2010 3500 RV build

hein

Van Guru
I have considered using Polygal (another multiwall PC) for the bathroom door. May be a bit to transparent for privacy. There is some risk of getting moisture in the channels. I have some on a greenhouse and in the right conditions condensation forms inside of it. It has to vented (open) at the ends to let it dry out.
 
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hein

Van Guru
Floor support/storage box is installed. VHB tape holds it to the plastic step. Deck screws through the plywood floor into the box walls. Need to order 2 more covers.



Bulkhead fit is not too shabby, imho.




I can make these pieces for your build. Please PM me.
 
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hein

Van Guru
Finished making a panel (top) for the solar monitor, tank monitor, and switches for the water heater and tank heaters. This panel will be mounted over the galley behind the wall like I did with the thermostats. The blue switch box (bottom) is for the floor heat elements. It will be located near the floor with a cord coming out that can be plugged into a nearby outlet. The black ABS pieces were CNC'd.



The solar and tank level monitors are held on with screws into 8-24 threaded brass inserts. Due to insert depth, I needed to double up the .120" thick ABS. Pieces are glued together with thin ABS solvent cement. Inserts are pounded in with a hammer. Here is a picture of the back of the panel with one of the inserts installed.



Front of the panel showing the inserts. They are Series 51 from Spirol West. I recessed the rocker switches slightly.



I noticed when I got done that I didn't quite get the switches centered under the tank panel. -Oops. If this was for a customer, I'd correct that and run another part. Also would have been nice to machine some little areas for switch labels. ...After thoughts.

Below. Components ready for assembly. Next step is to wire up the monitors and switches. Then remove and rework the wall panel.



I can make custom switch panels out of black, white or grey ABS. I even have some extra rocker switches but you'll have to do your own wiring. Please PM me.
 
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shanemac

Active member
I been keeping an eye on this thread, and I have to say you do some killer work:rad: great attention to detail. I'am curious though why no hardwood floor?:smilewink: Looks like your keeping a factory style grey theme. either way its cool :thumbup: I like your method of fastening the panels for what ever reason if need be you can service in behind or swap a panel.
 

hein

Van Guru
Shanemac, Thank you for the compliments and for following my build. You are right that we are trying to work with the factory grey interior and the color of the interweave fabric on the walls.

One of the challenges is that there are so many shades of grey already. It is nearly impossible to match grey so making more things grey ends up adding more shades of grey. I painted the floor to cover all the mods I made to it. It looked patchy. In the end we intend to cover the exposed areas with something that will compliment the finished interior. Could be wood, carpet, vinyl, cork or something else. Right now I have an old blue area rug in there.

Yesterday afternoon I wired the tank/solar/switch panel. The wire harness has a 12V feed for the tank monitor and the switches plus a ground for the tank monitor. Then individual wires for each switch and the tank sensor(s). The tank sensors share a common wire. The sensors themselves are configured so the display knows which tank they are on. The ribbon wire is for the solar monitor panel. Each switch (they are 10A) will control a larger load relay back at the electrical chassis.

 
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hein

Van Guru
I've had to run a few wires after finishing the insulation. It's easy to pull up the foil tape holding the Reflectix peices and lift up an edge or a corner to expose the Thinsulate layer. In most places, I can drop wires between the Reflectix and the Thinsulate. Where I need to go through it, I use a thin wire to poke through the fibers. Then tape the harness to the end of the wire and pull it through. I used both methods to route the harness for the tank/solar/switch panel back to the electrical chassis. To mount it (see below), I cut a rectangular hole in the Reflectix (clearance for gauges & wiring) and then taped the panel to it.



Then made a cutout in the wall panel to expose the goodies. Added 4 screws pull the panel up against the back of the wall. Took the opportunity to install a 12V DC outlet (below) for over the galley.



Below. Also installed the floor heat switch box which I plugged in while working in the van last night. We've had a cold snap here with lows near 20 F. It is nice to have a warm floor to sit on while working.



I can raise the temperature in the van by almost 20 F with only 750 watts. 1500 watts will give me 30 F over ambient. I made some Reflectix panels for the top part of the CR Lawrence windows and have an outside cover on the windshield and cab side windows.
 
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hein

Van Guru
There are so many wires running to the TV that it is impractical to remove it while traveling. Rummaging through a few boxes turned up a carry strap from a surfboard bag. -That'll work! Some minicell foam blocks (bottom of 2nd pic) to hold the bottom of the TV against the wall and it's snug as a bug in a rug. Probably will borrow the wife's stitch ripper and remove that logo.





articulating arm on Amazon
 
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d_bertko

Active member
Just curious.

Why not just hdmi and power as the only display connectors?

I went with an a/v receiver with four hdmi inputs and surround sound output in the stickhouse. That made wiring much simpler. Just one hdmi input for the projector needed.

An aside:many a/v receivers like mine do "sweet spot" mic testing to calibrate all the speaker levels. Difficult to do that otherwise and might be pretty helpful inside an rv space.

An even more elegant solution is emerging in the newest 802.11 wifi standard. Would easily handle video streams and thus allow just power to a display with 802.11ac installed or on a dongle.

But mostly just curious...

Dan
 

hein

Van Guru
Dan, Thank you for being curious. Excellent points regarding HDMI. And the 802.11 wifi sounds like an installers dream come true. I wish I had done a little more research before buying my components.

I have a Kenwood DDX319 which doesn't have HDMI. I did select it for the capability to display DVDs on the rear TV but I did not think far enough ahead to consider how that signal would be best delivered. The HU does have a nice interface for balancing the sound. It's not surround sound so that simplifies things. My rear speakers are right over the TV in the ceiling so the direction sounds right for where we are sitting.

I did install an HDMI cable to the TV so I could add a player or other source in an overhead cabinet. I routed audio back to the HU so I could pipe the sound through the speaker system.

Lots of cables but I think I have the basics covered. I listened to a Rolling Stones DVD in the van just last night. It looked good and sounded great. My sub rocks!
 
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Probably will borrow the wife's stitch ripper and remove that logo.
Really enjoying seeing your ideas come together!

For that strap, I'd suggest something like this to protect the screen.

BTW, I got the same articulating arm for my 19" Samsung, which is about to get added to my build. I see that you put your TV on the passenger's side, aft of the slider. I'm putting mine on the driver's side so that we can see the TV from outside when we're parked at a site with the slider open.

(I have a bug screen to keep the pests at bay. And the driver's side location is good for viewing from the front too. And I'll be leaving the base on mine so that the TV can be relocated to any table-like surface -- which is even easier with that specific articulating arm and its quick-release.)
 
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pfflyer

Well-known member
I mounted mine about where Hein installed his and it will swing out to where I can view out side the van as well. Don't like all the bugs coming in so ended up removing the tv and placed it outside so we could keep the slider shut. Easily moves back inside so we can watch in bed. I rigged my articulating arm so that it snaps into e- track so when I use for work I don't have to unscrew the arm. My intention for mounting it there is so I could watch inside or out. Good thing I left the base on the tv so that I could set up outside. Another reason this location works for me is that when I install swivel bases the TV will be viewable from the front as well.
 
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hein

Van Guru
Installing the Espar D2 catty-corner of the left rear fender where it will end up in the bottom of a cabinet. I made a template to help lay out the perimeter of the plate and the edge of the hole (defined by the inside of the seal -1/8). I've seen smaller holes cut but I want to stay well clear of the wood floor and minicell insulation. My van has the aux fuel tap but it's a long way off. I'll have ~15 feet of fuel line.

Question: Is it better to have the dosing pump nearer to the tank or the heater? -or 1/2 way between?

 
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Diamondsea

New member
The dosing pump delivers the fuel in pulses and the Espar likes to receive fuel pulses into the combustion chamber. Espar supplies a clear very hard but flexible plastic hose that has absolutely no elasticity and the inside diameter is extraordinary small -- almost a capillary tube. Fuel pulses in one end arrive as pulses at the other end. On boats I have used runs of up to 20 feet from the pump to the burner using this hose. Conventional hoses tend to flex diameter wise and pulses in one end arrive at the burner as a dribble of fuel. This does not promote easy initial combustion and clean burning thus the heater may soot up and need service sooner. In short it is OK to have the pump far from the burner if the special tubing is used.
 

TooMuchHair

Active member
Hein, I'm not sure where I saw it but I think on long fuel line runs Espar recommends the pump to be as close as practical to the heater for the reason Diamondsea stated above, (even with the special fuel line) because I remember thinking this is not typical to recommend a pump to pull instead of push but they went on to explain the need for micro doses with the crisp pulse and also stated that in some cases a check valve might be needed near the fuel tank to maintain prime. Sorry for the lack of a link. This link has some interesting info on pump orientation to fine tune burner performance. http://www.esparofmichigan.com/techsupport/pdfs/Troubleshooting and Tips/Basics of fuel system.pdf
Great build man, thanks for all of the great info! :rad:
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
This picture is from Espar installation manual. The maximum distance from the tank to the pump is 6'6" and from the pump to the heater is 20'. Take a pick. Note that different tubes are used on both sides of the pump. The one between the pump and the heater is the rigid plastic one mentioned in a previous post.

George.
 

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hein

Van Guru
Thanks for info regarding the fuel line, everyone. I think there is just enough of the small plastic line to make it work. One more unknown: I have the high altitude sensor but haven't figured out how to connect it with the Digi-Max controller.
 

hein

Van Guru
Finished cutting the hole; no big deal. 4 1/2" x 5 1/2". Looking at it, I couldn't help but think of some improvements to the Espar install. Mostly to protect from water splash/intrusion (hole is just ahead of the rear wheel).



quick mockup:

 
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JohnY

Member
Relative to several of the previous comments,
1. Placement in bottom of cabinent- ensure that access is provided for removal of glow plug and maintenance ops.
2. Location of metering pump within the 20' and 6'-6" constarints cited- Espar of MI advised me to keep it as close to tank as possible to facilitate pump priming (their experience factor).
3. Not sure what you plan for ducting but performance is generally better if the cold and hot air duct inlet and outlets are separated. If you are using more than a meter or so of ducting, the specific ducting design needs to keep flow resistance within factory criteria or overheating and shutdown could result. I ended up using 75mm diameter ducting for the hot air leg to keep flow resistance within factory specifications. My hot air run was about 2 meters long with one 90 degree bend.
Hope this helps.
 

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