Hi all just starting my second conversion having learned so much from the first. One of my biggest regrets was having the Victron mains battery charger and the consumer unit fixed to the end of the units and slightly visible. Don't get me wrong it looked OK but I'd rather have stuff hidden and I simply couldn't squeeze those two components along with the leisure battery and ctek under the drivers seat. My thoughts this time round are to run the 240v mains feed and the dc dc charger feeds from the bonnet again and install the dc dc charger under the drivers seat on its own, then continue the 240v feed and dc charger outputs to the rear where the leisure battery, consumer unit and mains battery charger will be waiting along with the 12v fuse box then utilise the earthing point at the rear. Anyone on here done something similar? I'm using 10mm2 70amp wiring for the 12v feeds and 2.5mm Arctic flex for the mains. Things I'm concerned about are getting the right furniture to fit the rear components I want hidden away but accessible and voltage drops over that distance.
Electrics layout
- Thread starter saintclarkey1
- Start date
@saintclarkey1 Im on my first build, and I was about to ask the exact same question! Did you ever reach a conclusion for this? I thought i read somewhere that the CU should be cabled within 2m of the battery but I've read so much its all a blur so may be wrong.
In theory yes, everything I mentioned above I'm going to proceed with and I've done a test fit to prove it all works ok. I've bought this SWB 112cm Coastline Kit - Kitline Design -Volkswagen T5 and T6 Conversions furniture and it has nice little area where I can mount the battery just in front of the wheel arch along with the 240v battery charger then I'll have the 240v consumer unit, the 12v fuse box and switch panel buried in the rear cabinet. Just finished the carpeting so the flooring and furniture will be going in soon. Once I've finished it I'll post some pictures to bring it to life for you. If I forget please prompt me.
With regards to your questions regarding the CU. The CU has nothing to do with the battery and I've not read anything to suggest they should be close . The only reason I Like them to be close is so I can wire the mains battery charger directly to the consumer unit without having long runs of cable.
Yep, it's slow progress doing these conversions in the cold dark winter and during a lockdown. I've got two on at the moment so far from ideal.
The Caravan club recommendations for electrical installations says no more than 2 metres between inlet point and breaker, I suppose this is to minimise the possibility of any wear on the cable between the inlet and the breaker causing a rub through to the conductors shorting out to the chassis and causing a live chassis situation.
https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/1022895/mains-electrical-installations-mo.pdf
I have seen other documents suggesting that length reduced to 1.6 metres.
If you put a long cable run from bonnet area through the van with many twists, turns and passing through of holes, you increase the likelihood of a break through the insulation occurring.
https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/1022895/mains-electrical-installations-mo.pdf
I have seen other documents suggesting that length reduced to 1.6 metres.
If you put a long cable run from bonnet area through the van with many twists, turns and passing through of holes, you increase the likelihood of a break through the insulation occurring.
As for location of other items within the van, If you are considering locating the leisure battery(s) in the rear, take into consideration that the feed from starter battery to leisure battery (via a DC-DC charger) would need to be sized appropriately for the length of cable run and current carrying envisaged.
Distance between leisure battery and inverter (if you fit one) again, shorter is better, inverters take a lot of juice and as cables get longer they need to get fatter to make up for it.
Also take into account that a couple of 120Ah lead acid batteries weigh a LOT, they need to be secured properly wherever they are. There have been pictures on here of (allegedly) professional van conversion companies leaving leisure batteries sliding around under cupboard units. Imagine what a 25-35Kg battery would do in an accident if it was loose even under a cupboard unit, a 30mph crash can result in your 35Kg battery coming through the van with the equivalent of 6 tonnes.
Distance between leisure battery and inverter (if you fit one) again, shorter is better, inverters take a lot of juice and as cables get longer they need to get fatter to make up for it.
Also take into account that a couple of 120Ah lead acid batteries weigh a LOT, they need to be secured properly wherever they are. There have been pictures on here of (allegedly) professional van conversion companies leaving leisure batteries sliding around under cupboard units. Imagine what a 25-35Kg battery would do in an accident if it was loose even under a cupboard unit, a 30mph crash can result in your 35Kg battery coming through the van with the equivalent of 6 tonnes.
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Cheers Grim Reaper. That's just the inlet to CU or any run of mains cable? I was going roughly 1.6/2m from bonnet inlet to drivers seat where the CU can be (with the dc charger) and then another 1.6/2m to the double sockets and the single socket for the mains battery charger (of separate RCD's) . Just to clarify all my cabling is in decent conduit, securely fixed and the conduit is surrounded by grommets whenever is passes through metal. I could easily just locate the CU at the back but didn't want it under the bumper or on display in the rear panel. As for the DC DC charger the run is again about 2m so happy with the 10mm cable I've got in for that with regards to voltage drop.
There isn't a recommendation for max lengths from consumer unit to socket within the van, but these would be protected by the breakers in the consumer unit.
Makes sense, cheers.
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