One more recent project - cleaned up my solar wiring
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Major electrical upgrades going in this week. 4x Victron 12/12-30 chargers to charge my 4 Battle Born 12V 100Ah LiFePo4 batteries. The whole electrical system was in the cab, but I decided to build it into the bed since I like having access to everything when it is nasty outside, and the self-heated batteries won’t have to heat at all if they are with me in a warm truck bed.
Foam insulation 1.5 inches thick gets you clear of the GFC bars
3/16" HDPE starboard sheets Installed with M5 Riv-nuts through the front aluminum wall of the GFC. Planning to add some more once the inverter goes in to give me some more strength.
That’s it so far! Planning on swapping for a 270A DC Power Engineering Alternator. I am planning to wire my batteries as 2S2P for 24V, the only 12V load I have is the heater (easy conversion), but 24V makes starlink 48V easier and everything else can work on 24V.
Floor plan:
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Holy battleborns
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I’m just here to see the rooftop sprout garden.
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Right? I once thought that I only needed a single Renogy LiFePo4 battery, then it turned to 2 battleborns, and now it’s four. You can thank winter for that.
Haven’t forgotten about that yet, but currently in winter. Maybe I could make the propane heater warm it up?
Holy crap what are you powering off that thing? A rock concert?
That would be epic, but really I just want to cook using a small induction stove. Propane is a PITA, especially when it’s nasty outside. The 3D printer consumes about as much as starlink when on, and starlink is on 24/7. For work, I need to power a monitor, laptop, bench-top power supply (that has to drive some beefy loads on occasion), etc.
Bottom line: Lots of medium size loads and I don’t want to be jumping out to idle the truck all the time.
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Didn’t realize you were running a mobile 3D print shop out of the truck. That’s pretty interesting.
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Was stripping all weekend 
…wire. No joke though, I did nothing but sleep and build this out for the entire weekend. Probably ate less than half of normal meals. But it’s DONE!!!
A few details to note:
- The wall in front of the batteries and propane tank is plastic welded in place. Batteries are braced against the wheel well and propane tank. Will eventually add some NRS straps on the batteries.
- Starlink is running on the 24/48V converter (blue victron box) and the factory router has been eliminated. No problems so far, I’m making this post via starlink.
- The batteries are a bit of a mess, but that’s because I had to sub two MIDI fuses instead of the terminal block fuses. Because I’m doing 2S2P with chargers on the midpoint, I need each battery fused individually because there’s two parallel banks in series, instead of the more typical 2 series banks in parallel where you only need 2 fuses, not 4. Either way, this should be much cleaner by next weekend.
Missing electrical items
- 1200W Inverter (this week)
- Mini nuWave induction stove (this week)
- HomePod mini power (I have the board, just need to print an enclosure)
- Laptop and phone chargers (ditto)
- 3D printer power supply in cab (cleans up variable 24V from batteries into exactly 24V)
- LED strips (hopefully this week!!)
- Cerbo GX monitoring center (allows me to see all the electrical stats from anywhere) (will replace Propex thermostat, more info to come)
- Mopeka Propane sensor (integrates with Cerbo GX)
Got it all rigged back up today and I’m camping again!
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Holy substation Batman!
Man that’s some impressive work! Not to rain on your stripping parade but have you thought about running those wires behind the mounting panel? Add to the curb appeal? Haha
Props to you! Can’t wait to see the final result!!!
I might consider it eventually, but for now things are still in flux so I need to maintain as much access as possible. Could add a cover in front, but that would mess with ventilation. Those chargers get toasty.
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This is very cool, appreciating your posts.
Any concerns around storing the propane tank in the same compartment where (I assume) you’ll be sleeping? On various ‘van build’ tutorials I’ve seen it specified the tank storage should be sealed from the living area and vented. But I’m pretty ignorant about this stuff, so curious how much of a concern this is in practice.
I have plans to put it in a welded HDPE locker and vent it through the floor (propane is denser than air so it needs to vent through the floor). I have a propane + CO alarm on that back panel that will serve as a first line of defense. Hopefully it doesn’t kill me before then. I think the risk is relatively minimal.
The main concern is the propane regulator or check valves on the tank failing. The regulators have a vent port that has to face down to vent. If something fails, you want a containment and alarm system. Containment system alone will not help because the box will still go boom, but it will give you time to react if you have an alarm
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My DC Power Engineering Alternator shipped today, so hopefully by new year’s I’ll have all four chargers going full tilt! Woot!
I installed the alternator and decided to drive the AlCan to AK. Packed everything into the truck and headed out. Nothing like AK to give some cold weather testing. Today (Christmas) I crossed the border into AK. Still going strong, even with the cold and solo driving. I’m excited to keep making improvements and see how the GFC can be modified for better winter use. Planning on staying for a while.
More to come soon once I’m in Alyeska.
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And they’ve been getting dumped on
That’s what tipped the scales for me haha
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Should have posted this here, but here’s the link just so this build log is complete:
It’s been a bit! I’m slowly going to post pics of all the changes I’ve made. Starting with roof stuff.
1- Starlink High Perf Flat dish. Works in AK when slid all the way forward on these rails. The 140 degree FoV interferes with the camper and you get noticeable dropouts every ~10min in AK
2- Chopped my Prinsu Habitat for the GFC with an angle grinder in about 10min. Less risk of slapping the camper on bumps. @jedgar - your drip rails fit again.
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