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Post by Mustang on Sept 26, 2019 8:44:36 GMT 10
Won't you love the comment when finished, "nice old Viscount mate" without them having any idea of what has transpired.
Re dragging the stabalisers , we now have a disciplined full "walk around" before leaving.
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Post by Husky on Sept 26, 2019 19:32:09 GMT 10
Great to see you back at it mate. đź‘Ť. Usually when you upload a video to Flickr, you can post a link to it, I find YouTube much easier for videos. Will have to drop past soon to take a look I person. đź‘Ť Your always welcome snoops and as we get closer and closer to the electrical side of things your input would be invaluable. I'll give the video thing another shot soon but not right now.
Your right about the dirt dust and grim build up wearing the threads out nom. I was taught a good trick with that though, is silicone spray (silly spray) when it dries it retains the lubricating ability but doesn't attract or get the dirt and grime stuck to it so it doesn't wear out the threads as fast.
Sept 26, 2019 8:44:36 GMT 10 Mustang said:
Won't you love the comment when finished, "nice old Viscount mate" without them having any idea of what has transpired.
Re dragging the stabalisers , we now have a disciplined full "walk around" before leaving.
I'm hoping that's the case Mustang though with the rivet counters Ive known in the past, if they know what a nice old Viscount looks like they will know this one has had some serious mods. Then i'll pull out my phone, load CC and say take a look yourself. i've directed a few customers from work to sign up here. it's unfortunate but as soon as they mentioned older van or classic van my boss switches off where my ears prick and try and help them out as much as possible. I've become adviser on a guy building a Supreme and a lovely lady needs some mods done on a York where i'm happy to help.
So at long last i feel like I'm gaining momentum on Charlie with the back skin finally going on. Had a few nightmares to deal with while doing it due to using second hand materials but it looks pretty good. Now to restrain myself from doing a snoops and painting the back before the rest of the skin is on.
The first problem was getting the top radius under the window to sit right when dry fitting it. The van it was off had a fold line and while flattening it out wasn't a drama it decided to sink in the middle of the window which looked like crap. Answer?
Half moon shapes attached to the window stays. Worked a treat then came a trick i learned at work. Heat gun over the ripples, hollows and bumps and through heat expansion and cooling contraction, the sheet finally sat where i wanted it. Its not perfect by a long shot and i'll more than likely play with it more but we'll get there.
The next problem i had was the sides were not 90 degrees to the profile and yes i put a spirit level on the profile to get it level. It was only out by about 30mm.... so with some careful adjustment, checking more adjustment, checking for level and more adjustment i got the sheet sitting where i wanted it. Then when i wrapped the skin around it was 110mm short of the chassis   " src="//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/superangry.png">. so with some careful measuring i made a small sheet big enough to underlap by 50mm and wrap around the inner timber frame. Lots of measuring and checking and a nice firmly wrapped behind of the van. it was such a shame to hide all that framework but its nice to see skin rather than skeleton
Inside all skinned up. Floor frame still flat and seriously looking the goods
Have Fun till next time!!!!
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Post by Mustang on Sept 27, 2019 7:57:55 GMT 10
Love the way you attached/ reinforced the hoops.
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Post by Husky on Sept 28, 2019 18:36:16 GMT 10
Thanks Mustang, sometimes outside the box thinking is needed. So a day off yesterday... well worked on a York for a customer but back to Charlie today. With the rear skin now on, the next job i want done before the floor goes down is to hang the water tanks. I'm thinking we may have to change the motto of this van to "Thinking ahead" As some may know when the young bloke gets his own camping set up in the next few years, his single bed and frame will be removed from Charlie and a separate toilet and shower will be going in it's place, so in doing the hard yards now I'm running wiring and plumbing in preparation for when that happens. I'd planned the two new 60 litre fresh water tanks mounted in line and directly above the axles and a 110 litre grey water tank mounted central between the back tank and the back of the van. This will hopefully balance out 10 dogs in transport crates at the front of the van. Well out of nowhere the misses goes "i think we need three fresh water tanks" which was met with a curious frown from me. so here's the math behind it
60 - 70Lt for the dogs on average for 2 - 3 days camping 10 - 15Lt on average for cooking over 2 - 3 days
Average weekend consumption approx 80 - 90Lt.
With 2 x 60lt tanks = 120Lt which doesn't leave much for showers hmmm and heres the kicker. We will only fill the third tank when camping longer than 2 - 3 days and once the shower is in. Then there is balancing the whole system out. Quick phone call to snoops (sorry to interrupt your camping trip) and all original tanks will go where i planned with the third fresh water tank in front of the front axle so when it's empty it wont effect balance and shouldn't effect weight wise to much. Now on with making it happen. I never really liked the way the old vans hung their tanks and I've never been fond of welding the chassis once it was crack tested and finished so studying a few later model vans at work i decided to make U shaped brackets with a bolt hanging down to fix the tank straps too. originally there would be 12 of these, 4 for each tank, now there would be 16. i had a go at manually bending one up.... it worked..... kinda
but then i remembered back in the dim dark ages, i used to be an engineer and surely i could come up with something a little more technical as i did have to fold up 16 of these buggers Should do the trick complete with keeper plate to prevent the bracket rotating while bending
Loaded up
....and formed....... next!!
Much better. the one on the right manual folding and the one on the left by forming tool.
Have fun till next time
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Post by Husky on Oct 2, 2019 16:54:43 GMT 10
OK well "NUTS" is the word of the day
Here are the nice new 16 tank hanger brackets I'd started last post. Very impressive and even look better painted and a nice new bolt hanging out of them. All excited to start making the cradles i dragged the tanks out of storage.....
i figured I'd better get some measurements off the chassis and first thing I noticed was the 60Lt tanks were not long enough to be able to mount as pictured above and put the straps front to back in the recesses allowed for them.....NUTS..... maybe swap 60Lt tanks for two 110Lt tanks the same size as the grey water tank? Would save having to mount a third fresh water tank....Sweet.... but left bugger all room for plumbing between the tank and the back of the wheel hubs not to mention permanently carrying 220Lt of water when its just not needed on race weekends.... NUTS.... back to 60Lt tanks, mount them side by side 90 degrees to the axles but still over the axles.... then where does the third tank go and plumbing would get pretty messy.... NUTS.....so we will ignore strap recesses on tanks run the straps left to right in line with tanks and i should just have enough room to bolt them up to the chassis as per original plan.... sweet.
It was then i noticed the chassis rails i'm bolting the tanks too are C section rails. i must have gotten so used to seeing solid RHS chassis at work i forgot mine was C Section. This means all 16 of the tank hangers i made are not needed and was a waste of time making them.... NUTS
Grey water tanks straps. this tank is long enough to go where and how i wanted it.
Fresh water tank cradle. To stop the tank sliding forwards and backwards i'll mount a 50mm angle iron bracket off the centre chassis rail in front and behind the tank. Figured i'd also put a centre stay on the cradle as pictured bolt everything up first to make sure it works and then weld.
no countersunk bolts to bolt stay in...... NUTS.... early knock off
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Post by Husky on Oct 2, 2019 17:00:20 GMT 10
oh yeah, off topic but this weekend the misses and i are headed to Hawksbury NSW for the Lost Trades Fair. We are part of the Crew that runs the whole show and now there are three a year. one in Victoria, Queensland and this year, for the first time, NSW.
Hopefully next year we will be towing Charlie up there to save on Accommodation but if anyone is in the area feel free to drop in and have a look and trust me you will not be disappointed. Also if you would like more info on any of the shows i can help with that too.
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Post by bobt on Oct 3, 2019 11:07:55 GMT 10
Nice work Husky.
One question, are you putting some sort of protection on the underside of the tanks?
My box has ply underneath and metal sheeting covering the underneath and the front.
I sustained some damage to a tap on my rear tank thans to the rear wheel kicking something up.
Bobt
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Post by 78466noM on Oct 3, 2019 16:24:59 GMT 10
oh yeah, off topic but this weekend the misses and i are headed to Hawksbury NSW for the Lost Trades Fair. We are part of the Crew that runs the whole show and now there are three a year. one in Victoria, Queensland and this year, for the first time, NSW. Hopefully next year we will be towing Charlie up there to save on Accommodation but if anyone is in the area feel free to drop in and have a look and trust me you will not be disappointed. Also if you would like more info on any of the shows i can help with that too. Bugger I have to work the Hawksbury area isn't too far from me. have fun and explore the area it has a lot of things to see and do. |
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Post by Husky on Oct 3, 2019 23:06:32 GMT 10
Nice work Husky. One question, are you putting some sort of protection on the underside of the tanks? My box has ply underneath and metal sheeting covering the underneath and the front. I sustained some damage to a tap on my rear tank thanks to the rear wheel kicking something up. Bobt Hey Bobt, Modern tanks are made from thicker plastic than the older ones and looking under the off road Crusaders at work there is just a sheet of tin wrapped around them and sandwiched between the tank and the clamps as pictured. The ends are left open allowing access to fittings but the sheet is long enough to protect fittings.
Ill probably do something similar and put angled guards at the front and rear of the four tanks more for a bit of warning if i happen to run over a branch or stump when parking at races.
Another interesting thing about the plumbing on the grey water tanks that I've never seen before is both lower outlets of the tank are piped with 42 diameter PVC pipe then one does a 90 degree turn runs into a T piece on the other drain pipe which then feeds into the tap. Sort of like a U shape with the tops of the U screwed into the tank with a tap at the bottom of the U. You can just make it out to the right of the above picture. After a lot of head scratching the only reason i can make out would be to drain the tank twice as fast as the tank holes are only 3/4" diameter on a 110Lt tank, or something to do with air flow even though there is a breather pipe on the mains flushing pipe. Anyone got any other ideas?
I was also advised to put a breather to every tank not just one to the whole system as this will create better water flow and the pump wont have to work as hard.
I dont think we will have much time for site seeing nom. we leave home at 7 am tomorrow morning, 10 - 11 hour drive up there check in and crash at the motel up for work Sat till 6 or 7 once everyone goes home, back to the motel crash up again Sun work all day, pack up the show Sun night back to the motel crash, up early Monday for the 10 - 11 hour drive home. maybe spend a few extra days next year if i have charlie on the road.
Have Fun, till next time
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Post by snoops on Oct 4, 2019 19:53:29 GMT 10
Seems overkill to me doing that. My plan is to just have the 3/4 outlet to a valve and fitting and that’s it. The grey water tank will breath through the drains connected to it as you won’t need an s trap or anything. As for the water tanks, 1 breather for the lot would be heaps I would have thought - think of it this way - if you had 1 tank, you’d have 1 breather - even if you had 10 tanks the pump will only draw the same amount as what it would with 1 tank so only 1 breather is needed IMO.
Have a great weekend mate, travel safe. đź‘Ť
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Post by Husky on Oct 4, 2019 20:24:34 GMT 10
Hmm definitely food for thought there snoops.
We arrived safe in Hawksbury and staying in a cabin at a caravan park. Long weekend up here and we are all packed in like sardines with barely an inch of space left anywhere on the grounds.
Can't wait to get home and go back to work already. Missing the pups too
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Post by Husky on Oct 22, 2019 16:23:31 GMT 10
OK well back from Hawksbury, went up there to work and earn money came back more broke than when i left.... what do you expect it was the Lost Trades Fair  So then i spent four days chained to my desk to get 9 months worth of business paperwork caught up on and submitted to my accountant. Looks like the caravan bits and pieces ive been doing is bringing in more money than the dog gear and with my accreditation on the way we may see a shift in business perspective. Ive got two customer vans sitting in my yard at the moment, two more arriving in the next week or so and a couple of onsite caravan jobs on the go so busy busy busy and not a lot of time to work on Charlie. Never the less, we will endevour. Your right about the grey water tank Snoops but thinking more on the fresh tank issues a breather to each tank would be needed to get the system to equalize properly. Each tank has two outlets at the bottom and the filler spout about half way up. My plan was to loop from one tank to the next have the pump feed between tank 2 and 3 (shower tank) with a tap coming out of tank 3 so it can be shut off when not in use. if there wasn't a breather to each individual tank would they still equalize? Ive got all the tank cradles made now and pretty much ready to bolt up. Didn't realize how much work was in these i just knew what i wanted. Cold forming the strapping to custom fit the tanks killed the shoulders too but they look pretty good. Here's some pics Grey water tank cradle
Fresh water cradle tank out (there are three of these)
Adjusting bolts. Head of the bolt will sit in the frame and first nut holds top stay while second one and Nylock will secure the cradle under a small amount of tension
Tank in.
Once these are all bolted in i can finally lay the floor YAY!!!!
Have fun and stay safe
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Post by snoops on Oct 22, 2019 20:45:46 GMT 10
Hmmm, you could be right, I’ll have to have a think about it. Will work well your way regardless if you went to the effort. 👍
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Post by 78466noM on Oct 30, 2019 20:25:59 GMT 10
with my two tanks I ran the breather from the two into one pipe that runs up to the filler connection
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Post by Husky on Nov 1, 2019 9:33:34 GMT 10
That would work too NOM. Im not sure which way I'll go yet, but its definitely something i need to think about before i start plumbing. I have three filler caps, one for each tank. Each filler cap has a breather pipe attachment as well as the filler pipe. Anyhow on with the update, Grey Water Tank mounted up
Now if you can recall the plan for the fresh water tanks was to be above the axles for weight distribution purposes. Unfortunately working on 4WD off road caravans has come back to to bite me in the butt again.....
Less than 10mm between axle and tank with no weight on the axles. not going to work
Much better
Four tanks looking the goods
After another visit from Santa we now have a few more goodies. Originally i was going to only put one double water reader then the misses asked for a third tank and i thought well a single reader is the same price as a double and now i can have a reader for all four tanks. Had a chat to my boss about installing the sensor as the tanks i have don't have the peak front on them like the crusaders to but they do have these flats
Unfortunately they are on the wrong angle though so now i need to do some customization with these or ignore them and mount the sensors lower on the curve so the reader sits in the tank roughly vertical and doesn't foul on the bottom radius of the tank. Has anyone done this before? I've also started to collect 12 volt bits and pieces as wiring will be happening very soon.
Have fun till next time
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Post by 78466noM on Nov 6, 2019 19:14:16 GMT 10
the end tank I assume is going to be the gray water tank if you have nothing going in between it and the freshwater tank moving it back to the freshwater tank will help with weight distribution when it is full as then the fresh water tanks will be on the empty side . with the senders you could make an angled price of conduit glued to tank with a plastic top glued to it with a hole in the plate and tank maybe use a polyethylene sealer if it is able to be used on water tanks or drill the hole big enough in tank for conduit to slide in and use pvc pipe joint glue would also be easier to get correct angle and be more solid if the flat part on tanks are bigger than the conduit.
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Post by Husky on Nov 14, 2019 22:39:42 GMT 10
Hey nom, only thing going between the tanks will be pipes for plumbing. As far as dragging home a full grey water tank it wont happen as at most race events i crack open the drain tap as I'm leaving and let it trickle out all the way home. Doing this could be an issue in the future though as i was reading up in a caravan mag i subscribe too and the EPA is cracking down on caravans, imparticular people who run straight drain pipes to the ground while the van is in use and people who empty grey water tanks into storm drains or like me let it trickle out while the van is in motion. Apparently Grey water can contain live bacteria that is harmful to the fauna and flora and can be smelly too.   Interesting fact considering my step mum used to use grey water from the sink, bath and washing machine to water her garden at home during the water restrictions and her garden was green and immaculate. Anyhow long story short, what they are pushing for is ALL liquid waste from caravans MUST be disposed of in an EPA approved dump site like you see at caravan parks or big fines will apply. Anyhow on with the build. Summoning up the balls i decided to drill holes in my nice new water tanks after talking to my boss about it. Then with a smear of good ole food grade silly cant i installed the water level probes and ran the wiring for them through split conduit to roughly where the electrical cabinet will be. Seriously i was impressed on how good it looks. One step closer to getting the floor down,
The last thing to check off the to do list before the floor goes down is the wheel arches as these are sandwiched between the top of the chassis and underneath the floor. i wanted to use the original ones from Charlie as they were nice and solid and had no holes in them. They were a bit rough around the wall side and about 25 mm to long for the wheel opening due to not being the original chassis. As always the trick to modify something without it being noticeable
I very carefully un-crimped the corner and prized the two pieces apart then re curved it 12.5mm shorter then re crimped it. Repeat the other end and bingo the visible part of the wheel arch was now 25mm shorter. Now for the back.
During a test fit i noticed that the arch was 30mm to wide over the length to sit on the chassis inline with the chassis opening so....
I cut the back out completely narrowing the arch by 30mm. The other arch in the picture is of the other side untouched so you can get an idea of what it was like originally. All that's left to do now is make a new wall piece.....
Comparison Old to new..... All to Easy
Take Care and Have Fun
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Post by snoops on Nov 15, 2019 19:51:14 GMT 10
Neat work on the wiring mate, I’ll make a Sparky out of you yet. 👍
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Post by Husky on Nov 16, 2019 9:34:26 GMT 10
Neat work on the wiring mate, I’ll make a Sparky out of you yet. 👍 Funny you should mention that snoops. With wiring Charlie getting closer and closer I decided to have a play on the bench to see if I can figure out two way switching for the 12 volt system kill switch (one at each door) and three way switching for some of the light circus. Check these out
Dad must be watching over me still.
So thinking about it, i want a 12 volt kill switch to kill the whole system operable from both access doors, sooo would I be right in running an inline fuse on the positive from battery to switch then wires from the switches to the fuse panel then fuse panel to where ever they go?
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Post by Husky on Nov 25, 2019 14:23:58 GMT 10
While things progress slowly on Charlie due to work commitments and looking for a new place to live (hopefully with a shed) i am using office time not to do business paperwork but researching and teaching myself a few things that i'll need to do in the near future. I got the power and lighting wiring sorted as you saw in the last post and the next big thing i want to learn about is solar so hopefully we wont have to run the generator anywhere near as much as we do when in the Scenic. We would have to run the generator every 3 - 4 days to charge the batteries. Please remember we mainly camp in Winter so not a great deal of sun but what i'm thinking maybe overkill, but will hopefully it will do the trick also i have no idea about watts amps volts etc this was dads area of expertise and he was supposed to be around forever lol
In the van we will be running led light stripping (estimating 15m), USB charge points for phones and head lamps, duel range hood exhaust fans, Fridge on 12 volts (misses doesnt want a gas fridge at all) and maybe a small TV if i can get away with it.
I was thinking about 2 x 250 watt solar panels on the roof. These measure 1650mm x 992mm and will give me a total of 500 watts. Ive studied a few 500 watt set ups and some people have gone with 4 x 100 watt panels on the roof and a fifth mobile panel that they can aim into the sun. So the question is which is better 2 panels or more??? Also thinkning about maintenance as i understand the cleaner the panels the better they work and do i really want to be climbing on the roof at races to clean the panels?
So traveling down the setup, another i studied had a 12 volt resetable circuit breaker so that you can disconnect the panels on the roof when working on the system to prevent shorting things out and so your not playing with live wires? Is one of these a good idea or more trouble than its worth?
Next would be the controller / regulator. Looked into these a lot from basic ones with no read out to real expensive ones that would probably blow my budget. Then there is the amps and watts thing again. What i'm looking at is a 40 - 50 amp MMPT Controller / Regulator with blue tooth. It has an LCD display so you can see on the unit whats happening but also download an app on your phone and have the system stats on your phone wherever you maybe. it sounds pretty cool and is about $165.00. Added bonus is it is compatible with multiple battery chemistries. So questions are, is a 40 - 50 amp controller / regulator the right size for 500 watt solar panel, is there another brand i should look at and can i use the two AUX connections as well as a 12 volt battery feed to run the fridge or is this a bad idea?
Before we get to the batteries they suggest a 16 amp inline fuse between the controller / regulator and the batteries. Only question there is about the amp of the fuse being big enough?
Now Batteries. I currently have 2 x 97 Amp/hr Delkor Marine & Leisure M27 Batteries that ran the Scenic system. Recently the duel batteries in my Triton gave out so i have pulled them out of the Scenic and put them in my Ute. i was thinking about putting four of these batteries in Charlie and then upgrading to lithium batteries later on. Questions are am i on the right track here or should i just leave the two i have in the Triton and buy something completely different?
I'm flying blind people and could really use some advice so i dont blow anything up and we can enjoy race season with enough power and reduced generator use.
Have fun and stay safe
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Post by snoops on Nov 25, 2019 18:48:01 GMT 10
Hi mate, I’ll start by letting you know what I run, what I used to run and a suggestion based on what you have described.
The Viscount has 5 x 100 watt solar panels on it - these were chosen as they were cheap - picked them up for $100 from a mate who was stripping down a trailer his FIL had built a few years earlier to supply extra for his motorhome. 500 watts is a good place to start with solar and it sounds like you are there with this - it doesn’t matter really how many you have but there are a few pros and cons which I’ll explain later on this, but it’s minor.
I run a 90 litre 12 volt Engel fridge, these are brilliant and much better than a 3 way gas fridge. With good solar, you’ll need 1 x 100Ah battery to keep this happy. Other loads are chargers, lighting, TV and an inverter. I only ever use the inverter for my pedestal fan which I take when it’s going to be warm - it moves heaps more air than the small and expensive 12 volt fans, but it takes up more room.
I used to run 4 x 100Ah of AGM batteries through a cheapish PWM controller (it came with the solar panels so I used it). This all worked great but I realised after a while that 4 batteries was overkill, so I removed 2 to save some weight. I still had no dramas with this and even on hot days and nights the batteries never got below about 60% so had a bit left. Remember with AGM batteries you only get half the rated capacity so 50Ah usable for each 100Ah battery.
I now run 1 x 100Ah Lithium with Victron MPPT solar reg and battery monitoring system. Lithium batteries allow nearly 100% usage of their capacity so 1 x 100Ah Lithium is equivalent to 2 x 100Ah AGM’s. Like AGM batteries, not all Lithium’s are created equal and I did a lot of research before buying one as they are bloody expensive but totally worth it if you have the budget. You can always move up to lithium later, the solar won’t need to change, but you will need to buy something that monitors the battery - watts in versus watts out or you’ll never know what state of charge the lithium battery will be at as they don’t drop voltage as they discharge like an AGM does. I spent nearly $1,500 on the battery, reg and monitor so it’s not a cheap exercise but with it if you have the money IMO - I’ve lightened the van considerably and that now allows me to chuck in an extra water tank for the shower.
So, what I would recommend is the 2 x 250 watt panels and if you have the weight capacity to do it, start with 3 or 4 batteries as if you make room for them, it’s easier to pull them out later if you don’t need that many.
I never plug my van into the mains - ever, and the fridge is on 24/7 only running off what the sun provides, all year around. If you feel a need to connect to 240 volt, a float charger is fine to install as well. If you are connecting your 12 volt to the car to charge while towing, no dramas, just connect the 12 volts through an Anderson plug or similar. DO NOT use a DCDC charger from the car - this is not required and will only limit the current you can supply to the batteries. I won’t start a war on this and I will not get into an argument with anyone that disagrees, but they have no place in a setup like this with an older vehicle, or almost all new ones either - they are a con.
Hope that helps mate - any more questions just sing out. đź‘Ť
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Post by snoops on Nov 25, 2019 18:54:16 GMT 10
Oh, was going to mention about solar panel arrangements. You can run your 2 panels in either series or parallel to the solar regulator - each way has pros and cons. In series, you have a higher voltage to the reg and less voltage drop - it will still change the batteries at the right level, they are designed for higher inputs from the panels. The drawback is that a small amount of shade on one panel will drop the charging capacity quite noticeably of the whole system. If you run them in parallel then you have a lower voltage to the reg and slightly more voltage drop (again, the reg will compensate for this) and you don’t have the issues if one panel is in the shade, the other in the sun will still crank away at full capacity. I have my 5 panels in parallel as they are spread right across the van roof so they work at different efficiencies each at different parts of the day.
A 40 or 50 amp regulator will work fine with the 500 watts too. đź‘Ť
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Post by 78466noM on Nov 27, 2019 17:50:00 GMT 10
I have a battery switch that will shut off power to the Anderson plug if it goes below 12volt. I'm glad I'm not the only one confused at what a dc to dc charger is supposed to do 12v to 12v . we have them on A-Trailers that have hydraulic motors to move the box but that is because it can either have 24v or 12 volt from truck and in the case of the 24 volt it steps it down it is also charging from a 20amp wire from parking light circuit.
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Post by snoops on Nov 27, 2019 17:59:33 GMT 10
The 24 to 12 volt units are as you say designed for trucks, etc and are very useful. 12 volt DCDC units are designed to give a slightly higher charge voltage to the battery they are supplying, and in theory this works however the drawback - and it’s a major one - is that the current is limited to whatever the charger is - around 20 amps in a lot of cases. A very flat battery may draw 3 or 4 times this from your alternator when you first start the car and set off for the day for up to an hour or so until the battery state comes up a bit, then drops as the battery charges. A DCDC can only supply the 20 amps so you can find that after 6 hours of driving, your battery is still only half charged when you pull up whereas if you just let the alternator do it’s job, you have a full battery driving the same distance.
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Post by Husky on Dec 2, 2019 18:17:34 GMT 10
Wow  heaps off food for thought there snoops thanks though i still have a few questions The guy who has all the bits im looking at getting has mono panels and poly panels. Apart from color is there any difference and can all panels be used for 12 volts? the misses decided after your post we will run them in parallel due to the partial shade issue you mentioned. Looking at the circuit breaker between the panels and the regulator it looks like a glorified switch as nom mentioned. what are your thoughts on this? As for batteries, I'm thinking four 97 amp hour batteries like i have. One dedicated to the fridge like you mentioned, One dedicated to lighting and the last two for running chargers. Mainly cause im sick of the batteries draining due to charging crap and having no lights after a few days. I'm thinking this maybe overkill and then there is the weight issue you mentioned and its true there will be a constant top up of power from the panels so i think this still needs some thought and some input peoples. The company i'm dealing with is Energy Connections in Pakenham. Plan is to give him a shopping list wait till he has it all and then do a trip down to pick it up. OK time for a work update....the floor is down, THE FLOOR IS DOWN!!!  but first being able to see to put the floor down was a must so...
I cut open the four season hatch holes and cleaned them back to the roof frames. Not wanting to put any more holes in the ceiling i put a RHS bar on top of the roof frames and suspended a 240 volt lead Fluro through each hatch and da da Daylight inside. Now i can see time for the floor
In typical Husky fashion we couldn't just lay all the sheets on the frame and screw them down. I did that on the Scenic, put planks of wood underneath the joins and filled with no more gaps from above. Well no more gaps fell out, there was a draft through such gaps and i could see daylight through the joins. Also the floor was still bouncy.
 Digging out dads router and cutting bits, I cut a slot the whole width of the sheet 4mm thick and 14mm deep on each side of the join. I'm using 12mm ply for the floor so effectively there is 4mm above and below the slot. Using strips of 4mm hardwood ply i got a mate to cut for me on his table saw, i glued the tongue into the slot, layed that sheet then filled the opposing slot with glue and slid the two sheets together. Five joins later and i have created a one piece floor that no draft or daylight will ever get through. Not only do the joins look the goods but they are solid as well with no bounce. the joins closed up to within half a mm over the full width so i was happy as a pig in
Beveled the edges where the floor meets the skin both ends so i can squeeze every usable mm of floor space out of this van
Recessed the underneath of the floor where the bolt heads are for the stabilizer legs.
And bingo we have floor. 6,350mm x 2285mm total. Before laying the floor covering i'll whip the belt sander over the joins to smooth them off and fill a few broken edges with car bog. Where the floor meets the skin, smooth transition due to the bevel
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" src="//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/superangry.png">. so with some careful measuring i made a small sheet big enough to underlap by 50mm and wrap around the inner timber frame. Lots of measuring and checking and a nice firmly wrapped behind of the van. it was such a shame to hide all that framework but its nice to see skin rather than skeleton
Interesting fact considering my step mum used to use grey water from the sink, bath and washing machine to water her garden at home during the water restrictions and her garden was green and immaculate. Anyhow long story short, what they are pushing for is ALL liquid waste from caravans MUST be disposed of in an EPA approved dump site like you see at caravan parks or big fines will apply.
heaps off food for thought there snoops thanks though i still have a few questions
