Control panel and water level display

The first picture shows the control panel almost finished with the addition of the inverter remote above the panel and the new water level display. The second picture is a close up of the water level display. Green for the fresh water and red lights for the grey water tank. Labels will follow shortly.

New update

New updates:

Flooring has been laid, it is one piece of vinyl black with raised circles. Very hard wearing and easy to clean.
Mattress and soft furnishings added. The sofa cushions have now been removed and sent for upholstering in black vinyl with grey stitching.
240v Sockets have been added and connected to the remote switch.
Bathroom sink fitted and plumbed in.
Shower fitted and tested.
Small fold away road legal 50cc moped bought and fits in the rear of the van.

Door fronts and vinyl

These 3 pictures show the progress made this week. The doors have been clipped on and handles fitted. The bed area has been covered in cream Vinyl. The TV has been mounted. Most importantly the whole van has been cleaned and polished. Microwave has been fitted and the control panel has been painted and re-fitted.

Control Panel update

A close up view of the control panel with most switches connected. Temperature monitors connected and Eberspacher connected. Generator is also now fully functional along with the control unit.

Home Made exhaust

This is the exhaust from the generator. There is no way I was going to spend £200 on the dometic one so I used a spare Eberspacher silencer and 2 spray cans joined together with a baked bean can. It works perfectly.

Final finishes

The top picture shows the trim around the bathroom doorframe and the wall colour which is cotton cream. The other pictures show the glass surround on the worktop (Sprayed to match the doors) and the TV bracket which can be moved in to 2 positions one above the hob and one above the bed depending on how the kitchen is being used.

Control Panel

This is the half finished control panel, there are several other switches to add and other displays. The final finish for this will be the same as the locker and the unit fronts. As shown in the previous post the panel lowers for wiring requirements.

Start on electrics

The top picture shows the rear of the control panel when lowered. The bottom picture shows under the sofa area the bottom left box is the Battery to battery charger, bottom right The 240v charger, middle black box is the 24v to 12v converter. Top left are 3 junction boxes. Far right are the two 150AH batteries. The Steca solar charger failed on installation, new one on order.

Power selector and fuel tank

The top picture shows the position of the fuel tank for the generator, this can be removed to fill.
The bottom picture shows the remote 240v power selector switch which is controlled by a 3 way low voltage switch (24v) on the control panel. The switch can select the 3 240v input sources for the van Hook - up, Generator, Inverter. Each source is then isolated when disconnected.

Ceiling fan

The main cabin ceiling fan is a combination of two fans. One is a factory made solar powered extractor the other is a very large computer fan secured over the inlet of the solar fan. The computer fan is 24v, this gives me two speeds slow (12v) and fast (24v). The solar fan runs all the time in sunlight, the computer fan can be switched at the control panel when required.

Wall covering

Here you can see the wall covering over the ply. There are spaces cut out for the toilet hatch and the heater grill on the left. The gap on the top right of the top picture is for the control panel. The wall rock will be painted using hard wearing paint making it washable. You can also see the ply facing on the left of the doorway with a cut out at the top allowing the sliding door to close.

The top image shows the Kitchen tap in place. The second one shows the plumbing for the shower and toliet, the top 2 isolator valves are for the basin in the bathroom once it has been fitted. The last picture shows the waste for the kitchen sink, custom made to fit in to a normal trap.

Water pump

Here you can see the water pump located under the hot water cylinder. The blue pipe to the right takes the cold water to the sink and shower and the cold to the cylinder. The top picture shows the generator with the inverter on top and the cylinder to the right.

Shower wastes

The two shower wastes are both soldered 22mm rigid pipes leading to the waste tank and located in the side of the tank next to the sink waste.

Towel warmer and toilet

Here you can see the new towel warmer with thermostatic valve and the toilet fixed in place. The piping for the towel warmer is done inside the wall, the brass valve you can see in the wall is the bypass valve to compensate for the thermostatic valve on the towel warmer.

Door area

Here is the wall clad in 3mm ply with a gentle curve to the doorway. At the bottom of the wall you can see the 2 holes for the heater which will have the covers matching the one under the bed. On the right you can see the flow and return pipes to the diesel heater, the longer loop is for the towel warmer in the bathroom. The hole is for the access to the toilet waste tank.

Plastic coating the bathroom floor

I used PlastiDip paint which when cured turns into plastic. To get the paint to apply properly we had to store the tin in the freezer. 3 Coats were used to make it waterproof. You can see the two wastes in the floor around the toilet base. This shot also shows the white waterproofed walls.

Painting bathroom walls

You can see the base coat on the walls and floors ready for the exterior waterproof paint.

Shower room floor and walls

Preperation of the floor and walls of the bathroom in readiness for the flooring to be painted on. The corners are sealed with Sika - flex and the wastes are fitted in the floor. The wooden box is a raised shelf for the toilet.

Generator mounting

These two pictures show the generator mounted in it's final position. The mountings are anti-vibration mounts I fabricated.

Lighting test

A test of the halogen lighting in the dark.

Second heater matrix

This shows the dividing wall between the main area and the under the bed section. It houses the fans and the heater matrix, the front is finished off with black ABS covers from Ebay. The heater is not central in the walkway, this is so the cupboard door to the left can open and nt obstruct the heaters.

Generator update

My TEC 29 generator is now working, It runs on unleaded petrol and can supply up to 2.6Kw. The engine speed varies depending on the load applied. It will be mounted under the bed in a sound deadening enclosure. Here are two pictures of the generator. This means I have managed to get a £2900 generator (Remote start) for £350. not bad.

Solar power

I decided to test out the solar panels and the Steca 30A charger. I ran the batteries down to the point when the regulator said no more it is deeply discharged (30%) and turned off the output (Ceiling lights) I then went to bed. At around 0930 hours we had a look and even the poor sunshine that morning had it back to 97%. Throughout the day periodic use of the lights (a 5a drain) and the charger is still showing 100%

Eberspacher 5kw diesel heater

This picture shows the connections of the heater hose to the primary circuit in the cylinder. It also shows the Eberspacher water pump mounted next to the cylinder. This is quite high up but not the highest point in the system by about 1m.

This picture shows one of the 2 heater matrix + fan combinations fitted. When we rigged up the heater and switched it on this matrix alone increased the temperature of the van from 9.5 deg to 13.4 deg in less than 12 minutes. There is a boost and quiet mode setting for the heater fans.

This is the business end of the heater system. The picture shows the heater mounted behind the rear wheel arch and the two exhaust silencers leading towards the rear of the van. The heater will be covered by an aluminium plate eventually.

Airconditioning ducting

I have installed the ducting for the air conditioning unit. It is 65mm foil ducting and there are 2 vents in the rear lockers and 1 above the worktop in the cupboard. At the end of the ducting is a directional vent.