Hi Sam, glad you’re happy with your Fogstar batteries. We swapped our two Leoch lead-calcium 150Ah batteries for two 260Ah Fogstars in July and upgraded our inverter to 2200w when the Mrs wanted to use a two ring inverter hob and are really pleased with the results. We are on a six week tour at the moment staying around four days at each place and haven’t dropped below 60% even now with the heating on. Most draw I’ve measured with a shunt test is 180A with everything switched on. We already had a Votronic 1212 50amp B2B so takes about 3-4 driving hours to recharge both to 100% from 60% no smart alternator just standard 130A crafter. Only thing I’ve done differently to you is thrown away the main mega-fuse between my batteries and isolator and installed a BEP pro installer Class T Fuse holder and fuse as with the power of lithium it can arc a blown mega-fuse. Not cheap at £100 for fuse and holder but neither are our vans! Hope you have a great trip we’ve still got three weeks to get back but couldn’t wait to watch your videos 👍🏻
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife Sorry if I didn’t explain it very well but if you look on 12v planet under their description they probably do a better job of explaining it. It’s all to do with how the fuse blows faster before the battery starts to runaway and the heat builds V quickly! I’ve learned plenty from you Sam so happy to share. 👍🏻
Very cool, my friend. I do like the "color coordination" thing - never thought of that! Excellent point about the "cable fits installation" issue. To avoid bends on my 70 mm2 - really - short cables, I raised the isolator using a custom fit piece of ply to line up the mounting height. Love your setup - but we'll see if my 3 x 100Ah setup will suffice... Cheers and hugs to you, Lisa & Riley! 🚐☁🍀
Great vid Sam, we all know people are going to try doing electrics so to see great vids like this then at least they have great advice and can see how lugs etc should be done, keep em coming mate, brill
A video on how it should be done, Sam. Not like some numpties who pretend to be camper converters. I'm changing my fogstar 105 to a fogstar 230 in October - hopefully before the crafty campout as I want to go gas free and just use an air fryer for cooking. Along with the 230 fogstar with its 250Amp output, my 400 watts of solar and my afeiry 2k power bank I think I'll be OK. I'll be able to put me disco lights on at the louden arms😂. All the best and see you in October🙏-Kenny
It is mate, if you find a green plug your not sure what it fits it will be the remote plug from the inverter I had to order a new one as it was missing when I went to turn it on
@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife I know exactly what you meen I had one of old inverter aswell but God knows where either is now lolllllll glad it's all working good
I am just getting round to redoing my system, and I am also fitting a 3kw invertor. Cheers for the video mate! I am pretty clued up on electrics personally (marine electrics on ships... not shore side), but this is still new to me.
hello Sam just found your channel and im currently binge watching your vids as im retired.(Ive subscribed etc.) Im doing my first camper convert, its an Iveco not a crafter but similar dimension wise. Im a retired spark myself and was wandering whether to just go down the route of an Ecoflow, instead of a fixed battery, Ive first fixed it 240 wise, with what I think I'll need, but Im now leaning to possibly using the Victron and fogstar route, as i maybe want to start going to the vanlife fests, next year but Its just me and my dog these days so was unsure what to do, as most vids show it as mainly family orientated, and if so should i just opt for straight 240 plug in and use campsites. Anyway, im rattling on here, so keep up the good work, its good to see a fellow spark helping other folk who maybe dont know electrickery.
I have a victron branded battery isolator similar to yours and found it was heating up at only 30 amps. Supposed to be rated to 275 amps but I guess that would be intermittent not continuous. I stripped down and put it back together and now it seems okay. Not impressed with the design though. I reckon maybe I overtightened the terminals which sit in plastic and can easily distort. If you ask me they are a fire hazard. I'd be more inclined to go for something heavy duty from durite next time.
Great questions, yes we did, we could have bought the victron multi plus but like I said inthe video we spend 95% of out time off grid so I don't mind flicking a swich every now and then, all circuits have been calculated sized accordingly and as for running the AC & DC ran together the effects are mitigated by the short runs max lenth was 1mtr
Quick solar question Sam, I have 500w of solar (3 x 12v panels in parallel at 18v nominal). But the last week I have been getting ZERO solar. Like max 2watt. It's been cloudy, but is this normal? In the winter, do you get so little solar? I have checked the voltage of the line from the panels, and it's hovering around 14v, so not enough to kick in the charger. I washed the panels a week ago and jet washed the vans roof, and I am worried I have killed something. I never directly jet washed the panels but did brush them down with a microfibre mitt on an extension pole.
you will get reduce solar on a cloudy day, have you cleaned your panels lately? check all the connection too and if you have victron check the settings as sometimes this will reset the operating parameters
Hiya mate, just watching your latest 3 videos of the new electrical install. Really enjoyable and informative. Seems a daft question but where did you buy your fluted lugs from? I can only seem to find straights and I hate straight entries for the inevitable splayed strands!! Never used to have this problem when i had a stores to go to in the Generator Industry 😂
Great video pal, want to come and do my electrics? I made the mistakes over the past few weeks putting some of the lugs the wrong way round… shit happens hey! 😂
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife I’ve run 50mm from the van battery to the back, to a 300amp bus bar, 50mm to a blue sea switch and then stepped to 16mm to the Orion in, and 16mm to the distributors… spoke to Bksp solar and that’s what he recommended, as it’s a nightmare to try and get 25mm into the Orion!
What size heat shrink did you use for the battery cables? I’m busy doing the same setup as yours, but with a Ginalli 4000W inverter instead of the Victron. 👍🏻
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife I’ve just bought the Fogstar 608ah battery same as what you have not long fitted, got the same 95mm cables. I’ll not be using the full 4kw of the inverter, but like to go large to allow me to go up to 3kw if needed without running it full tilt. I know the battery has it’s 250a fuse, and will be fitting the same fuse externally as a safe guard. This is going in my touring caravan. I already have a 300ah Fogstar battery in my van that’s being charged via a 60a Renogy dc to dc charger. I then have a 50mm cable coming from that with an Anderson hookup connector on the tow bar, this will be one of three selectable options when towing to charge the bigger battery which will be on the caravan. I’ve also got a mains to dc Fogstar charger, that will be live on hookup as well as solar to fit.
One more question, I am looking at installing a smaller system with Fogstar 230ah battery and a 2000w Renogy inverter, all we want to do is boil a 1500w kettle and run a single air fryer, (currently running it from an EcoFlow Delta2 and it works great) I am worried about cables getting hot and see you use 95mm - Even for a smaller system would you recommend using as big as cables as you can? I am considering just using an EcoFlow for my 240v or really going big on the cables
Top work Sam 👍
Thanks
Excellent the way it should be done
Thank you
It's an absolute 💎 of a video!
It's very worthy of a subscription! Can't wait to see more!
thank you
Golden info, thanks Sam! I have never seen anyone mention about orientating the lugs on made up wires...
Thank you
Hi Sam, glad you’re happy with your Fogstar batteries. We swapped our two Leoch lead-calcium 150Ah batteries for two 260Ah Fogstars in July and upgraded our inverter to 2200w when the Mrs wanted to use a two ring inverter hob and are really pleased with the results. We are on a six week tour at the moment staying around four days at each place and haven’t dropped below 60% even now with the heating on. Most draw I’ve measured with a shunt test is 180A with everything switched on. We already had a Votronic 1212 50amp B2B so takes about 3-4 driving hours to recharge both to 100% from 60% no smart alternator just standard 130A crafter.
Only thing I’ve done differently to you is thrown away the main mega-fuse between my batteries and isolator and installed a BEP pro installer Class T Fuse holder and fuse as with the power of lithium it can arc a blown mega-fuse. Not cheap at £100 for fuse and holder but neither are our vans! Hope you have a great trip we’ve still got three weeks to get back but couldn’t wait to watch your videos 👍🏻
I'm gonna check the BEP Fuse out thank for sharing mate 👍
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife Sorry if I didn’t explain it very well but if you look on 12v planet under their description they probably do a better job of explaining it. It’s all to do with how the fuse blows faster before the battery starts to runaway and the heat builds V quickly! I’ve learned plenty from you Sam so happy to share. 👍🏻
Thanks again@@Basilbrush207
Fantastic video Sam.👍👍👍
Thank you very much!
Very cool, my friend. I do like the "color coordination" thing - never thought of that! Excellent point about the "cable fits installation" issue. To avoid bends on my 70 mm2 - really - short cables, I raised the isolator using a custom fit piece of ply to line up the mounting height. Love your setup - but we'll see if my 3 x 100Ah setup will suffice...
Cheers and hugs to you, Lisa & Riley! 🚐☁🍀
thank you mate
Great vid Sam, we all know people are going to try doing electrics so to see great vids like this then at least they have great advice and can see how lugs etc should be done, keep em coming mate, brill
Absolutely
Sam, a great informative video. 👍
Glad you liked it!
Cheers Sam, really helpful. Will be putting a similar system in my van build. Good to see it done right and safe. Thanks again. All the best. 👍🚐😎
Glad you enjoyed it
A video on how it should be done, Sam. Not like some numpties who pretend to be camper converters. I'm changing my fogstar 105 to a fogstar 230 in October - hopefully before the crafty campout as I want to go gas free and just use an air fryer for cooking. Along with the 230 fogstar with its 250Amp output, my 400 watts of solar and my afeiry 2k power bank I think I'll be OK. I'll be able to put me disco lights on at the louden arms😂. All the best and see you in October🙏-Kenny
See you there :)
see you soon mate
Great informative videos Sam, I've learned so much from you! Just subscribed and liked 😀
Glad to hear it!
Nice tidy and strong installation sam
It is mate, if you find a green plug your not sure what it fits it will be the remote plug from the inverter I had to order a new one as it was missing when I went to turn it on
@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife I know exactly what you meen I had one of old inverter aswell but God knows where either is now lolllllll glad it's all working good
I am just getting round to redoing my system, and I am also fitting a 3kw invertor. Cheers for the video mate! I am pretty clued up on electrics personally (marine electrics on ships... not shore side), but this is still new to me.
A lot of the DC stuff we use was developed for marine applications small boats and light crafts
@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife unfortunately I have never been on a small boat haha. Smallest I have been on had 3 1300kw 440v gens.
What a great setup.. ive seen these setups a lot recently. It's deffo got to be a must for mine
It work really well
Great vid also Sam.. loved it..
Glad you enjoyed it
hello Sam
just found your channel and im currently binge watching your vids as im retired.(Ive subscribed etc.)
Im doing my first camper convert, its an Iveco not a crafter but similar dimension wise.
Im a retired spark myself and was wandering whether to just go down the route of an Ecoflow, instead of a fixed battery,
Ive first fixed it 240 wise, with what I think I'll need, but Im now leaning to possibly using the Victron and fogstar route, as i maybe want to start going to the vanlife fests, next year but
Its just me and my dog these days so was unsure what to do, as most vids show it as mainly family orientated, and if so should i just opt for straight 240 plug in and use campsites.
Anyway, im rattling on here, so keep up the good work, its good to see a fellow spark helping other folk who maybe dont know electrickery.
the iveco is a very reliable van mate
I have a victron branded battery isolator similar to yours and found it was heating up at only 30 amps. Supposed to be rated to 275 amps but I guess that would be intermittent not continuous. I stripped down and put it back together and now it seems okay. Not impressed with the design though. I reckon maybe I overtightened the terminals which sit in plastic and can easily distort. If you ask me they are a fire hazard.
I'd be more inclined to go for something heavy duty from durite next time.
good point raised there i always inspect the equipment prior to installing it
Thanks Sam another informative brilliantly done vid. How much solar do you have on your roof? I can’t remember x
590w I think 🤔 but I'm looking to upgrade that next
HI thanks so much fpr the vids. How has your Fogstar battery worked out?
It's amazing. I love it
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife thanks
Did you look at auto transfer switches, battery line lengths and ac - dc line separation?
Great questions, yes we did, we could have bought the victron multi plus but like I said inthe video we spend 95% of out time off grid so I don't mind flicking a swich every now and then, all circuits have been calculated sized accordingly and as for running the AC & DC ran together the effects are mitigated by the short runs max lenth was 1mtr
Quick solar question Sam, I have 500w of solar (3 x 12v panels in parallel at 18v nominal). But the last week I have been getting ZERO solar. Like max 2watt.
It's been cloudy, but is this normal? In the winter, do you get so little solar?
I have checked the voltage of the line from the panels, and it's hovering around 14v, so not enough to kick in the charger.
I washed the panels a week ago and jet washed the vans roof, and I am worried I have killed something. I never directly jet washed the panels but did brush them down with a microfibre mitt on an extension pole.
you will get reduce solar on a cloudy day, have you cleaned your panels lately? check all the connection too and if you have victron check the settings as sometimes this will reset the operating parameters
Hiya mate, just watching your latest 3 videos of the new electrical install. Really enjoyable and informative.
Seems a daft question but where did you buy your fluted lugs from? I can only seem to find straights and I hate straight entries for the inevitable splayed strands!!
Never used to have this problem when i had a stores to go to in the Generator Industry 😂
I buy mosy of my lugs from simply split charge they do work a treat!
Take 2 😂❤
@@Crowtherstephen79 take 22🤣🤣
Great video pal, want to come and do my electrics? I made the mistakes over the past few weeks putting some of the lugs the wrong way round… shit happens hey! 😂
It certainly does mate what size cable have you used on your Orion XS
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife I’ve run 50mm from the van battery to the back, to a 300amp bus bar, 50mm to a blue sea switch and then stepped to 16mm to the Orion in, and 16mm to the distributors… spoke to Bksp solar and that’s what he recommended, as it’s a nightmare to try and get 25mm into the Orion!
@@PackTheVanAndGo I have managed it by fitting them will the unit was off 👍 check out next weeks video there is an easy way mate
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife will keep an eye out pal..
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlifei noticed on a you tube channel you can get tube pins which will help you get a 25mm2 cable into an orion xs
What size heat shrink did you use for the battery cables? I’m busy doing the same setup as yours, but with a Ginalli 4000W inverter instead of the Victron. 👍🏻
What suze batteries are you using?
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife I’ve just bought the Fogstar 608ah battery same as what you have not long fitted, got the same 95mm cables. I’ll not be using the full 4kw of the inverter, but like to go large to allow me to go up to 3kw if needed without running it full tilt. I know the battery has it’s 250a fuse, and will be fitting the same fuse externally as a safe guard. This is going in my touring caravan. I already have a 300ah Fogstar battery in my van that’s being charged via a 60a Renogy dc to dc charger. I then have a 50mm cable coming from that with an Anderson hookup connector on the tow bar, this will be one of three selectable options when towing to charge the bigger battery which will be on the caravan. I’ve also got a mains to dc Fogstar charger, that will be live on hookup as well as solar to fit.
One more question, I am looking at installing a smaller system with Fogstar 230ah battery and a 2000w Renogy inverter, all we want to do is boil a 1500w kettle and run a single air fryer, (currently running it from an EcoFlow Delta2 and it works great) I am worried about cables getting hot and see you use 95mm - Even for a smaller system would you recommend using as big as cables as you can? I am considering just using an EcoFlow for my 240v or really going big on the cables
each circuit will need to be calculated then sized and fused accordingley
Your inverter is 3000VA not Watts, it's only 2400W.
your right it was a slip of the tongue , but we did cover this in the first video
Sam, you described that cable as 95mm diameter, did you mean 95mm square ?
your correct