now the cold water pump saga!

Needed a new water pump, arrived has 3 wires, tap 2! 🙄

Copious YouTubing and no configuration seems to do anything but blow the 10 amp fuse!

Contacted Whale they said thier 12v submersible pumps don't have 3! Stitched!

So ordered direct from supplier a 2 wire submersible pump! 

Only problem will be if I've knackered the tap micro switch, my luck so far it will be! 

Yes I have the correct wiring configuration. 

So I can only hope 😂

day 12670

Well the SP unit seems to be doing its job solar panel wise. Leisure battery OK decent voltage coming from 100 amp monocrystalline solar panel which is inside the van on worktop by window! Currently putting out 17.4 amps at 11:00 am sun not overhead yet.

24/06/22 SP Remote unit

The remote unit plug got stuck in the guage and getting it out knackerd it!

Que £23 for special tool to prepare and strip wires, then crimp the darn plug into place! 

Can't purchase a new wire on its own just complete unit £85!

As the remote gauge wire was about 10mtrs it was a good time to shorten it! 

I used the removed cable to have a play but had ordered 2 plugs in case! 

Following instructions was actually fairly simple hoorah! 

Couple of attempts at getting the micro cable the right length for the crimper made sure I had wires correct order and carefully pushed them into place ( plug clear plastic) 

Put plug into the correct gap for size, squeeze job done!

Fitted to sterling unit fired up ignition success!

Phew!

sterling unit / solar panel

21/06/22

Not getting solar output thru sterling unit. Turns out my solar panel is knackered (6 yrs old) flexible one attached to roof when pop top fitted 6 yrs ago! 

I'd bought a solid 100amp solid panel in the sales a couple of years ago but never around to fit it! Lent panel against van in sun, 20 volts going in straight off ! 🙄 And with just 6" strip of the panel in the actual sun resting on top of the kitchen unit got 17.5 amps that'll do thank you. 

At this point I don't think I'll mount it on the roof leads are long enough to rest it against van where the sun is! I've also got extension plugs so wouldn't have to faff on rewiring it to sterling unit etc.

Next up .... Water pump sort and test heating system 

Sterling Power unit

So as the Victron unit not doing what I thought it might. 

I've refitted my Sterling Power solar B2B unit. 

Removed liesure battery to charge it up, and when connected to battery it showed less than 15% ! 

That just proves things aren't working correctly! Hopefully no harm done as part of the chargers routine is recovery, it took about 6 hrs to get it up and running!

19/06/22

Finished fitting the Sterling Unit.

Ignition live

Battery heat sensor

Hooked up vehicle battery live 

Reconnected vehicle battery live to SP unit.

Fired van up and gave it 5 mins to sort itself and checked outputs. Liesure battery getting the full 14.5 Initial charge as is the main battery. 

Sterling unit has defaulted to AGM 2 But from memory I need to go for a drive for it to settle in. But should be fine. 

Only thing to check is solar side of it, the light wasn't on this morning but multimeter showed power but battery was fully charged etc. 

keep an eye of liesure battery 

Checked 12v stuff all okay but cold water supply pump didn't! 🙄 Hopefully just needs a clean either way it's a faff as it's under the van. 

But I need to test LPG, tanks under van anorl!

20/06/22

11:40

All SP unit wiring ok power where it should be leisure battery 13.5 v 

SP unit solar light not on so need to check although there is plenty of power from solar bright sunny day !

Next up piggy back fuse for ignition live

Sterling unit needs ignition live. 

On the T6 it can be found under the gear lever on passenger side.

Easiest way I found was to find a blank fuse space stick the piggy back in check to see if it is live or needs the ignition on simples. 

I've spent ages online and it seems there is a myriad of combinations of how and where the fuses are placed.

But it's the mini ones which is what you want. 

I've got a rough idea where mine was. 

If you've large hands you'll probably need to remove the cowling, good luck 🙄 

I can just get at mine. 

If there a ignition live free use that, if not your second fuse will need to be lower than the one your piggybacking onto.

Reason it's best to use a blank fuse socket if it's available! 

Using volt meter check the socket to see if  its a switched one via ignition and use it! 

There's plenty of videos online re this!

19/06/22

Mission accomplished, found a vacant ignition live " mini fuse" socket so just plugged the piggy back into that, saves faffing about setting up conventional fuse. 

good grief!

With battery not getting a decent charge especially as it's been flipping hot last couple of days, I was at a loss! Couple of days pondering over tinternet tbh the victron is really solely for household unless you add a bank of very expensive other victron products it won't perform well IMO. 

A day of surfing on net I've come to the conclusion of it'll be cheaper and easier to just refit my Sterling Power dual charger with built in solar! 

I've isolated the MPPT to only send its power to the battery direct and isolated 12v accessories. 

A small amount of charge is going into the battery but not really impressed! Seeing as tho it's been high 20's last couple of days!

So the Sterling unit is basically a split charger designed for smart alternators/ regen braking/ stop start.

Fortunately I left the main battery live feed in place, unfortunately I totally removed earth cable! 

But least I know where the 1" hole in ns bulk head is to run it into van! 😎

It's a faff sure enough.

Remove main battery front clamp 

Slide battery forward to grill

Right side of bulk head low there's the 1" hole.

You'll need to remove 

passenger glovebox

Loosen door seal at side of dash 

Carefully remove child lock panel and unplug. ( You need all the access you can get)

Remove lower panel in foot well, it fills the gap between glovebox and bulk head. Pulls off. 

I then ran some stiffish cable down into the hole ( about a foot long,) red is easy to spot lol. 

Back under dash you might be lucky and spot the cable if not thread a bit more in.

It's tight and I dont have big hands but if you can see it pull it down, less obstructions if you keep to the wheelarch.

Gentle pull thru to bottom.

Back in the engine bay tape earth cable to red wire. 

Push carefully few inches at a time then go and check if you can see HT lead gently pull in red cable. Swapping back and front till you can see it or get hold of the lead. 

Pull it thru enough to remove guide lead. 

You've won! 

Undo the two cables go have a beer! 😂

Pull HT cable thru until you've enough to attach it to negative battery terminal left in the engine bay.

I only needed to have enough to reach behind the rear seat but allow enough to reach wherever you need obviously! 

Mine runs under the rubber mat just up against the plastic footwell there's enough space for it to sit under the plastic lip. 

I've also enough space under my flooring which runs from back of front seats. I used some black 1" wide rubber seal which fits snugly in the gap. Right to where it exits into battery box.

Of course this is oh so much easy if done pre build 🤪

From this point it's easy 🤞

Run earth from battery to sterling unit

Run live to sterling unit.

In my case already in situ.