Thread: Promaster RV Build

Thanks Loy Toy,

We've had it out a couple times so far and it's been great, still a few things left to complete and then it'll be done, we're planning a trip to a state park in South Dakota next month for a long weekend so I hope to have it finished by then .

Pics of porta potty installed. This was a must, no more trips to the bathroom at 3 am.





Bit of a problem trying to decide on what to cover it with, a door front would be a problem when using it, a swinging door would hit the handle of the chest fridge so it couldn't be opened far enough, so we decided for now it will be a curtain covering the clothes hanging space above it and also covering the this space. We'll see how it goes, can be changed later if it doesn't work.

I'll try to cover the electrical equipment, anyone having a question please ask.



This is a circuit breaker panel and also the remote display and on/off for the 12 volt to 110 volt inverter.



Closeup of same panel.



Switch panel above the sliding door, only using 2 for now, main lights and water pump I also left in the factory lights which are connected to the engine battery, they can be turned off/on when door opens timed / and on continuous. On the times we've been out haven't used the factory lights, the other light bank has led lights that stay on all the time that works as a night light which is great, I measured the amount of current they draw and it's very minimal like .02 amps.



Light and USB charging bank in the bedroom made a shelf to hold cellphones when charging, switches are for bedroom light and fan.



Closeup of same.



Electronics are in the bench seat behind drivers seat.



Inverter 1500 watts, panel with circuit breakers and disconnect switch for engine alternator charge controller, reason for disconnect is if charge controller is left connected to battery it will drain the battery so when not driving it will be turned off.



Upper left is engine alternator charge controller, center is 110 volt 8 amp battery charger, upper right is battery charge controller, below battery charger is lithium battery, to the right of battery is black module which is a 12 volt solenoid, only operates when engine is running, that is to prevent discharging of engine battery when not running.
I needed to use charge controllers so as not to over charge lithium battery, lithium battery can only be charged to 12.6 volts max., the controllers can be programmed for cutout voltage, I have them cut out at 12.5 volts.



This is a 110 volt ac power strip, the orange cable feeds the van 110 volt outlets, it stays plugged in here when on shore power, if using the inverter I plug orange cable into inverter to get power from battery.

One of the problems I encountered was the way battery chargers are made now they don't show a voltage on charge leads unless they see a battery, when connecting to the charge controller the charge controller won't turn on unless it sees a voltage from the charger. For now to get it to work I have to jumper the battery voltage to charger voltage terminal until charge controller turns on than jumper can be removed. If this works I will install a momentary switch to get things to work.

Trimmed out the edge of the floor with some aluminum nose edging rear and sliding doors.

At last the bedroom is done.







The wife did her final touches with the butterflies and I finished the carpet trim.

After looking at the pictures I see a little more to do, some wood to cover behind the cabinets with carpet and the wife needs to paint the kreg screw holes, but minor things to add to the list.

Pictures of the kitchen counter



Counter with drawers and temporary knobs so we could use it on our first two trips out.



Installing the drawer faces.



Drawer faces and handles installed.



I had the water jugs setting on the bottom but decided a lot of wasted space so I install a raised shelf, more storage.



Counter top and sink installed, single water faucet from ebay, and sink from menards, made the counter top with 3/4" plywood with live oak face, free formica from friend that was leftover from job.



Finished counter with curtain my wife sewed.

I'm waiting for a usb outlet above counter, then I'll figure out a way to finish that part of the wall so it looks better.

Some final photos, this projects about done other than a few minor details which I'll post as I get them done.







Bedroom curtain from some leftover material that was used on cut down pillow covering.



Wife made some pillows from left over bench cover material and some brown she had.



Put some hooks in to hang the bikes, didn't like the idea of having clips on the floor for bike forks, figured they'd always be in the way.

Thanks everyone for following along on this thread, hope it wasn't too boring. End of this month or beginning of next we will be starting on our house build in RoiEt, will start a new thread for that.

Got a few more things completed on the van. First is the awning



This is a 12' X 10' it was designed for mounting on a building so we had to cut the hanging flap the wife still wants to sew a trim edging back on but still hasn't had time.



View from the back.



Closeup of one of the brackets an ex brother-in-law built for me. The bracket that clamps to the square tubing came with the awning the rest he made.



This is the T-post on the roof of van that we had to mount to. It took a lot of grinding to get a good fit, I put a rubber pad under each bracket to protect the van roof .

I don't have room to extend the awning out to show a picture of that, we're going out this weekend so if I remember I'll take pictures of it extended and the poles and weights I made to help support it just in case of wind gusts which are common around here.

Dennis, thanks for the update - my view - for wind resistance and weather proofing is it not wise to make some cover for the canopy fixed in place and you have the bolts.

dennis...if you don't understand that it may well not be just you.

Originally Posted by NamPikToot

Dennis, thanks for the update - my view - for wind resistance and weather proofing is it not wise to make some cover for the canopy fixed in place and you have the bolts.

Not sure what you mean but the canopy will be retracted and the extension bars velco strapped when not in use or driving, the awning itself is weather proof so doesn't need a cover.

looks really good

you and your wife have done a really good job

Originally Posted by dennis4558

Not sure what you mean but the canopy will be retracted and the extension bars velco strapped when not in use or driving, the awning itself is weather proof so doesn't need a cover.

Just me being belt and braces, i would have a shaped metal cowl; 1) to protect the rolled ends from weather when you are on the move - wind and wet hitting it at 60-70 mph aint good 2) to cover the top of the roll from weather particularly sun to help it last longer etc.

Originally Posted by baldrick

looks really good

you and your wife have done a really good job

Thanks Baldrick, just got back from a weekend at a park with all 3 daughters families and had a great time. First time we used the awning and it worked great, forgot to take pictures maybe the next time out.

Some before and after pictures of some things I got finished.





I got the door post covered with carpet and my usb charging outlet installed, the usb outlet also shows battery voltage so it's a little more convenient to monitor voltage without getting the meter out.

Originally Posted by NamPikToot

Just me being belt and braces, i would have a shaped metal cowl; 1) to protect the rolled ends from weather when you are on the move - wind and wet hitting it at 60-70 mph aint good 2) to cover the top of the roll from weather particularly sun to help it last longer etc.

Thanks for the advice but sounds like a lot of work, the awning is made to take the weather elements, and if I do drive in the rain I'll have to remember to roll it out to dry so I don't get mold. I've seen some RV awning that are covered and some that are open just like mine, I'm sure the covered ones will last longer but I hope to get more life out of mine by removing it in the winter and around here if you get 5 months of camping you're lucky.

We had a problem with the paper towels unrolling while driving or with the door open and the wind blowing through the van. This is my fix.







All it is, is a hinge foam taped to the towel bracket, just the weight of the hinge keeps the towel from unrolling.
I haven't applied for a patent on it yet.

Hi Everyone, I ran into a problem and wondering if someone out there has a solution.

I installed my new 30 amp programmable charge controller on leads from my vans alternator everything works as planned only I'm getting too many amps for controller and wires. It appears the lithium battery will take whatever the alternator puts out and leads, connection points and relay are getting hot. All my wiring is rated for 30 amps so I know it's charging at a high amperage then that to get everything hot. What I need to know if there is a device where I can regulate the charging amps from alternator, I've been looking but haven't found anything yet. Maybe we have some dc experts out there that can point me in the right direction.

When I read up on this before, everything I read said there wouldn't be a problem, but I think they were charging lead acid batteries not lithium batteries.

Perhaps an in line current limiter will do the trick. Sometning like this.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32957574524.html

Originally Posted by Norton

Perhaps an in line current limiter will do the trick. Sometning like this.

Hi Norton, thanks for doing research for me but what that is, is a dc motor control it regulates voltage, that's what I've been finding, voltage regulators. I may have found a solution, I'm tricking my battery charge controller to operate a solenoid / relay which has 150 amp contact that I'm running the charge leads through. I just have to manually start the charge controller with a momentary switch after I start the van. If anyone is interested I can scratch out a block diagram of what I did. I'll still need to test it but now the battery is charged so when it's discharged I can test it.

Had to do a somewhat humorous fix the other day, it involved the porta potty, the wife was having problems with the porta potty siding back in when she was trying to use it, here's my fix.



As you can see there's about an 1" gap under the drawer so it slides in an out easily.





As you can see I put a face on the front of the drawer that goes to the floor and on the bottom I glued a piece of carpet so it doesn't scratch the floor going in and out.
Another thing off the list, list is getting short now.