DIY Surf bus / campervan build - The Yellow Peril
Discussion
Lynch91 said:
We had insulated the bulk head so didn't use any so can't help with that.
Idk if it would be possible for you to wire it so that it comes on at a certain temperature? As we found that it got really cold around 4am?
I suppose I could do that but I think it might push my electronic competence a bit far.Idk if it would be possible for you to wire it so that it comes on at a certain temperature? As we found that it got really cold around 4am?
So you van was better insulated than mine not having windows and being insulated on every side. I might have to rethink heating once we start using it.
Having read a few reviews of those heaters they seem to say that it is a bit s
te, it is only 150w but they used it to try and warm the car in a minute or defrost the window before they drive off. Not to raise a space a few degrees over a period of time so there might be hope.So the issue is getting cold in the night when alseep rther than before sleep? hummmm don't think my ideas would stop that. Yours of a heater that comes on later but via timer might work, ie set it to come on in 4 hrs and stay in for 30 mins or whatever time to take the chill off. Think I could butcher some device that already does that on to the heater.
More thought needed.
Lynch91 said:
I ended up wearing a balaclava to stop my nose getting cold and buying a really good sleeping bag as I couldn't justify the cost of a night heater. Although that was a lwb sprinter, so hopefully the body heat you produce will help to keep your van warmer!?
Was yours a high roof one ? We will be sleeping roughly 1/3 to halfway up the total height of the back of the van on the bed( if that makes sense).
If you had one of the sprinters I can stand up in ( I am 6ft 6in) then you would have had a massive space above you for all that lovely heat to sit and give you no benefit.
Got me slightly worried about this now.
Tampon said:
Was yours a high roof one ?
We will be sleeping roughly 1/3 to halfway up the total height of the back of the van on the bed( if that makes sense).
If you had one of the sprinters I can stand up in ( I am 6ft 6in) then you would have had a massive space above you for all that lovely heat to sit and give you no benefit.
Got me slightly worried about this now.
Yep it was the high roof indeed, was a huge van to heat which is why we didn't bother in the end, put a gas camping fire on before bed which would take the chill off but that was itWe will be sleeping roughly 1/3 to halfway up the total height of the back of the van on the bed( if that makes sense).
If you had one of the sprinters I can stand up in ( I am 6ft 6in) then you would have had a massive space above you for all that lovely heat to sit and give you no benefit.
Got me slightly worried about this now.
So I am starting to get my head around the wiring of the leisure battery. Here is my very professional diagram
So my questions are
1) what size do the fuses for 1, 2 and 3 ideally need to be?
2) I have found that 12v led lights need a regulator to stop 14v from the alternator frying them when they are on and engine is on, I have found one for led lights but wondered if it would be a good idea to put a regulator on before the fuse box (? no.1 on diagram)to help with the cigarette lighter sockets as well or is there no need? if so I can't seem to find the right thing, would this solor reg do the trick ? if not do you know where or what I am looking for ?
http://www.maplin.co.uk/12v-30a-solar-charge-regul...
3) If there is no need to put the reg before the the fuse box and use a proper led regulator in line to the lights, would it be a good idea to have a 12v-5v step down going to at least one of the cigarette lighters to help protect moble phones that are on charge or again is it not nessary ?
4) What size fuse should be on 4, 5 going to the cigarettte lighter sockets ?
5) The jump start lead will be switched off all the time and only turned on to bypass the relay if the main battery needs help, does this need to be fused ? if so what size? The main battery is under the passender seat and will have a run of about 2-3ft of cable to the leisure battery, they will be very close.
Hopefully that makes sense.
So my questions are
1) what size do the fuses for 1, 2 and 3 ideally need to be?
2) I have found that 12v led lights need a regulator to stop 14v from the alternator frying them when they are on and engine is on, I have found one for led lights but wondered if it would be a good idea to put a regulator on before the fuse box (? no.1 on diagram)to help with the cigarette lighter sockets as well or is there no need? if so I can't seem to find the right thing, would this solor reg do the trick ? if not do you know where or what I am looking for ?
http://www.maplin.co.uk/12v-30a-solar-charge-regul...
3) If there is no need to put the reg before the the fuse box and use a proper led regulator in line to the lights, would it be a good idea to have a 12v-5v step down going to at least one of the cigarette lighters to help protect moble phones that are on charge or again is it not nessary ?
4) What size fuse should be on 4, 5 going to the cigarettte lighter sockets ?
5) The jump start lead will be switched off all the time and only turned on to bypass the relay if the main battery needs help, does this need to be fused ? if so what size? The main battery is under the passender seat and will have a run of about 2-3ft of cable to the leisure battery, they will be very close.
Hopefully that makes sense.
are you going to the arctic circle in winter?
My wife and I went in September and it was warm. We went on one bike with a tent and the weather was great and you have the benefit of the midnight sun. It would be tough in the winter becasue it never really brightens up properly in the day.
My wife and I went in September and it was warm. We went on one bike with a tent and the weather was great and you have the benefit of the midnight sun. It would be tough in the winter becasue it never really brightens up properly in the day.
mojitomax said:
are you going to the arctic circle in winter?
My wife and I went in September and it was warm. We went on one bike with a tent and the weather was great and you have the benefit of the midnight sun. It would be tough in the winter because it never really brightens up properly in the day.
Literally no idea as of yet. Although the whole idea of the trip was to experience seriously cold weather because i was ridiculously hot in Mali, so probably winter.My wife and I went in September and it was warm. We went on one bike with a tent and the weather was great and you have the benefit of the midnight sun. It would be tough in the winter because it never really brightens up properly in the day.
Good luck if you're going in winter.
It'll be VERY dark most of the time so may not be that enjoyable. make sure you have good snow/winter tyres.
we went to the North Cape on the bikes and the roads were fantastic. Im not sure i'd be so keen with them covered in snow. Lots of twists and gradients. Definately NOT on a bike in the winter, but might be fun in a 4WD.
It was a cracking adventure.
Any idea of the route yet?
This is the route we took. It took 4 weeks, but the last day was a full day in the saddle from stockholm to bremmen. Not pleasant.
P8011291 2 by mojitomax, on Flickr
Enjoy. I'd love to do it again in a campervan. there are loads of lakes on the way that you can have a swim in. not so practical on the bike. I'd say take the atlantic highway but i don't know what it will be like in the winter. Also there are lots of fjord/river crossings that are done on small ferries. Check that these will run in the winter. Seeing as it's Norway and not the UK, I'm sure they will be open!
It'll be VERY dark most of the time so may not be that enjoyable. make sure you have good snow/winter tyres.
we went to the North Cape on the bikes and the roads were fantastic. Im not sure i'd be so keen with them covered in snow. Lots of twists and gradients. Definately NOT on a bike in the winter, but might be fun in a 4WD.
It was a cracking adventure.
Any idea of the route yet?
This is the route we took. It took 4 weeks, but the last day was a full day in the saddle from stockholm to bremmen. Not pleasant.
P8011291 2 by mojitomax, on Flickr
Enjoy. I'd love to do it again in a campervan. there are loads of lakes on the way that you can have a swim in. not so practical on the bike. I'd say take the atlantic highway but i don't know what it will be like in the winter. Also there are lots of fjord/river crossings that are done on small ferries. Check that these will run in the winter. Seeing as it's Norway and not the UK, I'm sure they will be open!
mojitomax said:
Good luck if you're going in winter.
It'll be VERY dark most of the time so may not be that enjoyable. make sure you have good snow/winter tyres.
we went to the North Cape on the bikes and the roads were fantastic. Im not sure i'd be so keen with them covered in snow. Lots of twists and gradients. Definately NOT on a bike in the winter, but might be fun in a 4WD.
It was a cracking adventure.
Any idea of the route yet?
This is the route we took. It took 4 weeks, but the last day was a full day in the saddle from stockholm to bremmen. Not pleasant.
P8011291 2 by mojitomax, on Flickr
Enjoy. I'd love to do it again in a campervan. there are loads of lakes on the way that you can have a swim in. not so practical on the bike. I'd say take the atlantic highway but i don't know what it will be like in the winter. Also there are lots of fjord/river crossings that are done on small ferries. Check that these will run in the winter. Seeing as it's Norway and not the UK, I'm sure they will be open!
Yeah it is just a bit of fun, going to africa made me realise that we in the west tend to worry and plan things way way way too much, most people just crack on and get things done. We tend to think about everything that can go wrong and buy stuff to try and eliminate that fear. I would imagine winter tyres and snow chains would be enough, maybe snow tyres but they wouldn't be any good to me back home so probably try winter tyres. Big duvet and sleeping bags, hot water bottles and jump pack in the van should see us through.It'll be VERY dark most of the time so may not be that enjoyable. make sure you have good snow/winter tyres.
we went to the North Cape on the bikes and the roads were fantastic. Im not sure i'd be so keen with them covered in snow. Lots of twists and gradients. Definately NOT on a bike in the winter, but might be fun in a 4WD.
It was a cracking adventure.
Any idea of the route yet?
This is the route we took. It took 4 weeks, but the last day was a full day in the saddle from stockholm to bremmen. Not pleasant.
P8011291 2 by mojitomax, on Flickr
Enjoy. I'd love to do it again in a campervan. there are loads of lakes on the way that you can have a swim in. not so practical on the bike. I'd say take the atlantic highway but i don't know what it will be like in the winter. Also there are lots of fjord/river crossings that are done on small ferries. Check that these will run in the winter. Seeing as it's Norway and not the UK, I'm sure they will be open!
This lad has gone up there on a Honda C90 that he has bashed all around the world after he was using it a commuter here and realise he couldn't kill it. Nothing special, not prep'ed, few quid and quick think about things before he goes and he has adventures everywhere.
http://c90adventures.co.uk/index.php?option=com_co...
I know now that I could walk out of the front door and get in a 10 year old standard nissan micra and drive to ghana with a wallet and a passport without much fuss at all. No need to prep it, service it or anything else.
Shinobi said:
Watching this thread with a lot of interest, tempted to do something similar but don't know the first thing about converting and insulating a van.
Kingspan Insulationwww.magnummotorhomes.co.uk
www.doityourselfrv.com
www.campervanconversions.co.uk
www.campervanlife.com/insulation
Here are a few sites to have a look around to start you off,enjoy.
OK so been a while due to University commitments and also work but got started on carpeting out the back of the van. Pulled the floor up to find untold amounts of st there. Started on the easy sections and it is relatively easy.
I have done mine in sections, about 8 in the final pic, but being a upholsterer for 10 years means I can hid the joins well, so would suggest to others they try and do it in one piece to make the job as easy as possible.
t there. Started on the easy sections and it is relatively easy. I have done mine in sections, about 8 in the final pic, but being a upholsterer for 10 years means I can hid the joins well, so would suggest to others they try and do it in one piece to make the job as easy as possible.
Edited by Tampon on Sunday 19th January 17:29
Gassing Station | Tents, Caravans & Motorhomes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff