the panels together along the long edges. It's a little hard to see - the frames are along all the short sides of the panels and extend about 3" past them - just barely enough space for the u-bolts that I'm using to attach the frame to the roof rack bars.

Here are all the frame pieces in place. Note that I don't have the width of the frame bars set up for the actual panel widths. I just threw them up there. There is also another bar that is in the opposite orientation of the outer frame. That bar is there to run the panel cables along to a combiner box. I'm a little bit worried that the frame may be a bit weak for the three panels. I should've tested it out some inside before putting the frame up on the roof. The extra bar for the cables will help out. I think it will be ok. We'll see. If it's not quite enough it would be easy to add a second bar facing downwards (fourth bar in total).

The roof racks I have are the really cheap ones (like $50-$60 for two bars). Each “bar” consists of a larger bar coming from one side, and a small bar from the other side. The smaller bar goes inside the larger one and then you drill a hole through both of them and put a bolt through. After I installed them the first time, one of the bars rattled when going over bumps. So I re-drilled all the holes and made it so the bars are in tension and don’t rattle at all any more.

I’m waiting on some MC4 terminals and Myers hubs and CGBs to come in the mail. Once I have all those, I’ll be ready to install the panels. I’ve also started drawing out the component layout in my electrical area inside the van.

 

[FALCON]

CURTAINS

I have the curtains 97% finished. You already saw the bike box cover and the curtain to divide the front of the van from the back. For those I used some brown fabric that looks a lot like burlap, and some black fabric that is really rugged and had a layer that blocked all light. When I went back to the fabric store to get more of the black fabric, the next bolt they had was different. It no longer had the layer that blocked light. So instead I bought some black-out fabric that is white, and some black fabric to put on the sides facing outward. This isn’t a great way to make them because the white fabric gets dirty too easy.

As always, I started out doing a mediocre job and by the end I learned how to do it much better. I also messed up and sewed the black-out fabric on backwards for one of the first covers. (it’s the one where the white fabric is darker than the others). I used all the fabric and didn’t have any left over to redo it.

From the outside, nearly all light is blocked. There are a couple places where some light gets through if you look at it from the right angle. These are the top of the front curtain (which is shown in one of the pictures) and the first window cover I installed. I’ll probably redo the snaps on the window cover and add more snaps or more fabric to the front curtain.

I used a LOT of snaps. Probably way more than what is actually needed. I kept thinking I should use fewer and then I still went ahead and used a lot. I had to buy snaps from a few different Wal-Marts and also ordered some online.

View from the back

View from the front

This one also shows how the desk setup works. I move the set of drawers out of the way and position the bucket with the airplane neck pillow as a seat rest. It is quite comfortable.

View from the outside, with the lights still on inside the van:

View through the passenger window, where you can see some light leaking through above the front curtain

Also, I set up these bungee cords to hold the drawers in place and closed while driving. I was hoping for a more visually appealing solution - the airplane quarter turn retainers - but they were way too expensive and I just wanted to get this part done. The cords work great and are easy use. I put in screw eyes on the floor and desk to hook the bungee cords into.

 

[FALCON]

Fridge Cable

I set up the cable for the refrigerator. I used the factory DC cable and cut it in half. I installed Anderson Powerpole connectors on one end of the half of the cable that plugs into the fridge. I had to run this cable a long ways to get from my fridge to the electrical area, so I used 6AWG cable. The cable goes through my food cabinet and out under the bed, then along the bottom side of the bed to the other side of the van, then through the back of the compartments that have the plastic drawers and into the electrical area.

This cable is the remaining part of the original fridge DC cord.It is plugged into the fridge through a hole in the cabinet wall. (there are also holes for the fridge vent). It will be a bit annoying to have the cable inside the cabinet like this. I messed up and cut the 6AWG cables too short so I couldn’t run it the way I wanted without cutting a new length of cable. I would’ve ran this cable up the left cabinet wall and along the top and back down the right wall.

After it goes through the other cabinet wall, there are the Power Pole connections to the 6AWG cables. I used some metal strap bars I had to make a bracket to hold the powerless in place against the outside of the cabinet.

I’m including this picture just so you can see the front edge of the bed. The cables run along the bottom of the bed, close to the front. I drilled holes through the vertical bed support that’s in the middle so the cables go through it. I can still fit four of those rubbermaid under the bed, they just can’t go as far forward as before.

Then the cable comes up through the bed and then through the back wall of the compartments on the other side of the van. (The drawers still fit in just the same as before)

… and along that wall to the electrical compartment.

 

[highdesertranger]

very cool. is it cold? lol I see the heater is on. highdesertranger

 

[FALCON]

ARRAY WIRING

I wired up the array combiner box with the array still down in my basement. This was the first crimping I ever did. I practiced by making some crimps and sawing them off with a hacksaw to inspect them and that helped me get an idea of how much compression it takes to sort of cold weld the cable strands together. (I don’t know if cold weld is the right term but I mean to make them look like a solid piece of metal)

What I used:
- A combiner box (I used this: http://www.amsolar.com/home/amr/page_34_16/refrigerator_vent_c-box.html). If I was doing this again I’d look for something (much) cheaper, and that has the box holes aligned with the bus bar holes. The box is shaped such that the cables have to make a very tight bend to get into the bus bar. I might redo this with some pin terminals that have a 90-degree bend so the cables aren’t turned so tightly.
- MC4 connectors
- 10 AWG cable to extend the panel cables to the combiner box
- 6 AWG cable to go from combiner box to charge controller

I also have some Myers Hubs and CGB fittings for sealing the cables through the van roof. (See this post for explanation: https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Penetrating-van-roofs?pid=22807#pid22807). I ordered these from a company that ended up shipping the parts from THREE different warehouses and charged me a lot of shipping and handling for each single shipment. ugghhhhh. I did sort of see that might happen as I was placing the order but I just wanted to get it over with.


Here are most of the wires in place but not secured

And, secured with zip ties

Here is the combiner box with most of the wires installed (and without the cover in place)

And this is the combiner box closed up (I will use shorter bolts to secure it to the frame bar)

I still haven’t decided how to get it all up on the van. I guess the options are:
A - Keep it all together and put it all up there at once.
B - Disconnect the MC4s and disassemble panels from the frame. Reassemble it all on top of the van.

Neither one is very appealing to me. I may try for option 1 with help from my girlfriend and/or neighbor.

 

[FALCON]

STARTING ELECTRICAL COMPONENT INSTALLATION

I got started on the electrical component layout. To help decide on battery sizing, I measured out the space that different battery sizes would occupy. I also made boxes with thin plywood in the same size as some batteries or pairs of batteries to see how they fit in the space I have. I’ve basically decided on using either one 4D battery or two GC2 batteries. If I put the GC2 batteries next to each other the long way, they become very similar to the size of a 4D. I’m guessing the GC2 size is more readily available(?). I’m sure they would be easier to move around having the weight divided between two batteries.

I spent a bit of time sitting in the van thinking about how to lay out the battery and components. I left myself a pretty big area for the electrical components. Once I started thinking about what to put where, it became quite a puzzle. The different pieces are:
- Wanting to not use all the space I currently have, so I can use some of it for storage
- Needing to use a big enough space for the electrical area that I will still be able to see around inside and access everything.
- Laying things out in a good way (short cable runs, not a lot of cables crossing over each other, in a way that I can reach everything)
- Having enough space around the CC so it cools appropriately (I’m planning to cut a hole in the top surface to ensure this)

Here’s what I have so far:

With this layout, I will put a wall in the general area of the black and red lines on the floor and the “ceiling” of the box. That will leave around 8” (horizontally) of space storage space to the left of the electrical box.

As you can see, I'm using all available wall space - even the ceiling. I'm wiring in 3D!! :-D

(I need to get longer screws to mount the on/off switches)

I discovered that the Class T fuses I have don’t actually fit in the Class T Fuse holder I have. The fuses are too long and the holes in them are too small. I assumed that Class T fuse sizing was universal, but I guess it’s not :-(. Those are by far the most expensive fuses so I will probably try to return them.

 

[FALCON]

very cool. is it cold? lol I see the heater is on. highdesertranger

Thank you

Yes, it's been pretty cold here lately. The most recent weekend had temps in the teens and twenties. The heater is VERY nice for working out in the van when it's cold.

 

[SaltySeaWitch]

Very nice!

 

[FALCON]

ELECTRICAL - WIRING

I worked on the electrical wiring some more this weekend. I have most of the big wires done except the inverter wiring.

For crimping I use a hammer (impact) crimper for the larger cables and a TriCrimp tool for the smaller stuff. It took me a while to get used to using these. I’m still not 100% sure that I’m getting good crimps, but I believe I am. I did some tests when first starting where I would make a crimp and then saw it with a hacksaw to inspect it and that helped me get a feeling for how much compression and indentations are needed.

STATUS:
- Array is wired and framed up, but sitting in my house. I need to get it up on top of the van and run the cables inside.
- Most of the components are mounted inside the van. Still need to mount the panel stuff (Switches, outlets, inverter)
- Most of the wiring is done for the components that are in place.
- Need to decide on battery type and buy battery/batteries. I’m pretty sure that I will get AGMs (since I’m putting the battery in the same space as the other components) and that I’ll get either one 4D or 2 GC2 sizes - either Trojan or Lifeline. I’m going to call a local battery place (Staab) to see what their availability and pricing is like.

Here’s a look at most of what is inside.

On the right wall is (From left to right)
- Switch on array cable
- Charge Controller
- Fuse on positive charge controller output
- Positive bus bar
- Switch between positive bus and battery
- Switch between battery and inverter

On the “ceiling” is:
- Negative bus bar
- Shunt for battery meter

And on the back wall is a load/fuse junction.

See that outline drawn above the charge controller? I'm going to cut a hole in the surface above it so it has proper ventilation space. I'll need to tape a bag under the board before I cut it or something so the sawdust doesn't make a mess inside.

It would look and fit a bit better if I put the positive bus in a vertical orientation rather than horizontal. I think I was expecting to wire the inverter from the bus when I put it in this position but I will probably run it straight from the battery.

The battery/batteries are going to be right under all these components. Those blue lines on the wall are an outline of the space the battery will take up.

I got started on the front panel. This panel will hold the following:
- Switches for lights. (on/off and dimmer)
- Two USB outlets, with on/off switches
- Two cigarette lighter outlets
- Battery monitor
- Inverter

(The metal part is for mounting the light dimmer switch on)

Here is the panel with most of the components in place (Just imagine it rotated 90 degrees clockwise)

I will be putting a front cover on the whole thing, probably with a cabinet door for quick access.

 

[rvpopeye]

Lookin sweet

 

[Baloo]

Looking good!

 

[cargovanconversion]

Interesting work!

Van Williams

 

[FALCON]

Thanks for the compliments!! :-D :-D