Last few jobs!

Hoping to set off next week so had to get the last few jobs done. 

Solar Panels / Solar vent installed:

I went for 2 x 100w semi flexible solar panels. These were stixalled onto the roof and then screwed in at the corners. The extractor vent is also solar powered and can be run day and night.

Back door carpeted and bolt fitted

The rest of the doors have had deadlocks fitted to them but I didn't bother with the back door. So I wanted some added security but also wanted to be able to get out if all the other deadlocks were on. 

Front floor - wire covers

I used three battens stixalled to the floor and attached some ply on top, then stuck the vinyl on. Quite happy with the outcome.

Kitchen front and cushions

There's been loads more little jobs that I've done but I haven't got pictures or anything because I want to get on the road!! I may put a finished video up some point soon! As you can see by the cushions, Kim has started to leave her mark on Reg!

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Vinyl Floor and Mat..

We got the vinyl flooring done earlier in the week. Really happy with how it's turned out. Took a while to cut it all into shape. I purposely over cut it, in case I had got any measurements slightly wrong. We then went about sticking it down with double sided vinyl tape. Once it was down, I went round the edges cutting away any excess.

Here's how it turned out:

I hadn't figured out what to do with the side step, in terms of covering it etc. I then had the idea of adding a welcome mat to it . I was going to fold it in half and have it going up the side too. However, as I had over cut the vinyl, it turned out I could just fold this down the side and stick it as well. I then cut the mat to shape and stuck it down:

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Batteries

I had always planned to fit my leisure batteries under both of the seats. Obviously, this reduced the size of battery I could have. So after a lot of research and measurements, I decided on 4 x 100ah Numax leisure batteries. These are by no means the best battery in the world but for the money they are pretty decent. If you keep them maintained, they should last a good while.

When it came to installing them, I had a couple of problems. The first being that, the LT35 cab floor isn't flat. There is a gradually slant and unfortunately, batteries are supposed to be installed as level as possible (obviously this changes depending on where the van is but overall they should be level to the van). I therefore had to come up with a solution of how to install them. I created a level platform for each battery to sit on, being careful not to make it too high, so the terminals wouldn't come into contact with the chair.
Here's the installation:

This is how the batteries sat before I installed the base. As you can see they are fairly slanted!

I installed to batten wedges into the floor

 Ply Screwed into the battens

Straight batteries!

Although the batteries can barely move in the seat base, I needed to make sure they aren't going anywhere at all. So I bought some ratchet straps and used the raised platform and the seat to clamp the batteries in.

The next task was to wire them all as I had set out in my electrics diagram. This was more of a pain than it should have been because I didn't have a lot of cable! The pos and neg cable needs to be equal length, so it was a pain. However, I got there in the end:

I may add some rubber tops to the terminals on each battery. Just as a precaution, should it come into contact with the seat.

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Electrics!

Here is a complete diagram of my electric system, I have copied this from somebody else but with a couple of amendments:

I'm not going to go into great detail about it all because I can't be bothered! The two CTEK units basically run everything. The solar, alternator and battery charger, all go through these. This means my leisure batteries are constantly being charged, one way or another.
I decided to put my main electrical board behind my drivers seat, out of the way. I started work on the layout of the board.

Had to move a few things around as I had forgotten about the battery monitor shunt.

Fitted everything in place and began wiring it all in

Closer look at the wiring

I still need to connect the solar cable and the van battery. Although the cables have been routed.

Here's what's behind the wall:

 This is a view from the floor at the back of the fridge/cupboard. You can see all the wiring and shut off switch. It's also been done like this for ventilation for the fridge.

Finally, I added the front of the cupboard and test fitted my guitar:

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Gas!!

I was most concerned about the gas installation out of everything. It's the one thing that, if something were to go wrong, you'd seriously know about it! That being said, I managed to find somebody to lend me a helping hand. Phil, neighbour to my friends, Jay and Loys, has used LPG for a while and therefore knows the ins and outs. So I took the van round to the farm and he worked on piping up the gas stuff for me. The pipe was a bit of a nightmare to route through the cupboards etc but we got there in the end.

This left me with the job of securing everything and also figuring out what I was going to do about the fill point. The gas bottle I have is a special refillable gas bottle, so unlike the Calor type, you don't ever exchange it. Instead, it is designed to be refilled at LPG filling stations, using the pump, like you would a car. It has an auto cut off when it reaches 80% full. The problem is, most stations including those in Europe, don't like you filling up from either inside the vehicle or directly to the bottle. Therefore, an external fill point is needed.
I had originally planned to have a bracket type fill point which would bolt onto the sill at the side of the van. After reading a lot, and also looking at the location, I changed my mind and bought a recessed fill point, which goes into the van body.
This has taken me most of the day to fit, as it was a right pain to get the holes correct.

Cut the hole.. (nervous times!)

Hole in rear, with everything fitted

Secure fill pipe and route through drop vent

Happy with that!!

I then went and finished securing all the internal stuff, starting with the brace for the bottle and then securing all the piping with rubber P clips. I needed to add extra wood as the pipe sat off the wall slightly.

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Lots of jobs!

Managed to get a lot of jobs done over the last couple of days:

Shower & Tap Installed

I wanted a shower tap that turned on and off instantly in order to save water. So showers will basically be, get wet, turn off, soap up, turn on, rinse! So I went for a standard lever tap and used 15mm copper pipe with compression fittings. I quite like the industrial look! The shower head is also an eco shower head, so hopefully save water there too.

Shower Light

I pondered over what light to have in the bathroom for a while. Then I found this USB rechargeable motion sensing LED light! It's perfect! It comes on when entering the bathroom and turns off when leaving. It has an internal battery which can be recharged by USB. So once it runs out, I can just whack it into one of my USB wall sockets and recharge it in an hour or so. It is also really bright and lights the bathroom nicely. Best thing, was easy install, no wires, just 2 screws.

Thermostatic Mixing valve

At first, I thought I'd just put the hot water from the heater straight to the shower. I then realised that once the water had heated, it would be 70 degrees! So probably not a good idea to shower with just that! I did some research and the best thing I could find was to use a thermostatic mixing valve. I would therefore need to run a cold feed to it, in order to get the mix. I also had to figure out how to go from a 15mm compression fitting to a 12mm flexi pipe. I found a fitting on ebay, that went from 15mm to a hose tail, so this was perfect. 

Gas Drop vent & divider

Seen as there is a gas joint on the water heater, I needed to add a gas drop out vent. I tried putting it into the already exposed floor but after drilling a test hole, I realised it was right above a chassis member! Annoying!! So, I had to move it to the side slightly and go through the wood.
I then added the divider by screwing 2 battens, one in the floor and one to the top and then attaching ply.

Consumer unit, Fused Spur & earth cable

I finished off the consumer unit by adding a 5 amp fused spur from the 10 amp MCB to power the electric side of the water heater, This was a pain as it was already in situ, so I had to climb into the bed box to do it! At 6 foot 2, it's not very comfortable!! I then had to fix the earth cable to the chassis. I used a standard 6mm2 black cable for the earth and just added yellow and green sleeving. It was then fixed to the chassis with a M6 bolt.

Water heater control panel

This was a right pain as I had to get it to the other side of the van. I tried several locations but settled on here, as it's easily accessible but also out the way.

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