DIY Electrical System Install | Off-Grid ProMaster Van Conversion
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- Опубліковано 5 кві 2021
- You can find a WIRING DIAGRAM and parts list on our website:
www.courtandnate.com/blog/van-...
0:34 Alternator Charger Wiring
2:32 Components
6:30 AC Wiring - Inverter/Charger
9:11 AC Wiring - Breaker Panel
11:16 Making Cables
13:51 Battery Wiring
16:09 System Wiring
20:04 AC Distribution
20:44 Ground Connections
21:24 Shore Power Inlet
- Main Components -
Battle Born 100 Ah 12V LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Battery:
amzn.to/3sU9oHW
AIMS 2000W 12VDC/120VAC Pure Sine Inverter/Charger:
amzn.to/3wrzAvk
Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Eclipse Monocrystalline Solar Panels:
amzn.to/3rMDUSB
Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100V 30amp 12/24-Volt Solar Charge Controller: amzn.to/3fFob5w
Victron Energy Orion-Tr Smart 12/12V 30amp DC-DC Charger, Isolated:
amzn.to/3uenKTq
Victron BMV-712 Smart Battery Monitor:
amzn.to/3wmGDpf
Blue Sea Systems 12-Circuit Fuse Block with Ground Bus:
amzn.to/2R1RF2Z
Promaster Replacement Trim Panel Clips:
amzn.to/3fENLaG
Starter Battery Connections:
Positive -
5/16-18 x 1" Square Head Bolts
5/16-18 Serrated Flange Nuts
Negative -
M6-1.0 Serrated Flange Nut
* Note that the starter battery connection lugs were switched around by mistake in the video. The negative is a 1/4" lug and the positive is 5/16".
You can also find some more information in our Build Guide here: www.courtandnate.com/van-buil...
You have NO IDEA how much this video helped me understand my system! Especially the AC side of things. Your diagrams and product links saved me so much time and energy and i appreciate you giving out this info for free!
ABSOLUTE MADLAB LOCATION FOR YOUR SHOREPOWER. GENIUS
That shore power connection is the cleanest, least “obvious” I’ve seen but it’s a lot of work - kudos to you for doing and explaining it well. I will do mine this way. Also, your camerawoman is very patient as well as talented.
You’re both amazing, the work you do is outstanding. Thank you for creating these videos
Excellent work. Very high quality craftsmanship! And a great job showing how you design the components, lay them out, and show people how to install things.
One of the most helpful videos I've seen! Clear and straightforward, thanks👍🏼
This video is more welcomed than you can possible know!!! Thank you so so much for sharing this incredible electrical system install ❤️. So many of my questions were answered! Yay Nate!!
Hey Paula! We are so happy to hear this. Glad it helped, and thank you for taking the time to let us know❤️
Brilliant video mate!!!! Cleared up so many questions I've been considering whilst planning campervan fit out
This is the best clip I’ve found that is so understandable It’s so practical. I like how you make it so simple and show little ways to use and crimp ferrules and strip 50mm cable (in uk we have different gaugings and measurements. In fact the US seem to be the only place in the world that is using imperial. Uk is a confused mash of both) I too used the wheel arch box to hide most of the cable behind otherwise it becomes messy
Wassup brotha! I'm diggin' your youtube channel, bruh. Good shit, man. I watch a bunch of van life stuff on YT so it's pretty cool to be following your van life adventures. Proud of you, Nate.
Hey, thanks!! Hope all is well man. See you on the road or what?
It is wonderful that you didn’t destroy a great tutorial video by trying to record with one hand and manipulate items with the other. All instructional content providers should learn this. Thanks !
This was a very thorough video, well explained! The shore power inlet is genius.
Excellent wiring, instruction and detailed explanation.
You both have done such an excellent job with this video. The explanations were clear, done in a calm voice, and did not use jargon. It was just right for a neophyte like myself. Kudos to you, both!!
Nice video. Thanks for the detail on connecting the van battery.
THanks for the great vid....We are about to start out electric today :)
Nice system. Very informative video and I got all the information I needed. I will say you have a lot of patience, I would of drilled a hole in the side of the van. Still doing my research but this system looks promising for my project
Thank you for the thorough video!
Your videos are so helpful!! Thank you for taking the time to put together a detailed tutorial video. Really appreciate it.
Awesome. Thanks Vu!
Good video. Nice detail!
I've found that the rear quarter trim panel will easily slide off when pulled straight back (after pulling the rear edge free from the corner panel). I hope that makes sense. Then you can either try to slide the panel back in (it's hard to get every clip engaged) or remove the clips like you did. Your method is probably easier if you have plenty of extra clips at hand.
Thanks for your comment!
Great jobs explaining 👌 👏.
Looks beautiful
Nice clean set up! I have the same inverter and I am confused about the ground terminal. According to the wiring diagram I am following (that uses a different inverter). It looks like I should ground the 0/2 wire from the lynx distributor (bus bar) and a 6AWG from the solar charger. 0/2 wire certainly isn't going to fit in there. I didn't see you use the grounding terminal at all (or I missed it). Did you use the terminal?
Exelent,very informative ✌️☮️
Neat install bru 👌 👍 👏
such a great video!!
Hey! Thats truely one super good and well explained video. But I got one question: what is that "security chassis connection" for? I dont See any devices connected to the chassis, so you habe an isolated installation.
Thank you
Neat job.
Minor detail but what you are calling 10/3 is 10/2. The 2 refers to current carrying conductors. The ground does not carry current. Your layout is very neat and orderly, good job.
Thank you! For 2 conductors and 1 ground, solid residential/commercial wiring like Romex is 10/2, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, stranded marine or automotive wire would be labeled as 10-3.
@@CourtandNate1 Fascinating! And that's for wire that is for DC or AC? I just installed an inverter on a bus headed across the country and I used some of that wire running from shore power to the inverter and AC panel but I had to add another single strand for ground but I never looked at the package label. It had one red and one black and was tinned. haha! I hope I don't come across as a Mr. Know-It-All. I'm learning a lot on the topic myself.
The other cord I would suggest for AC in an RV is called SO or SJO because it's used to hang fixtures and has 3 strands of thick twine and very thick insulation and is rated for outdoor use
Thank you! Ballpark $$$ for all components? Inverter/charge controllers/Battleborns/solar panels?
Nate, this looks awesome. Ballpark $$ amount for all components/wires/solar panels/Battleborns?
love your videos would love more day in the lifes
Im doing the same setup in my Promaster but with a Dc to Dc 20a charger and 40a mppt. What size wire from the breaker box to outlets please!! Thanks
Thanks for posting. What happened to the ground to neutral bond that was hanging out of the inverter early on? It looks gone later on when you are connecting the AC inputs and outputs. Thanks
How do you get around the Solar and DC to DC trying to charge the batteries at the same time as from what I under stand solar controllers don't like a second power source charging batteries as it cause the controller to freak out.
Hey Nate, I have learned a ton from your videos. THANKS! I'm ready to install shore power and like the "bumper" install. I'm curious why you are not installing a 30 Amp receptacle? I'd like to put 30 Amp in mine but not sure if the receptacle will fit in the space. Do you know?
We personally rarely have access to a 30Amp hookup and really don’t use too much power. 15A has been fine for us when needed and works for smaller setups. I did install a 30A inlet in the promaster I built with the green interior. It fits perfectly in the same space just above that reflector. The only thing you will need to be careful of is the cover. If it’s flipped all the way up, you can snap it off by opening/closing the back door.
Not sure if this was mentioned by someone else or not. At min 17, should the negative coming from the inverter charger be connected to the battery side of the shunt? Otherwise the shunt will no account of the charge coming from the inverter charger. Great setup, clean and tidy👍
No, it's my understanding that you only want your battery bank on the battery side. If you put the charger on the load side... The shunt will account for the charge going into the battery when charging. Basically, the shunt is only to tell you what is happening to the battery bank.
Min 5:00
"There will be a test on this on Monday."
I yet to see another promaster with the other fuse location filled like mine is.
Hey! Thanks for the extremely detailed video. The only question I have is, what size ground wire did you? Thanks!
Thanks! I used 2/0 AWG for the main chassis ground. The standard is one wire size down from your largest conductor. In this case that would have been 1/0 AWG (or 0 AWG) but I just used the 2/0 that I had on hand.
Nate, love the tutorial. Currently building electrical based on your video and components. Did you run your panels in series or parallel? I will be installing three 100W renogy solar panels. Thank you in advance.
Thanks Larry! I actually did not install the panels on this van. I do typically wire them in series though to get the most out of the mppt charger.
What size wire did you use for the ground from the inverter? I used 4/0 wire for my battery setup with 2500 watt aims inverter charger,but I heard you should have no less than 1 size down for the equipment ground. I have a chassis ground from my shunt just like you, but 3/0 seems like a lot for the ground from the inverter.
Why did you not use
the Lynx distributor?
It’s way cleaner. 🤷♂️🤦🏼♂️
Hey Nate thank you so much for this video. I have copied your set up exactly. Tried plugging in the shore power today but nothing lights up on the inverter. Any reason you think this would happen? I assume the inverter is supposed to know when power is being supplied via AC in
Hey there! Make sure you have set the DIP switches on the back of the unit. Depending on how you have it set, you should need to flip the main switch to the up position when plugged in to receive the current from the shore plug.
@@CourtandNate1 Ah yes. I remember going through the manual trying to understand if I needed to make any changes to the dip switches from default. I'll take another look, thanks!
Shouldn't the lugs on the batteries be on the same side? Avoiding the full load going through the posts?
I have 2 100ah deep cycle batteries in my minivan build to power lights, fridge etc. The batteries drop to 60-70% throughout the night. In the summer, my 100w solar panel tops the batteries off by noon everyday and remains in the 90+% all day.
Cloudy days and/or in winter my panel wont top the batteries off. So I am adding a Victron Energy Orion-Tr IP43 12/12-Volt 9 amp 110-Watt DC-DC Converter, Isolated- that I got for free. Since my solar is only 100w at best.
I want to power it off my rear cigarette lighter plug 20 amp (shuts off with ignition) to help with charging while I drive. since the plug is right there in the back of my van by the rv batteries. Will this work or do I have to connect it directly to my van battery (which will be a pain to do)?
Is it possible to ground the inverter to the negative bus bar in your set-up? Mine is a similar system but the location of components makes it simpler to ground via bus bar (then bus bar to chassis). Also, I noticed your negative bus bar has smaller bolts for where your different ground connections where made, is it possible to connect safety grounds (including from AC breaker box) to a regular bolt on the negative bus bar (even tho it's also part of the dc system as well)?
I noticed the NOCO shore power plug is rated at 15 amps but shore power at campgrounds is usually 30 or 50, and the Victron Multiplus says many different amperages too? how does that work?
what is the depth of the wheel box from the wall plywood?
While not connected to 'shore' mains, where is your functional earth? The chassis isn't one, as it's insulated from the ground by the tyres.
Not going to ever try this myself, but I'm really curious. When you ground using the chassis, isn't there a chance then to get zapped when you touch it?
Grounding to the chassis of the van will allow the ground to carry a fault current back to the battery in the case of a hot wire shorting somewhere in the circuit thus tripping the over current protection (fuse or breaker).
I'd only take an orion 60a and up. 30a is not enough in most cases
With only 2 batteries and a decent amount of solar, 30A works but more is always nicer . I haven’t seen a 60A Orion, but usually 2x 30A in parallel. I use a 60A Sterling in our van. Considering a second alternator for the next one. 200+ amps sounds great!
Just wondering, the shore power inlet function to extend power outside the van. Does that supply the power to recharge the batteries when there is no sunlight?
Yeah! We really hardly ever need use ours, but it’s nice to have when we need it. The incoming power, either from the grid or a generator, will charge your batteries and/or pass through directly to your outlets depending on your settings, power demands, and battery state of charge.
Since you have the Positive & Negative cable running into the same blocks as the Positive & Negative cable running to 12V DC bank would anything on the DC bank technically work if you shut the battery switch off (isolating the system from the AUX battery) but have the DC to DC connected and vehicle running?
Yes! And the same thing goes for solar and any other charge sources connected to the DC busses. With the battery bank isolated, the chargers would act as power sources for any connected loads. If you want to cut power to the whole system you would open the breakers for each charger as well.
@@CourtandNate1 do you feel running a negative cable from the battery is necessary? I have seen other setups where the negative cable is run to the negative bar which is just grounded to the chassis which is essentially how its grounded at the starter battery anyway.
@Annie Hathaway I did not but it seems they run a negative cable in the video but do not mention it in that one section. I feel you can probably get away with not running it but electrical can be very touchy when it comes to grounds so I decided to order a negative cable and run it to be safe.
What size square head bolts do we need?
Can I use a 200amp class t fuse
Instead of a 250amp?
I just copied this exact setup, but not getting any power from DC distribution. What should i do??
Figured it out!!! I had the 70amp breaker going to dc distributor panel hooked up backwards, flipped it upside down and now were rockin and rollin!
What gauge wire did you use to ground to the chassis?
I used 2/0 AWG (00 AWG) here. 1/0 AWG would have been enough, but that’s just what I had on hand.
What brand breaker boxes are those
What keeps the starter battery from trickle charging the house batteries?
In the case of most dc-dc chargers, the voltage of the starter battery will determine the flow of current to the auxiliary battery(s). It will only start to charge the aux batteries once the starter battery reaches a certain voltage when the engine is running. You can alternatively connect an sense wire to the ignition.
What is that on your positive battery connection? Are all Promasters like that?
Most promasters have that open space for a fused connection using a mega fuse. You can also install a separate fuse or breaker outside of the battery box, but I like to fuse at the terminal whenever possible.
@@CourtandNate1 hi folks! Thanks so much for the DIY content, love the skill share ethics!
I'm wondering if you ever got the square head hardware and 60amp mega fuse on the battery and if so could you show a video of that?
Best wishes for your new year!
What size terminal lug are you using for battery connections?
Battle Born provides 5/16” hardware, so I used 5/16” x 2/0 AWG lugs. The battery terminals will fit up to 3/8” bolts so you can go bigger if needed. Most of the other battery cable connections such as the red on/off switches require 3/8” lugs.
@@CourtandNate1 Sorry, I didn't mean the battle born ones- I should have specified the engine battery connection shown at 2:08. Is the engine battery 3/8" too?
Oh! Gotcha. 5/16” lug for positive and 1/4” for negative. There’s some more info in the vid description as well
@@CourtandNate1 oh sweet. Thank! Missed that in the description. Thanks for the quick reply too!
aRe yOu gOinG tO dRop eVerY SiNglE oNe? loll
But for real great video!
Early!!!
14:51 you put a flammable material next to live wires.... I dont see how that CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG!!? You dont insulate wiring boxes except from leaks from water. I dont give a fuck how cold your van gets that part of your van gets no NO insulation.
Slow down