JohnDragonMan's Dispatch Camper Conversion

JohnDragonMan · 2021-01-10 03:08:46

Been having a little bit of fun..

so i am pretty disappointed with how the lights preform.. high beam is pretty good but low beams are just bad.

so i bought some brand new headlights. not to fit to the van, but to modify.

so this happened..

then this

to give a end result something like this

and as i know someone out there in the future will want to also do this, i made a kinda how too video.

when i can, i will take the bumper off and fit the new lights. some wiring relay adaptors or modification is needed to run bi-xenon type lighting however.
just waiting on the wiring adaptors and the engine under tray.. do all the jobs in one go big_smile

till next time!

unter · 2021-01-14 03:14:12

i have the same van, 7 years ago when i got it, i had plans to make it all cosy inside, not like a camper, but just a custom space, with a bed, power, storage, warm insulation, heater, etc,
but in the end i got annoyed with the bed wood and junk taking up space, it is always wet and cold in there in the winter no matter what, gas or heaters are not possible in a vehicle,
i tried to sleep in it a few times, really not good experience as it was winter, maybe in summer it would be enjoyable! but i woke up unusually thirsty for water,
its just not a good place to sleep, and if you do want to sleep in it, you still can, just avoid winter,
anyway, my van i like to keep like a builders van, pretty empty inside, no insulation, no useless fridges, ice cream machines, wheelchair seats or other gimmicks,
just a builders van. which can carry a bike easily and occasional whatever.

OAT · 2021-01-14 20:23:25

Mine is like a builders van too. But I can still live in it as comfortably as I have ever lived anywhere. Even in winter.

Currently -3 and snow outside, 21 and cosy in here.

JohnDragonMan · 2021-01-14 21:30:59

i must admit i am more so enjoying the "minimalistic build" i have right now. to the point where i think i am going to keep it like this. if i want anything i can just make it removeable. the insulation i think was the greatest thing i added to the van as it never "wet" inside, then the diesel heater which i pretty much use every day 40 mins before i set off for work. i currently have no bulkhead installed however i will be putting that back in now all the mounts and holes for the new speakers are done on it.

it did fail its Mot on the track rod ends.. the ones i replaced.. being loose. even though the nyloc nut is tightened up all the way they still move. tells me that the taper on the ball joints are a few mm too small. so it means i will have to try to find more.. the correct size.

to be fair i am kinda glad as its helped scrub down the horrific ditch finer tyres on the front. something i will be happy to change to something more... premium.
i am going to swap the tyres around anyway so the ditch finders on the rear will be on the front. i would rather have better tyres on the rear anyway. i will get the thing tracked up after that as it does pull very slightly to the kerb.

wonder if i can convince my boss to work on it in one of his units... at least i will be in the dry! while i am doing all that i will finally get my headlights installed too... and that engine under tray fitted which i am STILL waiting for. held up at the boarder.. sigh. i am really going to miss that free and open market.

anyhoo till next time!

JohnDragonMan · 2021-01-16 13:50:25

Well its done. the headlights are installed and look pretty good. i have done the work on the track rod ends and have new tyres on order. so now we will see how the Mot goes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKBM9S4Sayw

JohnDragonMan · 2021-01-22 12:50:39

MOT pass with the new lights! they look awesome too!

After finding out that the tyres i have on the van are only 56MPH rated with no load indicator.. combined with the fact they are about worn out and have no grip..

i bought some new ones. probibly the best van tyres you can buy.. and yes i did pay for them. only 2 for now, i will have to wait till next month to buy some for the other axle.

bit overkill.. but should last well.

Tranzformer · 2021-02-02 22:49:53

I've just read this post... EPIC!

Well done.

Last edited by Tranzformer (2021-02-02 22:51:22)

gmsk · 2021-02-03 20:02:19

This is amazing! Great to see all of the work - I'm learning a lot. Thanks

JohnDragonMan · 2021-12-18 02:32:49

Well, ive not posted for quite some time. van is still flawless.

added a few decorations.. 'tis the season and all that.

sorry i have not been doing much.. we umm.. bought a lorry. yeah. if you follow my youtube channel you will already know!

have a good one!

Tranzformer · 2021-12-19 22:30:20

@johndragonman

What's your plans with regards to the clean air zone charges?

JohnDragonMan · 2021-12-22 00:24:14

nothing for the moment, it does not affect my home town yet.

i may eventually consider going fully electric. i hope by then the Chinese will have some nice drop in replacements.. and battery technology will be better. will be a damn shame to see the diesel engine go.

until they make an affordable electric vehicle with pretty much identical range and ability to "fill up" as fast as a liquid fuelled vehicle, i dont think i will ever go electric.
i have a friend who has a brand new nissan leaf.. he is forever having to charge it. from derby to buxton and back up the A52 behind traffic, it went from 98% to 14% battery life, and we did not even have the heaters on!
electric is great to use around a town, but long distance.. totally pants. nothing like having to stop at a motorway charge point for an hour and a half wating for a battery to recharge. my friend already has a good number of PCNs because he stayed over the allocated parking times while charging his car. nice little money maker they have set up!

always said that rather than electric, they should have moved over to hydrogen fuel. as it works practically the same as a petrol engine with all the same mileage and fill up times as a vehicle with one.

Pathfinder100 · 2021-12-22 08:09:54

JohnDragonMan wrote:

nothing like having to stop at a motorway charge point for an hour and a half waiting for a battery to recharge. my friend already has a good number of PCNs because he stayed over the allocated parking times while charging his car. nice little money maker they have set up!

You know I wondered whether you could strap a second fast charger into the battery and when you go to an electric charging point, instead of using one, plug two in simultaneously (in parallel) to boost the amps you are pushing in. A standard charger for electric is 60A I think (but could be 40A). if you do an aftermarket fast charger into the battery, you might be able to double that, which might cut charge times in half. No use on a Leaf, but might work well for say an e-NV200 or similar electric van.

I read a thread on one of the Nissan forums about a guy with an electric e-NV200 camper that went around Europe in it and at the end the total cost of fuel was about £16. He did about 2000 miles and used Aires with free electric and Auchan supermarkets and somehow managed it for under £20. I guess he stayed two days on the Aires, as i think on slow charge it takes around 2 days to fully recharge the battery.

I've been looking at the e-NV200 as a possible down the line replacement for my Expert. Specifically the Voltia XL model would be my interest, but I would want more than the 40kwh battery, ideally 60kwh, which would give maybe around 240 miles. Its a LWB with High Roof, but still not much longer than the Expert. Too expensive for me right now, but maybe in a couple of years.

vaz2121 · 2021-12-23 12:50:58

I recently had a chat with the dentist who lives across from me who very recently along with his daughter bought a new car as well as him [both brand new] ........................
I said I was a bit surprised that both of you bought a new dino powered car as I thought you both were so switched on to global warming ETC ............................
This is when I found out his thoughts were not so different to mine ... First of all he said same as me you get nothing for nothing...................
He also said and that electric vehicle are currently just transferring pollution and concentrating it else where as the power for it has to come from somewhere to make it move .....................
He then said they don't have the range that either of them needs as his daughter now lives and works in the Shetland isles.................
I said I thought that up there it would be near perfect because of less distance to be able to travel .................
His response was much the same as johnDragonman's that range is an issue especially the need to catch ferries and in a climate that is colder especially winter where batteries are concerned and we should be looking at hydrogen ................
His reasoning for getting a Normal car even though he looked at electric [Their all kinda switched on there] ..........
Was the same = Range and charge times along with infastructure .................
He also Said he didn't really believe in wind power and we should stop building them ............
As he thought enough is enough where they have blighted great swathes of the UK with them especilly in windier and more beautiful remote parts of Scotland and lots of the time they are switched off because it is to windy for them to operate ...............
As a energy source it is to unreliable to count on .........................

I was surprised that such an environmentally switched on family ............
Had thoughts that were so close to mine............
The one thing he said that I found shocking was .................
In his mind So many young folk are so switched on about saving the planet ..................
But are So ready to use and discard items at their backside pollute and or fill up landfill sites at the drop of a hat..................
Basiclly readily wasting resources without any real thought ..................

So economics, range where two days to get to get a few hundered miles, infastructure and resources does matter after all ...............
He did say that currently Hydrogen is power costly to produce but is so abundant and it's tail pipe emissions are water so clean you could drink plus conversion of current vehicles would not be such a waste of resources plus we need something else to fall back on a plan B so to speak and all our eggs are not in one basket ....................

Last edited by vaz2121 (2021-12-23 12:53:27)

Pathfinder100 · 2021-12-23 14:01:22

I don't disagree with you. Electric isn't the be all and end all of the argument. I suspect in the end either Hydrogen or ultimately (in many years) Fusion, will be the way around the problem. I also don't disagree with his thoughts on wind power. Wind doesn't blow all the time. Tides on the other hand are like clockwork and tidal flow is similarly mapped out, so that's what we should be using to generate power. But for some time their has been some underlying problem with governments committing to use or explore it, as an option. The only working model I know of currently is the Orkney/MeyGen Tidal Stream Turbine, that is capable of generating large amounts of electricity.

Anyway electric makes sense to me if you work locally and need a small range, also if you generate a ton of power yourself and can afford to redirect it into charging a car. But beyond that I think hybrids are the way to go for now, like the Prius. Unfortunately I haven't seen any hybrid vans, but they probably exist. I have seen a hydrogen powered van, but the amount of space the tank took up was pretty crazy. Also the thought of sleeping on a tank of hydrogen fills me with nightmares.

For now, I can't afford anything besides my current van, so it's moot.

vaz2121 · 2021-12-24 18:18:50

Pathfinder100 wrote:

I don't disagree with you. Electric isn't the be all and end all of the argument. I suspect in the end either Hydrogen or ultimately (in many years) Fusion, will be the way around the problem. I also don't disagree with his thoughts on wind power. Wind doesn't blow all the time. Tides on the other hand are like clockwork and tidal flow is similarly mapped out, so that's what we should be using to generate power. But for some time their has been some underlying problem with governments committing to use or explore it, as an option. The only working model I know of currently is the Orkney/MeyGen Tidal Stream Turbine, that is capable of generating large amounts of electricity.
Anyway electric makes sense to me if you work locally and need a small range, also if you generate a ton of power yourself and can afford to redirect it into charging a car. But beyond that I think hybrids are the way to go for now, like the Prius. Unfortunately I haven't seen any hybrid vans, but they probably exist. I have seen a hydrogen powered van, but the amount of space the tank took up was pretty crazy. Also the thought of sleeping on a tank of hydrogen fills me with nightmares.
For now, I can't afford anything besides my current van, so it's moot.

I concur ...........................
I was just so surprised that someone so switched on to environmental issues would express that opinion...............................

It brings me back to the so called experts telling us How the future will be ..........................
They might as well try to pin the tail on the Donkey ........................
Human nature is like water and will take the easiest path to flow .......................

JohnDragonMan · 2022-05-30 21:10:47

Leisure Batteries. more so flat plate gel cells. i have some fairly nice ones that i am going to put in my van. now these are great as you can put them any way up. so i am going to lay them on their side and they are going to go under the middle section of my front bench seat!
the bad point is to be able to fit 2x batteries i will have to cut off the seat belt socket anchor point from off the drivers seat base. damn. however i am going to mount it in the same place as it sticks out a mile.
doing this will mean i can hide my 2x rather large batteries completely. my dream of using the 48v inverter sadly is not feasible in such a small space but i can just about squeeze a 24v system in which is still over the top, but i do have a nice smallish 5kw inverter which takes 24v.
i do want to fit them to an Anderson connector so i need to look at getting one. fun stuff!

oh and yeah.. ive not done anything with it since my last post. i STILL have not insulated the doors... i have just bought the expanding insulating foam though to do the job with. also the roof is still not done yet. waiting for the right plastic sheet to come in to my work. i have all the lights already all 24v.

we i hope to get it done this year!.. hope! still i have used it a few times. the cold feels like it pours off the doors onto my feet at night so i need to get then insulated.

hope to continue my updates! and the ones on Youtube.

OAT · 2022-05-31 20:15:04

Any recomendations for CHEAP gell bateries?

Apparently retired hospital ones can sometimes be found?

JohnDragonMan · 2022-06-01 19:26:21

the cheapest you will get is scrap.. i got mine from where i work.. in a scrap yard. they are ex UPS batteries dated mid 2020. they should still be good.

they were still about £60 though. still forgot to take photos of where i have them stored. they do fit well! had to use some washers on the seat to lift it slightly so they would fit under. its not noticeable however.

Last edited by JohnDragonMan (2022-06-01 19:26:44)

OAT · 2022-06-01 22:00:52

I would have thought that with all your electrical gear that you would need a lot of battery power. Especialy if you intend to use an inverter for anything.

The cheapest ones seem an expensive risk and the known branded ones are far too expensive. I will just have to stick with lead acid I think.

JohnDragonMan wrote:

its not noticeable however.

Not till your 6' 2" mate gets in. smile

JohnDragonMan · 2022-06-03 01:45:54

ahh, you all have not see my "other" project. yes we have the Iveco Daily still which has sadly become an abandoned project as we are just using it as a van now... due to it being replaced.

we bought a lorry. yes. for 10 blueish pictures of the queen with the number 20 stamped on them. well it was more like £270 as we had some spare parts thrown in.
anyway cut a long story short, that will become my brothers permanent residence. parked on a street near to where we live on the road (being 7.5 ton you can legally park it so long as it has the side lights left on).
anyway (x2) my brother has already bought his battery bank for it... and gone fully lithium. costly but nice.

back to me however i do plan on using an inverter or UPS i am trying to get one that is around 3.3kw (13 amp output). an actual pure sinewave inverter is costly.. however a battery backup UPS is very cheap.. bought from a scrap yard for £10 without the batteries. as its my job to dismantle them amongst other things i think i can hack one up to not only be the 24v charger whel on hook up, but also be the main incomer for an electric hook up. given it can uninterruptedly switch from mains to battery in almost an instant and the newer ones have all different control settings, charge rates and all kinds of cool stuff. impressive they get scrapped like they do. good cheap pure sinewave inverters. who knows, i may be able to upgrade to 48v in the future. though i dont think ill need that.

i have just built my "busbar boxes" one for 12v and one for 24v which will be 2x nice boxes with a bit of busbar i can connect things onto.
for the 12v, a small fuse box for small things like aux lighting, the battery to battery charger, my 3 audio amplifiers, and powered subwoofer. also a 350A Anderson connector for jump starting 12v vehicles.
for the 24v, a small fuse box for lighting water pump and the like, the solar charger, the battery to battery charger, an also another 350A Anderson connector for jump starting 24v vehicles.

both boxes will have all the outputs fused too! love it!
the 2 boxes will be put on the passenger side seat base so i can access the fuses via opening the door.

ill worry about cable management when the time comes.. heh...

JohnDragonMan · 2022-06-05 22:29:38

Ok so i have managed to fit the 2 gel cells under the seat! i did have to do a little cutting but they went under and fit quite snug.

heres a photo of just one fitted for now:

note the little bit of metal on top of the blue battery, that is the bit i had to cut off the drivers side seat. its the mounting point for the middle seat's seat belt clip. as you can see, i cut it off and relocated the mounting point for it behind the seat. seems a bit more strong being mounted there now. it also lowers it slightly as it used to stick up quite high and now it sits just above the drivers seat belt clip.

the 12v to 24v charging system is almost wired in i am just waiting on the large 350 Amp Anderson connectors to get here. they will not only be one of my isolation points, but they will also be needed to be so big to handle very high current loads if i ever use them to jump start anything... which i do plan on mounting 2 pairs of Anderson connectors under my tow hitch. one for 12v and one for 24v jump lead connection points.

i have just installed 2x fuse boxes one for 12v and one for 24v. i need to make labels and im considering setting up a colour scheme to differentiate between 12v wires and 24v wires. just a wrap of coloured tape or something.

hmm i do need to add a small switched live fuse box too.. maybe.. hmm nahh i can do that on the relay sense side of things.

all exciting stuff.. took me a while to get around to it but its happening!

OAT · 2022-06-05 23:35:27

Looking forward to the flux capacitor instalation.

JohnDragonMan · 2022-06-06 18:24:33

bah. the one in the movies looks nothing like the real thing.

Casper · 2022-06-17 21:31:14

JohnDragonMan wrote:

bah. the one in the movies looks nothing like the real thing.

He is right you know. Here is my Pug Expert passing Marty McFly on the Edinburgh bypass and you cant even see the Flux Capacitor.

OAT · 2022-06-21 02:33:15

I think I may have seen it in Selkirk (there can't be that many around in the borders?). Parked in a narrow back street and the passenger couldn't get out as the door couldn't be opened! Had to reverse into the middle of the road to let them out.

I am begining to think a flux capacitor may be far too retro and simple for JohnD. More likely to go for an inter-dimensional vortex portal generator and run if from a fag lighter socket. wink

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#51 2021-01-10 03:08:46

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#63 2021-12-23 12:50:58

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#64 2021-12-23 14:01:22

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#66 2022-05-30 21:10:47

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#70 2022-06-03 01:45:54

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#72 2022-06-05 23:35:27

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