Get the string...let the 12V wiring BEGIN!

[@adrianasofiasantos]

Loved the idea of the string

[@FreedomStrider]

It did help a lot! 😀

[@robertlee3734]

nice one you guys

[@FreedomStrider]

Thanks! 😊

[@jetw1518]

Hey, thanks for another great video, I’m just looking into electronics now, wondering why you have a separate mttp when the Redarc has a solar input?

[@FreedomStrider]

Yes good point, we wanted a separate MPPT as if the REDARC box fails we would lose both solar and alternator charging, plus it's nice to have a backup MPPT 😊

[@FlameRevenge]

Awesome video, I like how your helping others with your videos :-). Just wanted to mention that you should always over gauge your wire if you can because if it’s insulated you loss some Amp rating on the wire and if it’s going for some distant The amp rating also drops, I hope that helps ☺️

[@FreedomStrider]

Thanks for the reminder, we've looked at those tables which tells you the size of wire for the maximum amp draw, although its sometimes hard to decide which one to go with. We're planning to run a mix of 4mm and 2.5mm cable throughout the van (4mm for the bigger stuff), 16mm for most of the box connections, and 50mm to connect the batteries together. We hope that that is sensible :)

[@FlameRevenge]

Freedom Strider yes that’s definitely great, I am also going with the similar size wires and then just taking of 25% off the rating just to accordant the amp loss of the wire is over 1M long or insulated etc ☺️

[@FlameRevenge]

Freedom Strider hopefully when our van build are finished, we might run into each other on the road. We are moving into the van full time for a few years or until we find somewhere nice to settle down. We have already traveled around Australia in 8 months now it’s UK and Europe turn ☺️

[@FreedomStrider]

Would love to run into each other - we are going full time too. We did new Zealand in 10 months 😀 and we would love to do Australia with the van (still haven't figured out how to drive there), but we have a few years in Europe.

[@FlameRevenge]

Freedom Strider that’s awesome snow and curt are touring the whole world in there van, and are just putting it into a shipping container to take it from continent to continent. Your gonna love Australia especially the west coast as you can just go for a swim off the beach and your literally swimming with the corals ☺️. Do you have Instagram so we can follow you? We are still in the process of making our KZbin channel but it’s too much effort to edit videos etc 😂

[@H2Dwoat]

Hi, I know this is in the past but did you notice much difference in wire lengths vs string due to the lesser flexibility of the thick gauge of the wires and having to bend and conform the wires?

[@FreedomStrider]

Surprisingly there wasn't much difference - we added a few cm to the string lengths when cutting the actual wire because we knew the wires were more rigid. We did have to make a slight change in the tighter bends since wire can't bend as much so it was more that, rather than the length but it worked out as a good guide 😊👍

[@MohsenTabrizi]

Hey guys, How long did it take you to this stage of process? how long do you expect it might take to moving in finish stage? keep up the good job, Cheers!

[@FreedomStrider]

It is tricky to say exactly how long each stage takes as we are doing so many things at once and we do work full-time. We bought the van July 2019, but most of the work on it has been done in the last 2-3 months. We are now in a final decision making stage, where we are doing material weight research and doing final layout modifications. After we are past this planning stage we are expecting to speed up a bit. We hope that by autumn the van will be near done even if some systems are not enabled yet.

[@MohsenTabrizi]

@@FreedomStrider WOW! working full-time and building a van is tough! Wish you lock. I'm thinking maybe to convert in a week or two after plan and items purchased, mine is also VW Crafter, I sold the 1995 motor home I had to convert this one.

[@FreedomStrider]

What? Convert a whole van in 2 weeks? Woowza... that seems to be hardly possible if you are doing it alone. Even when knowing exactly how to build everything and with all the products on-site - there are a lot of unforeseen pitfalls. (at the very least Hardwear store trips for broken drill bits and such 😅) I mean, we believe that anything is possible, but you might have skip sleeping. I would recommend a month as a minimum for sanity's sake.

[@MohsenTabrizi]

@@FreedomStrider WOW! WOW! seems like too hard, but I'm just thinking about it I need to make sure howmany days exactly It takes when my plans finishes then set a target, It won't be a month neither a week I guess, I'll let you know ;)

[@jorgerelogiocorreia3464]

good night, did you consider the wires to connect one battery to another?

[@FreedomStrider]

😀 Yep, we got the cables for the batteries (50mm2). They kept getting in the way and confused the arrangement even more so we kept putting them on and off... guess they didn't get a shot in the vid.

[@Quickblood1]

I imagine I'd be doing something similar to work out placement of things in my van, very sensible solution. Can't quite believe the price of those batteries though. I mean I'm considering Lithium and the battery I was looking is almost half the price of that Relion, & you have two, blimey.

[@FreedomStrider]

It was a very gut twisting decision, we know these relion battery are like top notch quality but yes, it was not a decision taken lightly. We just try and see it as an investment cost and we've just had to readjust our budget elsewhere 😎

[@CarlJones14]

Electrics is my weak point. I know this is just a mock up, but you need a wall between the batteries and the steel seat base. Cables become detached and you need to reduce the chances that stray cables can short. Your system looks way more complicated than all the systems I looked at before I did mine. I actually paid for a wiring system which was tailor made to what I wanted. 👍

[@FreedomStrider]

For shorting out and fire hazard security, we're looking into some lightweight fire retardant material or paint for some places, and we are planning on having a lid onto, to also protect the terminals. Anything not structural will not have solid ply material (too heavy). As for complicated, I like to think of it as simply just more compact. ;D There's actually nothing unique about our set up at this point, we have 3 separate chargers, each connected to the battery and their negatives are just redirected through a monitoring shunt. The cables/string makes it look quite messy and as such, harder to understand. As we said, wiring diagrams look so much nicer. :p

[@vanlifewithsookhiandpaul8342]

😬🤪🤯 hi guys...think these emojis represent our state at the mo re electrical build and for other aspects! Think we need some days off from van building!

[@FreedomStrider]

It's like looking at a mirror - 🤪 We have been doing some serious final decision-making research and with work and everything else we are near burnout. (honestly haven't slept more than 5-6 hours a night for 2 weeks). We are a bit stuck on sorting out our heating out (still) and we are doing a lot of thinking on how to reduce our weight. A few days off sound like heaven. How far have you gotten with your build? Have you installed your heating, electric, etc?

[@vanlifewithsookhiandpaul8342]

Freedom Strider We're just in the middle of our plumbing at mo.. althou still waiting for shower cladding to come, and need to install our kitchen worktop to fix taps. So half doing lots of stuff at the mo... Hoping it'll all come together at the end 🤔 The wiring is in, but we've not completed the installation of batteries/inverter. And we've got to paint the roof still before solar can be installed.. Reg heating, we went for the heat air and expanse.. we have risked having it fitted underneath to save space internally 🤔 Hopefully we won't regret that.. It's getting a wee bit over-whelming at times. But we're both still very much looking forward to moving into her!!

[@sunnycampers4249]

Great idea using string 👍 One area I’d suggest that you may wish to look at is where you’re insulating around your battery. Be careful here as we found that the lithium batteries we have ‘sweat’ when charging. See our vid on this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGK9o4N4raZ6g9U I’m by no means an expect, however we’ve now fitted a plastic battery tray and hopefully this will stop the base they sit on rusting. Cheers!

[@FreedomStrider]

Thanks for pointing that out! The batteries will have a ventilated space that they will sit in so hopefully, they can "sweat" into that air, and they'll be sitting on the wooden ply floor as well :)