Ford Transit conversion to camper MKII

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Yeah can be expensive that's why I buy everything high end and used. It's doable with patience. Wanna see the truck system? I put it in my house as a backup until I get around to it.

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300W a day for that fridge (about 8-10 times more efficient than what you have) exactly like I said 100W of solar will power that. It's the same efficiency as a danfoss 12v. A little higher power consumption because you'll have to run an inverter with it. It'll run for less if you insulate it and vent the condensor.

There's not much wrong with your old one €50 might fix it but then you'll have to live with it afterwards.

So this is where I am at the minute.

I took it as a given that I could essentially copy / paste from the old van into the new one, noting that in the old van there was 240 available only on shore power.
Technology has moved on considerably since then, and now it seems the norm to go with an inverter / shore power with a contactor / switcher to deliver permanent 240v to the van, so I'm going to go with that as an install at the least.

Jury is still out on if my van has a smart alternator or not. I still need to get it re-conditioned so I'll find out when that's done.

The fridge I have is old, and the stat is gone on it I believe so doesn't work on 240. This of course can be repaired and isn't overly expensive but taking on what Liamalot is saying on board I'm giving serious consideration to not re-using it.
I mentioned the under-counter fridge because I happen to be able to acquire one for free. It would also mean that it's considerably larger than the 3 way, larger freezer, doesn't run on gas and doesn't need two air vents and an exhaust flu fitted to the van. Also don't have the hassle of needing 12v.

Kitchen would need a bit of re-work too (thats if I plan to re-use the kitchen unit).

We have an oven with the van, but I can't recall ever actually using it previously, so I'm not sold on keeping it if there's a preference to put something else in, like a larger fridge.



I'm not too fussed with solar atm, but if I can future proof and do it at a later date then I'm good with it. I don't envisage selling this van in the future.

I appear to be shit outta luck when it comes to re-using my 24v eberspacher heater. I cannot get it to fire.

I've spent a good few hours tinkering with this and to no avail. The display isn't working correctly so I can't even see what fault codes their might be, or even adjust the temperature in it or anything.

It starts and runs, pulses the pump a few times and the fan just continues to spin. There is diesel in it, and the pump is pulling it so I'm at a loss.

As it stands, it's difficult to use with a dodgy display, and I need to get a silencer and diesel tank for it.

I think I'll give up the ghost and spring for a new one. Can get them reasonable enough from china.

I get the turkey reference alright... but I've seen them installed and they're perfectly fine for what I need, plus it comes with all the kit I would need to install it cleanly - no messing with dodgy diesel tanks or pluming, proper silencer and so on. It has to be easy to use, since it won't be just me that's using it too.

Yes, it's an eber D1L, so I've no doubt it's serviceable.

It came from a 4 series Scania so it runs on 24V, and has the Scania controller as you can see in the image.

If you look closely at the image, you can see what's wrong with it, Some of the bits light up, some others do faintly, and some are always on - you can see the display flashing in the way it should when you switch it to "heat" but you can't make out the word it's showing because either more or less of the lcd's are on.
I believe it's just a failing LCD or a dry joint possibly. While I can do many things, electronics (inc diagnosis), welding & bodywork are not some of them.

When it was installed initially the lcd was working, and the heater was running correctly. My brother took the fuel tank out of it before they went to Poland for the euro's so it's not been ran since.

I'd be interested in trading yes. What sort of PWM solar charge controller have you in mind?

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

:pac: It's a vulture!

Yeah, I've shown myself up there alright.

Before you chuck it have you checked is the filter clogged? Glow plug running?

There's no inline fuel filter, but no, I've not checked the glow plug. There is diesel at the end of the fuel line going to the heater, but the heater doesn't run through the start cycle where it pulses the pump consistently to try to fire. I've pulsed the pump manually to bleed the line, and the fuel is there. That particular Scania controller was always a shitty design

The only thing I have gotten in a while was a puff of smoke out of the fuel line when I was checking if fuel was getting in.....
It doesn't display any of the common symptoms that I've seen on common issues and since I can't see the fault code........

I've a ProStar 12M Gen. 1 on offer.
Used Eber controls go for about £50 so if you're chucking them I'll recycle them for you. If they're serviceable then you're welcome to anything in my spares pile of equal value. If it's dodo I'll send you postage charges or return the bits to you whichever you prefer.



I can pm you some pics of what I have in that price range.

Please do. If you have anything of else I may be interested, please include them. I'd rather spend my money locally if I could.

LCDs are easy swap, the hardest part is finding the right replacement.


To be honest I'd fix the one you have over getting a Chinese one and get a 12v -> 24V converter. Tristan sent me a number for a guru..I'll dig it out and PM you.


I liked your relay circuit on the Mk-I but there's easier & neater ways to do it.

I have a 12 -> 24V setup transformer already and it's doing the job, since I had intended to re-use this one. The circuit relay was cool at the time too, but it was a mess of wiring along with the loom that was inside.

Being pragmatic about it, I'd be spending around £30 to get a decent fuel tank and a silencer for this one (past experience says yes I need one) and lets just say another £50 on a replacement controller. At this point there'd only be a score in the difference of the price of a chinese job, and my one may still not be working. It's hard to justify the expense when it's not working as it is. Given this conversation, I may have another stab tomorrow and check if the glow plug is working / getting hot...

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I just noticed...You already have one in the setup, am I correct?


Is it strong enough to power the unit. There's a fair bittov inrush on those yolks. Was that setup working before? Whats the boost reg rated output?

Try two batteries instead; real 24v.

Yeah, I got a traffo on fleabay. It's strong enough yes. I got a 20A specifically because of this. I had to check my old build because I had it written down in that thread. It uses 11.8A on startup.

It did run once and pulse the pump correctly the first time i tried it, but alas it wasn't drawing fuel at that time.

Picked up the van today from the welder. If I'm perfectly honest, I wasn't entirely happy with the finish of it, but he did say he wasn't a panel beater, he was a welder. My expectations could've been way off instead which is my own fault.

I got the pillar replaced in the back, there was a crack in the door that was welded, the rust hole was cut out and replaced with new steel & the security locks that weren't used were covered up and welded over.

Whilst I was literally waiting on paint to dry, I made a start on the floor of the van. As a base layer I'm putting down 12mm shuttering ply which will be covered with a more finished floor thereafter.

I cut up some tin and used some silicone to cover the holes in the floor. I realise Silicon isn't suitable for this job, but it was purely to hold it in place while I was putting down the underlay. The idea of this is to prevent the occasional splash of water coming in when the van is on the road.





I used some bog standard spay adhesive to help stick this stuff down. It's 5mm flooring underlay that happened to be lying around from something else.. Ran out of time, but next will be fitting the floor and the windows.

I took that felt cover off the storage area over the drivers cab and it's quite large.

I toyed with the idea of removing the shelf altogether to get a bit more space and to stop nutting myself off it but I figured I'd lose too much storage that way. Think I'l keep it.