This van is giving me a lot of earache, someone keeps going on about how small & cramped it is.
A few pics of the poky little van, to be honest apart from a few niggles the build quality so much better than the Hymers we have had, makes it look like Hymers were built in the Lada factory.
The posy cushions they supply are quite nice but not very practical.
Dash is quite nice apart from the steering wheel being on the wrong side.
First job getting the stock in.
A length of unequal channel alloy sorted that, unequal channel as then I could fit it using the original screws for the foot well.
Next job was finding the solar cables.
I knew they came from above the fridge to the front of the van. Unlike a Hymer where the cables are just slung under the floor in a Carthago they really hide them and secure them with hundreds of cable ties.
Several hours later I finally found then under the footwell and cut them off and got a small hole saw out so I can easily (famous last words in a Carthago) extend and route the cables to the garage.
Next job was finding and getting at the battery, if my arms were an inch shorter I wouldn't have been able to get it out.
Had to get the boss down the hole to help getting the battery brackets out, also found out Carthago don't just bolt things in place they glue everything as well.
Fitted two Fogstar 230ah Lithium, first charge one came up at 245ah and the other at 240ah. Been running just on battery power the last couple of weeks no charging rigged up yet.
Made up a panel to go above the batteries with a 4 way switch so if needed either battery can be selected, fuse for each battery and the BMV712 Shunt.
Got the Multiplus mounted and started sorting out the wiring, taken out the CBS charger and put a Victron Orion XS in it's place as I don't think much of the Schaudt B2B looking at using it just for the fridge.
Batteries and switch panel now installed, just need to make a panel to separate it from the load area.
Multiplus up and running, a bit of tidying up to do & still need to wire the new B2B & fit the solar panels.
The solar fitted and working 350 watts (2 x 175w) to start with. I can get another 2 x 100w panels one either side of the rear rooflight if needed.
Tidied up the electrics a bit, not finished yet still got the new B2B to install.
Fitted a rail so I can store table & chairs upright.
Carpeted the floor and back wall of the garage with Gel backed carpet & fitted a cargo rail on the top of the back wall.
Fitted the Twusch ceramic loo liner.
Back to the interesting stuff.
Finally got around to wiring the Victron B2B and disconnected the Schaudt one, hopefully will re-purpose it just to run the fridge if I can ever get my head around manic Carthago wiring.
Waste pipe was in a stupid place behind the rear wheel. Prime target when reversing the overhang over kerbs & for collecting muck off the rear wheel.
Well it's not any more moved it to in front of the wheel.
Sorting out the Gas Bottles
Finally got around to modding the gas filler. When the dealer swapped my gas bottles over not only did they fit the filler in the locker they said it was beond their capabilities to fit it outside. The last place I want a filler is inside the locker and certainly not at eye level, flipping dangerous. Also they used the 10 year old filler pipe for the old van to connect the two bottles & they hadn't a clue how to do up the buckles on the retaining straps so the bottles were lose.
All sorted, now new filler pipe between bottles, fitted the gas filters from the old van with new filter cartridges and an external filler point.
Messing with water now.
Fitted a TMV to the shower feed so no more getting scalded or frozen just turn the tap on and water comes out at the perfect temperature.
If you are wondering why all the cable ties, they are holding foam pads in place to stop the hose clips rubbing on the pipes.
Fitted a water filter inline with the cold feed to the kitchen tap.
Only a simple carbon one so the coffee and tea always tastes nice.
Back to the interesting stuff.
Dashcam fitted.
Mounted a USB power supply for it on the switch panel to the right of the steering wheel.
Had a short break and Carpeted the garage doors, used the 4 way stretch van carpet.
Maxxfan fitting.
First job remove the Heki, that took less than 10 min the easy part.
Found the wiring, it was in trunking in the roof, had to remove the panel above the fridge and push them through.
Then fitted the fan.
Connect the cables, then trimmed and fitted the bezel.
Trimmed the Heki blind mount and fitted.
And finally clip the Heki blind in place.
Fitted a panel in front of my batteries and fuses to separate them from the storage area. A piece of 4mm ply covered with gel backed carpet.
More boring bits.
Although it's a well made van you do get the silly bits designed by the idiots who have never used a Motorhome.
In this case the area under the wardrobes, cut out in the floor that just goes through to the double floor, it makes a longer hanging space but easy to loose stuff under there.
The Hymer had a plastic tray nothing in this van.
The RHS where you can put the shelf in makes the bottom half unusable so I made some panels out of 4mm ply with the van carpet on them.
Only downside is I put stuff under there and I'm still trying to find it 3 weeks later.
Back to the more interesting stuff.
Another couple design stupidities sorted.
The USB socket for the hab area very difficult to access with the seats swivelled & a mains socket equally stupidly placed.
Problem sorted, additional sockets fitted.
And while at it I upgraded the one in the front.
Finally got around to sorting out the stupid central locking, it auto relocks and there is no way of disabling it. When it relocks it can be anything from 15 sec to 1 min., got around it by leaving the hab door open so the contacts aren't made until it relocks and then only the cab door locks. Not much fun when it's freezing or peeing down.
I've fitted a switch inline with the hab door solenoid on the side of the door, so now I can unlock the van flip the switch knowing the hab door will stay unlocked.
Here's one I did earlier, actually did it while we were in Spain.
We always set the hot water on the timer so we have hot water when we get up.
A heating vent pipe runs along the side of of each bed and the head of the bed.
With just the hot water one the right hand bed was getting very hot.
It was just heat rising from the boiler which is under the fridge at the end of the bed so only a short pipe run from from boiler.
With the heating on it was like a sauna. Never had a German van with a hot bedroom before normally quite cool.
A crude simple easy fix.
Here is the the joint is where the pipe reduces to a smaller size before going along the side of the bed.
The fix, a piece of aluminium foil with a few holes punched in it.
Works a treat restricts the flow now no noticeable heat with just the hot water on but allows enough warm air through to heat the bed area with the heating on (sorry about the fuzzy pic).
Info on some mains wiring changes I had to do.
No photos on this one just an update on some changes I've made to the mains wiring in the last couple of days.
When I installed the Multiplus I found the kitchen socket & the fridge were on the same circuit and I couldn't find where they were connected.
This meant every time we stopped had to switch the fridge to gas manually, otherwise when using the inverter the fridge would run from the inverter on 230v. Also too easy to drive off with the fridge on gas which is not good.
Now found out where the circuits were connected, behind a panel behind the Truma Combi impossible to get at without taking the Combi out.
So I disconnected the socket and insulated the cable and ran a new cable back to the consumer unit connecting the socket to the RCBO on the inverter output.
Then wired the original cable to the MCB that is direct from the mains input.
So the fridge can now be left on Auto.
2"nd problem I left the heater wired direct to the mains input so the heater couldn't be run off the inverter.
Now this created a bit of a problem, when on a 5 amp hook up with the input of the Multplus set to 5 amp. What happens is if you have a load plugged into a socket of say 4 amps and the heater on 1 (900 watts approx 4 amps) so we now have 4 amps feeding through the Multiplus on mains bypass plus the 4 amps for the heater direct from the mains input a total of 8 amps, so the 5 amp EHU MCB trips. Dho!
I have rewired the heater to the Multiplus output problem solved.
The fridge only takes approx 0.75 amps on mains, so when on EHU I'll set Multiplus input to 1 amp less than the rated supply current to avoid any problems.
Cheap headlamp upgrade.
Fitted LED headlamp bulbs.
Removed the panel & moved the switches ready for the air.
A couple of toys fitted, Semi-Air on the rear and E&P jacks.
The boss not happy with the jacks complaining that the van doesn't move or rock when she gets in or moves in it.
Probably have to put them up when it's windy so we get rocked to sleep.
Back to the interesting stuff.
The original plan was to repropose the Lippert/Schaudt B2B to run the fridge but now decided to put in back in so it can now be run in parallel with the Victron B2B except I have put a switch inline with the D+ (just visible on top of the cabinet) so it can be switched on when extra charging is required. I don't want it running all the time as their Lithium profile is not that good.
Got rid of another bit of Carthago penny pinching stupidity.
The wardrobes under the beds had a useless battery light that gave out sod all light and the batteries went flat in a few weeks and the magnet of the switches kept falling apart.
First job was get rid of the crap lights.
Then I fitted a fuse box under the floor and tapped into the Carthago loom picking up the feed to the Hella socket at the front of the van.
Quite a nice box that had a negative buss bar quality looks good, will be wiring my electric waste to it as well. It came with a bag of 25 blade fuses usual Chinese crap so they went straight in the bin.
And the final result, LED strips switched with magnetic door switches.
Another bit of Carthago stupidity fixed.
The Carthago Logo light in the step well comes on with the ambient lighting, well it don't any more.
After a bit of re-wiring, it now comes on with the awning light.
Found the disc lock I had on the last van so I thought I might as well fit it.
Waste valve.
I finally got around to sorting out the waste valve, I spent a couple of weeks trying to get it to work mounting the motor inside the van but space was very tight and the valve was so stiff I couldn't get the motor to operate it reliably so have fitted one outside.
Wanted an extension on it for fitting my long hose, I couldn't find any 1½" BSP male to male pipe connectors so I made one.
With nearly a kilo of valve on the end of the pipe it was a bit wobbly, so I designed and made a bracket.
Fitted the switch up by the dash, beside where I moved the step & heated mirror switch to.
Someone on the thread wanted to know how I wired it.
Another bit of Carthago stupidy solved.
Anyone one who has been in my van will know my party trick of shutting them in the washroom to see if they can get out. 90% fail and are trapped due to the silly small knob on the inside and a really strong spring on the latch.
Problem solved, it's just about passable, I'm finding this 3D design & printing lark a slow long learning curve.
Back to the interesting stuff.
I might get the electrics finished on the van this year, with a bit of luck.
Finally made my panel for my Raspberry Pi, Fridge Fan Controller & S+ Timer.
A few more cables to get through the van then I can fit it.
Fitted the rest of the bits in the garage for my Pi install, made a bracket for the shunt display, I don't need to see the display that is why it is in the garage and made connections easier, need it for the programmable relay.
Made a case for the UART hub that is now fitted and wired to all the Victron gear & the dongle for the Multiplus fitted.
Not happy about the mess of cables on top of the electrics cabinet, I'll try & do something with that when everything is up & running.
Cables through.
Fridge fans installed, top vent is a roof vent even if I could have fitted the fans there, there is no way to get the cables down with the slim fridge.
So they had to go behind the bottom vent drawing air in not ideal, also couldn't mount them on the grill as the winter cover goes inside.
Found some nice slim 15mm wide 92mm fans that have a good flow rate.
Got the shunt and solar working on the Pi, not showing the XS on the home screen but shows up in devices but I expected that as the software is not compatible yet.
Well I've got it all working and installed.
The bezel & case for the Pi & the bezel for the timer I made.
I was going to have a play with Node Red but some plonker didn't install Venus Large, I thought I had, trouble is I've got so many versions downloaded on my PC must have clicked on the wrong one, so that's a right pain to strip it all down to get at the SD card.
I have put a short USB extension lead in so may be able to do it via a USB stick.
The temprature controller is for the fridge fans.
Need to buy 3m of brown trunking, as I need about 7/8 inches for the cables in the back of the cupboard.
I fitted a Hella socket in the base and have my router plugged in at the moment.
FYI
I have set the relay in the shunt to turn on when the batteries are 90% charged and off at 70%, this feeds a 12v signal to the timer which is set to 1 hour on & ½ hour off from 8am until 6pm. This is wired to the S+ on the fridge so when we have plenty of solar the fridge will switch to 12v. I did the hour on, ½ hour off to give the batteries a bit of recovery time.
Also fitted a switch inline by the timer (easier than using the timer), so I can turn the S+ off when on EHU as the Dometic firmware is rubbish as it has solar as the primary power source, as the batteries are charged it will see a signal. No point on running on 12v when on EHU.
Finally got around to fitting the Ablemail battery maintainer that I bought over 6 months ago, I can now keep the starter battery topped up if I isolate the Multiplus. Also fitted a switch between +12v and SW2 so I can turn it on regardless of battery voltage, useful in winter when not much solar or if I have turned the solar off in summer.
Boring stuff again.
Spent the last couple of days going over the van with a Clay bar and Ceramic glazing it, pleased with the result. The hardest bit was washing it and getting it really clean first. Using the clay bar and the coating was much easier than polishing and waxing.
Weather has gone a bit dull this afternoon, so it doesn't really show up in its full glory.
Back to interesting.
Updated Raspberry Pi to v3.55 of Venus.os
Now shows the Orion XS and a nicer display, also clicking on a device icon takes you straight to the settings.
Another little mod.
The cutlery draw is a bit on the short side as it's in front of the sink.so it won't take the larger cooking tools, so I've made a divider for the draw next to it.
Made a couple of guides one is angled to take account of the rounded draw front. They look really rough in the photo in real life nowhere near as bad.
Made a partition from 4mm ply covered in fablon type stuff from Poundland.
Another bit of manufacturers stupidity corrected.
Have you ever seen such a stupid way of connecting a SOG outlet pipe, in the cap of the emptying spout.
Job done properly now into the body of the cassette, makes empting much easier.
Cartpets sorted.
Cut some carpets out of Flotex, borrowed my mates carpets (he has the same van) for patterns, fit was so lousy I made my own patterns.
Updated wiring diagrams.
A few pics of the poky little van, to be honest apart from a few niggles the build quality so much better than the Hymers we have had, makes it look like Hymers were built in the Lada factory.
The posy cushions they supply are quite nice but not very practical.
Dash is quite nice apart from the steering wheel being on the wrong side.
First job getting the stock in.
Now we can start on the mods
First mod was the step well mat as I found out the hard way nothing holds it in place, first time in the van at the dealers as I got out I went flying out the door, flipping dangerous.A length of unequal channel alloy sorted that, unequal channel as then I could fit it using the original screws for the foot well.
Next job was finding the solar cables.
I knew they came from above the fridge to the front of the van. Unlike a Hymer where the cables are just slung under the floor in a Carthago they really hide them and secure them with hundreds of cable ties.
Several hours later I finally found then under the footwell and cut them off and got a small hole saw out so I can easily (famous last words in a Carthago) extend and route the cables to the garage.
Now for a bit of tinkering with the electrics.
This is the master plan.Next job was finding and getting at the battery, if my arms were an inch shorter I wouldn't have been able to get it out.
Had to get the boss down the hole to help getting the battery brackets out, also found out Carthago don't just bolt things in place they glue everything as well.
Fitted two Fogstar 230ah Lithium, first charge one came up at 245ah and the other at 240ah. Been running just on battery power the last couple of weeks no charging rigged up yet.
Made up a panel to go above the batteries with a 4 way switch so if needed either battery can be selected, fuse for each battery and the BMV712 Shunt.
Got the Multiplus mounted and started sorting out the wiring, taken out the CBS charger and put a Victron Orion XS in it's place as I don't think much of the Schaudt B2B looking at using it just for the fridge.
Batteries and switch panel now installed, just need to make a panel to separate it from the load area.
Multiplus up and running, a bit of tidying up to do & still need to wire the new B2B & fit the solar panels.
The solar fitted and working 350 watts (2 x 175w) to start with. I can get another 2 x 100w panels one either side of the rear rooflight if needed.
Tidied up the electrics a bit, not finished yet still got the new B2B to install.
Fitted a rail so I can store table & chairs upright.
And the mods go on.
Smoke and CO alarms fitted.Carpeted the floor and back wall of the garage with Gel backed carpet & fitted a cargo rail on the top of the back wall.
Fitted the Twusch ceramic loo liner.
Back to the interesting stuff.
Finally got around to wiring the Victron B2B and disconnected the Schaudt one, hopefully will re-purpose it just to run the fridge if I can ever get my head around manic Carthago wiring.
Waste pipe was in a stupid place behind the rear wheel. Prime target when reversing the overhang over kerbs & for collecting muck off the rear wheel.
Well it's not any more moved it to in front of the wheel.
Sorting out the Gas Bottles
Finally got around to modding the gas filler. When the dealer swapped my gas bottles over not only did they fit the filler in the locker they said it was beond their capabilities to fit it outside. The last place I want a filler is inside the locker and certainly not at eye level, flipping dangerous. Also they used the 10 year old filler pipe for the old van to connect the two bottles & they hadn't a clue how to do up the buckles on the retaining straps so the bottles were lose.
All sorted, now new filler pipe between bottles, fitted the gas filters from the old van with new filter cartridges and an external filler point.
Messing with water now.
Fitted a TMV to the shower feed so no more getting scalded or frozen just turn the tap on and water comes out at the perfect temperature.
If you are wondering why all the cable ties, they are holding foam pads in place to stop the hose clips rubbing on the pipes.
Fitted a water filter inline with the cold feed to the kitchen tap.
Only a simple carbon one so the coffee and tea always tastes nice.
Back to the interesting stuff.
Dashcam fitted.
Mounted a USB power supply for it on the switch panel to the right of the steering wheel.
Had a short break and Carpeted the garage doors, used the 4 way stretch van carpet.
Maxxfan fitting.
First job remove the Heki, that took less than 10 min the easy part.
Found the wiring, it was in trunking in the roof, had to remove the panel above the fridge and push them through.
Then fitted the fan.
Connect the cables, then trimmed and fitted the bezel.
Trimmed the Heki blind mount and fitted.
And finally clip the Heki blind in place.
Fitted a panel in front of my batteries and fuses to separate them from the storage area. A piece of 4mm ply covered with gel backed carpet.
More boring bits.
Although it's a well made van you do get the silly bits designed by the idiots who have never used a Motorhome.
In this case the area under the wardrobes, cut out in the floor that just goes through to the double floor, it makes a longer hanging space but easy to loose stuff under there.
The Hymer had a plastic tray nothing in this van.
The RHS where you can put the shelf in makes the bottom half unusable so I made some panels out of 4mm ply with the van carpet on them.
Only downside is I put stuff under there and I'm still trying to find it 3 weeks later.
Back to the more interesting stuff.
Another couple design stupidities sorted.
The USB socket for the hab area very difficult to access with the seats swivelled & a mains socket equally stupidly placed.
Problem sorted, additional sockets fitted.
And while at it I upgraded the one in the front.
Finally got around to sorting out the stupid central locking, it auto relocks and there is no way of disabling it. When it relocks it can be anything from 15 sec to 1 min., got around it by leaving the hab door open so the contacts aren't made until it relocks and then only the cab door locks. Not much fun when it's freezing or peeing down.
I've fitted a switch inline with the hab door solenoid on the side of the door, so now I can unlock the van flip the switch knowing the hab door will stay unlocked.
Here's one I did earlier, actually did it while we were in Spain.
We always set the hot water on the timer so we have hot water when we get up.
A heating vent pipe runs along the side of of each bed and the head of the bed.
With just the hot water one the right hand bed was getting very hot.
It was just heat rising from the boiler which is under the fridge at the end of the bed so only a short pipe run from from boiler.
With the heating on it was like a sauna. Never had a German van with a hot bedroom before normally quite cool.
A crude simple easy fix.
Here is the the joint is where the pipe reduces to a smaller size before going along the side of the bed.
The fix, a piece of aluminium foil with a few holes punched in it.
Works a treat restricts the flow now no noticeable heat with just the hot water on but allows enough warm air through to heat the bed area with the heating on (sorry about the fuzzy pic).
Info on some mains wiring changes I had to do.
No photos on this one just an update on some changes I've made to the mains wiring in the last couple of days.
When I installed the Multiplus I found the kitchen socket & the fridge were on the same circuit and I couldn't find where they were connected.
This meant every time we stopped had to switch the fridge to gas manually, otherwise when using the inverter the fridge would run from the inverter on 230v. Also too easy to drive off with the fridge on gas which is not good.
Now found out where the circuits were connected, behind a panel behind the Truma Combi impossible to get at without taking the Combi out.
So I disconnected the socket and insulated the cable and ran a new cable back to the consumer unit connecting the socket to the RCBO on the inverter output.
Then wired the original cable to the MCB that is direct from the mains input.
So the fridge can now be left on Auto.
2"nd problem I left the heater wired direct to the mains input so the heater couldn't be run off the inverter.
Now this created a bit of a problem, when on a 5 amp hook up with the input of the Multplus set to 5 amp. What happens is if you have a load plugged into a socket of say 4 amps and the heater on 1 (900 watts approx 4 amps) so we now have 4 amps feeding through the Multiplus on mains bypass plus the 4 amps for the heater direct from the mains input a total of 8 amps, so the 5 amp EHU MCB trips. Dho!
I have rewired the heater to the Multiplus output problem solved.
The fridge only takes approx 0.75 amps on mains, so when on EHU I'll set Multiplus input to 1 amp less than the rated supply current to avoid any problems.
Cheap headlamp upgrade.
Fitted LED headlamp bulbs.
Removed the panel & moved the switches ready for the air.
A couple of toys fitted, Semi-Air on the rear and E&P jacks.
The boss not happy with the jacks complaining that the van doesn't move or rock when she gets in or moves in it.
Probably have to put them up when it's windy so we get rocked to sleep.
Back to the interesting stuff.
The original plan was to repropose the Lippert/Schaudt B2B to run the fridge but now decided to put in back in so it can now be run in parallel with the Victron B2B except I have put a switch inline with the D+ (just visible on top of the cabinet) so it can be switched on when extra charging is required. I don't want it running all the time as their Lithium profile is not that good.
Got rid of another bit of Carthago penny pinching stupidity.
The wardrobes under the beds had a useless battery light that gave out sod all light and the batteries went flat in a few weeks and the magnet of the switches kept falling apart.
First job was get rid of the crap lights.
Then I fitted a fuse box under the floor and tapped into the Carthago loom picking up the feed to the Hella socket at the front of the van.
Quite a nice box that had a negative buss bar quality looks good, will be wiring my electric waste to it as well. It came with a bag of 25 blade fuses usual Chinese crap so they went straight in the bin.
And the final result, LED strips switched with magnetic door switches.
Another bit of Carthago stupidity fixed.
The Carthago Logo light in the step well comes on with the ambient lighting, well it don't any more.
After a bit of re-wiring, it now comes on with the awning light.
Found the disc lock I had on the last van so I thought I might as well fit it.
Waste valve.
I finally got around to sorting out the waste valve, I spent a couple of weeks trying to get it to work mounting the motor inside the van but space was very tight and the valve was so stiff I couldn't get the motor to operate it reliably so have fitted one outside.
Wanted an extension on it for fitting my long hose, I couldn't find any 1½" BSP male to male pipe connectors so I made one.
With nearly a kilo of valve on the end of the pipe it was a bit wobbly, so I designed and made a bracket.
Fitted the switch up by the dash, beside where I moved the step & heated mirror switch to.
Someone on the thread wanted to know how I wired it.
Another bit of Carthago stupidy solved.
Anyone one who has been in my van will know my party trick of shutting them in the washroom to see if they can get out. 90% fail and are trapped due to the silly small knob on the inside and a really strong spring on the latch.
Problem solved, it's just about passable, I'm finding this 3D design & printing lark a slow long learning curve.
Back to the interesting stuff.
I might get the electrics finished on the van this year, with a bit of luck.
Finally made my panel for my Raspberry Pi, Fridge Fan Controller & S+ Timer.
A few more cables to get through the van then I can fit it.
Fitted the rest of the bits in the garage for my Pi install, made a bracket for the shunt display, I don't need to see the display that is why it is in the garage and made connections easier, need it for the programmable relay.
Made a case for the UART hub that is now fitted and wired to all the Victron gear & the dongle for the Multiplus fitted.
Not happy about the mess of cables on top of the electrics cabinet, I'll try & do something with that when everything is up & running.
Cables through.
Fridge fans installed, top vent is a roof vent even if I could have fitted the fans there, there is no way to get the cables down with the slim fridge.
So they had to go behind the bottom vent drawing air in not ideal, also couldn't mount them on the grill as the winter cover goes inside.
Found some nice slim 15mm wide 92mm fans that have a good flow rate.
Got the shunt and solar working on the Pi, not showing the XS on the home screen but shows up in devices but I expected that as the software is not compatible yet.
Well I've got it all working and installed.
The bezel & case for the Pi & the bezel for the timer I made.
I was going to have a play with Node Red but some plonker didn't install Venus Large, I thought I had, trouble is I've got so many versions downloaded on my PC must have clicked on the wrong one, so that's a right pain to strip it all down to get at the SD card.
I have put a short USB extension lead in so may be able to do it via a USB stick.
The temprature controller is for the fridge fans.
Need to buy 3m of brown trunking, as I need about 7/8 inches for the cables in the back of the cupboard.
I fitted a Hella socket in the base and have my router plugged in at the moment.
FYI
I have set the relay in the shunt to turn on when the batteries are 90% charged and off at 70%, this feeds a 12v signal to the timer which is set to 1 hour on & ½ hour off from 8am until 6pm. This is wired to the S+ on the fridge so when we have plenty of solar the fridge will switch to 12v. I did the hour on, ½ hour off to give the batteries a bit of recovery time.
Also fitted a switch inline by the timer (easier than using the timer), so I can turn the S+ off when on EHU as the Dometic firmware is rubbish as it has solar as the primary power source, as the batteries are charged it will see a signal. No point on running on 12v when on EHU.
Finally got around to fitting the Ablemail battery maintainer that I bought over 6 months ago, I can now keep the starter battery topped up if I isolate the Multiplus. Also fitted a switch between +12v and SW2 so I can turn it on regardless of battery voltage, useful in winter when not much solar or if I have turned the solar off in summer.
Boring stuff again.
Spent the last couple of days going over the van with a Clay bar and Ceramic glazing it, pleased with the result. The hardest bit was washing it and getting it really clean first. Using the clay bar and the coating was much easier than polishing and waxing.
Weather has gone a bit dull this afternoon, so it doesn't really show up in its full glory.
Back to interesting.
Updated Raspberry Pi to v3.55 of Venus.os
Now shows the Orion XS and a nicer display, also clicking on a device icon takes you straight to the settings.
Another little mod.
The cutlery draw is a bit on the short side as it's in front of the sink.so it won't take the larger cooking tools, so I've made a divider for the draw next to it.
Made a couple of guides one is angled to take account of the rounded draw front. They look really rough in the photo in real life nowhere near as bad.
Made a partition from 4mm ply covered in fablon type stuff from Poundland.
Another bit of manufacturers stupidity corrected.
Have you ever seen such a stupid way of connecting a SOG outlet pipe, in the cap of the emptying spout.
Job done properly now into the body of the cassette, makes empting much easier.
Cartpets sorted.
Cut some carpets out of Flotex, borrowed my mates carpets (he has the same van) for patterns, fit was so lousy I made my own patterns.
Updated wiring diagrams.
