Lenny's Modding the new Gin Palace

[eddie]

Thanks Eddie @eddievanbitz that's a nice compliment.
The time involved is quite frighting and you have to be so carefull these modern matchbox vans damage so easily.

I'm 50/50 on an RCD on the inverter as the output is isolated but it won't do any harm to fit one, so I probably will.

It is a bit of a "thing" with me as the Victron, Sterling, Mastervolt and Weaco all insist that one should be on the output and so few people do. Sterling actually have started building them in. Too many people think that as there is one on the "supply" that the Inverter further down the line will be protected.

Nice GEL's

 

[Lenny HB]

Nice GEL's

I don't think much of what Hymer/Schaudt have done with the Electroblocks. Only 2 charge regimes Gel & AGM, the Gel one holds at 14.3v for 16 hours ( used to be 8 hours) & the AGM at 14.7v for 4 hours either of those would cook a lot of wet cells.

 

[Lenny HB]

Another job done, battery monitor fitted. Was a bit stuck on where to fit it then Mi said what about here beside the TV, I went one better I took out the mains socket and replaced it with the battery monitor. If I ever need mains on that side of the van there is another socket 18" below the position anyway.
A bit disappointed with the BM700, £135 and no better than the £20 Chinese one I fitted in the last van and this one I have to put glasses on to read it.

 

[eddie]

Thanks Eddie @eddievanbitz that's a nice compliment.
The time involved is quite frighting and you have to be so carefull these modern matchbox vans damage so easily.

So often, people, even as august as some members are on Fun, will "Poo Poo" a quoted labour time as "poppycock"

Sometimes they are right, a lot of the time they are wrong

Just because person "A" fits an inline water filter in the kitchen cupboard in 30 minutes person "B" fits it as part of their home build in 20 minutes, doesn't mean that dealer "C" is ripping someone off if they quote two hours. Your picture shows a lovely neat installation. I bet that if you thought about all the time it took you, from opening and checking the product, thinking about where you wanted it, and where it would best be sited, then, removing the drawers before you even start fitting the thing

 

[Lenny HB]

So often, people, even as august as some members are on Fun, will "Poo Poo" a quoted labour time as "poppycock"

Sometimes they are right, a lot of the time they are wrong

Just because person "A" fits an inline water filter in the kitchen cupboard in 30 minutes person "B" fits it as part of their home build in 20 minutes, doesn't mean that dealer "C" is ripping someone off if they quote two hours. Your picture shows a lovely neat installation. I bet that if you thought about all the time it took you, from opening and checking the product, thinking about where you wanted it, and where it would best be sited, then, removing the drawers

Two hours that would be luxury, took over half an hour to get 2 cable ties back on all the crap at the back, not easy one handed at full stretch, oh boy those draws were deep.

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[sallylillian]

Lenny, do you have any idea why your new fridge performs so well? We only get to 4-5 on setting 3bars but worse once we load it, so tend to set it at 4 bars. Some how it got reset to one bar and loaded was circa 11c so disappointing. Just wondering if somewhere there is an adjustment on a PCB that is done at the factory?

 

[Lenny HB]

Lenny, do you have any idea why your new fridge performs so well? We only get to 4-5 on setting 3bars but worse once we load it, so tend to set it at 4 bars. Some how it got reset to one bar and loaded was circa 11c so disappointing. Just wondering if somewhere there is an adjustment on a PCB that is done at the factory?

Your one sounds better than my last one, sorry don't know why it appears to be radom, when my mate told me his 8505 could freeze the milk I didn't believe him until I saw it myself.

On my last one at first it was totally useless on gas only got down to 9-10 deg on mains 6, had the burner changed then it achieved about 5. When in Greece had a problem with the ignitor leads tracking out and burning through (cured with self-amalgamating tape) had to take the burner out to sort it. After that it performed much better getting down to 4 deg still had to run it on 4 or 5 bars, the burner position appears to be critical even though there is no adjustment.
If your burner is loud and sounds like a furnace could be worth changing, also check the jet some were made with the wrong jet fitted.

 

[Hellski]

Another job done, battery monitor fitted. Was a bit stuck on where to fit it then Mi said what about here beside the TV, I went one better I took out the mains socket and replaced it with the battery monitor. If I ever need mains on that side of the van there is another socket 18" below the position anyway.
A bit disappointed with the BM700, £135 and no better than the £20 Chinese one I fitted in the last van and this one I have to put glasses on to read it.

View attachment 157090

To unlock the full potential you need to have the Bluetooth module, then you get this sort of data on either your iPhone or iPad as well as being able to adjust settings remotely

 

[Spidey]

@Lenny HB read through your posts and you certainly very handy. We have to ask on here or the dealers.

We have a hymer tramp with surround sound speakers. Works on the radio but can't get it work on the TV. The manual is useless. Do you know how to get the sound all around for the tv? It's all wired up for it and the tv is plugged in to it. It is avtex tv and trying to watch from USB plugged into the tv.

 

[Lenny HB]

To unlock the full potential you need to have the Bluetooth module, then you get this sort of data on either your iPhone or iPad as well as being able to adjust settings remotely
View attachment 157100

You can get all that by cycling through the display, technical overkill and another 40 quid.

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[Lenny HB]

@Lenny HB read through your posts and you certainly very handy. We have to ask on here or the dealers.

We have a hymer tramp with surround sound speakers. Works on the radio but can't get it work on the TV. The manual is useless. Do you know how to get the sound all around for the tv? It's all wired up for it and the tv is plugged in to it. It is avtex tv and trying to watch from USB plugged into the tv.

Difficult to say without seen how it's wired. The Tramp we had was a Gold edition came will TV, surround sound & subwoofer, Oyster satellite. Hymer left the dealers to finish the install and they wired it wrong. I rewired it and sent them a drawing so that they could rewire another customers unit (a Belgium friend brought same van from same dealer).

Best to go back to the beginning, how is the sound connected to the TV, I found the best option is to use the headphone jack I used a 3.5mm to phono conversion lead to connect to the output then the phono's run to the head unit. Drop your head unit out and check they have plugged into "audio in" and not the "out sockets" unless you have a sub woofer it should be easy to sort out. Don't forget the basics like selecting the correct aux input on the head unit.
Another tip, I assume your main seats are the cab ones in that case swap left & Right (I do it on the back of the TV) then the sound will be correct with the seats swiveled.

 

[Hellski]

You can get all that by cycling through the display, technical overkill and another 40 quid.

Yes, but you don't need your glasses and the info is clearly displayed rather than having to cycle through the one line display of the unit

 

[Spidey]

Thanks @Lenny HB. It's very confusing. We have surround sound and pre-wired for satalite/speakers etc. No satalite dish but think there is woofer somewhere. I am sure we have had it working but no idea how. We have tried all sorts of combinations but OH is going to have a play with it again. If it doesn't work then it can be looked at when it goes to the dealers for damp check next month.

 

[Taran_Las]

Not a bad job for a old fruit pastel​

 

[Lenny HB]

Not a bad job for a old fruit pastel​

You foreigners ain't arf cheeky.

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[Lenny HB]

Yes, but you don't need your glasses and the info is clearly displayed rather than having to cycle through the one line display of the unit

I'd still need me glasses.

 

[jessthedog]

Power is wired direct to the Elektroblock so it is running off the leisure batteries of which I have just added a third & have 200 watts of solar with an MPPT regulator will probably put another panel on the roof.

Love what you are doing and jealous of skill level
Please tell us if you mess up, so we can all feel better
Just wondering if you added new battery to existing or kept it seperate, as your original batteries are a couple of years old, arent they?

 

[Lenny HB]

Love what you are doing and jealous of skill level
Please tell us if you mess up, so we can all feel better
Just wondering if you added new battery to existing or kept it seperate, as your original batteries are a couple of years old, arent they?

Batteries were only just over a year old so just wired in parallel.

 

[Gorse Hill]

Difficult to say without seen how it's wired. The Tramp we had was a Gold edition came will TV, surround sound & subwoofer, Oyster satellite. Hymer left the dealers to finish the install and they wired it wrong. I rewired it and sent them a drawing so that they could rewire another customers unit (a Belgium friend brought same van from same dealer).

Best to go back to the beginning, how is the sound connected to the TV, I found the best option is to use the headphone jack I used a 3.5mm to phono conversion lead to connect to the output then the phono's run to the head unit. Drop your head unit out and check they have plugged into "audio in" and not the "out sockets" unless you have a sub woofer it should be easy to sort out. Don't forget the basics like selecting the correct aux input on the head unit.
Another tip, I assume your main seats are the cab ones in that case swap left & Right (I do it on the back of the TV) then the sound will be correct with the seats swiveled.

Is there an advantage of using the 3.5mm phono connection rather than using the phono leads to back of head unit/tv Lenny, just interested as about to do mine

 

[Lenny HB]

Is there an advantage of using the 3.5mm phono connection rather than using the phono leads to back of head unit/tv Lenny, just interested as about to do mine

I take you mean use a 3.5mm jack to phono lead, no reason at all in fact a better solution. On my TV the headphone jack is on the side quite near the edge so I used an adaptor with a right angled jack plug, also the better quality leads have quite bulky jack plugs that may not fit, you need to check it out.

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[Gorse Hill]

I take you mean use a 3.5mm jack to phono lead, no reason at all in fact a better solution. On my TV the headphone jack is on the side quite near the edge so I used an adaptor with a right angled jack plug, also the better quality leads have quite bulky jack plugs that may not fit, you need to check it out.

Thks, thought I was missing something there Lenny
Am not to bad so can go phono to phono, like you say get the best quality leads without going daft on cost

 

[Peter Sansom]

Aaah, that explains your skill level. Wish I was even 1% as technical as you, although I can wire a plug.

I resemble this!

 

[WhiteCheyenneMan]

Fitted the 3rd battery and the inverter.

As the inverter is a bit inaccessible I've made it remote switching, fitted a 100 amp relay and made a 10second delay timer wired to the soft start on the inverter, so it turns fully on 10 sec after power is switched on. Just got to sort out the mains wiring & switching.

What can you run off your inverter and 3 x batteries? Would the setup power a microwave for short bursts? I know that the startup power with a microwave trips many low amp EHU's.

 

[Lenny HB]

What can you run off your inverter and 3 x batteries? Would the setup power a microwave for short bursts? I know that the startup power with a microwave trips many low amp EHU's.

A small 500/600 watt microwave would be fine it would take 40-50amps out of the batteries for an hours use, you would probably need to fit a bigger inverter to handle the start up current mine is only a 1000W.
I don't really see the point of canning the batteries when I have a much better alternative for cooking, gas.
I only really use the inverter for charging the e-bikes, the boss very occasionally uses a travel hair dryer on the low setting for a few minutes and we occasionally use a small vacuum cleaner for a few minutes.

 

[Lenny HB]

Our dealer swapped our gas bottles over for us, I was not impressed with how they fitted the filler pipe. Now having had a look underneath at where the chassis members are I can see why they did it that way.

Sorted now with a bit of foam board I found in my garage.

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[Geriatric Germ]

Think your self lucky that you are not a neighbour of mine !! We struggle in UK and Germany to find anyone to even look at our N & B Clou, and those we have found all have shortcomings !! Well done, let me know when you wish to take ours on commercially Please.

 

[Lenny HB]

Think your self lucky that you are not a neighbour of mine !! We struggle in UK and Germany to find anyone to even look at our N & B Clou, and those we have found all have shortcomings !! Well done, let me know when you wish to take ours on commercially Please.

Oooo! No thank you. I spend most days of the last 4 weeks on mine, slowing down now only doing a few hours a day.

I'm surprised you can't get anyone in Germany to do the work. Have you tried the Belgium N & B dealer I know our Hymer dealers labour rates are a lot cheaper than the UK, lots of Hymer owners go to them for work.

 

[Lenny HB]

Lazy day today, fitted a r/a Hella socket in the rear centre cupboard & my router, easy to plug in my dongle or the wifi aerial and put it on the roof through the rooflight.

 

[Lenny HB]

Another little job done, smoke alarm in the bedroom area.
Struggling to find somewhere to fit the CO alarm that may have to go in the bedroom as well not ideal but better than not having one.

 

[Neckender]

Another little job done, smoke alarm in the bedroom area.
Struggling to find somewhere to fit the CO alarm that may have to go in the bedroom as well not ideal but better than not having one.

View attachment 157502

@Lenny HB I've fitted an Honeywell CO detector today and the instructions say for a caravan or motorhome do not fit in the kitchen living area but where you sleep.
It shows the alarm sitting on a shelf at the side of the bed, so I double sided taped mine to the overhead wall units.

John.

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