Van Blog #5 – Transit Electrical System

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The next few blogs will be adding more detailed plans to the basic planning listed in the last blog post. Each of these will focus in more detail on the planning for a specific part of the build.

As always these are my plans and thoughts at this stage and may be subject to change as I get closer to getting the van, or once I get the van and start building it. It’s a reference document for me as much as hopefully helping someone else thinking of converting a van.

Please feel free to comment on the post and give me views or alternatives, It’s always good to hear other solutions. I will have put a lot of thought into my plans so far and my plans reflect what I think I need at this time, what suits another persons build or needs may not suit mine. It’s the reason I have chosen to do the build myself as I can’t buy anything that fits my needs that well.

Electrical system

So obviously I need an electrical system to run everything I need. To use the van as a base for events and live in for short periods of time. Below are the things I need to run and the equipment will I need to charge and run them.

Ceiling mounted LED lights – 4 lights along the roof to light up the main van areas

Under cupboard LED lights – 2 lights above the worktop areas, one above the cooking/prep area and one above the sink/prep area.

Water Pump – A submersible pump connected to a tap on the sink that turns on when you open the tap to provide freshwater for drinking, cooking and washing. A pump like below that we have in the caravan is what I intend to use, quiet and powerful enough to supply my needs. We have two of these running the internal and external water feeds in the caravan.

Diesel heater – This needs a direct 12v supply to start up and shut down as well as run the fan blower to keep me toasty in the van. A 2KW heater like the one below is what I intend buying and fitting. A 2KW heater should fit under the passenger seats ok as its small and that is plenty of heat for a small space like a van.

Light switches for LED lights – A switch to turn on the under cupboard lights and two switches to turn on the main lights from the front of the van or the bed area.

Inverter – To power 230v items when needed like the laptops and other low power items like speakers and chargers that need 230v. Also to power a small 800w induction hob on occasion when I don’t want to use the portable gas stove or I am short of gas but the batteries are full.

Fridge x 1 – I already have my Dometic CDF36 compressor fridge/freezer which is great and has worked flawlessly for 3 years. I will use this as my freezer. This is the one I have.

Cool box x 1 – I also have a 40ltr basic 12v cool box I want to run in the van so I have a fridge(cool box) option for just keeping stuff chilled. The intention is to upgrade this in time to another Larger Dometic compressor fridge which is more efficient and better at cooling. Something like the one below.

USB charging points – Like everyone else I have many things from phones to GoPro batteries that always need charging with USB so I am putting in USB sockets by the bed and by the seating area.

12v TV connection wiring – I intend to put one in the bed area with an amazon fire stick to use for watching movies and TV/Box sets when in bed. I will use my laptop in the seating area. Something like the TV below linked with the amazon Firestick to enable online streaming services like Amazon TV that comes with my Prime membership.

Leisure Batteries x 2 – I will have a bank of 2 x 95AH AGM batteries to run everything and give me enough reserve for extended periods of sitting in one place when I have little sun, no mains power and batteries not getting charged by the engine. I don’t want to run the engine when static as modern engines with DPF filters don’t like this and end up needing more servicing or the DPF can be damaged. I already have 1 of these batteries but I don’t want to add a 2 year old battery to a system with 1 new one. Better I get 2 new ones.

Reading lights – Above the bed area to read or work at night when I don’t want the main lights on.

Control panel – To control all the main power isolation switches to the fridge, heater, lights, inverter etc so I can turn off stuff when working on them or not needed to save power drain.

Isolator switch – To isolate the whole system when needed or leaving the vehicle parked for long periods

Fusebox and Fuses and Breakers – All to protect the wiring and batteries from shorts and keep it safe.

Solar Panels – I already have 2 x 50w flexible panels which I will fit to the roof rack to begin with but will most likely add another 1-200w in time if i need more solar. These are the panels I currently use.

Solar controller – I already have a solar controller for the 100w of panels I have at the moment so would have to upgrade to a 20-30A if I added more solar but it’s good enough for now.

DC to DC charger – In order to ensure I get the batteries charged while driving I need a DC to DC charger connected to the van battery. As its a new van with smart alternator charging it can’t be a voltage sensing relay. It must be a much more clever charger. The one being supplied by Rayne automotive is below. It’s only an 18A one but that should be fine as I drive a lot most days and combined with a bit of solar input it should keep the batteries topped up well. I can upgrade to 30A if needed but obviously that works the alternator harder and uses more fuel.

230v Battery Charger – When I do have access to main electricity at a campsite or someone’s house I can plug in a regular battery charger to top up the batteries properly. This is the 8A charger I have, I will wire into the battery circuit and mount a connection in the van so I just have to plug it in. It works for AGM batteries as well as Wet Lead Acid as well so I use it on the batteries we use for events as well. 8A is not very powerful but overnight it will charge the batteries quite well.

230v Sockets – I will wire 2 x 230v sockets near the worktop/seating area for laptops and stuff in the front of the van and 2 more near the bed area. Both run off the inverter.

Door/Garage (under bed storage) Lighting – For lighting in the under bed storage area I intend to move the Transits loading lights from the roof to the garage area to light up when the doors at the back open. I will also leave the lights in the front area by the side door in place in the ceiling so I have lights when I open the door at night. They shut off after a few seconds when the doors close anyway. I think its better than trying to create new lights in the storage area with extra switches.

Rayne Automotive

Whilst I could buy all the electrical components, lights, cables, connectors, switches, relays, fuses and so on to connect together to make up the full system I need in the van. In reality that would take ages and mean shopping for lots of individual items and lots of work wiring up connectors and fuse blocks etc. Lots of double checking stuff and probably many mistakes.

After watching lots of conversion videos on you tube or various blogs I decided that getting a custom system made up with all the parts, with a full wiring loom made up to my specifications was the way to go. Not cheap but letting the experts calculate everything and supply it ready to fit would reduce the guesswork and possibility for error.

One name came up on many of the videos I watched and that was Rayne Automotive who are actually Essex based and local to me. They have a great website where you can choose full or part systems to your needs and even individual components.

I filled in one of their customer layout forms where you input your van details and dimensions and where you want components and it calculates what you need. You then email the guys there and they get back to you pretty quickly. This is my form below.

They then come back with a full quote including all the costs to produce a full system and wiring loom for you. You know it will all work together and be top quality stuff. Literally plug and play apart from making a few connections to the stuff I already have like my solar, charger and a bit of crimping and whatever sort of securing methods you use for the loom around the van. It means I will be able to set up my system pretty quickly inside and route it at the time I do the insulation and walls in one go.

You can see my quote below, it’s not cheap and you could get the parts yourself and save maybe £200 or so but the additional time and hassle is not worth it in my opinion compared to the peace of mind knowing it’s a professional loom and safe. It’s a lot of work that goes into these custom looms and in my opinion well worth it.

Many of the videos I have been watching such as the one below from Coombe Valley Campers have been really useful in making this decision. It seems many of the professional converters use Rayne’s kits. I doubt they would do so if they were not quality kits.

Rayne are busy people and there is a waiting list of around 7 weeks for orders, I placed my order last week and my kit should be made around the time I get my van at the end of January.

Let me know what you think, I am happy to explain further what my thinking is and why.

Hopefully this has been of some use to someone or at least interesting in some way.

Next blog I will cover my plans for the walls, floor and insulation in the van in more detail.