Handrail for Steps

A good friend of mine reminded that i hadn't posted for a while, i haven't done much truck work lately but there's more coming soon.

here is a few pics of the stainless handrail around the entrance steps and landing.  it takes about two mins to install and take down.

Fold Up Tow Bar Part 2

Ok that's another job done, the metalwork is finished and painted and it's all installed on the truck.  It turned out quite well.
Just a couple of hydraulic pipes and some electrics to go.

Fold Up Tow Bar Part 1

Had a bit of time to mess around with some heavy engineering this week.  I wanted to fit a tow bar to the rear of the truck so i can tow a Suzuki Jimny.

I was already toying with the idea of making the rear underrun bar on a hydraulic system so I can lift it out of the way if I need to.

Now i am thinking that i might be able to do both the tow bar and the underrun bar at the same time, its a work in progress.

the plan is to make a hinge using a 24mm bolt as a pin, this will bolt on the rear of the chassis, the drop plate is a bit of 6" C channel, i will attach a ram to the back of the channel to lift it all up out of the way.

This is as far as I have got:

victron energy Inverter system

As the truck is all electric, that is to say, the cooking is done with electric, I needed a robust and scalable inverter/charger system that was totally reliable for the job.

After several months of research and investigation into both Victron and other systems, I chose the Victron Energy products, the main reason was how versatile they are, and the fact that they fitted the job perfectly.

When the 24v 8000W Victron inverter arrived, I was very pleasantly surprised at the build quality, it really is a fine piece of engineering, it looks great and the functionality is even better.

I coupled the inverter to the Victron Colour Control Unit, this allows monitoring and adjustment of all parameters of the batteries, inverter, solar controller, generator etc; and even uploads the data to the Victron VRM internet portal so I can look at the status of everything and remote control it online.

The Victron system has so many features it's only possible to mention a few, I think apart from the VRM portal one of my favorites is the “power assist” feature, this allows you to set the amount of current you draw from a wired connection (at a campsite). If you then need more power than this connection can supply, The system will supplement it form the batteries - this occurs seamlessly without you even noticing.

I essentially wanted an 8kW inverter system to be comfortable running the cooking and heating, refrigeration and aircon in the truck. I estimate the maximum usage for short periods to be approx. 6kW

This inverter system is backed up by a Victron 1000Ah AGM battery system, I was going to go for a Lithium-Ion battery system but I don’t think the budget will stretch to it.  (That's all changed now)

A 6kVA diesel generator supplements the system when needed and can be automatically started and stopped by the Victron system when needed.

There is also 2100W of solar panels connected via a Victron smart solar controller to take full advantage of the suns energy.

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This entire system will allow the truck to run with all the comforts of home totally off grid for an unlimited length of time.

Outside of the cab Finished

Well when i say finished, there is still a few little things to do, but nothing to stop me looking smug about the progress so far.

Next i turn my attention to the inside of the cab,  trim seats and console to do, Oh and loads of wireing.

I think it looks Cool.

Here is some Pics:

Battery Bus Bars

Today i made the battery Bus Bars, I made them using 50x12 copper bar, this bar is rated at 1260Amps more than enough for my 1000Ah battery system.

I had actually forgotten how hard it is to drill thick copper, but once i got the right lubricant it was a lot easier.

the battery terminals that connect to the bus bars are 70mm2x10  so i am using 70mm2 cable for all the battery connections.
There is 5 connections to the batteries from each bus bar, these are attached by M10 bolts and washers.  i will be keeping these cables the same length, this is important because the batteries information is measured from the bus bars.

you can see on the positive bus bar there is two 500A mega fuses in parallel to give 1000A protection to the battery cables.

The 1000a shunt is in the negative bus bar, this enables the Victron system to get all the battery information.

Both these bus bars will be mounted on a piece of 70mmx20mm nylon, to isolate them from there mounting position.

Random Small Jobs

There were a few small electrical jobs to do that i was putting off for a while.

Fitting central locking actuators in the doors.
Fitting white LED lights under the doors so they light what you are stepping down onto.
Fitting LED side indicator repeaters.
Fitting electric deadlocks to the cab doors

all of these things are now fitted and wired and tested,   Now for the other side !!

Here are some pictures:

Inverter Testing

I wanted to test and program the inverter system on the bench so that i can work out all the bugs before it's installed.

The system runs at 24v to make it easier to interface with the truck.

The system consists of the following components:

Victron Quattro 8000kw (main)
Victron Quattro 3000w   (backup) because i already had one
Victron Blue Solar  150/85
Victron Colour Control
10x 220Ah AGM Batteries  (total 1100AH)
SDMO Silent Deisel Generator  6Kw
8 x Panasonic 265w Solar Panels

I looked at lots of different inverter systems and to be honest Victron equipment won hands down, it is totally scalable, can be programmed to do things exactly as you want. I now have this system on their VRM portal so  i can monitor and control it from anywhere in the world.

This may seem a little excessive, but bare in mind that all the cooking is also done with electric, there is an outside kitchen that is on gas as a backup.

Moving On

The roof rack is now reinstalled on the truck, the lights are fitted and wired. The back of the cab is painted.

I also refitted the mirrors and wired the heating for them, the side repeaters are now in place as well.

Sorry about the picture quality, the lighting in the workshop isn't the best.

Roof rack Assembly

The roof rack is now back from being galvanized,   i have painted it satin black and i am starting to populate it with the LED lighting.
Once wired i can fit it to the truck and the refit the cab spoiler.

Roof rack clamps

Just a  few pics of the clamps I made to hold the roof rack on.

All you welders out there won't be impressed, but they will work and won't break.  Once they are galvanized and painted they will look a lot better.

First post of 2018

I haven't posted in a while as I am sure you have noticed.  I have been really busy with work and the workshop has no heating so it's been sub-zero lately, making it really difficult to do anything constructive.
I have been doing a lot of planning and been collecting a few nice things, Like these cab seats that arrived this week.