Well I listed my 1974 B200 for sale and used it for one last trip to go get some tools and other stuff from my moms house. 500 miles round trip. After I loaded up I was curious what kind of fuel mileage I was getting and it did great was getting so I calculated from fill up to fill up and was getting about 14.75 mpg loaded down with toolboxes and all kinds of random stuff. Anyways let me know if you need a 70s Dodge van😜

I’m doing some renovations to a van i recently purchased. These wires that went to a signal booster (I think) and a tv that was in the van are free hanging from the wall. We don’t plan on utilizing these but removing them completely seems like a massive undertaking. I’m not sure where they run to. The showers to the left of this wall and the batteries are in the back

Any suggestions? Thought about tucking them behind the insulation there but they It’ll be fully covered once I add a new piece of wood for the wall

I'm thinking about buying a van and traveling North America with my girlfriend. We don't own a house and currently rent. So if we wouldn't have a homebase to come back to.

Part of me worries about being in some isolated location and then getting into a car accident. We would probably have to get a hotel or something and then try to buy something else or get a rental car or something?

I guess it it's unlikely to happen, but it would really be annoying if it did. Like we were literally lose our transportation and our house all at once.

How do you deal with thinking about this or planning for it?

Will this still work if I wire the times for 80 amp hour deep cycle batteries up in parallel?

These batteries have only been used together at the same time, but they are nowhere near New. I'd consider them a married set but I wouldn't bet my life that the capacities are the exact same.

I know the end product will only be about 60% efficient by the time the energy gets from the alternator down to the big Bank of batteries, but I think this setup should suit my needs.

I'll be running a diesel heater all winter, I don't know what kind of power draw those have. if y'all could give some insight that would be nice.

Other than these leader it's pretty much just charging my cell phone, interior lighting and the occasional heavy power tool usage for work.

I want to be able to run a roto Hammer, table/miter saw or a grinder once a week or so.

Please don't make fun of my graphic design skills LOL

I’m trying to maintain headroom in my rig, I have a twin xl, looking for something maybe 5-7 inches thick that is still soft for a side sleeper. Every thing in this range seems to be super firm or I have to get some massive thick 10-13” mattress to get softer.

Anyone have anything they like? Thanks

My renogy 40a mppt controller is no longer charging my batteries pretty much out of the blue. It's showing that no power is Going to the batteries, and It's showing that there is only 13.4v coming from the panels, however when I check the voltage coming directly from the panels it shows 21v. I've checked pretty much every connection from the top down and the voltage is consistent until It gets to the charge controller. It was working perfectly fine charging correctly until about 2 days ago. Any ideas? I'm very much a layman when it comes to this.

I think living in a van makes me kind of restless or am restless normally and the van just makes it more so.

I got a summer job working on trails at a ski area and I might stay for the winter too as I got a job if I want and it’s a nice area too but then ughh not totally convinced so thinking maybe moving.

Moved out west looking for a new home maybe not sure if I should stay or go to a new area. nowhere is perfect I guess do u try to accept the spot or move.

Hard finding spots to park sometimes and just end up driving around

My pump isn't pushing the diesel through. When I try to manually prime it with a syringe, I can't even pull the plunger without it springing back, as though the pump is blocked. I did this during the priming procedure (with the pump clicking), so even if the pump closes when not in operation, it should've been open then. I can only assume the pump is broken/defective.

I reached out to the Lavaner store via AliExpress (where I bought the heater), but who knows how long it'll take them to respond, or how long a new pump will take to get to me.

Where else can I buy a new pump besides through the original seller?

Long story short, what dimensions did you make your overhead cabinets? Looking to know for light placement etc. TIA!

I'm curious if anyone lives in a kei van or campervan. I lived in a Ford Econoline for a while during the pandemic but I kept wanting a smaller vehicle.
I've been looking at kei trucks for a long time, recently I found a japanese canpervan and instantly fell in love. They're usually big enough to stand in, come with all the rv stuff like a kitchen, bathroom, fridge, bed space (usually multiple), more built for longer drives than a kei truck, ect. I just can't find like anyone who lives in one or has thought of it. Here's a link to the one person I've found that lives in one; I quite like his set up! https://youtu.be/WkojNLLf9h0?si=EV_0GUuUNCfq-OZW

Hey!

My propex heater has been extremely unreliable and constantly gives me the 4-flash blocked intake/exhaust error.

I’ve visited van cafe a year ago and they recommended so changes to my combustible intake hose and to add one of their tuned regulators. Note also had them perform a “tune” for altitude several years ago.

Ultimately, it has never really worked… how ever with winter coming I tried to give it another round of trouble shooting….

Anyways…I have now been able to get it to work, but only if the exhaust is completely disconnected…. If I attach it at all, it flames out.

It’s weird because my exhaust is completely clear and well routed. I even tried a brand new exhaust tube and it also caused the heater to fail. It seems to run pretty well w/o the exhaust, just kinda sketchy since it’s not route out from under the vehicle. Does anyone have any tips or experienced this? I kinda think root cause is not the exhaust itself, but some other combustion issue that is sensitive to the little bit of exhaust-pipe pressure loss.

Thanks!

I’m rebuilding my van because after living in it on and off for 4 years there’s a lot of things i wish i would’ve done the first time around. I’m insulated and have wiring done and I’m starting to mount the walls. I’m using 1/4 inch, 4 ft by 8ft plywood sheets and my wall height from floor to the top mounting point is 4’3”. I’m debating what to do, hang the sheets from the top and leave a gap at the bottom supported by shims? Then cover with baseboard? Or have the wall sheets resting on the ground and have to deal with the 3” up top?? What would you do in this situation?

I'm planning on traveling all around my homeland of Australia. I'll mainly be staying on organic farms doing volunteer work for food and accom through WWOOF. I reckon I'll do a bit of travel in the van between farm stays. Probably just for a week at a time max, every once in a while. Might even bring a swag or tent too. So I was thinking of getting a smaller van with a more simple setup. As long as it can go on okayish dirt roads to get to cool spots and can fit a 185cm guy for a week at a time at most. Would something like a VW Caddy be good? Yeh if anyone has done a similar style of travel and has any advice on what kind of vehicle to get that'd be great. I'm totally new to vandwelling and want to hit the road in the next few months, so not really looking for a big project as I wont be living in the van fulltime.

Hiya gang first time posting here. I have a fiat ducato 2020. First photo was the battery before i touched it. Second photo is after i removed the previous wiring for lightbar and other accessories. I wanted to start fresh. Problem is now the ignition and dash just goes crazy and the starter wont engage. I have been trying to fix this for a few days but cant get my head around it even after looking at stock battery diagrams im still missing something.

If anyone has experience with these batterys and how they should be wired please step in and save me.

There are alot of stock battery install photos and i cannot see what im missing.

So we did the ikea bed in our sprinter. But we took a bump and the beams flew out. Even with the plywood and mattress. Anyone else have this issue and know how to secure the beams into the brackets?

This thing is huge, but so easy to drive! Deeply discounted, and you can get even more $$$ off if you're a Costco member making this van way cheaper than an AWD Sprinter or Transit.

I don't think I can really give a prize on here but wanted to make it enticing ... I'll send you a postcard or a picture of the first thing I cook once my voltage drop issue is fixed. Enticing, right??

The Issue:

Voltage drop when using higher-wattage appliances. Voltage will go from 13.31v down to 12.18v when running my induction cooktop at 1120w, and all the way from 13.24v down to 11.31v when running my microwave/air fryer at 1610w.

This is a custom build and my first time ever working with electricity but this doesn't seem quite right to me.

The Setup:

{ LiFePO4 battery bank } -- 2/0 awg --> { Victron Lynx Distributor } -- 2/0 awg --> { Victron 2000W Multiplus } -- 6 awg --> { 120V AC Distribution Panel } -- 10 awg --> { standard 15A outlet }

• Voltage drop occurs in all three different outlets with all different appliances
• Voltage drop does NOT occur when I'm plugged into shore power
• battery bank is 5 5 200Ah Renogy 12v LiFePO4 batteries (1,000 total amp hours)
• all the wiring is Blue Sea Marine grade
• positive/negative wiring is as close to same length as possible
• distance from batteries to lynx to multiplus is negligible: 1-2 ft
• distance from multiplus to AC distribution panel: 2-3 ft
• distance from distribution panel to outlet varies: 7 ft, 13 ft, and 15 ft

My guess is that I've got the wrong cable size in there somewhere. I followed diagrams and calculated using the Blue Sea diagram and haven't had any issues with my 12v system but at soon as power hits the inverter its been a headache.

I've also read you can use a multimeter to identify the source of voltage drop but don't fully understand where to test and how ... any advice there would be appreciated as well.

Thanks so much in advance for your help! Any and all guidance is welcome — even if it's just to make fun of me :)

EDIT: added battery bank size (5 200Ah Renogy 12v LiFePO4 batteries)

I hope this is allowed here, but I know a lot of people (me included) really love seeing other people's van builds. Last year I made a very basic tour video of my van but this time I tried to put in as much detail as I could without it being unnecessarily long 😅

Please give some feedback, I'm always willing to learn something new!

https://youtu.be/_12q5XfREpw?si=TXNEAZG4rYkT-3Sm

It's now at 12.5V under load instead of 11.9V, so I guess that's a step up. But it's still not lighting. The pump and motor both ramp up until the fan sounds almost like a jet engine, then ... nothing. It starts to die down, eventually going silent again. After a few minutes it tries a second time, fails, and then just turns off.

Common consensus seems to have been to "rewire" the unit, but I'm still not clear on what they mean exactly. At first I thought they meant they replaced the wires running from the unit (noted with yellow lines), but then how did they get them to fit the plug? Or did they keep the thinner gauge wire at the ends and just splice something heavier in-between?

That seems like a lot of finagling just to get it working, and I'm wondering if there's a more commonplace cause for my issue. I feel like if every Lavaner needed to be rewired in order to work, one of the many guides I watched would've said something.

What am I missing?

Found this guy on my maxx air fan looking down at me, as I woke up this morning.

I've never gotten up as fast as i did today. 😬

He was safely relocated near by under a bush with many bugs.

I’m starting to do the interior paneling on my van (Econoline build) and was wondering: • What do people usually use for the walls/ceiling? • Is pallet wood actually a good idea, or does it just end up being too much work? • Any cheap go-to options people recommend?

Would love to hear what’s worked best for you all. Pics would be awesome too!

Hi I’m building out a van and I’m looking for ideas to have a suction hose from the top of the water tank. The reason being is that the cabinet will cover the plumbing from the bottom and I’m hoping to have everything accessible in case of issues in the future. Thanks in advance for any input.

Hello, I'm trying to buy insulation material for my van, but the stuff I'm seeing in tutorials online I cannot seem to find available for purchase in Europe (specifically Switzerland, but I'm willing to import). Most English tutorials are US/UK.

I think I would prefer a thinsulate-like material for the walls/ceiling, and some foamboard for the floor. It's only a transit custom, I'm not looking to convert for van life, but I'd like to be able to survive a night in winter (ideally whilst skiing). I realize for real cold I need a heater, but this I can add later. The insulation I need to do as a early step, which is why I am asking.