TallPaul's Caravelle - MTB wagon!

[FerrisBFW]

So, a few thoughts after a full day in the van:

First nights sleep was ok, not the best but I've had far worse. Tbh most of that was probably down to an unfamiliar pillow and getting comfortable in the sleeping bag - I can never get really comfortable as they twist around you.

Heat: it's hot. It's black. I could feel the van starting to heat up even at 9am, so heat reduction is a definite requirement. No condensation but I wouldn't expect it when it was warm overnight.

The pull out table is, quite frankly, a godsend. I've had my hob out permanently which takes up most of the free space on the worktop so having the extra space is really needed. But, as below, I don't always need all the room with it pulled out! Perfect for putting my beer on while I'm relaxing in the van, feet up on the front seat!
View attachment 243668

I need more places to put 'stuff'. I've lost count of the amount of times I've said "where the f*** did I put that!?" already!! I think some overhead storage above the kitchen and rear window bag is in order.

It's a little awkward washing up but it's not bad, I ended up boiling water and using that. On the subject of water, I've gone through half a 16l fresh water container in 1 night and 1 day, if I want to go on longer, 3/4+ day trips off grid, I'll need to either find water, or fit an extra tank which I'm probably going to do.

I'll fit this underneath the van which will give me water for washing the bike if needed (it takes about 15l for a really dirty bike) so 60l gives me a couple of fresh water refills and bike washing water - fullly loaded up I'd have 75l onboard.

VW T5-T6.1 60L Fresh Water Tank kit with Hozelock filling system

Get your fresh water kit from Autocraft Motor Caravans. The 60 Litre Tank fits all VW T5, T6 and T6.1 models, and comes with a backfill system for easy installation.

autocraftmotorcaravans.co.uk

Other than that, I'm pretty happy! Everything works, the bed is far comfier than an airbed in a tent, and I don't think it's too small for just me and my bikes (which tbh was a worry!).

I thought you had window bags?

 

[benp1]

You've done a great job with this. Sure you'll work out more tweaks as you use it, nothing like a bit of real use to see what works and doesn't

If you're not used to a sleeping bag and different pillow just use a normal duvet and normal pillow. Should work fine

I'm also 6'3 but would struggle to have a bed I don't fit in, I need full length support including feet but I realise many get on just fine and I'm obviously a princess!

 

[TallPaul_S]

I thought you had window bags?

I do but they're not easy to get to from the front of the van, they're more for long term storage, rather than somewhere to put a tea towel after washing up, or putting my headphones, or some random bits of cutlery/plates etc when I'm making food.

 

[roadtripper]

@moodsterT6 had some interesting mounts for tables and monitors from the ceiling from the net mount points in this thread that might give some ideas:

Headliner fixing for LED aluminium profile

Hi, Any ideas what type of fixing I could use to mount some aluminium profile for LED lights? It’s a T6 Caravelle, the headliner seems to be a type of fabric / foam board. I was thinking of making some small holes using a heated up punch tool to seal the fabric, then perhaps use a cavity...

www.t6forum.com

 

[TallPaul_S]

Cheers, yeah I just need some more easily accessible storage areas in the front of the van - at present I only have the cubby underneath the switches in my kitchen pod.

I've already got an idea for a high level cupboard/shelf attached to the grab handle fixing points, that should be enough and it'll provide somewhere to hang stuff up too.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Well the plan of not spending any money for a couple of months didn't last long... Actually it did - I got a nice 0% balance transfer deal from my CC company on my empty card, so I'll stick this lot on that and chuck £100pm at it until it's paid for, interest free!

I found a nice passenger seat base thanks to a member on here, and made up a mock Fogstar 230Ah seat base battery:




And I've been accumulating some Victron kit...


That's a smart shunt, Orion XS 50a DC-DC, 100/20 MPPT, and a Cerbo GX for ultimate monitoring. Once I have somewhere to mount it, I'll add a touch 50 screen to the Cerbo GX.

Solar panel will be the Victron rigid mono 305w. I'll be over panelled by about 15w but that just means I'll only ever hit 290w max, but will see more solar earlier and later in the day.

I've also got an Ablemail AMT12-2 trickle charger on the way, after a bit of reading I'm going to connect the LB connection to the MPPT load terminals - this will let me have some control over turning in or off the AMT12-2 remotely, and will act as a battery protect to stop it drained the LB. I think there might be some other things I can do with the MPPT and the load function too!

And a Fogstar Drift 230Ah seat base battery has been ordered!

I'm currently thinking I'll be adding the Renogy 2000w inverter, so I'll be sizing my wiring accordingly. That means 50mm² main positive and negative wires!!

 

[TallPaul_S]

First steps of the new super electrical set up, I powered up and registered the Cerbo GX to my Victron account, and connected it to my home WiFi which means I can use the Victron VRM Portal!

 

[bmc054]

Hi Paul
Which curtains did you go
for please ?
Bob

 

[TallPaul_S]

Hi Paul
Which curtains did you go
for please ?
Bob

Van X Caravelle curtains for the sliding doors and tailgate, and the cab divider curtain. All in grey/black, blackout material.

 

[bmc054]

Cheers Paul

 

[TallPaul_S]

Progress on fitting all my shiny new Victron kit into a seat base, with room for a 230Ah battery...




None of the units are screwed in yet as thier position may change...

It looks very tight, well... Because it IS very tight!

But, my mock battery is actually slightly larger than the real thing by 10mm or so width and length, and there's room for the wooden mounts to move closer to the seat base.

I've got a 300a Busbar coming which will sit in the gap between the Cerbo GX and the smarty shunt, all my negative feeds will go to that.

On the front panel I'll have a main 300a master isolator on there left side, then a smaller isolator on there right side, and a 4 way fuse box in the middle.


Oh sand I do still need to find space for the factory fuses (3x 15a, 1x 25a and 2x 40a but I'm sure there's room, somewhere?

Oh and the factory loom connectors will go in the space behind the Orion XS.

If I do need more room, the Cerbo GX can move to the driver's seat base as there's loads of room in there.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Had a delivery today of some of the cable I need and some other bits.

Tentatively started to connect the 16mm² cables for the Orion XS so I could try and figure out some of the cable routing.


Not going to lie, it's going to be tricky.

But then, the 50mm² main battery cable (& inverter cable) wanted to have a word...

 

[Toffermora]

Well the plan of not spending any money for a couple of months didn't last long... Actually it did - I got a nice 0% balance transfer deal from my CC company on my empty card, so I'll stick this lot on that and chuck £100pm at it until it's paid for, interest free!

I found a nice passenger seat base thanks to a member on here, and made up a mock Fogstar 230Ah seat base battery:

View attachment 244882
View attachment 244883

And I've been accumulating some Victron kit...
View attachment 244884

That's a smart shunt, Orion XS 50a DC-DC, 100/20 MPPT, and a Cerbo GX for ultimate monitoring. Once I have somewhere to mount it, I'll add a touch 50 screen to the Cerbo GX.

Solar panel will be the Victron rigid mono 305w. I'll be over panelled by about 15w but that just means I'll only ever hit 290w max, but will see more solar earlier and later in the day.

I've also got an Ablemail AMT12-2 trickle charger on the way, after a bit of reading I'm going to connect the LB connection to the MPPT load terminals - this will let me have some control over turning in or off the AMT12-2 remotely, and will act as a battery protect to stop it drained the LB. I think there might be some other things I can do with the MPPT and the load function too!

And a Fogstar Drift 230Ah seat base battery has been ordered!

I'm currently thinking I'll be adding the Renogy 2000w inverter, so I'll be sizing my wiring accordingly. That means 50mm² main positive and negative wires!!

I have an amt12-2 on the way, where did you read about using the mppt load to wire it up, just wondering what to do with mine!

 

[TallPaul_S]

I have an amt12-2 on the way, where did you read about using the mppt load to wire it up, just wondering what to do with mine!

I found it via a random Google search, on another forum somewhere. I doubt I could find it again!!

But all it effectively is, is a low amp 12v DC load, it pulls from the LB like any other DC load would. I think the MPPT load output is limited to the amp rating of the device so 20a for a 100/20 so it's not much use for your main DC loads. But it can actually as a smart battery protect. And you can turn it off remotely via the app.

 

[roadtripper]

I'm mildly confused here though, the whole point of having an AMT in most cases is to protect the starter at the expense of the leisure - if you then disconnect it to protect the leisure you're sort of getting to the point of not bothering to fit it? At the end of the day having a drained and dead starter but a healthy leisure isn't going to help move the van?

Just seems to add unnecessary complication in a device explicitly designed to be fit and forget?

I can see if being useful for other tasks though like if you wanted 4G router running to keep an eye on the van or dash cam/cctv

 

[TallPaul_S]

I'm mildly confused here though, the whole point of having an AMT in most cases is to protect the starter at the expense of the leisure - if you then disconnect it to protect the leisure you're sort of getting to the point of not bothering to fit it? At the end of the day having a drained and dead starter but a healthy leisure isn't going to help move the van?

Just seems to add unnecessary complication in a device explicitly designed to be fit and forget?

I can see if being useful for other tasks though like if you wanted 4G router running to keep an eye on the van or dash cam/cctv

That's true, I'll be honest the main reason I want to use the MPPT load output is that I've run out of slots in my 12v fusebox! I'll have the rear floodlight on one, the led interior lights on another, the 15a EHU charger on the 3rd and then Cerbo GX on the 4th output. I've had to move from a big 6 way fuse box to a 4 way fusebox as the big one just won't fit anywhere.

Tbh I haven't looked that closely at what voltage the AMT12-2 cuts off at on the lithium profile.

Just having a read up, it seems the default lithium profile only charges the SB when the LB is at 13.5v or above, which is fully charged/being charged. So without solar it won't do much on the std settings, which is both good and bad.

The Cerbo GX is going to be fun to play with, there's the relay functions - one YouTube video I saw had someone use it to turn on a water heater when his battery hit 100% and still bring charged by solar, basically making use of the 'free' energy and not allowing the solar to go waste. And you can add Bluetooth roovi temperature sensors and have the relay act of those, like turning on a fan if the interior temperature reaches 25 degrees, say...

 

[TallPaul_S]

I got my final delivery from 12v planet today with my crimps, busbar, isolator switches so as soon as I finished work I set about starting to fit stuff into the seat base.

First up was to fit the 2x isolator switches in the front panel I made:

The big one is my main switch, 300a rated. The little one will be my solar isolator switch, it's rated to 100a.

Then I started paying Jenga/Tetris with the components on one side of the seat base:

That's a 300a busbar too.
I said the location of these devices would change, didn't I! This is their final location*


*Subject to change...

I then started making up the short cable runs of 50mm² cable for the negative and main positive feeds:

50mm² cable is serious stuff!




The top one is for the chassis ground and I need to crimp the other end of that with the bolt that's in the van, so that's a job for later on.

Fitted:



That's all for today! My battery payment has been taken and I was hoping it'd get sent today but looks like it'll be sent tomorrow now so I'll have it on Friday.

 

[TallPaul_S]

My Fogstar drift 230Ah has arrived! Huzzah!



Things are a little busy in the seat base regarding wiring!


There's a bit of tidying, plus some more cables to wire in, but it's all going to go in.

Made up the remaining battery cables I needed, and I'll need to adjust the positive... Well, maybe - because I'm not 100% sure my terminal fuse will fit.

That's the only way it fits to the battery and I fear it may still be too tall, I'll need to wait until I can do a test fit in the van.

I've connected it up to my smart shunt, Cerbo GX and 5a mains charger and it's going to take a full day to charge to 100%

 

[BuilderJay]

Great thread mate!!

 

[TallPaul_S]

More progress on the seat base battery build.

Wiring is now 99% done, just need to make up some cables for the inverter.

I've moved the factory fuses (25a for the diesel heater and 3x 15a for the 12v sockets to a new fusebox, and have my additional stuff in a 2nd fusebox - Cerbo GX, door strip lights, rear tailgate light, and a spare for a high level USB in a storage cupboard I'm yet to build...




I'll be labelling everything, and will probably wrap the wiring in fabric tape too.

There's only so much I can do though, with all the stuff that's in there!

Test fitted the battery quickly, all good!

The strap is how I'm lifting it into and out of the seat base - I can't use the handles on the side.

This is where the inverter will be going - hopefully my measurements are correct and there's enough room for the seat to swivel!


I'll make a shroud to protect the terminals and I'll probably put a socket on the outside connected to one of the inverter sockets.

I've made a short busbar out of some copper bar to allow the MRBF terminal fuse to be mounted on the battery terminal.



And I've also removed the ground stud under the seat base to allow the battery to sit flat on the carpet



Next will be to remove the wood mounts and finish then off, make up the inverter cables, and make the rear and front battery mounts.

I've also got a 5m hdmi extension cable on order which I'll attach in readiness for when I have a spot to mount a touch 50 or 70 display for the Cerbo GX. And a USB Bluetooth adapter for when I get a couple of Ruuvi tags for inside and outside temperature.