Electrics 2

Ran ignition live to front of van.

Added negative busbar.

Ran live feed from busbar ready for connection.

Ran negative feed to negative busbar and fitted. 

Ran negative feed from busbar to sterling but not fitted.

Fitted mains electricity unit below 12v electrics.

electrics board

Fitted the 12v electrics board OS rear 550mm from floor. Fortunately I'd left enough Battery cable to allow me to bring it up enough to connect to SterlingPower Unit! 

Used 5 mm ply board painted white. And used 15 mm small rubber door stops to mount it to the ply wallboard. Small amount of extra damping for the electrics if nothing else!

This new unit controls the solar panel as well. 

Live feed to unit via main battery direct.

Auxiliary battery live from unit to battery via the live busbar. Live / neutral cables not connected at the moment until I've got the accessories wired in. 

Solar panel live is connected 

Next is run the ignition live wire to SP unit.

Fit battery temperature monitor cable.

Then add the negative busbar

Run the accessories live/ neutral wires to fuse box/ neg busbar.

Then fit the live battery cables fire up and fingers crossed all should be working!

Closing in on electrics!

Vehicle battery earth clamp issues:

With plenty of lubricant and turn anti clockwise then clockwise for 20 mins got the bloody nut off! So camper electrics are now earthed correctly for the new SterlingPower unit! 

I've mostly built the camper electrics board and labelled live feeds to the SP unit and liesure battery. 

Next up

Once I've mounted the SterlingPower Unit and got that going 

Trip to DIY shop ran out of solder first!

Wire in the accessories to the new fuse board etc. Fortunately I've labelled those on the old unit 😂 

So fiddly, but the solar panel now fits directly to the SP unit so one less gizmo to worry about.

Once all that is sorted I can get on with the kitchen unit! Having given the flooring a good clean that is!

Electrics 9.4

Fitted new quick release battery connectors.

Rewired winch cables to fit. 

Added kitchen unit earth wires & subwoofer live feeds. 

Added HT wire for SterlingPower unit

Added SterlingPower units battery heat sensor earth. 

To do

Connect main battery earth wires ( new 6" to short!) So can solder together and fit to liesure battery. 

Decide on final position for electrics board at rear of vehicle mount electrics to it and fix to wall. 

Hoping enough HT cable so don't have to add more tho! 

It would be useful to mount the electrics at least 600mm above floor level higher if possible.

wouldn't you know it!

Earth cable runs 3" short! 

next up!

Fit SterlingPower unit to ply board along with new fuse box, mains electricity unit, battery isolator and earthing point for 12v accessories.

Looking to mount this board in its own cupboard above where the porta potti will be housed. 

Fitting the new SterlingPower Unit

New earth cable run and old wiring deciphered .....mostly ( really should of marked cables!) 

Have bought new quick release battery connectors which also have extra wiring fittings which will be useful for attaching the winch cables from the trailer! I tow my motorcycle when we holiday and weighing in at around 250 kg a winch gives better control when mounting the trailer! Slipping the clutch and using throttle is fraught when putting it onto the trailer and negotiating the ramp and wheel arch of the trailer ! 

new earth cable for Sterling Power unit

Well managed to run the earth cable through the bulk head hole behind battery! Bit of a faff because removing the battery would mean slave battery to keep the electronics going! But fortunately there was an accessory wire run direct from positive terminal. Which was run as a temporary live feed for led lights by the company who fitted the poptop and lighting! 

I had to remove the glovebox as expected but also the airbag panel on near side of dash ( on off switch). The lower plastic panel below glovebox as well, to find the the live feed wire.

I taped the earth wire to the live wire and gently pulled it through until I could feel the two wires ( the hole is just big enough under the dash to get both cables through but fiddly! As well as working by touch!!! .

Once pulled thru and panels etc replaced I thought I might as well attach the earth cable to the main battery. 

Good old VW .....not! 

The 8 mm nut holding the earth clamp onto battery post can't be removed completely only loosened the thread has a shoulder on it to stop this!!!

Which also means I can't add a 8 mm nut to it!

No where else to attach the new earth cable either so at this point I'm guessing a laborious filing of the top of the thread to remove the " shoulder" 

If I forcibly remove the nut It'll damage the thread and the nut. And not enough room to saw it off.

Option 2 is slave battery connected via jump leads to vehicle battery leads so I can disconnect earth clamp saw off bolt and fit new one!

Might be the easier option! Quicker at least!