2009 Chevy Medium Duty 4x4 Kodiak Ambulance conversion

Mattersnots

Adventurer
Electricals...........

My electrical system is all Victron Energy from Bahn Camperworks. It went together easily and is amazing thus far. The panels are 1300 watts (panasonic), batteries are 2 x 200 amps lithium, Inverter is a multiplus 3000w, and solar controller is a 150/85.

TOM20180608_193330_DRO.jpg

My favorite feature of this system by far is the fact that I can send excess power back to the grid. When I'm not plugged in the extra power will go to the water heater. Below is the color control gx which is the brain of the Victron Energy system.

TOM20180604_122136_DRO.jpg

The GX also has wifi and gps built in. You can go to this link and see where I am and what the power statistics are. I've just invited all of you into the circle of trust. If my truck comes up missing the first place I'd go is that site. I'm trusting none of you will steal my truck and pull the gps :)

These last pictures were taken recently and show where I am now. Next goal is to have the shower compartment finished enough to install the fridge. After fridge comes motor vehicle inspection, then tires, then counter top order. With the temps above 100 it's good to be working inside.

TOM20180609_131030_DRO.jpg

TOM20180608_193510_DRO.jpg

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patoz

Expedition Leader
I must say, your electrical work looks great!

Are you planning on putting any kind of a shield over the OEM electrical panel to protect it, such as a piece of Plexiglas on standoffs, etc?
 

Coachgeo

Explorer
Electricals...........

My electrical system is all Victron Energy from Bahn Camperworks. It went together easily and is amazing thus far. The panels are 1300 watts (panasonic), batteries are 2 x 200 amps lithium, Inverter is a multiplus 3000w, and solar controller is a 150/85.

View attachment 454020

My favorite feature of this system by far is the fact that I can send excess power back to the grid. When I'm not plugged in the extra power will go to the water heater. Below is the color control gx which is the brain of the Victron Energy system.

View attachment 454021

The GX also has wifi and gps built in. You can go to this link and see where I am and what the power statistics are. I've just invited all of you into the circle of trust. If my truck comes up missing the first place I'd go is that site. I'm trusting none of you will steal my truck and pull the gps :)

These last pictures were taken recently and show where I am now. Next goal is to have the shower compartment finished enough to install the fridge. After fridge comes motor vehicle inspection, then tires, then counter top order. With the temps above 100 it's good to be working inside.
Grid tie is exactly what I want to do as well. How did you get 1300 watt on an ambo roof? didn't think they were large enough for that.

Also...... what will you do with you get some block from shade.... the whole array will drag down to lowest denominator (the shaded section). Or did you wire it with more than one array with either switches to turn off the shaded ones or use seperate charge controller for each array so one shaded does not drag down others?
 

java

Expedition Leader
Very nice! I wish I had gone all Victron, I'm working on fixing that as I upgrade!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

RiderBloke

Observer
Electricals...........

My favorite feature of this system by far is the fact that I can send excess power back to the grid. When I'm not plugged in the extra power will go to the water heater.


Or, my wife suggested, your friends parked next to you could plug in to your system.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Mattersnots

Adventurer
I must say, your electrical work looks great!

Are you planning on putting any kind of a shield over the OEM electrical panel to protect it, such as a piece of Plexiglas on standoffs, etc?

No plans for that yet. It's a good idea. There isn't much room for anything else to go in this cabinet. We shall see, if I try to cram other stuff in there then I might use your idea. Most likely it will stay as is for easy access. A guy on instagram had a great idea of putting a top rail on the toilet rollers to keep it in place. Love this idea and will use it.
 

Mattersnots

Adventurer
Grid tie is exactly what I want to do as well. How did you get 1300 watt on an ambo roof? didn't think they were large enough for that.

Also...... what will you do with you get some block from shade.... the whole array will drag down to lowest denominator (the shaded section). Or did you wire it with more than one array with either switches to turn off the shaded ones or use seperate charge controller for each array so one shaded does not drag down others?

What can I say, it's a big roof. There was room to spare. The panels are something like 63 x 42? Look up the panasonic 325 watt panels on Northern Arizona Wind and Sun's site to check. The panels are wired so each side is separate. Two arrays each in series. In other words if the driver or passenger side gets shaded it doesn't effect the other side. I'm not sure but I think the higher the voltage the less you lose with shading. Mine are sending 110 volts per side.
 

Coachgeo

Explorer
What can I say, it's a big roof. There was room to spare. The panels are something like 63 x 42? Look up the panasonic 325 watt panels on Northern Arizona Wind and Sun's site to check. The panels are wired so each side is separate. Two arrays each in series. In other words if the driver or passenger side gets shaded it doesn't effect the other side. I'm not sure but I think the higher the voltage the less you lose with shading. Mine are sending 110 volts per side.
dang..... I screwed up lol.. that is an awesome price. I got 100w panels on sale and three at price I got is still more costly than one of those 325w they sell.
 

Mattersnots

Adventurer
I really need to check this rig out in person. Looking for a plumbing job??

I'm up for a consulting job and you can use my crimper. Bring that rig up here to the cooler temps. It was only 96 here yesterday. Maybe I'll swing through there on my way North in a couple months. Phoenix in August, yay....
 

revolutionary

New member
Does anybody know what happened to this build? I was getting really into it but this long wait is frustrating... Does the electrical system work? Will the tires fit? Is there going to be a guest bedroom? So many questions.
 

Mattersnots

Adventurer
I'm back. Actually I've been here the whole time, just putting all my hours into the truck rather than the interweb. Coming up on 4 months of full time work. Yep, we're talking 50 hours a week with no breaks but the occasional bike ride. Is it still fun? Yes it is. Do I wish it was finished and I was on the road? Yes I do. Will I ever do it again? No I won't. The other part that makes this interesting is that I don't own a house anymore. I'm living in my fathers back yard and sleeping in the truck on a cot. They don't have a guest room with A/C and luckily the truck does. Talk about incentive to finish.

Having said that, the work is getting more rewarding as I go because the good stuff is now being installed. Every completed system makes life just that much easier.

Enough with the words. Where are we now?

I spent hours figuring out this particular box which goes above the tall electrical compartment.
TOM20180602_095642_DRO.jpg
Sometimes these ideas are so simple to imagine and so difficult to build. This box was supposed to house the surround sound receiver and other media gizmos. It was supposed to be revealed when the bathroom sliding door was opened. Turns out it just wasn't a big enough space and got very complicated. When the box went away it meant the fridge could be moved forward which adds 6 inches to the counter top. But for that to happen all of the switch wiring would need to be moved across to the other side of the truck. One days work for 6" more counter space for life, absolutely!

Here's a shot of the wires hanging on the passenger side. It took less than a day to make this change. Thanks again to Wheeled Coach for the "just in case" long wires.
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Found a great place to put the gps antenna. Thought I would share for those of you with these kinds of lights.
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Onto the bathroom. This is the most complicated and time consuming part of the build thus far. There's a lot going on with two sliding doors, a sink, shower head, window, light, fan, and some crazy toilet hiding behind a door.
TOM20180614_103848_DRO.jpg
I couldn't find a sink and needed one to pass the motor vehicle inspection so I just made a quickie. It's ok, but very small and will likely be impossible to clean. I'll use it for a while and see how it goes.

The plumbing wasn't so bad, just tight.
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I had to change many of the fittings on the bathroom fixtures. I've put in over 250 pex crimp fittings without a leak. Installing the contraption above resulted in 6 water leaks. Beware of Chinese quality and thread incompatibility. I tried to buy very high quality components but still had issues.

It's coming together nicely. Another issue I'm having is hiding the screw holes. I tried making and installing plugs and that was a nightmare. The latest plan is to use as few as possible and hide them with white caulking in the end.
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Next comes the large sliding door. There is a definite order to these things. No way to skip ahead because everything is interconnected. I spend a lot of time sitting and staring. I think the visual part of my brain must be twice the size it was before the build. Here I am trying to work out the layers.
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Finally settled on a design that was strong enough to hold the door up and yet light enough. It's insulated with the pink stuff and yes my tv will be attached.
TOM20180618_120802_DRO.jpg
Here's a shot of the door closed with the edge of the tv showing. I was very happy to find the that the door came flush with the opposite wall to seal the shower.
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