Snowball, Pt. II

[Overland]

Starting a new thread since the other one seems flaky.

This is mostly for Mike since I can't figure out how to send photos via PM. I'll do a big post on my electrical setup someday, after I've redone a few things and added a different hookup for my portable solar.

Mike, this is the inverter itself, mounted under the dinette seat by the bath. You have to run pairs of + 12v, at least 1/0 AWG, in and out and also 120v both ways. And a ground strap to the case, so that's 7 large cables plus a coms cable and a temp sensor wire. I ran the 120v along the side and the 12v, ground and and coms through the trough under the dinette.  I plan to pull the inverter and screw down a plywood base to secure it better, though it seems fine as it is, screwed into 2 layers of PVC. One thing I do want to do on this end is to install a manual transfer switch for the 120v, in case something ever happens with the charger.

[attachment file=IMG_0078.jpg]

The inverter has plenty of space for airflow in there. The only time I hear the fan is if I'm really loading it to the max, or if it's really quiet in the trailer when I just plug it in and it's bulk charging the batteries.

 

This is the 12v + side, under the street side bed.  Solar comes in at the top right, + goes to the combiner post, then to the cutoff, then though an 80a breaker, then snakes around into the charge controller.  + out goes to the combiner post on the lower right, as does the twin + 1/0 from the inverter and the 4/0 + from the batteries, as well as Oliver's cable to their + bus.  The bus bar and breaker on the small angled PVC panel are both Oliver's.  I moved them a bit to get the post on there but otherwise, I tried not to touch anything on Oliver's side of the electrical.   The battery + goes through a cutoff and a 400a fuse first, which are mounted out of sight on this side of the battery box.

Solar negative goes around the back of the charge controller onto a combiner post that's hidden, then around the left side and in.  Negative out goes down the open space in the hull to the terminal in the next photo.  When I redo all of this, I'll add a much larger plywood base, swap the main combiner post for a bus bar, move the battery cutoff and fuse to the board for easier access and generally tie everything down better.

 

 

Negative connections are kept away from the + on the dinette side of the battery box.  Battery - goes into the shunt for the battery monitor, then I have the charge controller coming directly off the shunt and a short 4/0 jumper to a combiner post.  Off that goes the twin 1/0 from the inverter, the ground from the inverter, and Oliver's - cable which goes into their distribution box.  I removed the charger unit from their box so it's just a fuse and breaker box for me now. I'll redo this in plywood, swap out the combiner post for a bus bar and secure the wiring better.

[Rumline]

Wow, thank you for posting so much detail! Much appreciated.

 

This is definitely not going to be a one-afternoon install.

[rideadeuce]

Love Victron Energy stuff. Looking to just add the battery monitor with built-in bluetooth... any chance you fished any tape between the hulls to run communication wire for battery monitor -- feeding up to where the old Zamp controller was originally. I think it will work to try and just follow the solar cables up from the bottom basement. One day I would love to have the whole Victron setup, more solar panels, Lithiums, etc. Thanks for the post. M

[ScubaRx]

The wire chase between the top and the bottom is in the rear on the street side. I pulled a tape thru there right after Hull # 050 came off the line.  I leave a length of weed-eater cord permanently there to facilitate any future wire pulls.

[Overland]

I went through the pantry to minimize the length of runs and for ease of access.  I tied the wires in the corner by the door so you don't see them.

I tried going straight down between the hulls from that space, but something was blocking the way.  There's got to be a free path somewhere around there though, possibly behind the pantry, since that's where the solar cables go down.

[Overland]

For people at the rally who asked for links to these items -

 

Small Cargo Net (over each bed, dinette, door, and the two in the closet)

Large Cargo Net (below the street side bed and under the attic)

Map Pockets (by the front door and each side of the nightstand)

Towel Bars (24" on the closet side, 18" on the dinette side)

1 ½" Stainless Mushroom Fitting (for running power cord into the attic)

Deck Plate and Key (covers the hole on the spare tire cover)

Recessed Anchors (for the bungees that hold the drawers in place)

Shower Curtain Rod - Tubing (need 3 feet), Round Base (dinette wall), Lifeline Base and Clevis Slide (front wall)

Shower Head (please read the separate thread on this since it's not a straight swap for the current one)

Lagun Table Mount and Folding Table Top (I think I bought both from the UK store but it may be cheaper to order them separately.  Be sure to check out the other style tops that they have, most of which are available in multiple sizes.)

Folding Shelf Brackets (search for the counter extension thread to see how I had to modify them)

Shower Door Magnet

Luminoodles (pantry and access port lighting)

 

Hopefully that's it.  Thanks to all who came by - great to meet everyone.  If I forgot anything, please let me know.

[Overland]

A little update on what I've been up to so far this summer, which has been all electrical.  I've been wanting to redo all of the electrical work that I did when I took delivery, just because one, I was rushed, and two, I learned a lot both doing it and since doing it.  So I made some new plywood boards to mount everything on, since I didn't really trust the PVC ones that I originally used.

I rounded the corners of the plywood to try to minimize the chances of the corners digging into any cable that rested on it.  Then reorganized it all, made sure all the cables were wrapped, and tried to tie down everything as securely as possible.  I've been using zip tie cable supports.  They're nice and small and grip the cables well.  I used washers under the screws to prevent the ties from pulling through.

Since part of the work involved removing the inverter, I decided that while it was out I might as well go ahead and get rid of the black tank and the sewer line.  (You'll notice that I still need to recap the sewer at the grey tank.). That was a pain, but since I wasn't trying to salvage anything I could just go at it with an oscillating saw.  I had to cut the pipe into pieces to get it out the rear hatch, and the black tank I had to cut in two as well since it wouldn't make the turn out the dinette seat hatch.  Also meant I had to cut the vent pipe but I needed to remove the shower caddy for my next project anyway.  None of this was too difficult and getting rid of the sewer pipe gave me a ton more room to run my cables.  Before this, they were wedged pretty tightly in places, not very accessible - I was worried that they could wear against a sharp edge of fiberglass or something else that I couldn't see.

I mounted a half-height milk crate where the black tank was, and enlarged the hole under the composting toilet.  As an excuse for not deleting the black tank, Oliver once told me that it was needed as structure for the bath floor.  That was pure fiction of course, since there's a gap between the floor and the tank, and you can enlarge that hole almost to the edge of the toilet and the floor remains solid as can be.  That's where I'll store zip lock bags of extra peat moss in case we need to empty the toilet while traveling.  It should be perfect storage for that - since I'd have to pull the toilet out anyway, access to the peat will be right there.  I'll add a small rubber gasket around the hole to prevent shower water from seeping in.  It hasn't been a problem, but with the larger hole I'd like to make sure.

I also took the time to straighten up the rats nest of cables behind the fuse box as best I could.  I don't know what other Ollies are like, but prior to this, I could barely even see in there.  I'd even lost a small Atom smoke detector under the wiring after it fell loose.  It was a few months later before I found it by wedging my phone randomly into the wiring nest and taking photos.   Another thing I did was to saw off the sharp end of some screws in that space.  Pretty much anything that is screwed into the fiberglass, like courtesy lights, has sharp screws that could potentially damage an electrical cable.

All in all, I feel a lot more confident about the electrical, at least in these areas.  This was all done working an hour or so a few days a week, so it seems like it's taken forever.  I got about half of it done before the rally, but then it was slow going after that - a bit here and there as I found time.  And I could still go back through to secure or wrap a few more things - seems never-ending.  Also, working with the power off means no A/C and I have confirmed that I never want to boondock in the summer.

Oh, I also added LED light strips in the compartments to make things easier to see.  They really make a difference, so I highly recommend them.  I'm using the Luminoodle Clicks that I listed above, but any similar strip light would work.

Pics -

Charge controller and breaker with cutoff switches for solar and batteries.  Panels feed into bus bars on the right.  I left space to the left for a second charge controller, breaker, and cutoff for external solar, just in case I decide to go that route someday:  

I moved Oliver's electrical and the positive bus bar onto a vertical panel.  Main fuse is mounted to the battery box above:

Negative side.  The coiled cable is from the Zamp port, which I'm not using right now:

And the inverter, which is much more secure now than it was when mounted to PVC:

[Overland]

I reorganized the pantry earlier this year.  Painted the back of the door to make it easier to clean and added a stainless sheet I got off amazon.  Then attached a small box from Ikea as a spice rack.  The boxes I found at Target and they really fit well - much better than the ones I had before.  And I added a LED strip light to the side to make it easier to see.

You can't really see it, but I ran a bungee across the top and it's a perfect spot to store one of those folding drying mats.

 

 

Also, I had some plywood left over from the electrical, so I made a quick shelf to go over the toaster oven (in the microwave cabinet).  I ordered a giant neoprene mouse pad off of amazon, and cut it to size to keep the dishes from bouncing around too much.  The cabinet itself was just bare wood, and was starting to get dirty, so I sanded it and added a coat of poly to make it easier to wipe out.  I couldn't get used to plastic dishes, so I bought a few plates and bowls at Ikea.  They haven't broken yet is all I can say.

 

[rideadeuce]

Now that is what I wanted to see, nice job! Thanks for posting. One question, did you do away completely with the Progressive Industries EMS or did you have that in the beginning? Or how about their combiner box for the front (gen) and rear shore power. That is what takes up most of the space forward of the battery box in mine.

 

Your setup looks awesome. Pondering bringing down the charger controller now. Would like to make some kind of shelf (super strut or plywood) to be able to mount the MP horizontally above the pipes or hang like the Xantrex with some extra support. To incorporate your idea of bringing the batteries inside and put on the same shelf build, would but so cool. Converting the slide out battery tray for tools/storage would be great. This setup would allow you to keep the forward storage area next to BR. Not sure about how to do the shelf properly yet, but getting closer. May just do it like yours. I have some time to think/plan since the battery decision is still up in the air. Thanks a bunch for posting pics and detailed explanation. SO much fun. Multiplus will be on order soon!

[Overland]

I don’t have the hookup on the front, nor the built in surge protector. But you could tighten up the wiring in the dinette seat considerably, compared to what I did. I had the space, so I used it.

 

 

[John E Davies]

Very nice attention to detail on the electrical mods, I like it. I love the black nylon ties which match the wire looms.

 

Will you please post detailed pics and info for your pointy end, the hitch and jack?

 

I have pretty much decided that I won’t immediately abandon the Andersen (having just upgraded the size) but I definitely want to know about the jack with castering wheels. How has it held up, have you used it to retrieve a stuck trailer, do you trust it enough to remove the OEM electric one? Do you worry about your Ollie rolling away? Owners love the jack, but there are concerns about customer service and replacement parts....  https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/new-xo-trailer-jack-from-ark.160905/

 

If I had a bigger TV I would probably be using a cool offroad coupler, but my Land Cruiser needs the Anderson jounce control.

 

Thanks.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Landrover]

Overland

 

I have to commend you. Wiring is not one of my strong points. That wiring must have taken a lot of time and effort. Nice work.

[Overland]

Thanks - like most everything else on the Ollie, it's been a learn as you go endeavor.

[Overland]

Will you please post detailed pics and info for your pointy end, the hitch and jack?

Will do.  I know you've asked before for this - I'll try to get some photos in the next few days.

[mossemi]

Overland said:

 

Starting a new thread since the other one seems flaky.

 

This is mostly for Mike since I can’t figure out how to send photos via PM. I’ll do a big post on my electrical setup someday, after I’ve redone a few things

 

<b>    and added a different hookup for my portable solar.</b>

 

 

 

I bought the Renogy 100W suitcase last week on Prime Day.  Thanks Mike and JD.

 

And now I need a solar port.  I know some people have used the Furrion solar port, Raspy used the CNLINKO and you have the Zamp solar port.  And that’s my question, have you changed out your factory Zamp sidewall port?  If not have you used it and are you satisfied with it?

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[rideadeuce]

@Mossemi, I like the Zamp SAE port just fine. The only drawback is they reverse the polarity so that it is opposite than the rest of the industry. So you have to buy a reverse polarity adapter (cheap on Amazon) or reverse the wiring on the MC4 to SAE connection on the Renogy. But then you can’t use the renogy panel to charge anything else like  a solar generator without again using polarity reversal adapter. Hope that makes sense... because it does get confusing in actual use.

[Overland]

I've never used the Zamp port but the only thing I can say I don't like about it is the cheap plastic cap.  My eventual plan is to convert my portable panels to 24 volt and run them through a separate charge controller.  If the Zamp port can be used like that, then I'll just use it.  Otherwise, I was thinking that the easiest place for me to have a new port would be either in the back or just in front of the basement door, since that's closest to where I would place the charge controller.

[mossemi]

Mike, I didn’t know you had the Zamp Sidewall port until I saw your Timbren SES post which was after I had asked Jeff about his Zamp port.  I run the Timbren SES's on my Land Cruiser.

 

I had wondered why there were some many SAE reverse polarity adapters available and now I know.  Did you install your own Zamp Sidewall port or did OTT do it?  I was going to buy a 25' MC4 to MC4 extension cable and wack about 6' off and splice in an SAE connector and use the cutoff to reach the batteries inside from the Zamp port.  I’ll pay attention to the polarity as I go about adding the SAE connector and the Zamp Sidewall port.

 

Thanks for the heads up and since there are so many Mike's on the forum, I should probably switch to,

 

Mossey

 

 

[rideadeuce]

Oliver connected it directly to the batteries during the build.

[Overland]

I added some additional photos of our ever-evolving storage here.

[Overland]

Just for fun, these acoustic panels got a lot of curious questions at the rally.  Do they work?  Maybe?  But they break up the white ceiling, so I'm keeping them.  They're just held in place with 3M VHB velcro.