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Campervan Electricals - NEEDED: Hints, Tips, Products and Advice
Hi there,
I am starting to design my new campervan conversion, and could do with some advice and help! I am an electrical design engineer as a day job, so although I am comfortable with my ability to design the project, before I begin I would like to find out what the "normal" method for installing electrical systems in campervans is, so that I can design around the limitations of the products readily available.
The reason for my interest is in the electrical side to start with, as I am aiming to have a static PC installed as well as lots of other features such as iPod/iPad docs as well as a screen for movies on cold nights. As a general rule, I think the general demand for power inside vans is increasing, so it makes sense to me to design an advanced system now, to avoid annoying upgrades later.
At university, I drove a T25, but that van was sadly lost to a fire. The fire was caused by an electrical fault due to poor installation. To make things worse, I was away taking the Scouts on camp (I am a scout leader) when the fire struck and although I was lucky, the consequences could have been a lot worse.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Steve
Hi Mgroadster,
What are you planning on doing for your 12v side? what relay and all the other equipment you are using?
Is it a standard to have a 16A connection at sites?
Ste
On the 12v side, I'm just going to rig up a leisure battery that will operate lights etc. whilst "en route". I will then carry a charger to use to recharge the leisure battery once I get to selected sites who have mains hook up. Many many sites have 230/240v hook ups.
One tip is this.....Don't use twin & earth on your camper unless running it through conduit.flexi duct.
I am going to use arctic grade 3 core 1.5 & 2.5 flex to allow for elasticity and temp fluctuations.
@mgroadster Why not use twin and earth? also wouldn't you use metallic conduit for the 230V side?
@Darren I had a problem using the standard relay charging system when my van lay unused for a few months and the leisure battery was almost completely drained by a rouge light. When I turned to ignition, the relay closed the current rush was so high between the two batteries that the relay melted destroying the lot. The main battery was also so drained that i was unable to start and needed a new starter battery. Is there any preventative measures that can be taken.
I'm not sure of preventative measures. However, it is possible to fit a solar panel that charges the leisure battery. But also, with some solar controllers, once the leisure battery is charged, it will charge the engine battery. These are great when touring, but also when the vehicle is laid unused.
Twin & earth......I work surrounded by Electricians (sounds like you do too)?and ALL of them say, if you are using T&E use conduit or flexi ducting. It tends to brittalise after a period (ok in a house etc)of time and also being in a vehicle would suffer from mild vibration, however in say 20mm flexi duct it would be ok. I'm going to use arctic grade flex due to it's ability to withstand temp fluctuations.(Heat in the Southern hemisphere or Cold in the Northern. This seems to be the opinions of Electricians in whom I have the deepest respect, and if that what they say, then for me that what it is....OK maybe a little over engineered, but I will be happy that I did it to advice freely given.
By Metallic conduit, do you mean Galv conduit? It's not flexible enough to bend around the vehicles insides. The flexi ducting will help protect the T&E sleeve.
Hi Guys,
The T&E makes a lot of sense about the conduit. I have seen some cable in terrible shape that has not been anywhere near these types of environment. What is the price increase for this type of cable?
How about back feeding from the main battery to the leisure battery when you turn the key to ignition position? I had left my old van standing for weeks with a small light draining the leisure battery. When I turned to ignition the main battery drained into the leisure battery, draining the main battery and melting the relay. Any products available to prevent this from happening? The ultimate cost of this was two new batteries and a new split charge relay system.
Steve
sounds like you didn't have a fuse in your split charge setup or if you did it was rated higher than your relay. also your description makes it sound like your relay wasn't switching via the alternator signal feed but just hooked to the ignition so as soon as you turn the key the relay is been closed before the engine is started, that could give you trouble. I have managed to burn out a relay once before but that was going in the opposite direction (flat main (had been weakening for a couple of weeks) and full leisure) jumped the relay to try and feed power back to the main to get it started, i can tell you for nothing it takes more than 80amp to start my van :0
still sounds odd that you managed to melt a relay. my house mate regularly runs the leisure battery in her van to the point where it cant drive the head unit connected to it, but never has issues starting or current spikes capable of melting relays.
The set up in her van is just a cheap 30amp voltage sensing relay from ebay. even with the battery flat and the head unit and amp turned on its not pulling close to 30 amp with the engine started.
mg, as i am going to make my own loom for my 1972 bay , can you advise re co. that i can purchase necassary wires / cabling from? quality stuff pref. i can buy by thr metre , thanks for any advice
Hi, As there are many colours that make up an automotive wiring loom, you could be in difficulties. The domestic mkt in "singles cable" consists of brown, blue, grey and green&yellow.
Obviously, automotive manufacturing companies buy their cable by massive reels.
I can give you one or two companies you can contact, who may be able to tell you a distributor of Automotive cable.
Try........Goldwing cable (probably best chance) or UK cable, or PX cable.
You can google all of these as they do have web sites. Whether they will supply you is one thing, but they may be able to introduce you to a distributor.(Where I work, we only specialise in the domestic construction cables).
thanks Mg, what"s happened ? i done a complete loom for my Z1R1000 bike in the 90"s and getting wiring was a matter of calling whatever retail outlet i chose, expect it"s because practically no one does their own thing re their own vehicle anymore.I read in a court case report (American)that the Ford Motor Co legal rep when cross examined, agreed that the Co overcomplicated deliberately, their vehicles elec/electronic systems to prevent owners attempting their own repairs, so-far-so-not-good, says me! if i can"t repair it , i don"t want to own it is my daily MANTRA ,>>>CHANT AFTER ME EVERYONE.....
I mentioned this on another thread and Darren also highlighted it up there. I use a 120w solar panel which connects to a dual regulator (can connect two panels) and then into the leisure battery.
It's enough to charge my laptop every day if needed and various other gadgets but as for running a static PC I'm not so sure. You'd need larger panels and that will push the cost up dramatically.
I thought I'd miss my big PC but to be honest I don't. I enjoy not having to worry about such things now and my 10" tablet serves all my needs.
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The only electrics I'm going to install are mains for when using sites.
16a input socket, RCD protected garage unit with 16a & 6a MCBs.then distributed in the van but for ease all sockets& switches will be on one side. I work in an electrical wholesalers and know more sparkies than you can shake a stick at, who will do the work for me....