Jake's Caddy Camper Build

[the swan fiend]

Build is looking really good so far mate. I like the attention to detail, and the use of CAD for the rear. Top work!!


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[jakemcc97]

I'll be honest, I got a bit fed up of the forum recently so decided not to update my thread. Progress has been fairly unexciting until now though so here's an update.

Started building up the electrical system. The specs are as follows:

• Renogy Core Mini 100Ah lithium battery
• Renogy 500A shunt with display
• Victron Phoenix 12/1200 inverter (1200VA, so 1000W)
• Victron 12-24/100 Battery Protect
• Victron 15/75 SmartSolar MPPT controller
• Sterling BB1225 DC-DC charger
• All wire, fuse boxes, fuses, terminals, etc from 12V Planet (I'm happy to use AliExpress for a LOT, but not something with more than a couple of amps flowing through it...)



It's all housed in a plywood frame that I built that will fit in the rear passenger footwell, underneath the cargo area floor.

I chose to go the leisure battery route for a few reasons. I believe I've built a way more versatile system that's perfectly tailored to my spec, and it fits exactly where I want it to fit. I also like this sorta stuff... Downside is it's a bit "messier" than a power station, the price to pay for such a compact system is that it makes neat cable management very difficult, I didn't have the space to do nice cable pass throughs like you see on the big vans.

All the Victron stuff is managed through the Victron Connect app (including the mains battery charger) which is really handy.



I chose the Sterling B2B charger over the Victron one as it supports trickle charging the starter battery with any excess solar power (or mains charger power) that's generated, so the starter battery will always be topped up. It also supports reverse charging from the leisure battery, so in the instance that I'm miles from anywhere and get a flat starter battery, I essentially have a charger on board.

I also bought a fridge - an Alpicool C9. Plugged into the battery system to test, works great.



I still have a bit to do, I have a solar cut switch off to install, replace a ground cable (I ran out of black 16mm2 wire so used red for now, spot the odd one out), install a couple of extra fuses, and obviously do all the car-side wiring.

Pleased with progress though!

[stu_b]

Looks good
You will be pleased with the result n performance with quality components
It'll be good to see it in-situ once your happy

[jakemcc97]

Cheers Stu!

Solar cut off added.



Grounds tidied.



A couple of fuses added to the Battery Protect ground wire and inverter trigger wire.



All of the bigger cables were crimped using a hammer type tool, but instead of hammering (very inconsistent) they were crimped in a hydraulic press. This results in some nice solid crimps. Smaller ones were crimped by hand in a dimple type crimp tool.





Also finally finished the hard wiring for my dash cam/rear view mirror. It's a Wolfbox G850 Pro and I'm really pleased with it. I pulled the ignition live and ground from the plug for the auto dimming rear view mirror and the constant live from the interior light. Made up some adaptor looms so there are no modifications to the original looms. Nice to finally have the cab shelf and interior light back in!

[stu_b]

Coming up trumps (such a horrible word to have to use lol)
The cable crimper tool looks like it's done q perfect job, nice n neat
The wolfbox looks good, where on earth are u located to have darkness at 5.14 am or pm !!
So what's the battery storage / charging results ?

[jakemcc97]

Ha, Northern Ireland, dark at 5am and 5pm at the moment!

Had a very productive day today. Fitted an external hookup for a battery charger, just an Anderson connector on a little bracket I made, fitted underneath to keep it nice and stealthy. The wire goes through the OEM grommet that the handbrake cable comes through in the rear left footwell. I like having an Anderson on the outside of cars, means I can use the same battery charger for everything.



Then fitted the electronics bay finally! It was a tighter fit than I planned (due to the angle required to get it in/out) but just fits. It's held in with an M8 bolt through the base plate and through the van floor (into a silicone sealed riv nut) - one bolt will be fine I think as it's such a tight fit. It's got a thin layer of foam to dampen any vibrations underneath.



Also fixed the plastic trim that runs the width of the van underneath (not entirely sure what it is) that I ripped off in a puddle the other day, and replaced a brake light bulb that'd gone out.

Really pleased with that progress!

Oh, and most importantly, llama air freshener:

[stu_b]

The Llama makes ALL the difference !!!
For some weird reason I thought u were in Australia
No ideas why I thought that, maybe another member with a similar name ....
It is light at 4.30am here for me (summer) and we don't even have daylight savings

You've done a clean job
The tight fit will also help reduce any movement

Would like to see silicones rivnut in position
I want to run a cable - with Anderson connection from the internal to the external of my van so I can use a solar panel / blanket to charge my power station (all in the planning and thinking stages) so would love to see how you've installed
I did think if there was a way to install and run the cable thru the top of the sliding door rail somehow ....
Just want a way to get the cable inside without it looking ugly - it'll be only for when the caddy is stationary ie parked up but I don't want to have to leave a door or window open to run the cable

I forgot to mention, I had a new battery installed in my wife's car earlier in the month, the guy had to install a new terminal fitting and he used a crimping tool which produced a very nice crimp, should have taken pics of it
I think from memory he said the machine was like $400 AUD so for a one off job or a few crimps it's probably very expensive tool to have lying around ...

[jakemcc97]

The Llama makes ALL the difference !!!

Cheers for the comments Stu! As much as I'd like to be in Australia I live between NI and England although thankfully work takes me all over the place.

Riv nut was kind of pre-planned to line up with the flat part of the rear left footwell, once I had the electronics bay in place I drilled a hole through both, took the electronics out, sprayed the hole with zinc primer, dabbed a load of CT1 on the hole, and popped a riv nut in. Used some thread sealant for good measure too.



For the cable - I don't have a good pic of that but if you look into the back of the rear footwells, both have a rubber plug with some existing wires (beside where the handbrake cables go through) with plenty of space to get wires through to the underside of the van. Can't quite see it in my photo above.

I have an embarrassing amount of crimp tools I think my favourite "big" ones are the DMC HX4s, you can pick up the frames really cheap second hand but unfortunately dies are super expensive, kind of need to know exactly which terminals you'll be crimping!

Actually ended up getting more done tonight, first added a ground strap between the negative bus bar and one of the seat bolts. There was only 400mV between the chassis ground and leisure ground but it's nice to have them tied together and I can ground stuff to the body if I need to.



Also temporarily mounted the reading light to one of the screw holes left over from the ply lining, and wired up the tailgate LEDs I installed a while ago.



Happy with these, they'll make sorting gear/cooking/etc out the back of the van much easier. They're "acegoo" brand off Amazon, surprisingly good quality, and they can pivot side to side.

Link, I got the 3000k temperature ones.

Think I'll grab the non-pivoting ones for the ceiling lights.

[stu_b]

Looks like I'm going to have to remove all my carpet lining to locate these grommets !!
Again, tidy work
Thanks for the insights

[jakemcc97]

Looks like I'm going to have to remove all my carpet lining to locate these grommets !!

This might help - this is the grommet I used (excuse the dirty underside of my van):



Bit more progress today, have been thinking a lot about ventilation... I don't like the idea of anything protruding out the top of the roof, makes it super obvious that it's a camper. I figured I may as well use the OEM slam vents located behind the rear bumper - the idea of these is to equalise cabin pressure allowing air to flow out but not back in. This is a first cut of the idea, a PC fan mounted behind the slam vent to force air out, fresh air can be drawn in through the front windows or in theory might draw through the AC vents.



It's just a standard 120mm PC fan, original wires desoldered and replaced with slightly heavier wire, and some silicone added to protect the wire from any vibration.

I added some spacers after this photo to allow the slam vent cover to be clipped back in.

It's hard mounted to the body so it's noisier than I'd like, the eventual plan is to make a proper AV mounted bracket but I didn't have time for that today and this should prove if the concept is worth pursuing.

Think that counts as "stealth" though!

[stu_b]

Excuse the dirty underside lol
The van is designed to get dirty, plus is cleaner than most vehicles panels !!

I will have to get under mine, but hard on the driveway to have a look and figure things out
But I have to say, good thinking 99 and job looks good
Did u say u silicones the grommet to prevent any water ingress ?
I'll have to see where they enter the van inside as I need to consider layout of internals

The PC fan for ventilation is a good idea
Hopefully it is a solution for u
How have u got it running, timer or how ?

I guess each climate has its own characteristics, for me in Australia I'm lucky to get below 10° overnight in winter but then in summer we are close to hitting 40°

[jakemcc97]

Did u say u silicones the grommet to prevent any water ingress ?

The PC fan for ventilation is a good idea
Hopefully it is a solution for u
How have u got it running, timer or how ?

No silicone on that grommet, the wire is a tight enough fit without that I'm not worried about water getting in there.

Regarding the fan, it's just wires run for now as I haven't built a "control panel" for the electronics yet. I'll run it to a switch and a PWM controller so I can adjust the speed. Have ordered some bits to make a version 2 already!

[jakemcc97]

Small addition, sunglasses holder in place of the drivers side grab handle. Had one of these on my Mk4 Golf and always quite liked it.



It doesn't fit perfectly (catches a little on the cutout) but isn't bad at all. Note there are different versions of these, some won't fit at all as they have push clips rather than screws.

Part number is 1J0857465, I got mine off AliExpress.

[Jase14]

Hi Jake have you got a wiring diagram and a list of parts at all and a rough cost? Cheers Jase

[jakemcc97]

Hi Jake have you got a wiring diagram and a list of parts at all and a rough cost? Cheers Jase

For the electrical stuff? I don't have a wiring diagram, I could do one though if it helps, give me a couple of weeks though cause I'm off skiing next week then straight into the racing season at work. It all seems complicated but it's fairly simple in reality!

Cost wise, let me total it up - off the top of my head I'd say it's somewhere about a grand. Kept all the receipts so can work it out.

Gimme a couple of weeks and I'll post something in here!