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.