158 lines
9.1 KiB
Markdown
158 lines
9.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: I Got a Van
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date: 2024-08-24
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tags:
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- Van Build
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description: >
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I've bought a van. I'm planning on converting it to a camper and documenting
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the process here.
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---
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So, as you've probably gathered from the title, I've bought a van. Or, at least,
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reserved it, I actually pick it up in a couple of weeks. It's a 2019 Fiat Ducato
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L4H2 which means it's long and quite tall.
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There will be 3 of us using the van. Me, my wife, and our lurcher, Rumple. One
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of the biggest requirements we have is that the van is both comfortable and safe
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for him to live and travel in. We have some ideas and thoughts around this, but
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you will hopefully see what that looks like in future posts.
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My plan is to convert this van into a camper. This first post is mainly a brain
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dump, for me as much as anyone else, about my current plans. Many will change,
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some may be scrapped all together.
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We are not planning on living in the van. However, it would be nice if we can go
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away for prolonged trips in it. Maybe a month or 6 weeks at a time. Obviously,
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we will use it for shorter weekend breaks, but we don't want to be limited
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to a week or so at a time. As a result, we should be able to work from the van.
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We are in a very fortunate position that my wife and I both work from home for
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the vast majority of the time. As a result, as long as we have a reasonable
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internet connection and electricity, we can both work.
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Obviously, if we are both working off laptops, and potentially with additional
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monitors, or power consumption is likely to be on the higher end. The electrical
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system in the van will definitely be a separate blog post, but at the moment, it
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looks like we'll be going for [LiFePO_4_
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batteries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery).
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Hopefully with 2 or 3 solar panels on the roof, as well as DC to DC charging so
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we can charge the batteries whilst driving. We will probably also add a shore
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power hookup, but that may come further down the line.
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For the internet side of things, I plan to mount a 5G antenna on the roof.
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Despite the name, it should pick up all the Gs. I will be on the look out for a
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router that I can plug such an antenna into, preferably one that supports the
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something like OpenWRT.
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This brings me quite nicely onto my plans for the Van's network. I hate WiFi. It
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will be available in the van for all my ESP boards (more on that later), but if
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I'm working on my laptop, I want it plugged in with a cable. So, I will be
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running Ethernet in my van, as well as power and water and whatever else I need
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to make it into a camper. I won't be going overboard like I did in my house -
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weight is a consideration in a van and cables are heavy; but I will be running
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it to (as a minimum) the office space for me and my wife, and my van server.
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Van server? Yes, you heard (read?) that right. I'll be having a server in my
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van. I am not sure yet if I'll be going down the Pi route, or something like a
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Nuc, but I will be having a low-ish powered server in the van. This will run
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things like [Home Assistant](https://www.home-assistant.io/) (more on that in a
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bit), [PiHole](https://pi-hole.net/),
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[AudioBookShelf](https://www.audiobookshelf.org/),
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[WireGuard](https://www.wireguard.com/) and maybe a few other things.
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Importantly, I won't be using it to run things that need a lot of power - think
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Jellyfin, Ollama and such.
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Things might change. Obviously, with a server that can go on motorways, spinning
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hard drives are a no-go. So storage is likely to have to be solid state for
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everything. As a result, I won't really be using this for a NAS. Storage of
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photos and videos will still go to my home server in my house. But things like
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audiobooks and podcasts that I am likely to want to listen to on the go will be
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stored on the local network.
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So, I mentioned Home Assistant. I am a big fan of **some** smart home tech. For
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me to be a fan of it, it needs to run (or be made to run) locally. Being able to
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turn your lights on from your phone is great, but if the switch on the wall
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doesn't work without an internet connection, I'm not interested. In my house,
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all of our light switches have been flashed with [ESPHome](https://esphome.io/).
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This custom firmware allows the switch to be controlled via Home Assistant, but
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importantly, even if my network has some catastrophic failure, the button still
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works. In the van, the chances of no internet are likely to be high - even with
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a fancy antenna on the roof. So, requiring the internet is an absolute no go for
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me.
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That will probably mean a whole bunch of DIY devices. I should be able to quite
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easily make things like lighting smart. I would also like to think that things
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like water sensors for my fresh and waste water can be read by an ESP device.
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What will probably take a bit more work / experimentation will be plugging an
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ESP device into the vehicles CAN bus to see if I can read data from that. It
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would also be great to have things like celling fans and heaters controllable
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from Home Assistant.
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Talking of fans and heaters, it is probably worth me mentioning that I will be
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trying to keep costs down where possible - or at least prioritising where money
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is spent. I would much rather, for instance, buy a cheap [Chinese celing
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fan](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007224984817.html) or [diesel
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heater](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006359176237.html) so I can buy
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decent electronics from the likes of [Victron](https://www.victronenergy.com/).
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Of course, I'll be taking things like the fans apart to see if I can stick an
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ESP chip in them and control them with Home Assistant.
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With regard to cooking in the van, I'm currently undecided on the best course of
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action. I would like to go fully electric, with induction hobs and an electric
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oven. Obviously, this would mean I need even more batteries in the van, which
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will increase the weight even more. However, I think with the amount of driving
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we normally do, I should be able to keep batteries topped up from the vehicle's
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alternator. It is possible that we will keep a gas camping stove somewhere so
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that if we're caught out, we can still boil water and heat food. But I would
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rather avoid the added hassle of gas canisters and piping if I can.
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With regard to water, I would like to mount both fresh and waste water tanks
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under the van. I don't yet know how big they will be, and will probably be
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determined by weight restrictions. However, my plan is to fit a low powered
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immersion heater into these to prevent them freezing in the winter. I won't be
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using this to make hot water, just to keep the temperature of the water above
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freezing - again probably powered by an ESP chip.
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Hot water is a different story. I have seen many youtube van builders pipe their
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diesel heater's pipe to a heat exchanger to heat the water. I may do this, but I
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would also like to try and heat the water from the engine's coolant system. I
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haven't seen this done in a camper (I'm not suggesting it hasn't been done), but
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I have seen it done [on other
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vehicles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKmkqenpE5o).
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One thing I'm fairly sure I don't want in the van is a full sized shower. At
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least, not an internal one. Space is a premium in a van, and in my opinion, the
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space a shower takes up is unnecessary. I will probably add something like the
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[Bullfinch External Shower
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Point](https://camperwarehouse.co.uk/product/bullfinch-external-shower-point-white/),
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so we can have outdoor showers if we need them. But most of the time, I think
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we'll be able to make do with a flannel and a bowl of hot water. It does mean
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that the sink in the van will need to be big enough to wash our hair in. An
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added bonus of the external shower system is we'll be able to wash off Rumple
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before he gets in the van when he inevitably gets covered in mud.
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Only thing I haven't really touched upon is the planned layout. That will
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probably be my next blog post, but I plan to keep it quite simple. Bed at the
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back. Undecided yet on the orientation, and that will depend if I can sleep
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width ways once we've added the insulation. If I can't, and we end up making the
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bed go length ways, we will probably have an "almost" fixed bed, where the
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bottom foot or so is removable and is used as a back rest or something. This
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frees up some more space in the middle of the van during the day, but still
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means we don't need to make our bed each evening.
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The cab area will have swivel seats. This will make our main living / working
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area, and as a result, we won't have a separate "lounge". Again, space is at a
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premium in a van.
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Between the cab / living area and the bed will be our kitchen and toilet areas,
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as well as a spot for Rumple's bed. Importantly this will include a mounting
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point for his harness so he is secured whilst driving.
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Before I finish up, it's probably important that I clarify a few things. I will
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be learning as I go. I will be making mistakes and I will aim to share those
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with you. However, this "build log" will not be tutorials. I am not an
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electrician, so don't take electrical advice off me. Same for plumbing or
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carpentry or anything else for that matter. That being said, if you spot
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something I could be doing better, or an idea you think I might like, or just
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want to say hi, leave a comment by emailing `comments.new-van<at>jn.hn`.
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