Installing a Leisure Battery and Inverter into my LR Discovery 4
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- Опубліковано 3 січ 2023
- In this video I fit a leisure battery, inverter, solar charge controller and battery charger to my Land Rover Discovery. The items I purchased for this project are listed below. I managed to fit the leisure battery in the space around the rear passenger wheel arch, but if you have the rear air con unit fitted in your Discovery/LR4, then you won't have space there to fit it. I am doing separate videos for the light bars, solar panel and dash cam, but the whole project was done at the same time.
I purchased quite a lot of the battery items and accessories from Bimble Solar (in the UK). The garage, said that these items were quite big for a 4X4 and were usually seen in vans or boats. I'm not being sponsored by any supplier or garage for this video.
12v Sterling Battery 140ah AGM Deep Cycle
Victron Phoenix 375VA, 12V 300W inverter with VE.Direct
CTEK 20A Dual DC-DC Battery Charger - D250SE - Lead Acid & Lithium Support
10mm Solar/Inverter/Charge controller Cable - 20m
16mm cable - 1m
25A fuse NH000, 250VDC for NH00 DC Fuse Disconnect
Pre-made MC4 6mm Solar Cable - 10m
10A Victron MPPT SmartSolar 75-10 - 75VOC PV Charge Controller
Terrafirma 8 Way Switch Panel System - 2 units
Music provided #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
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Music Credits:
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Just found your channel and love it. It’s nice to find a normal chap like myself who loves a disco 4 and doesn’t do adverts or sponcered videos. Keep up great work mate. I’m off to advenger 4x4 to get some work done as didn’t realise they was on my door step 🎉👍
Glad you like the videos. The Avenger 4X4 guys are a good bunch. Tell them I said hi.
Amazing job buddy. Respect
Sorry for the huge delay. Had to take some time out for personal reasons, but I appreciate the comment and I'll be back to more projects very soon. Thank you for the compliment. :)
Cracking job 👍 I'm just about embark on something similar for my daughter for her grand tour when she finishes her A Levels next summer. She wants a D3 converted into a camper so I'm trawling for ideas. I like your set up and with a Jackery she should have no issues with power. Looking forward to you light review. Great effort.
The grand tour sounds amazing. I bet that will be an experience she will remember for life.
fantastic- I have wanted to do this but did not have a guide!
Nice job bud.. I've been thinking about how to fit a leisure battery to my D4, I'm happy to know it can fit a decent size battery in that space 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you. Just check you don't have air con in the rear cabin otherwise this will likely be using up that space.
You made a nice set of videos with your Disco and would be good to see you come back with some more in the future
Hey. Thanks for the positive message. And sorry for being off the channel for a while. I had a difficult few months that required me to take some time out for my family, but I hope to get back to putting out some more content soon.
Nice job. Good thing you don't have the rear air conditioning option or that space would have been full or at least most of it used up. I just subscribed to see more of your work. BTW I don't use my third row of seats so I just built a false floor and put the fridge, second battery and rear drawer on the false floor. Only issue with running wires under the car is they may need to be removed for any body off repairs but lets hope you don't have any of those.
Yes that's exactly what the garage told me (about the air con unit). A lot of people seem to go the way you have, and it makes a lot of sense. I guess I just haven't fully committed yet to making it a pure overlander. I haven't used my third row yet either.
Looks like you've done a tidy job mate. 👍 With everything packed into a small space so tightly, let us know if you have any issues with heat transfer or overheating of any components as there doesn't seem to be a great deal of ventilation in that compartment.
Thank you. Yes I will do. One of the mechanics at Avenger 4X4 used to modify Land Rovers for big expeditions. He worked on my car and saw the final set up. He wasn't concerned. But I'll keep my eye on it and comment if anything happens.
Little tip, if you change your 230v socket for one with neons on the switches if you leave them in the on position you will be able to see if the inverter is on.
That's a great idea! Thanks
Just to let you know the 13A fuse will limit the current drawn from the socket to 13A. I don't know what size inverter you have but personally I'd downsize the fuse to suit, that will give extra protection for the inverter.
Hi Paul. Thank you. Milly suggested the same thing, so I am going to ask Bimble Solar exactly what the fuse should be rated to and get that changed ASAP. Appreciate the advice.
So I checked with Bimble Solar and they suggested a 3A fuse would be more appropriate. It's a 230V with a peak output of 700W, so a 3A should just about do it. If not, I'll use a 5A. Thanks again for the advice
Nice!
Thanks :)
Well done, i do love all your work that you have done on this vehicle :) i would put the leisure battery in the engine compartment which is near the ABS pump, there is enough room to mount all the hard ware. why do you need for 240v in this day of age, when overlanding ?
Yes, I did look in the engine bay, but to be honest, I didn't have the confidence I could fit it all in. If I had more mechanic skills, I would have probably done that. Good question about the inverter. The main reason was that I just followed the advice of Bimble Solar, who suggested the kit and set up. I do find it handy for the laptop, and even random things like the charger for my drill and other battery power tools, but you are right, most overlanding kit doesn't require it.
Great work! Just a word of caution, you taped your wiring to the rear curtain airbag. Maybe not a good place. Rather tape/secure to something else (drill a hole for a cable tie body clip). Your passengers may benefit from that airbag working in future.
Hi. Thanks for that. I thought that was just the canister for the airbag rather than the airbag itself, but I'll definitely get someone to check it is still safe. I appreciate the heads up and sorry for the delayed reply.
This is exactly like I would like in my car. Nice work! What route did you take to connect the main battery with this Leisure battery? Is the car still waterproof?
Fascinating video Chris. I really like the animations you insert in the vid.
How has it performed since installing? Have you ever thought about starting a business doing something like this?
Hi Danny. Thanks. That's very kind of you to say. I barely trust myself to do it. I doubt someone else would let me start hacking at their car! 😂
But if I could turn travel and adventures into a business, I'd be tempted.
Change the 13A fuse to a 3A one. Your inverter doesn't have the power to blow a 13A fuse so it won't provide any protection. A 3A one is good for about 750 Watts so even that is slightly overrated, a 1A fuse would be better (they are available for UK plugs) if you will be using less than about 250 W but does slightly limit what you can draw. The inverter does have overload protection but better to correctly rate the fuse than rely on the overload protection.
This is great advice, thank you. I'll put it to Bimble Solar (who sold me the kit) and let you know what they say. Thanks again
Hi Milly. Bimble Solar agreed that a 3A fuse should work well. So thanks for that. I'll be changing that ASAP. Great advice!!
@@inhistracks Thanks for the follow-up
Nice work. I am wondering - which point you choose for earth/ground for CTek controler and battery?
Thanks!
Nice one. I’ve been fiddling around with mine but not to such a degree. Yet… One thIng, behind that panel you had to refit having taken off the fins trying to get the cabling to work, what’s the metal cylinder that you attached the cabling too? Is it part of the rear airbag, or interfere with it in some way? I know that may not matter depending who travels in there etc, but just asking as we have kids who sit back there. Cheers
Hi Charlie. I think it's the airbag gas canister, or something to that effect. It's not the airbag itself. They are mostly in the headlining of the car and are quite obvious. Although the amount of cables I have run along the headlining, I did wonder how much it might have effected the airbags, but I did my best to keep them out the way.
Hi, awesome video, can I ask what you are using for work lights, they look really good, and how did you fit them? Cheers!
Thank you. I have several types of lights on the car now. They are all Strands lights. The work lights are called Red Fox Side lights I think off the top of my head. I'm putting together the video for it as we speak. They are wired into the leisure battery so I can run them with the engine off. Not a simple job... holes in the roof etc.
Nice Vid. Great work! how mutch did u spend? when is ok to ask, maybe i will do this upgrade to. :)
Nice video quick question how many watts is your solar panel.
Sorry for the delay. The solar panel is 110W
What happened to the channel, no more videos?
Great video :) how much did all that end up costing compared to getting a jackaery?
Good question! And I should have really talked about price in the video because it is a big factor. The first auto electrician charged me about £850. Getting the second opinion and the additional fixes cost me another £600. If it was done right the first time, that £600 wouldn't have been necessary. The battery was approx. £250. Inverter, just under £100. Dual DC DC Charger was just under £200. Then there was the cables and sundries, which I'd say was probably another £150. Solar panel £170, solar charge controller around £90. So cost to me was around £2400, but should have really been around £1800. It's also worth noting that the auto electrician didn't just wire in the battery and solar panel. They also wired in the lights, the power output/input on the roof rack and the dash-cam.
@@inhistracks wow that was an expensive journey maybe a jackary may of been a good choice especially with its versatility?
@@mrfairycake4333 Yeah, it's a tough call either way. Some of the Jackery set ups including Solar panels are also quite expensive, but as you say; more versatile and no work required. I'm happy with it now that I've done it, and I like the fact that my car battery is also benefitting from the solar panel. I also wanted the leisure battery and solar panel to charge the dash cam (for example when the car is parked at the airport or train station for a few days). The Jackery would be slightly impractical for that, but way more practical and simple for most other things.
Great mod! May I know the wiring diagram? I couldn't figure out why you need both CTEK Battery Charger and Victron Charge Controller?
Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately I don't have a wiring diagram because I left that to the auto electricians. Bimble Solar in the UK sold me the kit so they might be able to supply you with a wiring diagram or a better explanation. But as I understand it, the battery charger is there to keep both the leisure battery and the main car battery charged. I think the leisure battery tops up first and then excess is sent to the main battery if required. The solar charge controller is ensuring the correct current/voltage (?) is being sent from the solar panel to the batteries. To be honest, I didn't question it beyond that 🤷🏼♂️
@@inhistracks I agree that you should have dedicated solar charge to get more power from the solar. And this may be better than the CTEK D250SE one (?) maybe
@@tuanla1879 I assume it depends what battery and what solar set up you have. I intentionally bought the whole system in one go so the suppliers could make sure it was all compatible and optimal. But I trusted their judgement and don't know enough about the electrical accessories to comment on their effectiveness. You'll likely know more about this than me.
@@inhistracks Thanks for your reply. I don't know much but I'm just curious and I wanted to setup my own thingy so that I know more or less the strength and weakness of it. And if something goes wrong in the middle of nowhere then I will have an idea how to patch it up :D
@@tuanla1879 Very wise strategy. I'll do a bit more reading myself.
You vanished I noticed no more new viedos I'm sure you're just busy my lr3 on hold for now I plan to continue my build soon
Sorry for the long delay. I had some difficult family stuff going on, so I had to take some time to focus on that. I appreciate you reaching out. Hopefully I can upload some more very soon