Guesty's 17.56-2 Offgrid

[Guesty]

Thought it might be finally time to show what I've done with our new to us 2016 17.56-2 Expanda.
We previously had a Jayco Finch, but needed something bigger with the two little ones in tow.

The 17.56-2 ticked all the boxes and found one that was in new condition without the Covid Tax.
As we mostly camp off grid, I had a plan to completely change the electrical setup so i could still run the microwave and coffee machine.

As the van is stored on a slope, we had no way of cooling down the fridge pre trip so thought I'd change to a compressor fridge whilst doing the rewire.

So far the mods are as follows

4 x 185w Sunman panels
2 x 204Ah Lithium Batteries is parrallel with 250a BMS on each for redundancy
Victron MPPT 100/50
Victron Orion 30amp DCDC
Victron BMV-712 Shunt
Victron Lynx distributor
Victron IP22 30amp 240v Charger
Enerdrive 2000w Inverter

Dometic RUC5208X 153L Compressor Fridge

Truma VarioHeat LPG Heater

External Shower

3rd Water tank 90L

Larger hatch on front tunnel and reused the old one for the rear tunnel.

Sirocco Fan and LED reading light for each bed end.

Table storage on rear bedend

Next job is to redo the underneath plumbing and add some protection. Will probably use a tight shade cloth over the whole underneath so inspection of piping etc is easier than covering with pool noodles

 

[Boots in Action]

Thought it might be finally time to show what I've done with our new to us 2016 17.56-2 Expanda.
We previously had a Jayco Finch, but needed something bigger with the two little ones in tow.

The 17.56-2 ticked all the boxes and found one that was in new condition without the Covid Tax.
As we mostly camp off grid, I had a plan to completely change the electrical setup so i could still run the microwave and coffee machine.

As the van is stored on a slope, we had no way of cooling down the fridge pre trip so thought I'd change to a compressor fridge whilst doing the rewire.

So far the mods are as follows

4 x 185w Sunman panels
2 x 204Ah Lithium Batteries is parrallel with 250a BMS on each for redundancy
Victron MPPT 100/50
Victron Orion 30amp DCDC
Victron BMV-712 Shunt
Victron Lynx distributor
Victron IP22 30amp 240v Charger
Enerdrive 2000w Inverter

Dometic RUC5208X 153L Compressor Fridge

Truma VarioHeat LPG Heater

External Shower

3rd Water tank 90L

Larger hatch on front tunnel and reused the old one for the rear tunnel.

Sirocco Fan and LED reading light for each bed end.

Table storage on rear bedend

Next job is to redo the underneath plumbing and add some protection. Will probably use a tight shade cloth over the whole underneath so inspection of piping etc is easier than covering with pool noodles

Great set up and a lot of money spent too @Guesty. @jazzeddie1234 , you have some competition in complexity of electrical setups now.

@Guesty I will be very interested in how well and how long your flat stuck down flexible panels last in the hot sun with no air gap to prevent burn out of solar cells. Earlier posts from a couple of members were not favorable and did not last very long. I think it was a member from Tasmania who had two attempts at flexible solar panels before going for fixed glass panels on roof with a 50mm gap. Outputs are based on a 25C temp. For every 1C above that solar cells heat up, there is a loss of 0.5% of output. At 55C solar cell temp - easily achieved! - , you have lost 15% output, but then you have plenty of excess power generation and the benefit of a huge storage capacity too. Hope it lasts for you.

 

[Guesty]

So far no issues at all. I did quite a bit of research before going with the Sunman eArc panels, and with a 5 year warranty that they are still at minimum 90% of rated power was a good backing.
I've seen the Sunman panels direct mounted onto quite a few boats now here in Adelaide and seem to be the go to panel for harsh enviroments.


We haven't ever gone under 60% battery usage, and that's with running the A/C and coffee machine most of the day.
I had the batteries built with separate BMS's so if one failed, it wouldn't take out the whole system.
When driving early in the morning we regularly see 65-70amps going back into the batteries so doesn't take long at all to get back to 100%

 

[Drover]

Certainly would want to cover your needs, as its right up there for gear, though from what Ive come across the panels would be a concern, up on the roof it gets bluddy hot, they can get to 70c easy and that heat will also transfer thru the roof inside, be interesting to see if they live up to the blurb...
Is that 70 amps coming just form your alternator ??

 

[Guesty]

Interesting the surface temp of the panels have only ever gotten to 62C, and that was after a full afternoon in the sun and 43C outside temp. Have had no temp change inside, that would be most likely due to the insulation properties of the poptop roof foam i'd imagine.

30 amps from the DCDC and 35-40 amps from the MPPT. If I ever find I'm running out of power, I'll probably just add a second DCDC instead of portable solar as you can parallel up to 4 of them together as long as the Alternator can handle it

 

[Drover]

That hot enough and near enough to 70, I'd still watch the panels closely but then at that price they would want to last the distance..................... If your charging can't keep up as you drive down the road then you would be in strife off grid camping and something is broken for sure because really the solar is the prime recharge system the DC/DC and mains jobs are just back ups ...

 

[Boots in Action]

@Guesty , you seem to be all over it with the equipment you have and having a different BMS for each bank of lithiums is certainly a good safe guard against a total electrical failure. Some of that wiring carrying that much current would have to be of monstrous proportions like welding cables. I doubt that you would find too many "sparkies" up to the task of locating/fixing/replacing any of the vital parts in country towns - probably only in larger towns/cities. But good luck in your travels anyway.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

@jazzeddie1234 , you have some competition in complexity of electrical setups now.

some scope here as I don't have a coffee machine

 

[Drover]

Beer cold is my priority.................. Perc coffee in pot, just the shot out bush, black with a touch of sweet...............

 

[jazzeddie1234]

I tow a fair amount over rough roads and never had much of an issue with pipe damage. The main area that gets pounded (with mud mostly) seems to be directly behind the wheels.

Two things I did do, put a dob of silicon on all rubbing/flexing points, where pipes touched, wires passed through chassis, etc, and painted the under floor with water based house paint. This seems to do a better job than the original surface which tends to crack . I did use some flexible black retic pipe to protect the water tank vent pipes, it's cheap and easy to feed thru, and it gave a bit more rigidity

 

[Guesty]

@Guesty , you seem to be all over it with the equipment you have and having a different BMS for each bank of lithiums is certainly a good safe guard against a total electrical failure. Some of that wiring carrying that much current would have to be of monstrous proportions like welding cables. I doubt that you would find too many "sparkies" up to the task of locating/fixing/replacing any of the vital parts in country towns - probably only in larger towns/cities. But good luck in your travels anyway.

Luckly my background is as an Auto Elec so no dramas there, plus always have tools in the tug.
The battery to inverter and distribution took a it to wrangle into place. Made a few copper busbars to join components what were protected too.

I tow a fair amount over rough roads and never had much of an issue with pipe damage. The main area that gets pounded (with mud mostly) seems to be directly behind the wheels.

Two things I did do, put a dob of silicon on all rubbing/flexing points, where pipes touched, wires passed through chassis, etc, and painted the under floor with water based house paint. This seems to do a better job than the original surface which tends to crack . I did use some flexible black retic pipe to protect the water tank vent pipes, it's cheap and easy to feed thru, and it gave a bit more rigidity

Thanks for the tips.
I did use a roll of split conduit on our old Finch to protect the waterlines and wires, but didn't last as got peppered with rocks so might have a god with some of the bigger retic hose as suggested.
Painting underneath is on the list of jobs to do, along with more silicon on the ply joints and around any passthroughs

 

[Drover]

I have used left over AC insulation piping, 25mm bunnings corrugated drain pipe, $10/10m and it has lasted quite a few years now and is still holding up well, even the PVC pipe I used to cover a drain hose straight to my GWT has held up after many years, stopped the drain hose from gettiing a dip in it .................... chassis black is my go to undervan paint, a horrible job brush or spray gun I make a mess.............. I like a mastic type goop for the thru body holes, more flexy....especially on water lines from pump as they go thru floor, cuts a bit of pump noise down in fact anywhere its hard up against a cupboard/floor bit.

My diesel heater bits underneath have a stone guard made of some purlon and it has some big hits on it even situated between the axles so some stuff flies about under there.

I have also lowered my mud flaps a fair bit, moved the stone hits to nearly the rear bumper area...

 

[Hitting the road]

Boy oh boy, have I got a long way to go to catch up with you guys!

 

[Guesty]

Offgrid setup worked a treat for our NT trip mid last year. Free camped/unpowered 29 out of the 42 days we were away.
Fitted the Webber to the tunnel slide so it was one less thing to have to pack and unpack each day

Drove straight up to Darwin, then did Litchfield, Dundee Beach, Kathernine George, etc before working out way around the West Mac Ranges and Mereenie Loop to Kings Canyon/Uluru then across to Coober Pedy and down the Oodnadatta Track to Maree and back onto the black stuff to Adelaide.

Ended up with 2000km of gravel/dirt roads and 9500km all up. Mereenie Loop road was probably the worst, as had only reopened to 4wd and caravans a couple of days before hand due to the rains.

No damaged to van or car except for a split airbag and the awning strap breaking.