Inspection by Flint

Flint, one of my two male cats, did an inspection of the camper. it seems all was approved.

Additional electrical equipment

I finally installed the shelf above the TV / monitor. Now I could mount there the two active speakers for the music studio. I also did place the DVD player there and attached the LAN network switch on the wall.

The DVD player and the speakers are attached with Velcro onto the shelf. I hope that is sufficient - otherwise I will add a rubber band which attaches the devices to the shelf board.

Electric 230V wiring improvement

Until now I had extension sockets with an extension cord, which was lying on the floor. This presented a hazard of tripping. Therefore, I did a re-wiring with a power cable along the wall, leading to an extension socket at the "office" desk.

The black cable goes to the power socket extension. The white cable will be used for directly connecting to the side lamps: wall candles with a dimmer switch.

Insulation helped to get temperature down

It has been very hot recently, so I was not able to work in the Luton box. More than 50 deg C...

But when opening the side door and the rear doors, a light draft would immediately blow away the hot air.

 Also, I measured: the temperature of the side walls is now much lower than it had been before they were insulated: now at a hot day they are about 35 deg C. Compare that to 50 degC, which they had been when not insulated.

More storage

For storing glasses (made of plastic of course) I got wall holders, where these glasses can be held by their stem.

Also cups can be attached this way:

Storage

I decided to use one of those inexpensive and light square shelves to be assembled with thin square sheets. I had such one 3x3 set in my bathroom. Now I reassembled it to be affixed in the camper.

Problematic is that the aluminum support bar underneath the shelves bents quite heavily. I had thought it would be more rigid.

Plan: Solar-powered ventilator

 When the sun shines onto the van, it gets unbearable hot in there. Again 50 deg C is easily reached.

To automatically reduce this heat, I got a set of 2 ventilators, connected to a small solar panel.

This works in principle. Now I just need to find a space where to drill the holes for the ventilators. And need to attach the small solar panel securely onto the roof.

Office desk and music piano keyboard

The foldable office desk needs to be affixed to the wall. I added an additional horizontal support beam into the wall, which I used to screw the desk surface onto the wall. Got some help from the neighbor's kids, who helped pressing the desk onto the wall while I drilled the screw into the desktop surface from the bathroom.

Foldable desk and office chair now in place.

Adding support structures for shelves provided the necessary removable attachment upon which the music keyboard could  be place.

Now can play music! The neighbors' kids did enjoy hammering onto the keyboard.

Everything folded and secured in place for possible travel. Must be done everytime before the camper is driven.

Door latch

I did reposition the right door latch so that it would no longer interfere with the roller shutters. 

And I affixed the same door latch also to the left door.

Had to install another wooded bar inside the door to provide the necessary mechanical support.

Upgrade of electrics to 24V

The MPPT controller for the solar-battery system can only handle solar voltage of up to 80V. Since my solar panels are connected in series, this voltage will be exceeded. Currently the three panels produce an idle voltage of 66V. If I would connect the 4th panel, the voltage could be 88V.

This is in the 12V mode. If the controller would operate in the 24V mode, a max voltage of 160V would be accepted.

Therefore I decided to upgrade my system to 24V. 

And I went for a real upgrade: two LiFePO4 batteries from Amazon. LiFePO4 is supposed to be very safe, no fire hazard. Is currently the standard for RV and camper batteries.

Most of the 12V equipment can also operate on 24V: refrigerator, circuit breaker panel. The invertor needed to be replaced: I had a spare 24V inverter from my experiments with the solar system of my home.

The batteries arrive:

Each has a capacity of 100Ah. Together they have about 5 kWh capacity.

Connecting them in parallel.

The inverter.

Inverter connected to the battery.

Affixing the manual circuit breaker and the battery volt meter.

Batteries are connected.

Circuit breaker panel is connected.

Refrigerator is operating on 24V (25.6V).

Current temporary wiring of the internal battery-powered electrics.

The UK-circuit checker shows "missing ground" when connected to the inverter.

The 230V fuse panel, operated with converter voltage.

Settings of the selector switches: lower left switch:  1 = from extern power, 2 = from inverter; upper right switch: 1 = regular polarity, 2 = switched polarity (phase is on other line).

Power from solar panels when solar is connected to controller: 38.9V

Power from solar panels without connection to controller: idle voltage = 66.2V.

 

Travelling

 Visiting my friend Muth.

Shopping.

Sightseeing.

Having tea and cake on the balcony.

Inspection by the cats

My two cats inspect the camper for the first time.

Getting the van into travel and camper mode

The main living room is now in principle complete. A few things still need to be done: window frames, edge protectors, shelves etc. still need to be added.

But the kitchen is in shape.

The extractor still needs a connection to the outside so that the fumes from cooking can be guided towards the outside.

The living room.

The seating area.

And the TV is mounted on the wall, plus a few of the things that I collected over the past decades.

And at night with the party illumination...: