The Big Switch On!! - VW Crafter Camper Electrical Install

The big question, did it go bang? We turn on our completed Victron and Roamer Electrical Install into our Volkswagen Crafter Camper Van Conversion. We worked with Roamer to make sure our electrical setup was the right set up for us. We will be able to spend plenty of time off grid with the huge Roamer 320SMART3 lithium battery and it will work perfectly with the plethora of Victron products we have opted for.
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Aten Lighting - www.atenlighting.co.uk
Collaboration enquiries - [e-mail]
Visit our website - www.ABusAndBeyond.co.uk
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[@stuartmann589]

Well done and congratulations on the new arrival.

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Thank you so much!

[@bridgefootcottage]

Nice neat job, I appreciate how long all this takes to plan and wire up, from wiring I’ve done. Heaps of battery capacity too ❤

[@LeisureBit]

Looking good - very neat install, you can see the attention to details. All the very best, David 👍

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Thank you very much David. Very kind

[@ScottishVanTrips]

wow, good job Sean!

[@kevingriffin6199]

Wow what a neat job, I got really excited with you when you hooked up the battery and turned on the system.once again, really enjoyed your commentary, looking forward to the next instalment. 😊😊

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@parki6682]

Well done 👍 Great work .. I have my meeting with Steve booked for next week. Had the batteries a while, just need all the other components !

[@trevorredman7182]

Well done; good job.

[@roamerbatteries]

Good things come to those who wait ;) mega vid guys! Look forward to your off grid shenanigans with Bentley leading the charge!

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Haha he loves an adventure! Thanks again for all the help!

[@alanbenham4139]

Well done guys. That is one complex install for a novice.

[@algrainger]

Ignore the haters in the comments, that's an impressive build @ABusAndBeyond. We've two kids in our van and use gas for cooking in and out plus diesal for heat. The reality is that "future proofing" now means *lower* AC demand as things like laptop and drones increasingly run on dc power (USB C), saving the lossy AC conversion. Your system will accept more solar or battery if you find you need it in the future. We removed our massive 3kW inverter as found it was dead weight & instead keep an adaptor in the van for "emergency" AC use via a granny cable. It's never been used. Having just come back from spain, I'm now looking at a 12v AC system as next upgrade - which again would work perfectly with your setup.

[@deanissit]

Looks great im the same will it go bang lol. Well done.

[@CliffordDive]

I've twice used Victron battery-to-battery and inverter/charger together and both times I've discovered that when the leisure battery is well charged via solar I get a trickle charge to the vehicle battery even when the inverter is turned off with no 230V connection. No-one talks about this but it's very convenient.

[@GrahamGphotoParker]

Oh that sounds good. As I get readings on dash to say the battery is low after having the cab interior light on and opening and closing doors after a couple of days stationery!

[@WrittlesCave]

Well done , no way would I attempt that, Still got my Mood lighting from a few years back via your link!

[@matthewbevan7964]

Very good install. The only thing I did notice is that your solar isolator looks to be an AC isolator, not a DC one, but again, it is a very nice install. Well done.

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Thanks for letting me know. I’ll double check it 👍

[@peterdrury8859]

Looking great Shaun. Are you planning on running a small air fryer on the batteries?

[@leehammond8352]

Great Vid Guys... do you mind telling me where you got the fire retardent back board... looks smart and practical at the same time 😀

[@Splitfirebus]

Hi, just wanted to give you a heads up. Your inverter is rated at 1300w @ 25 degrees @ 1200w @ 40 degrees, you will need an air fryer a little lower than these specs otherwise the inverter will send out alarms constantly. Nice job 👍

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Thank you for that info Paul 👍

[@Edge_Effect]

Very nice neat job. if you dont mind me asking what wire did you use on the 12v fuse box, the white outer with blue\brown wires?, I need to start on mine soon and need to buy some. Thanks.

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Thank you very much. I used multi strand flexible 2 core cable but it would be better for it to be red and black really so I’d recommend you use 2 core flat thinwall cable 👍

[@Edge_Effect]

@@ABusAndBeyond nice one 👍

[@richardbarleywebsites]

Hi Love watching your videos, i have got a crafter, could you tell me where i can buy the fire resistant board that you have used for your Victron components to go on

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Thank you very much 👍 I got ours from eBay but last time I looked it seems to be a lot more money now unfortunately

[@shirleylambden1561]

Congratulations on your new arrival ❤ What does Harvey think of his new baby sister? Xx

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Thank you very much. He prefers it when she isn’t crying 😂

[@nicolesaphir]

The left side USB connection to the Cerbo GX doesn't look fully into the socket - the cable is a bit too tight. Might want to slack it off slightly?

[@warwickphotography]

What is the board you are using for the electrical backing board?

[@ABusAndBeyond]

It’s called Phenolic Board, otherwise known as hex board

[@tospicy4ya]

Why does the heater need 4 mm I thought it was only for the display panel

[@peter.russell]

Looks great, really tidy. Just wondering though, 70mm or 7mm? Surely the latter or are you powering an entire campsite ? 🤔

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Thanks Peter, it’s 70mm2, it’s because 12V DC carries a very high number of amps. The battery can kick out 250Amps so the cables need to be chunky.

[@peter.russell]

I am so glad I'm not wiring a van and you are 😂, it seems very confusing - hat's off to you

[@peteypops]

Great ….just reminded me that I should have a solar supply isolator switch

[@andrewmillerphotography]

You;'ve connected the deisel heater to the 12v fuse box? I had mine professionally installed and was told that it needed to be directly connected to the leisure battery? Heater was an Autoterm 2kw BTW

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Yeah I looked into this when I installed mine and the important thing is that it has an uninterrupted power supply that’s why they recommend it’s installed directly to the battery but our fuse box is connected directly to the battery so provided we ensure the supply is never cut off when the heater is running it’ll be fine.

[@andrewmillerphotography]

@@ABusAndBeyond Just remember NOT to turn the 12v power off then ;-)

[@dmiller6930]

Or if the fuse blows....😢

[@ABusAndBeyond]

You have to fuse the cable whether it’s connected directly to the battery or not

[@andrewmillerphotography]

@@ABusAndBeyond Yeah - the cables have an inbuilt fuse holder

[@stephenrussell6074]

Think I would have gone for the bigger inverter just for future proofing. Also probably gone for a 460Ah battery or more likely 2x230Ah for extra redundancy. Especially with the solar. I am also surprised the lights don’t seem to be dimmable? As it is the 320 seems to much for general use but too little if the gas runs out. Have you planned your upper and lower demands based on travel day and static days between ehu and worst case for solar.

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Feel free to hand us your credit card and we will go for those items 😂. All joking aside we don’t need anymore power we feel as we’ve done tonnes of trips in campers over the years and have a good idea what we use. We don’t need dimmable on the “main spots” but will have some dimmable mood lighting under our cupboards

[@stephenrussell6074]

@@ABusAndBeyondI generally go for overkill on most things. Although as I expect you will have a power station to hand a single 230Ah would have been fine for your proposed use which would have been cheaper. With the larger inverter and option to add a second later. I think that would actually have cost less and while I expect the price and capacity of batteries will continue to go down I expect technology like inverters to increase with everything else. Would the difference between the 230 and 320 not have covered the cost of the larger inverter. The reason I mentioned the move to electric cooking was mainly for the little ones and pm2.5s in a confined space from gas hobs. I know a lot now have a cadac and gas for outside cooking but use electric in the van. Sorry for playing you know who’s advocate on this.

[@stephenrussell6074]

Could you do a build cost so far (not actual but costs without famous you tuber discounts). It would be interesting to compare with indi van a Jones and his £900 build.

[@GrahamGphotoParker]

Ive found with the roamer app its not live auto update. I close it and restart it to get the updated numbers. Did you find the same?

[@ABusAndBeyond]

Yeah ours seems similar. It was also reading 520Ah and at 100% on a 320Ah battery today. Even though I know it is at around 74% at the moment. Very odd

[@GrahamGphotoParker]

@@ABusAndBeyond That does seem strange showing 520Ah I have a 460Ah battery and have only been able to monitor the battery last weekend as its only part finished and back with the converter now! I think it was the novelty factor and I checked the battery every time I got back to the van and it read exactly what it read the last time I looked until I closed the app then re opened and scanned then it show (I presume) the actual reading which did marry up with the viltron kit. The only live movement of numbers was the top right box out of the 4 boxes under the % current I think it was called can't see it on phone at mo as not near battery. So either its just a read app not live app or it only refreshes every 2 mins plus which I didnt wait for.

[@j-s-m-photographymc5317]

McClaren are doing my conversion , it’s easier ! I’d love to build my own I only have 1 hand that works so it’s a struggle but for a DIY JOB the wires are tidy

[@LittleCamperNZ]

For gods shake trim your mo ! lol

[@SuperLitherland]

You ain’t ever going to use the inverter or plug into shore power.

[@ABusAndBeyond]

We’ve been using the inverter all week 🤷‍♂️