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Aw awesome glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the lovely comment 💜

Yes that is the literal intention of the connection but the entire point of the video was trying to get around the fact that I didn't have easy access to such a circuit and the only ways I could find online were splicing into cables in the dash which I really did not want to do. What I did has downsides, which I outlined thoroughly, but it does also work and doesn't mess with anything in the van's wiring. I'm not really advising anything, just trying to give a solution to a problem for which the Internet gave me no solutions when I was trying to solve it.

@@konfluence I'm fitting mine tomorrow and the install instructions booklet suggests the lc connection is to be used with the connection to the vehicle battery. This is the one I would use the switch on

Per my limited understanding I think you're correct yeah. I took my approach because I didn't want to be messing with any of the van electrics directly, but it does seem like it probably would be fine to tap into a connection that has voltage only when the engine is running.

Overall I really like it. I did have some issues over the summer last year where my battery monitor was showing very low levels of charging most of the time but the charger seemed to think the battery was full despite it very obviously not being. I thought it was a faulty charger and it wasn't until I was doing some other renovations that I could give it a proper inspection and realise that my cable connecting the charger to the batteries had been damaged, seemingly overheating. I realised at this point that the cable size recommended by the manufacturer wasn't really big enough (at least for the cable I boguht), even at such a short length, so replacing it with a larger size seemed like a good plan. And it's basically worked perfectly again since, so a pretty minor thing, I should have double checked the rating on the cable, I just kinda assumed the manufacturer's instruction would be the way to go but should have sanity checked it. Otherwise it's pretty great really given that it gives so much functionality in such a small size and for a similar cost to buying decent versions of the 3 chargers you would need to replace it. It still feels like a bit of a no brainer to me :) Doing a review is probably quite a good idea. Life has changed direction pretty heavily since I was making these videos and they just fell of the priority due to the work involved, but something like that could be quite fun!

Thanks for the comment! Yeah I did consider doing something like this but what I found online talking about it seemed kinda sketchy. The way you've described it does sound very doable, but I'm pretty happy with the switch solution. It's nice to have the extra control, sometimes there's just no need to use the starter battery/alternator to charge if it's a sunny day and the battery is nearly full, so can just leave it off and let the solar handle it.

Thanks for the detailed comment! That makes perfect sense about the Voc, not sure why I didn't come across that information earlier, makes a lot more sense than what I read... Yep, getting the cables out of the way of the panels was rather tricky! I did manage it though eventually with a lot of sticking. I'm hoping that as my roof has all those channels in it that there will be enough airflow under the panels to keep them cool as long as I don't go anywhere too far south, which at the moment isn't a problem being in the UK haha. That's good to hear about fuses too. Honestly I thought it was a bit strange that I was seeing them on diagrams by people who seemed to have quite a lot of expertise, so it's reassuring that you don't think they are necessary.

Haha yeah I became aware of such handy tools part way through the build but wanted to just keep at it as I was rather than trying to actually up my carpentry game mid way. I'm not sure it would have helped that much without also getting a circular saw though, don't think you can make nice ply boxes if your rectangles are all a little wonky! I nearly did that too but it seemd a bit silly for the last bit of the build. If ever re-do it or do another build I definitely would though.

Yeah it was definitely a big task. I always knew it was going to be a large part of the build but I did also over egg it and try to include extra sockets for future proofing, I only use about half of them at the moment, but given how hard it would be to add them later I thought it much better to over do it than under do it. Thanks!

@@konfluence definitely a good idea. Looking great so far!

Ah yeah, that's a great idea if you want a safer version of this! I don't think I'll change mine as I'm happy enough with having to be careful but if I ever accidentally do it and drain my battery I might change my mind on that one haha. Thanks for the comment :)

Ah nice one, thanks for the comment! I never came across that Pro version when I was doing this, not sure if it's a newer thing or if I just missed it somehow. Definitely looks like it's designed for this exact situation and getting around the issue of trickle charging increases in voltage by using vibration is genius. Seems ideal really! Best of luck with your conversion, the charger is a really good choice I think :)

@@konfluence it might be a newer device as i was checking the Votronic catalog but it still doesn't appear on there! About your setup, did you choose to install a battery protector against excessive discharge? i also saw you installed a manual switch, it is for disconecting the batteries when not using the van? thank you again!

@@andreslorenzosantana4920 Ah wow that's strange, no wonder I didn't find it! No I didn't go with a battery protector, but I do have a Victron battery monitor that I keep a very close eye on. I figured with that I probably wouldn't need the extra protection as I'm fairly obsessively checking the battery status haha. Yeah I also have a chunky switch for disconnecting all the 12V draws, it can still charge when off, but all the power consumers get cut off. It's pretty helpful for when working on the electrics, and also I tend to turn off everything when I go to bed so I don't have things like the fairly power hungry display/controller for my diesel heater drawing power overnight for no reason (although it does mean I have to get out of bed to turn my heater on in the morning... considering moving that to a separate switch/circuit, that way I can also just turn off the screen whenever I'm not using it).

@@konfluence Fair enough! good idea to have the switch to cut all 12v draws! i might use one as well. About the heater, some brands have an adjustable display so perhaps in the settings you could set it to turn the display automatically off after certain seconds.

@@andreslorenzosantana4920 Yeah definitely worth it I think. Ah, I don't think that's an option with the unbranded cheap chinese ones, I did just do a quick google and saw more people complaining about it but no real options other than disconnecting it somehow when not in use. Hope your build goes well! :)

Aww thanks Siobhan, that's so lovely. Very much looking forward to our next chance to hang out! love love love <3 :D

Thanks Christoff, that means a lot! Much love man <3

Ah nice, yeah, that would have been much better. I honestly didn't look into what I could do that much because I was impatient and didn't want to go out and get anything at the time, just wanted to get it done! Thanks for the comment and sub :) And yeah I'm continuously baffled by the no-heater people, but I know better than to start arguments on the internet... and there's always plenty of people saying you need one so hey hopefully people will make the right choice

Cheers man :)

Thanks! A lot is definitely required for a project this big but once the momentum starts going it felt easier to do it than to not

Aw thanks Michael that's lovely. Yeah I mean trying to discern between what information is or isn't relevant or valid when things are contradictary is perhaps the hardest things. There's a bit less of that with the electrics than some other aspects of the build but it still gets very tricky. I've still got issues with the batteries not charging as much as they are discharging, so something is wrong, presumably in the connections again, so the quest continues really!

Aw yeah I hope so. Not anything in compared to his achievements but I hope to do more!

Ah cheers for the comment Lee! I forgot about your awesome nerd-mobile, probably should have asked you some questions while I was doing this! I am sorted in terms of batter to battery/alternator charging, the charger on the right hand side of my setup does solar, mains ac and battery to battery which is super useful. It also trickle charges the starter battery, definitely a neat feature! Hope you're good man

Aah thanks Kirk!

Haha love you too sir <3

Haha yep you're spot on, I realised later that they weren't pozidrive and had been using the same head as for my screws which all are! Thanks for the comment :)