FALCON'S Aventuremobile conversion thread.

[FALCON]

ARRAY INSTALLATION

I had been wondering how to get the array up on the van for a while. What I did was par the van at the top of my driveway where there are retaining walls on both sides and along the back. The retaining wall is around 4 feet high so when I stand on it, it gives me good access to the top of the van from all three sides that I needed (drivers side, passenger side, and back).

I asked my girlfriend to help me and we carried the array up from the basement and put it on the van. There is a bar the extends pas the three main panels back to the fourth panel at the rear of the van. I had to bend that in order to get those three panels out while assembled in the frame.

I drilled holes in the roof and put the myers hubs and CGBs in place before this. I messed this up a bit by drilling one hole too close to a roof cross-member. The bottom of the myers hub would not fit. I did have an old plug for my rear differential fill hole and that fits well in the hole. I’m going to use some sealant to seal/hold that in place.

I ran the panel wires along the extra bar that’s under the panels. That seems to work out well.

I definitely liked using the angle aluminum to make the frame. It works really well. If I was doing it again I would use thicker/wider bars. I think mine are 1/8” thick and 1.25” width sides. I would use 1.5” sides because then they would be flush with the top of the panels, and I think a bit thicker stock would work better also.

The three main panels do seem to be held up well enough by the bars. It is aluminum so I suppose there is some slight chance that over time from all the little bumps and such the material will move too much and become more ductile. But I’m not worried about that and I don’t think there would be any immediate failure.

I didn’t do a ton of planning for the roof hole locations. That resulted in the extra hole I had to plug and also in not being able to center the panels width-wise on the van. I think this is a good thing actually because now if I need to go up on the roof, there is room to stand up and walk along the passenger side of the roof.

I put the blue Lock-Tite on the array frame nuts. I may also do the same with the U-Bolt nuts.

I’ve driven a few times now, including on the highway and it seems secure so far. I haven’t heard a single rattle from it or any extra wind noise.

This is inside the van. The black circle on the left is the first hole that was too close to the cross-member.

 

[FALCON]

FRONT PANEL WIRING AND TEST

I finished wiring all the switched and outlets on the front panel and secured it in place. I also put the inverter in place as well.

I connected some small 6V batteries to the load junction for testing and so I could use the lights.

That plywood box in the bottom right is the space that a 4D battery will occupy

(my fish-eye lens makes it looked curved. It’s not)

The contents of the panel are, from top to bottom, right to left:

1a-Light on-off switch
1b - Light dimmer switch.

2a - On/off switch for USB outlet
2b - USB outlet. (4.2 amps)

3a - On/off switch for USB outlet
3b - USB outlet (3 amps)

4a - Cigarrette outlet
4b - Cigarrette outlet

5 - Battery meter

6 - Inverter

I gained back a little storage space to the left of the panel. It’s around 5” wide so not a lot of space. I need to decide what to do with it and what to store in there. Any advice?

We’re getting close to move-in ready! YAYYYY!


What’s left:
- Put a fuse on the array cable. (I was thinking I couldn’t do this without taking the cable out of the combiner box and all that because I’m using an impact crimper for the bigger wires. But I later realized my hand crimper works for 6AWG so I can just cut the cable in place and do it.
- Wire the inverter
Buy battery (I have a local shop transporting a couple batteries from another store for me - both Lifeline GPL-4DL, one normal and one blemished and discounted)
Secure the battery in place
Make a front cover for the electrical area
Make a cover above the charge controller vent so water doesn’t fall down into the charge controller.
Add ground wire to frame
Install battery and commission system

 

[FALCON]

I really like looking at this kind of stuff. It’s a shame that the coolest part of the van build will be out of sight most of the time.

 

[highdesertranger]

that wiring is a thing of beauty. I am envious. looks like you used top of the line components as well. double thumbs up. highdesertranger

 

[FALCON]

Wow - thank you highdesertranger!! :-D

 

[contender]

I didn’t want to just leave the lower rib spaces empty, so I put bubble wrap in them. I don’t know whether this will actually be any insulation benefit or not, and it ended up taking quite a while doing it the way I did. I used 3/16” bubble wrap and made strips of them - 2 layers thick. I glued the strips together with 3M Super 77, and also used that to glue them into the ribs. They are nice and flush.

Rosin paper template making. (on this one I used multiple pieces of paper.. most others I did with just one long piece. Both methods seemed to t

And - all done:

This is a GREAT thread as I am just about to start my project.  Was the bubble wrap all you used for insulation under the floor?  How did you attach the plywood floor to the van?  I am torn between construction adhesive and screws or just one or the other.  Thanks for any information.

 

[B and C]

Don't fasten the floor down at all.  If you cut the floor to go around the wall ribs too (U cutouts), then when you put insulation in the walls with a wall covering, that will hold down the edges.  When you put your build on the top of the rest of it, t won't be going anywhere.  Be sure to screw cabinets, etc. to the floor and walls.

This is the way I did it in my vans way back in the 70's and never had a problem.  I used 3/4 inch plywood for the floor and 1/2 inch for the walls.  Put in lengthwise, they will bend to the contour of the walls and you screw them to the ribs.  If a joint falls between ribs, make your own rib out of 2x6 by using a scribe to match the existing ribs.

 

[FALCON]

Yeah, I did that B and C says. The bubble wrap in the ribs is the only insulation under the floor boards. I just cut the plywood pieces to fit and did not fasten them to the floor at all. They don't move around and they aren't going anywhere.

 

[Almost There]

Also, if at all possible, plan the floor layout so that the seams are going to be under cabinets rather than in the area where you are going to be walking.

With a floor that was a maximum of 6', I placed the first full sheet of 3/4" plywood at the front passenger area then filled in the drivers' side with a piece that was 2' x 8'. A final partial sheet went across the rear to bring the flooring to the back doors. This way the long seam is being pushed together down the length and the cabinets, which are screwed to both the wall and the floor are holding the floor from ever moving ever! The same thing goes for the filler piece in the rear, the bed and storage walls cross over the seam.

 

[SternWake]

Looking good. it is hard to make wiring look organized.

One thing that hits my eye is the Shunt for the trimetric.

This needs to be placed between house battery, and all loads and charging sources on the other side.

One stud goes directly to battery(-), the other shunt stud goes to all Loads and sources.

It appears as if you have it wired in another manner.

Also for measuring alternator current, when you add this ability in the future, you will need to move original engine battery to engine and engine battery to firewall grounds. Move them to load/source side of Shunt to engine, L/S side of shunt to firewall, and have another cable go from battery side of shunt, to engine battery. Otherwise only a portion of alternator current will be measured and your battery monitor will read out of whack.



The Shunt is confusing. i remember being there myself. It helps to think of it as two sides, A battery side, and a load/source side. From the battery side one cable goes to each battery(-), including engine battery if alternator is to be used for recharging of house battery, and to the other side is the negative Bussbarr to which all loads and charging sources are attached.

Nothing can goto either battery(-) directly, but these wires coming from the battery side of the shunt. This is often miswired, and as such the battery monitor is incorrect, almost always, and this is not realized for quite some time until the owner notices something is just not right with the readings compared to reality andf the battery has been cycled deeper than thought and as such is more compromised that it would be had the owner seen true readings and laid off the loads at a true 50% charged range.

Hammer crimps are poor electrical connections prone to high resistance, heating, and failure:

Though their mechanical connection is 'just fine'

 

[FALCON]

@sternwake: I think the picture may just be a little hard to see how it is wired because of how the wires come off the shunt to the battery meter. (The "G1" and "G2" battery meter wires go sort of "above" the "sig" wire and make it a little hard to see what is connected where)

Please see my wiring diagram below. This is how I am wiring it. If something looks wrong on the wiring diagram, then I do definitely need to wire it differently.

(one thing I did notice from reading the charge controller manual is that if I use the CC voltage sense wires, it says to wire them directly to the battery terminals and not the bus bars in order to get the most accurate battery voltage reading. Of course with wires as short as mine, I'm not sure how much difference it actually makes)

And thank you for the info about the alternator wiring. I need to figure that out soon and make my wiring diagram additions for it and then do the installation, hopefully fairly soon also. I'll come back to this post and another thread of yours for information.

As for the hammer crimps, I am a little worried about them. I used hammer crips for all my 4AWG wires and plan to for the 2awg inverter wires. I'm expecting that if there is some kind of issues or fire, it will most likely come from my crimping. I did do some testing and cutting of crimps to try to get a good feel for it and I think I did them well, but my inexperience worries me a little bit.

 

[rvpopeye]

I did hammer crimps too but used a butane torch and soldered them after!?
This is a pic of my distro box in my old gen compartment, the battery is out for the photo but sits in a tub right in front and below it.
edit OK , guess I'll have to do a take 2 on the pic , thx to the posting gremlin...........

 

[rvpopeye]

Take 2
OR not, maybe tomorrow...............

 

[SternWake]

Wiring diagram looks good!  I mistook the sense wires for the battery to shunt cable in the photo, My bad.

I'd like to try a pair of these:



http://www.amazon.com/ProDeals®-Sha..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=1GPBB1K9GRGVY4AKZSZV

I have a HFT hydraulic crimper, but the dies are too small.  I ground a set out of larger dies,  for 2 
awg thick walled lugs.

For the inverter cable, and Shunt to battery, and battery to switch and future alternator wiring, I'd recommend a better crimp that won't heat up as much passing 65+ amps.  The hammer crimps are likely OK with the smaller currents like the solar.  I wouldn't freak out about them.  But do check them for excessive heating.  Got an IR gun?

http://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Non-con...qid=1457074242&sr=1-1&keywords=it+thermometer

A good crimp should not even be able to take any solder, if the hammer crimp drank up the solder, then it shows that the hammer crimp did not completely compress the wires in the lug.

Here one can see gaps in the wires inside the pretty well done hammer crimp:

Here is a hydraulic crimp, that looks like the die was still a bit too big for the lug, or not enough wire stuffed into the lug.

There is always GenuineDealz.com for custom cables professionally made.

 

[highdesertranger]

stern I wish you would get those crimpers too. then you could give us a report. I am curious how they do 10 gauge to 1/0? do they have different dies? I didn't see dies. highdesertranger

 

[rvpopeye]

Yup , those hydraulic hex crimps do look sweet.
Ummmmmmm almost giving in to my ex-tool addiction ! :-/
Pheeeew , that was close !

I DO still have a no touch IR thermometer and shoot the crimps from time to time .
I really don't work my battery/charge system very hard , learned long ago to co-exist with a 75 w panel...... As well as what's left in my tool collection.

 

[FALCON]

Wow I didn't see any big crimpers as cheap as that when I was looking. I would've bought those.

I don't have an IR thermometer, but I do have disconnect switches to isolate the system and fingers to check temperature. Would that be an effective way to check for excessive heat?

 

[masterplumber]

At RTR I borrowed a hydraulic crimper from Got Smart to help someone. It worked so well I found the same one on Amazon for something like $32. I think John found his slightly cheaper on Ebay. The only issue, is the numbers on the dies don't correspond to any gauge sizes. If I recall I used something like a number 22 for 4 AWG. HDR, I don't remember if it would go as small as 10 AWG, but most good hand crimpers will take care of that.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KHY7SOA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

 

[SternWake]

I don't have an IR thermometer, but I do have disconnect switches to isolate the system and fingers to check temperature. Would that be an effective way to check for excessive heat?

Well yes and no.  Heating will only be evident to a finger at high current loads, but if one of those hammer crimps on the solar feed is highly resistive, the rather large mass of copper will dissipate the heat into the wire and the finger might not be able to tell.

but a 15$ ir thermometer run along the wire toward the bad crimp might be 77 77 79 81 87 97F at the terminal.

a 20 degree rise passing 20 amps on 4awg is not unsafe, but it is wasting power as heat.

Minimizing electrical resistance, like the proper care and feeding of batteries, can be taken to ridiculous degrees to achieve ideal. While poor battery charging and poor wiring is to be avoided, the 'good enough' range is pretty wide.

It does suck to have to redo terminations, especially if one did not leave enough slack in the wire to shorten each one by ~1.25" on each end.

Minimizing contact resistance can be done by using Deoxit D5 spray to clean, or Deoxit Gold to clean less aggressively and protect dissimilar metals, or Deoxit Shield to protect from oxidation long term. 

Magical electrical juice:
http://www.amazon.com/DeoxITKit-Ind...TF8&qid=1457208671&sr=1-1&keywords=deoxit+kit.


If not soldering, and anal retentive, one can clean the wire stranding and interior of Lug with the D5, then apply gold or Shield, then crimp the wire.  This will reduce resistance by some tiny amount initially, and over the long term will keep resistance much lower as oxidation will not form and wick into the cabling under the insulation.

When I used Deoxit on all my engine sensor electrical contacts, it felt like I too 500 Lbs out of it.  City MPGS increased and The smog test I had revealed lower numbers than the previous test 2 year earlier, the only difference to the engine, was the Deoxit on all connector contacts everywhere.  My Map, TPS and 02 sensor contacts were extremely oxidized despite being submerged in Dielectric grease.  The contacts were black and shredded many a precision swab before they gleamed like oiled chrome or brass.

http://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-Cotton...&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=tamiya+precision+swabs

I wound up cutting these in half and putting them in my dremel that has the drill type chock/collet.  Even pins that looked like dull brass, turned many a swab black with oxidation.

With your Dodge van, disconnect the battery,  carefully pull the connectors at the engine computer, remove/ flush the old hardened crusty Dielectric grease with another electronics cleaner like CRC QED and some dental type of bottle brushes, then use the Deoxit D5 and the swabs to clean pins and sockets until they gleam like oiled chrome or brass.  Then Apply Deoxit Shield, or Gold, wipe off excess, reseat connector carefully, then stuff new Dielectric grease around perimeter of connector to seal out moisture.  Make sure the weight of the wire bundles is not hanging on the computer.

Most failures of Dodge ECM/PCMs are caused by bad electrical contacts, and/or the weight of the wires fatiguing then breaking the pin/circuit board solder joints.  So use kid gloves pulling and reseating the connectors and use some zipties to take the weight of the wires off the ECm connectors.

Dealing with Dodge ECM issues is infuriating.  Random stalling is a symptom, and can be dangerous.  Prevention is simple.  Repairing, not so much.

 

[FALCON]

Sternwake - thank you for sharing all of that with me. You have me scared about the common ECU issues. I'm pretty sure that if I attempt what you're talking about I may do more harm than good! I think that may be the kind of thing that I need to learn about for quite a while first or, more ideally, have someone like you show me in person.

HEARTBREAKING FAILURE
Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit.... But - I put my battery in place and made up the last few wires. Well - what could possibly be the last few wires if everything works. I connected the Charge Controller voltage sense and temperature sense wires, and I connected the positive terminal to the switch going to the positive bus bar, and to the fuse on the cables to the inverter. The last thing to hook up was the negative terminal to the shunt. Well, I tightened the nut too much and broke the stud off the shunt. AAGGGHHHH!! I screwed up the very last connection. At least it was only the shunt that I broke and not something more expensive. I really should not have done this. I could feel the nut turning in the way it does when you're breaking a bolt. I just wasn't paying attention enough. It was dark in my van (I was using a headlight so I could see ok), and it was fairly late, and I was tired, and I was reaching far from my body to tighten the nut which makes it a little harder to judge the torque. The only thing I was really making 100% sure of is that I didn't short the battery terminals. So.. anyways, I have a new shunt on the way.


CHARGE CONTROLLER SETTINGS FOR LIFELINE AGM
I bought a Lifeline GPL-4DL (A 4D AGM battery). The one I bought had sustained some slight damage to the positive terminal. I think/hope it is ok and won't leak. I got it at a steep discount: $300 plus core charge and tax - so about the same I would've paid for 2 flooded golf cart batteries of good quality. I've been looking at the Lifeline technical manual and the charging voltages they specify don't match up all that well with the factory charge profiles of my Tristar MPPT30 Charge Controller. There is a profile with the Absorption voltage matching, but the Float voltage of that profile is about half a volt higher than Lifeline's spec's and the Equalizing/Conditioning voltage is not right. I emailed Lifeline asking if it would work to use the factory charge profile with the slightly different absorption voltage and got a blunt reply containing "none of those profiles match at all" and saying to make a custom profile. So I've gotten started on listing out all of the different custom settings and trying to sort out what to set them at. I'll post that here once I have my first pass and I'll send it to Lifeline. I hope I'll be able to figure out the interface with the CC. I need to use a RS-232 port because my CC model does not have an ethernet port. This also means I need to use their software, which is only for Windows, which also means I will probably use my girlfriend's computer and that any time I need to change the settings in the future I either need to borrow a Windows laptop or I need to set up the ability to boot Windows on my Mac. This is so far from simple that it's getting a bit exhausting. But I guess I'm learning a lot and this way I'll know many more of the ins and outs of battery charging settings.