Van Electrical System Updates - Battery monitor w/shunt, new charge controller, Bluetooth and more.

Welcome to my channel all about my very small camper van - a diy minivan camper.
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It’s winter here, so it is a perfect time for some upgrades on my very small camper van.
I’m making a new center console to fit between the front seats of the van and making some changes to the 12 volt electrical system of the minivan camper.
I’m installing an AiLi battery monitor with a shunt, a new Renogy Wanderer charge controller with a Bluetooth module to use with their BT app, a temperature sensor, USB charging ports, 12 volt sockets and a socket to plug in a genius charger, which I use as “shore power”.

All of this works with my Renogy solar panels - 100 watts on the roof of the van and a 50 watt portable panel that plugs in via as SAE socket - and a 90 amp hour AGM deep cycle battery.
I’ll also show you how to crimp copper lugs onto 4 AWG wires without a crimper. (hint: use a vise and a ball bearing)
I’ll also go over the whole electrical set up, with diagrams, wire and fuse sizes, and show how set the parameters on the battery monitor.

Here are some of the components I used. I don’t have any affiliations or sponsorships:
BATTERY
-Battery: 90 amp hour AGM from a local company, cheap one.
SOLAR IN
- 10 gauge wire with inline fuses between the panels and charge controller: max amps x 1.25 safety factor, then round up: in my case 10 amps for solar side and 30 amps for charge controller towards battery side. (match to amp rating of charge controller)
BATTERY ISOLATOR IN
This is to charge house battery while car is running. A BETTER OPTION is a DC to DC charger. But they were too expensive/not talked about when I was building mine. Some are both solar charge controllers and DC chargers and will also allow you to charge the vehicle battery from your solar...
AC CHARGING IN (shore power, sorta)
FUSE BOX OUT
The wiring I used is all 12 gauge but that is over kill for the watts my system is drawing.
It all goes to some lights, USB sockets for phone charging and fans, and some 12 volt sockets for cooler and inverter.
I will go over these in a futur video, in the spring when I have it all set up again and can film it.
INVERTER
I have an ancient 150 watt inverter, bought, literally, over 20 years ago for playing movies on laptop for kids on long drives. It just plugs in to the 12 V socket, same as it would in a car. It is fine for me as we don't run any AC appliances in the van.
We occasionally use it to charge the laptop, but will be switching over to a DC travel charger soon.

If you have more specific questions, give me a shout and I'll be happy to answer.
Bear in mind: I am not an electrician, just some other fool with a youtube channel, who has done a bit of research for her own system. :-)

[averysmallcampervan]

IMPORTANT: In the video I complain that you can't turn off the backlight on the monitor and a viewer suggested that you could by pressing the two arrow buttons at the same time.
If it says this in your instructions; Great!
If this is not mentionned in your instructions, do not do it. On older monitors, pressing those two buttons will reset the battery capacity to 0%.
I tried it (don't trust everything you read on the internet!) and now I am trying to figure out how to fix it.

[LifeistooshortCK]

Love the idea of using a ball bearing and the vice to crimp the wires. Thats a significant improvement and a very handy space to store things. 👍

[goldfools]

I leant a few things from this well made video. Well done.
Your fabrication is very professional.
When I make things from plywood, (they don’t look as good as yours) I glue on the grey speaker carpet. It looks cosy and things don’t rattle about inside.

[jenheung]

Thanks for showing all designs and steps to

[wrxs]

First time on your channel, enjoyed the video and subscribed.

[FernTheCamper]

It's sooo cold! Well done for doing all this work and keeping from freezing. Love the new charge controller. The app looks like it will be helpful.

[Venomator.]

I found your video through a search for the exact same AiLi Monitor, which I have just installed in my caravan (UK). This is a very helpful video for me and very clear & concise in content, thank you.
One tip - you are able to turn the backlight off on your monitor - press the left & right arrow keys together to toggle the light on or off.
Thank you, again, for taking time out to share your work with us, cheers, Rog... 👍🏻 😉 🐍

[Holtgrewe]

You’re very knowledgeable, Thanks for sharing everything !

[AZExpert]

that's a great video! The ball bearing trick is something I never thought of. One day, I'll buy a vise..I'm not sure how I don't have one at this point. Thanks!

[martinsmith]

If you press and hold the two outside buttons on the monitor for a couple of seconds it turns off the back light 💡 Great trick with the BB too 🙂

[renaulttraficconversion]

I like the box setup. I will look into making one using your ideas with your permission. Thanks for another great video.

[mkroach]

I believe you can turn off the backlight in your battery monitor, you can press button V and % to turn on/off backlight.

[bidybo]

Your videos are amazing! I don't understand why you don't have more views! I just moved away from montreal, otherwise I would have asked if you wanted to meet up!

[junctek]

New product KG140F battery monitor uses a color screen to display more beautifully and supports Bluetooth control by mobile phones.

[bobbyswampfox]

Hello, very informative video. The best I've seen on this monitor. I am about to install one of these in my camper and I was trying to figure out if the ground that goes to the chassis should be on the shunt or if it should stay on the battery terminal. Looks like I should attach it to the shunt. Thanks! Looking forward to subscribing and watching move camper videos!

[martykong]

Well DONE! Thanks SO much for share, video and information! All the BEST to you! Cheers !:)

[livinglifemyway]

use some 3m VHB tape to hold the shunt in place
also nice job using the ball bearing

[samdoe]

Hi, and thanks for sharing this. As always, your setup is practical and ingenious, and the presentation a pleasure to watch. Could you tell us, in your particular model of Dodge Caravan, how you routed the wire from the engine compartment to the house battery compartment? Did you find an existing grommet in the firewall that you could use? Thanks in advance!

[scottmontreal]

Can you explain how you used a battery isolator safely without discharging your battery, etc.? Do you think a DC to DC charger which start at $120 USD are worth it? Thanks.

[SomeRandomOldGuy]

Thanks for the very helpful video. I really needed to see how all the pieces worked together. BTW when you build your plywood boxes do you just use butt joints, glue and pin nails?