No. 2: Reversing Camera & Solar Panel Installations.

[STEVE4SONN]

Hi. All.

Here I am to bore the pants off you all and obviously to pick your brains too!!
My apologies if my last post / blog or Thread was too long still don't know difference between the three of them, so I will try to keep it short n to the point.

During an idle spell, I took it upon myself to start to get a relationship going with eBay, Amazon and our local suppliers and both the VAN-ELF & I was amazed how easy it was to get carried away on these internet shopping sites, you can literally buy anything. (Almost)..

At this point I was watching YouTube videos until the early hours of the morning to get ideas and tips, the VAN-ELF thought I was up to no good watching movies on my laptop or phone, I was becoming my grand child or an obsessed teenager, but without attitude.

So I took the plunge & thought whilst the van is stripped out it would be a good idea to start at the top roof and work my way to the floor and install the items such as Reversing Camera, Roof Lights, Solar Panels and Air Fans. Well with all the advice and tips I ordered my first three items.. that was my beer money gone for that month.. I think I could have supplied beer to George Best for 6 months.. Cor!! Blimey this Van Converting is an expensive addiction.

• Reversing Camera Kit
• 3 x Solar Panels (175w) + Cable + Connectors.
• 2 x Maxi Air Fans.

Well when these items started to arrive it was like Christmas morning every day for about 5 days, as in my previous posts I am away all week so I was forever clocking in to the VAN-ELF to ask if I had had a parcel.
Well when I opened the Solar Panels I obviously had not really put a lot of thought into the method of fixing them to my roof, as my trade of my younger days was a Fabricator / Welder it was not really a daunting task, however I did want to ensure that I did follow the tips I had learnt watching all those YouTube videos.
The best money spent so far is 4 x 6 meters of UNISTRUT, this can get you out of lots of trouble when requiring a secure method of securing items and it is reasonably cheap.
So I cut two lengths to the full length of the roof of my van, if you purchase 40mm UNISTRUT this sits neatly in the grooves on the top of the van, so I marked off the UNISTRUT and drilled about 6 Equally spaced 10mm dia holes in the UNISTRUT, match marked the van on the top of the roof, jumped inside the van to ensure that I had missed the cross struts on the van roof, all was good so I drilled the very first hole in my van.. yes who puts holes in the roof of the van.
Prior to purchasing the UNISTRUT I realised I needed some other items such as double sided sticky gasket tape W4 Mastic Sealing Strip, some SIKA 522 or 512 and lots of M10 S/S Pins 30mm long with 25mm x 10mm Washers luckily I have quite a lot of the latter in my shed. (Again very expensive items and WOIW how things have escalated since COVID n BREXIT)
Now what do I fasten the Solar Panels on and my obvious answer because I can get my hands on Stainless Steel items I decided to put cross angles 90 degrees to the UNISTRUT & sit them on these, an ode to the Solar Panel Companies "VICTRON" please do something more user friendly on designing a clamping method for your panels.
Now as my VAN-ELF (Sonia the Wife) is always critical and usually right as most wives are.. (Reverse Psychology there lads) said that my Stainless angles were too long, but there is a reason for this.. as is the M10 captivated nut on the end plates. I can fix my awning to it and not put it onto the roof directly as I have heard of so many leak issues caused by awnings causing weep holes in the roof when the winds gust in.

Well enough of it all now as I promised to keep it short tonight, there are photos showing the Solar Panels installed and I did not mention the install of the reversing camera as this was an absolute doddle.

Photos.. Reversing Camera.

Photos: Solar Panels

Well I am sure I have bored you ALL now, please tell me the truth if my Posts are too long tell me as I only want to try and explain what we (I) have done but if it is boring you ALL it is fruitless.
Now what goes on the end of the cables on the Solar Panels is beyond me, I have brought a EPEVER MPPT 40A Solar Charge Controller and 3 x Lithium Batteries 110Ah so I think I am well covered on the 12v system.

NOW if any of you have read all of this, there is a request of a WIRING DIAGRAM can someone please send me one, thanks in advance.

Hope you are ALL looking forward to tomorrows post / blog or thread again someone explain the difference..??

Regards and Good Night
Steve n Sonia.

 

[Off da Grid]

Damm useful stuff unistrut, I used it on our fiat Ducato pvc for my panel.
Depends how you want to wire your panels.
Personally I would run them in parallel.
You can get multiple mc4 connectors that allow multiple panels to be connected to one cable to feed to your controller.

 

[STEVE4SONN]

Damm useful stuff unistrut, I used it on our fiat Ducato pvc for my panel.
Depends how you want to wire your panels.
Personally I would run them in parallel.
You can get multiple mc4 connectors that allow multiple panels to be connected to one cable to feed to your controller.

To be honest "Off da Grid" I think that is what I have done, as in my post / blog or thread I watched YouTube videos and everyone recommended that way was the best, I have two leads coming into my van, one red and one black.
Take it these go into an Isolation Switch which i have from that to my MPPT Solar Charge Controller..
None of the latter is done yet matey so I have two cables..
Regards..
Steve B

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

Hi Steve and Sonia. The reversing camera kit you’ve fitted is the same as I have in my campervan. Could you let me have some details of it since mine was fitted before my time and I have intermittent problems with it. Regards, David

 

[mitzimad]

problem with unistrut is the weight you could have used about a quarter the weight using aluminium

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[STEVE4SONN]

Hi Steve and Sonia. The reversing camera kit you’ve fitted is the same as I have in my campervan. Could you let me have some details of it since mine was fitted before my time and I have intermittent problems with it. Regards, David

Will try to get the info to you, I am away from home until the weekend, I will try to find the booklet that came with it David..
If I cannot a friend of mine brought the same model..
What are your issues.. please tell me I have brought a wrong one..
Regards
Steve B

 

[STEVE4SONN]

problem with unistrut is the weight you could have used about a quarter the weight using aluminium

Trouble is that Aluminium oxidizes when bolted to C/S.
Plus I wanted something strong to use as an anchor for my awning to bolt to instead of bolting the awning through the roof.. which also creates issues in the long term..
Regard
Steve B

 

[Raul]

Great job, I like the uni strut a lot. I mounted mine on similar set up, but used renusol matalsole, instead unistrut, and proprietary renusol panel clamps. That spoiler at first panel is not needed, it will shade the first row of cells and eventually the bypass diode will fail. I would not have such obstructions on the panel.

 

[STEVE4SONN]

Great job, I like the uni strut a lot. I mounted mine on similar set up, but used renusol matalsole, instead unistrut, and proprietary renusol panel clamps. That spoiler at first panel is not needed, it will shade the first row of cells and eventually the bypass diode will fail. I would not have such obstructions on the panel.

Thanks for that Raul.. I will move that one off and relocate to the front of the van, I was thinking of doing that too and fitting a light bar on it too.
Regards
Steve B

 

[Raul]

You could put that in front of the max fan. I would leave it as high as it is in the middle, but trim the ends lower.
You only need it to deflect wind in the fan area, but need the length to fix to unistrut.

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[STEVE4SONN]

You could put that in front of the max fan. I would leave it as high as it is in the middle, but trim the ends lower.
You only need it to deflect wind in the fan area, but need the length to fix to unistrut.

I understand your thoughts but I want the width to attach my awning to the cross members..
Thank you..

 

[uzsnowdrop]

Just wanted to say completely in awe of what you are doing. The threads are not too long dont worry about that, finding them fascinating.
Keep on going…

 

[huck999]

one of the advantages of a flat-roofed motorhome - a couple of sheets of corrugated plastic and some sticky tape. All done!

 

[STEVE4SONN]

Just wanted to say completely in awe of what you are doing. The threads are not too long dont worry about that, finding them fascinating.
Keep on going…

Hi. UzSnowdrop..

Thank you kindly for the positive feedback, it is sometimes difficult to judge if the things you write are too long!, too boring or just crap as not everyone is interested, finding that "Just Right & Just Enough" medium is hard because if you are passionate and take pride in the self build you want everyone to know how you did it or someone may know a better way, it is good to share.

I may point out I have never written posts before or subscribed to a forum, but enjoying the experience and out there are some nice people who want to help and advise.

Regards..

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

Will try to get the info to you, I am away from home until the weekend, I will try to find the booklet that came with it David..
If I cannot a friend of mine brought the same model..
What are your issues.. please tell me I have brought a wrong one..
Regards
Steve B

It's been fine for nearly two years but on our recent trip we've had a blue screen on one of the two channels with "No Signal" message. I haven't had a chance to take a look at it yet - it might just be a poor connection somewhere but a manual or some paperwork might help me to sort out problem. Thanks, David

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[robert groves]

problem with unistrut is the weight you could have used about a quarter the weight using aluminium

Hi. All.

Here I am to bore the pants off you all and obviously to pick your brains too!!
My apologies if my last post / blog or Thread was too long still don't know difference between the three of them, so I will try to keep it short n to the point.

During an idle spell, I took it upon myself to start to get a relationship going with eBay, Amazon and our local suppliers and both the VAN-ELF & I was amazed how easy it was to get carried away on these internet shopping sites, you can literally buy anything. (Almost)..

At this point I was watching YouTube videos until the early hours of the morning to get ideas and tips, the VAN-ELF thought I was up to no good watching movies on my laptop or phone, I was becoming my grand child or an obsessed teenager, but without attitude.

So I took the plunge & thought whilst the van is stripped out it would be a good idea to start at the top roof and work my way to the floor and install the items such as Reversing Camera, Roof Lights, Solar Panels and Air Fans. Well with all the advice and tips I ordered my first three items.. that was my beer money gone for that month.. I think I could have supplied beer to George Best for 6 months.. Cor!! Blimey this Van Converting is an expensive addiction.

• Reversing Camera Kit
• 3 x Solar Panels (175w) + Cable + Connectors.
• 2 x Maxi Air Fans.

Well when these items started to arrive it was like Christmas morning every day for about 5 days, as in my previous posts I am away all week so I was forever clocking in to the VAN-ELF to ask if I had had a parcel.
Well when I opened the Solar Panels I obviously had not really put a lot of thought into the method of fixing them to my roof, as my trade of my younger days was a Fabricator / Welder it was not really a daunting task, however I did want to ensure that I did follow the tips I had learnt watching all those YouTube videos.
The best money spent so far is 4 x 6 meters of UNISTRUT, this can get you out of lots of trouble when requiring a secure method of securing items and it is reasonably cheap.
So I cut two lengths to the full length of the roof of my van, if you purchase 40mm UNISTRUT this sits neatly in the grooves on the top of the van, so I marked off the UNISTRUT and drilled about 6 Equally spaced 10mm dia holes in the UNISTRUT, match marked the van on the top of the roof, jumped inside the van to ensure that I had missed the cross struts on the van roof, all was good so I drilled the very first hole in my van.. yes who puts holes in the roof of the van.
Prior to purchasing the UNISTRUT I realised I needed some other items such as double sided sticky gasket tape W4 Mastic Sealing Strip, some SIKA 522 or 512 and lots of M10 S/S Pins 30mm long with 25mm x 10mm Washers luckily I have quite a lot of the latter in my shed. (Again very expensive items and WOIW how things have escalated since COVID n BREXIT)
Now what do I fasten the Solar Panels on and my obvious answer because I can get my hands on Stainless Steel items I decided to put cross angles 90 degrees to the UNISTRUT & sit them on these, an ode to the Solar Panel Companies "VICTRON" please do something more user friendly on designing a clamping method for your panels.
Now as my VAN-ELF (Sonia the Wife) is always critical and usually right as most wives are.. (Reverse Psychology there lads) said that my Stainless angles were too long, but there is a reason for this.. as is the M10 captivated nut on the end plates. I can fix my awning to it and not put it onto the roof directly as I have heard of so many leak issues caused by awnings causing weep holes in the roof when the winds gust in.

Well enough of it all now as I promised to keep it short tonight, there are photos showing the Solar Panels installed and I did not mention the install of the reversing camera as this was an absolute doddle.

Photos.. Reversing Camera.
View attachment 527815View attachment 527818View attachment 527817View attachment 527820

Photos: Solar Panels
View attachment 527827View attachment 527830
View attachment 527828View attachment 527829View attachment 527831View attachment 527832View attachment 527833View attachment 527834View attachment 527835View attachment 527837View attachment 527838View attachment 527839View attachment 527840View attachment 527841View attachment 527846View attachment 527847View attachment 527848View attachment 527849
View attachment 527853

Well I am sure I have bored you ALL now, please tell me the truth if my Posts are too long tell me as I only want to try and explain what we (I) have done but if it is boring you ALL it is fruitless.
Now what goes on the end of the cables on the Solar Panels is beyond me, I have brought a EPEVER MPPT 40A Solar Charge Controller and 3 x Lithium Batteries 110Ah so I think I am well covered on the 12v system.

NOW if any of you have read all of this, there is a request of a WIRING DIAGRAM can someone please send me one, thanks in advance.

Hope you are ALL looking forward to tomorrows post / blog or thread again someone explain the difference..??

Regards and Good Night
Steve n Sonia.

Please Rember,...there are 2 types of Galvanised systems (plus Stainless)...Hot Dipped Galvanised for External use, & ordinary Pre-Galvanised for Internal use, ...the internal strut will develop an 'Oxidised' layer,...(white powdery stuff) and may cause the advesive bond to fail !