Pre-Wiring our Van Electrics | Transit Van Conversion E19
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 24. 07. 2024
- This time we're pre-wiring our van electrical system, which means running and laying wires all around the van for all the appliances we're going to have like the fridge, fan and lights.
For our campervan wiring we used a mixture of different gauges of wire depending on the appliance, with the majority being 3mm duplex cable.
We decided to run wires in our van at this point so we can route everything neatly around the walls and ceiling... but as we found you need to be creative to find the best routes!
We've run all the cables through plastic conduit to protect them from the harsh edges of the van metal, so hopefully they'll stay intact for years to come đ
Thanks for watching! Any comments or questions? Let us know below!
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Products used in this video (includes affiliate links *):
â Plastic Conduit - ebay.us/mNxdZs
â Wire Strippers - geni.us/9v1Bs (Amazon)
â Ferrule Crimp Tool -geni.us/qaqN (Amazon)
â Heat Shrink Crimp Tool - geni.us/cL4uFP (Amazon)
â Wire/Cable - mostly from ebay.us/WtL24D and www.12voltplanet.co.uk/cable....
* Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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#vanconversion #campervanconversion #vanlifeuk
All the different bits of kit and products we used in the video should be linked in the description, thanks for watching! đ
Amazing job on the bulkhead. Well done đ
Thank you! đ
Another fascinating video - who would have thought wiring the van could be so complex!
Iâm not doing a van conversion but if I was your videos would be the ones to watch. Keep up the good work !
Thank you, that's nice to hear đ
Very thorough. Well done!
Cheers! đ
Fabulous videos. I've watched nothing else for the past 3 nights. I have an H3L3 Transit I'm just about to start converting and your channel is giving me invaluable information and confidence. Thanks so much for sharing your build.
No problem, and thanks! Glad you enjoyed them enough to watch them all, you must need a break by now đ Good luck with your build đ
Well done guys đđ»
Thank you! đ
I love your video's!! Thank you so much for putting this up online for us!!! You both are so cute together!
Haha no problem, glad you're enjoying them all! đ
One of the best videos I've seen on pre-wiring....and I've watched a lot! Thank you.
Thanks a lot!
Hi, loving the videos. Just starting my own conversion and your videos are a great help and offer much inspiration. Thank you. Rob
You're welcome! Good luck with your build đ
Nice and neat and well thought out; probably the hardest things to pre plan for in a camper and a pain to change later. I have decided to run some of my wiring, especially the DC to DC, under the floor.
Yeah it definitely takes a lot of thinking about the layout and how you want to use the space. We're having a fixed garage wall under the bed so should be able to easily run any wires across the width of the van that way. Good luck with yours!
Bloody good show
Thanks!
You guys are amazing i enjoy watching your video. Have a nice đ days always
Take care and be safe â€
Thank you! We're glad you're enjoying all the videos đ
Absolutely amazing guys, I take my hat off to you, you give everything a go but not just any old job you have done a cracking job with everything you try, well done. Can't wait for the next video. Take care and stay safe guys xx
Thanks Norma that's very much appreciated đ We have a rule that both of us have to try everything so we're really enjoying the learning experience. How is your build coming along?
@@SelfBuiltStories Our van is waiting to go on holiday. We are retired so don't have the energy levels to do the electrics and the furniture. As you know I have tackled some things but it is going to a company to do the furniture. You never know may catch up one day. Take care xxx
Cool, hope it comes back to your liking đ
Looking good. If you have not boarded yet may I recommend running a few spare 12v cables from front to back. You will always have forgotten something, we all do. Watching with interest as it is a transit.
Thanks! And very good point, we actually ran out of cable to run the spares but we'll be getting some more and adding a few extra runs here and there. One handy feature of our design is that we can easily run cables under the bed across the garage wall too, which should stay accessible and allow for some new runs in the future đ
Hi, for future conversions, tie the wires together and bend the ends, pull through by tieing to a fish wire (or string). - electritian.
Thanks for the tip đđ
In this case tie the fishing line to a small ball of cotton/paper. Suck it through with a vacuum cleaner.
@@Zerpersande Also a good tip, cheers :)
I'd recommend looking at going 24V if/when you build another. All the wires will be half the size. It was a lot simpler than I expected it to be. The fridge, diesel heater, USB sockets and lights all work of 24V. The only 12V load we have is the max air fan. The MPPT can output double the power at 24V vs 12V too so the Victron 100/30 is good for our 600W of solar.
Yeah interesting, I think we have a few more things other than the maxxfan that would need stepping down or swapping out for other versions but likely doable and it might be something we'd look at a little more next time once we've got a better idea of the full extent of everything we end up using. Having slightly smaller wires would make routing easier for sure (though we probably did oversize them a little anyway) đ
Rather than push wire, it is easier to tie a small rag to a string, then suck that through with a vacuum cleaner and use that to pull wires through. Easy!
Cheers, yeah we saw that trick on some videos after we'd done it đ But we left strings in all of the conduit so when we've needed to add new wires later on it's been nice and simple fortunately! The chunky wires are quite easy to push through but yeah the thin ones not so much, especially in the small corrugated conduit!
Worth thinking about running a conduit from front battery to rear battery location on the floor between the batons before you install the floor.
Yeah you could do that, we ran ours along the walls instead đ
When installing cables if you have thread one through attach a spare cable and draw it back to create a pull cord then you can push the original wire back through, also a little bit of blue tak on the cable this will reduce the risk of cable Snagging on the ribs of the conduit
Thanks for the tip. Yeah we taped up the ends when we pushed them through, the tricky part was getting the first wire through as with some of the thinner wires they weren't stiff enough to push over longer distances unless everything was really straight. We've tried to leave some pull cords in place in each one too and used one already so glad we did that. đ
Watched afew videos now, and wow. The attention to detail! May I ask where you purchased your cable from?
Cheers! We're hoping to spend a lot of time in it so want it to be comfortable đWe bought all our cable from www.12voltplanet.co.uk/ as they seemed to have the best selection and easiest to browse. The only thing we found a little odd is that some of their diameter sizes seem a bit unique, so we ended up with 3mm^2 wire for the majority of the van instead of 2.5mm^2 as they don't stock that.
Put a loop of string with tie-in points through and outside the pipe - you will be able to add or change wires at a later date
Cheers yeah we left a line of string in the conduit to allow pulling new wires through, which has already been very useful a few times! đ
Perfect you guys are doing a phenomenal job! We just screwed in our Orion yesterday and boarded the Eurostar last night and have had our first night sleeping in the Jumbo! We had to set a date to work to as the build seemed never ending, do not lose sight I hope we get to meet you out on the road! Canât wait to see your electric systems with your meticulous eye. Are the videos concurrent to date or have you back filmed and just scheduling them out?
Thanks guys! It's great to hear that you've crossed the channel, hope the first few days have been going well! Can't wait for that moment to be able to actually take it out đ Our most exciting trip recently was just to get the MOT done đ There's a bit of a lag with the editing but we're catching up to present day, filming it all does eat into the time budget a fair bit! It'd be great to meet you guys too, once we've set out đ How long are you planning to be travelling around?
@18:14 Unauthorised copying or reproduction is a violation of applicable laws... I'm sure you had permission đ
Really enjoying your build so far, I have a Transit rust bucket I am currently welding up to repair the floor and wheel arches, then I hope to get to the "fun" stuff like where you guys were here. Great stuff guys!
Cheers, yeah getting onto the electrics after doing all of the groundwork was nice, good luck! đ
Hi. Just started watching this video. Will you be pulling fishing line throught the conduit so you can swap out or add wires? Great videos. LOVE the animal (Cat or buttrfly) interludes between scenes. Very well made video and great narration of why you do everything. Almost on a par with Greg Virgoe's videos.
Can you post a link to where you got that wiring size chart please? It looks way better than anything I could find.
Haha thanks, we like to break up the video with something a bit more light hearted... especially with electronics and things, it can get get a bit dry sometimes đReally glad you're enjoying watching them! With the fishing line, we did leave some string in most of the conduits to be able to pull through some spares, but in practice quite a lot of our conduit ended up fairly full so we wouldn't be able to add much through them. What we're going to do as well we think is add a few more spare pieces of actual wire in a couple of places, like along the side wall behind the cladding where we have a decent amount of usable space there. And sure, if you mean the voltage drop chart, it's this one: assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg.
It's always a pleasure to the eyes looking at the clean build you've created. đ I am also sold on conduit, but will opt for different colors 12V / 230V to better distinguish the lines. đ
Keeping the batteries apart always means more wiring - was there no way to put the leisure battery closer to the starter battery?
Best regards from Germany, đâïžđ
Volker
Thanks Volker for the continued support, we're glad you're enjoying watching everything đ That's a good idea to use different colours, didn't think of that actually. If we were buying it again we might have gone for the split tubing as well to make it a bit easier to route the cables.
We were kind of stuck with the long length of run for the DC charger because for the layout we're going for the only place that really made sense for all the electronics was in that back corner of the van. iI's long for the DC-DC but it makes it much shorter for everything else đ
We are in the process of planning our van build. Youâve made a very good point about being closer to the starter battery. We planned for the sink to be behind the driver seat and it just seems wrong to put electrical and water so close to each other. I guess we just looked at other van builds and decided to install the battery at the wheel well. I need to rethink this. Cheers from the USA.
loving the videos so far, do you have link to where you bought your wiring, or have i missed this in one of the videos?
Thanks :) And we bought most of it from www.12voltplanet.co.uk/, and a few bits just from eBay
Hiya! Currently converting a LWB Transit and have found your videos sooo helpful - thank-you! Would you be able to link/say where you bought your cables from? I am struggling to find anything affordable that will do a nice job. Thanks đ
Sure, we got the majority of the cables from www.12voltplanet.co.uk/cable.html which has a really good selection, and a few extra bits from eBay. HTH and glad you've found the videos helpful đđ
How many meters of wire did you use in your van? I just made my pre-wire sketches and it seems like a huge amount of wire! My van is smaller than yours and I won't have all the appliance you have (diesel heater, oven etc), but I am planning to do 3-way switches for the main lights. Love your videos! I come back to them again and again as I go through the slow process of DIY build.
It is surprising how quickly it all adds up even in a small space when you have to go along walls and around corners đ We originally bought 2x30m spools of 3mm^2 cable, 3m of 70mm, 15m of 16mm, 9m of 6mm and 12m of 2.5mm triple core cable for the AC. Later on we needed some more 3mm so bought another 20m of non-duplex. We haven't used all of the wire, but there is well over 100m in the van. And thanks, glad they're useful đ
Where did y'all get those tiny windows? Do you have a link please? Thanks! And I love your videos! You guys have got excellent communication skills. From Florida, USA
Thanks, glad you're enjoying them đ And we got all our windows from www.leisurevehiclewindows.co.uk
Hi Guys .You are absolutely awesome.Any chance for a link to find that flow chart about selecting cables please?
Sure, we used this one: assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg. And thanks! đ
@@SelfBuiltStories i have been stressing about this part of my build and been looking for a simple info guide like this , i am so glad you shared this , thank you so much - i love your videos, a great help for ideas on my own build - great job guys
@@davidasquith1999 no problem, good luck! đ
Hi loving your videos - just starting on our own conversion - its the third one but this time we're looking at doing the electrics ourselves. Do you still have a copy of your wiring diagram - just wondered if you could pop a picture on for me? Thank you so much
Hiya, awesome, hope it's going well! And if you message us on Instagram we can send you the diagram đ
Loving the videos. Hopefully one day I will get to do this and use some of your videos to assist me.
When you say it's one of your favourite tools at 13:17, what is that tool?! Seems super helpful. Thanks!
Ah that is a rivnut tool, and yeah it was really useful. It's used for adding threaded bolt holes into the existing drilled holes in the van, so that we didn't have to screw anything directly into the metal. We use it in a lot more detail in the video when we're framing the walls: czcams.com/video/kVKTaQxFv3E/video.html&t. Happy that you're enjoying the videos! đ
@@SelfBuiltStories haha, I guess if I watched your videos in the right order I wouldn't have needed to ask you. Thank you!
@@marc3793 No problem!
Hi thanks for the video! Isn't 6mm cable a bit of an overstretch for a 12V fridge? For a 5A draw and 4-5m circuit I don't see the need for anything below 14AWG.
Hey, no problem đ And we wouldn't have wanted to go with anything smaller, it's around 4-5m round trip but with a 12V system voltage drop can be an issue over that distance with something like the fridge. When the compressor kicks in there is a surge of power that will drop the voltage a bit, and with our model if it drops to below 10.4V it will trigger a cut out and shut it down and won't switch on again till it reaches 11.7V. If the batteries are low or there's lots of power being used at the time that could happen, and we've read numerous stories of others who have intermittently working fridges for similar reasons. As it's one of the critical appliances (we don't want it switching off and spoiling all our food đ) the small extra cost for heavier gauge wire was definitely worth it to us, and is also recommended in the manual too đ
May I know the wire size you use from your Inverter to AC Distribution Panel.
Hiya, for all the AC wiring we're using 2.5mm^2 3 core 20A cable
love your channel guys, amazing, Just a quick question, do you have the link for 3mm duplex cable.
Cheers :) And the links to everything we used should be in the description but if there's something missing let us know đđ
@@SelfBuiltStories what is the size you used for the general wiring for fridge, lights etc, is it
33 Amps 3mmÂČ
DIAMETER - 3.2mm ?
For the fridge we used 6mmÂČ, for the general lower amp stuff like the lights we used mostly the 3mmÂČ/33A duplex, which is overkill for some of it but we bought it in a big reel to avoid having loads of different wire sizes đ
With all that CONDUIT...I'm sure YOU CAN DO IT!
Haha, thanks. We did đ
Awesome videos! Could you tell what the tool is called at 13:19? Thanks!
Cheers! And sure it's called a rivnut tool, or rivet nut tool, a really handy bit of kit đđ
The chart from the cable / amps. Do you have a link to where / how we can download this?
Sure, it's here: assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg
@@SelfBuiltStories Many thanks!
You're welcome đ
Hi there great job! just wondering what the tool is called at 13.18 the blue thing with arms.
Hey, cheers! It's called a rivnut tool and it puts in rivnuts that then you can just put a bolt straight into. We talked more about it in our battening video here: czcams.com/video/kVKTaQxFv3E/video.html, and there's a link to the one we used in that videos description too. HTH! đ
â@@SelfBuiltStories Thanks so much đ
@@suicidaltendencies99 No problem!
Did you guys wire your lights in parallel?
Hiya, yes generally LED spotlights like ours are wired in parallel đ
Hi any chance in posting a link to the conduit please?
No problem, we picked it all up from eBay here: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373422413818
:)
Thanks for watching đ
Where did you guys learn about doing electrics , it's the one thing that confuses me , is the AC necessary if your not using 3 point plugs . If anyone can help regarding electrics please comment. Thankyou
We did lots of research before we started, some good resources were the free wiring unlimited book from Victron (www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/The_Wiring_Unlimited_book/43562-Wiring_Unlimited-pdf-en.pdf ), various blogs and forums like diysolarforum.com, and channels like will prowse, explorist.life, and the engineering mindset. And yeah having AC with an inverter isn't necessary if you don't have any 3 pin devices to plug in. Our 12V system can power pretty much everything in the van, including charging most of our devices with USB etc. The main things we use the AC for are a laptop charger and hairdryer. HTH đ
That link doesn't work for me, but this does:
www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/The_Wiring_Unlimited_book/43562-Wiring_Unlimited-pdf-en.pdf
â@@eus9 Cheers for the heads up, the bracket got added to the link. Fixed now đ
This must be the worst part of a van build, not lookin forward to it đ
Yeah it was a bit fiddly and a lot of work and planning for something that doesn't visually change much, but it's really satisfying now when we're doing other bits and all the wires are just there ready to go!