Installing The Entire Off Grid Victron System Into My Stealth Camper Van (start to finish)

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Back on the stealth camper van build and today we are getting everything installed and up and running for our 12vt electrical system. By the end of this video, everything needs to be in and working. Do we have 12vt power? 3 2 1.

[00:00:19]We have got to install our shore power.

[00:00:22]Install some 230 plug sockets. Make sure our battery is fully secured in the van.

[00:00:28]singlehandedly move the full electrical board into the van. What possibly could go wrong? Install a ground point in the van and get it all wired up. We've got a lot to do, so we better crack on. Last episode, we got everything fully wired up on our electrical board. That includes the Easy Plus compact, which is our replacement for a Multiplus 2. We hacked the links power in to make it into a links distributor and wired everything into the correct position. So now it's just a case of getting this in the van. Whilst you've been away, I have done a few little bits. That includes I've put the cabinet back together. So this is ready to receive the electrical board. I've also cut out my ply panels and started to suede line those. So, we've got a few jobs left to do, and they are sort out a few of our 230 cables. I need to wire in the AC and the AC outs. These fancy little plugs just detach.

[00:01:30]We also need to run our DC toDC cable, which is going to run along here into the battery there, and drill a hole in the floor to run my AC in cable out of.

[00:01:42]So, we can fit our AC in.

[00:01:45]Plenty to do. Better go on it. First job we are doing the panels to get those in.

[00:01:50]So I just need to suede line those. One, two, three.

[00:01:56]Right. I didn't think that through. I can't get it out.

[00:02:02]There we go.

[00:02:07]Before I can suede line these, I'm just marking out and drilling a few holes in the corners of each of the pieces of ply. This is so that I can screw them onto some other pieces of wood I've mounted in the back of the cupboards.

[00:02:19]There wasn't really anywhere to bolt these panels in. Then it's on with the contact adhesive on both the ply and the four-way stretch suede. And then I just make a few incisions so that I can open up some of the pass through holes for my cables. Then it's just a case of repeating this process for the smaller panels. Then we get them in the van. And with the suede on, they're a nice tight fit. Panels in. I have put some holes in them to put some screws in, but obviously I haven't got the right length. I've got I thought I had some, but I haven't. So, I've ordered some 12 mil black screws, but I did just realized down here I need to connect an earth cable here. So, before I can fit that panel on, I may need to reuade that panel. I got a few questions from the last video. Do these panels rattle? So, what I find is on smaller ones, they don't when they're bolted back like that. If you've got bigger ones, what I do is put some suede, like offcuts of suede onto the metal panels and then that just kind of cushions it so you don't get any vibrations. I just want to take a moment to say thank you to our new sponsors, Howden's Modified Van Insurance. Whether you're insuring a finished camper van or you're insuring a van conversion in progress, they will ensure your van from the time you buy it to the time that it's a finished camper van. Give Howen's a call and mention a Buck Life and they will give you a great deal on your van insurance. I can personally recommend Howdens because both of our vans have always been insured with Howens and currently are.

[00:03:53]So, what are you waiting for? Give them a call. Next job, we need to do an earth to chassis point on the van. I'm going to be using a stainless steel M8 bolt.

[00:04:03]I've got a couple of flat washers on there. I've also got a spring washer on there so it stays nice and tight. Right, we've got a couple of cables to earth.

[00:04:11]We don't want to be getting electrocuted. So, I mark out where I want it. This nice piece of flat metal.

[00:04:18]Then, I use a center punch cuz it's always a good idea when you're drilling into metal. In goes a pilot hole drill bit. Then goes the 8 mm drill bit. Then we debur it. Then we give it a good sand down to expose a nice amount of metal.

[00:04:33]This is what's actually going to be the earth point. Then we pop our bolts in.

[00:04:38]Job done. So that becomes the ground for the system. Both the 230 vol and 12vt from the links. Bolt washer. That goes on there. Washer. Washer. Spring washer.

[00:04:52]And there.

[00:04:55]Next up is the 230 in. So, this is my shore power. Because this is a stealth van, I don't want this mounted on the sides of the van. I'm going to mount it underneath. So, I need to drill a hole in the floor. Then, we need to mount this to something underneath that's secure and out the way. I think this is going to be the spot here. I couldn't find a place next to the wheel arch. It was all too tight. So, I'm going to have to go here. Bring it through there. But there's always that feeling of, am I drilling in the right place when you drill through the floor?

[00:05:28]Have we drilled in the correct spot?

[00:05:30]What are you doing, Skye? Come here.

[00:05:33]Come here. Come here.

[00:05:38]Yes. It's there. There. Hello, dog. Oh, you just lick me with your with your smelly breath.

[00:05:47]Do you want to go stealth camping? Yeah, you do. Took her to the vets the other day cuz she she's lost weight, but she's apparently all right. Just old now. 13.

[00:05:58]Right. I'm going to follow that pilot hole up with a few other bits. 22 mil flat wood drill bit going in from above.

[00:06:05]And then from the bottom, we're using a stepped metal drill bit, which we're going to again take to about 22 mil.

[00:06:12]Then it's on with a little bit of Seeker primer just so we don't get any rust.

[00:06:16]Gave it a little bit of a clean before that as well. Next, I offered up my electric hookup point, marked it out, center punched it, and then drilled myself a couple of holes. Again, I primed it just to make sure I don't get any rust. Back into the workshop, and I cut myself about 2 m of Arctic Blue cable. This is cable that is designed for camp vans. I believe it's got a thicker outer core, which means it can just take a little bit more movement. We then need to wire up the electric hookup point. There's three cables to wire up.

[00:06:47]Live, earth, and neutral. Live is brown, neutral is blue, and earth is yellow and green. It will usually indicate on the device which of the pins is live, earth, and neutral. I also put some fererals on my stripped cables. This way, again, we're not going to get any strands, and we're just reducing the risk of fire.

[00:07:07]Then I place the Arctic Blue cable in some 20 mm conduit, and then I have a go at screwing it to the van. But I actually do a better job here of just screwing up. Epic fail. I've just snapped the screw. Look. Look at it.

[00:07:26]Stainless steel screws. You'd think they would be a bit stronger, but maybe I need to drill my hole out slightly bigger.

[00:07:35]Round two.

[00:08:03]Yes, that was a bit of a challenge. But now with that 522 around the hole where it comes into the van and around the gland that goes into the socket, we should be nice and watertight. The 230 in is in. I've edited that panel so we can get to the earth point. Next, we need to install this our waterproof socket to go somewhere around here.

[00:08:28]Perfect for ebike charging. Where to put it? wants to be in middle and yes, I'm just using my palm router and a rounded bit to make sure the edges of that hole are nice and smooth, just so we don't catch any wires or wear them away.

[00:08:57]Then it's back into the workshop to wire up that 230 plug socket. I've got a waterproof plug socket. I don't think you need it, but it is at the back of the van and it can get a little bit wet there. I've also got some conduit and some conduit boxes just so that we've not got any loose wires inside the van and everything's just held down nice and secure out the way. Again, I'm using fererals when I've stripped the wires.

[00:09:20]Then it's just a case of reassembling all of this in the van and making sure you get it all put together the correct way and not do what I did and actually forget to thread the wire through the conduit box. So I had to take it all off and then put it all back on. But eventually we got there.

[00:09:40]Yes, that was a bit of a fast cuz I had to take it all off and put it all back on again. But it's in.

[00:09:47]I've even made some labels for my wires so I know which one's which with this little beast. AC out three.

[00:09:56]There we go. The only job left to do in there is something to hold the batteries down. And I've got a little idea. New day. And a couple of things have arrived. Data cable. That thing which plugs into the middle port of the battery. That means we don't need a smart shunt. So we know how much power is left in the battery. two, some screws, some black screws for for the panels.

[00:10:26]Next job, we need to run a few of our 230 cables. This stuff, AC out boiler. Cheeky sticker going on there. AC out one. Get it on both ends as well. So, we're going to have AC out boiler going up, over, and down because our autoterm system is going to be going here. AC out one again going up, over, down, over here for our hob and kitchen appliances. And then AC out two coming round into this area here. That's going to be for our desk office space with our PC monitor. Again, I'm just putting these cables into some conduit. I'm not going to put the full cable in conduit yet, but I will be doing it at a later date. Just enough to get it into the cupboard. And then I'll run the rest of the cables later on. Then what we can do is make a small incision in my pass through cable points.

[00:11:27]Pass that through.

[00:11:32]Yeah.

[00:11:40]Yes. Okay, we're getting close now. So, that's all of my 230 cables are run. I just need to secure the battery in here and then we're ready to bring it in, which I'm a bit worried about cuz it looks pretty heavy. And there's no pregnant Jenny this time. We've got a problem. The battery is now too big with the cladding on the back. Problem solved in 3 2 1. So, I whip that panel out.

[00:12:04]take off the suede liner, drill a couple more holes, and then use my jigsaw to make that into a slot. This way, the battery should just be able to press into that area. Slap a bit more glue on, put it all back together, bang it back in the van. Fixed. I think that now gives me a nice amount of clearance for a door. Now, I need to try and work out a way of holding my battery down. I've got an idea for this. I'm not 100% sure it'll work, but I want to give it a go and see if it does. I'd get myself a piece of timber the same size as the bottom of the battery. I sand it up, make it all nice, slap a little bit of polish on there so that it doesn't go moldy. Then I've got myself a couple of luggage straps. My plan is to staple these to the bottom of the piece of wood and then screw the actual piece of wood down into the floor of the van. This way I can strap the battery down. It's not going anywhere.

[00:13:00]a few holes for some screws. I'm also using a counter synink drill bit here so that the screws sit nice and flat and don't stick up into the battery. And we're ready to get it into the van. In the van, I just screw it down. And I also add a layer of dodo mat duo. This is so it doesn't slide around and so it adds a little bit of extra insulation so the battery doesn't get cold in winter.

[00:13:22]So, we're happy with that. There we go.

[00:13:24]Battery is in. And as I said, I put a little bit of dodo mat duo on the bottom there to add a little bit of insulation and also to stop it sliding forward because of these data cable entries. I couldn't get a strap that way round when it's tightened up. I don't think that's going to be going anywhere. We're ready to get it in. That battery needs to come out again cuz obviously I need to do the earth cables, but I wanted to test it all fitted. So, we've got to get that into the van.

[00:13:53]And I'm on my own. I think it'll be all right. I had a quick test lift. It wasn't too heavy. Ideally, I want these to stay with this during the lift so that way I can lay sit it down in there, wire it up, push it into position.

[00:14:09]That's the plan. Cameras are positioned.

[00:14:13]Wish me luck. Give me a thumbs up and a subscribe for this successful lift. 3 2 1.

[00:14:29]Yes.

[00:14:33]Ow, it hurts.

[00:14:38]Yes.

[00:14:41]Successful.

[00:14:44]Successful.

[00:14:46]Yes. I guess this is the only downside to building it in the workshop.

[00:14:52]Although it does make building it a lot easier. Get in there. Yes, it's in. It's in. It's in the van. It's not in. So, the plan is to slide this near there, wire it all up, and then screw it in position. Here we go. We're so close now. So, all that's left to do now is to wire this in. I need to pull some of the cables through that are going to be going off to various places in the van, like the secondary 12vt fuse board. Get it to a position where I can then start to tuck it back into the electrical cupboard.

[00:15:27]That is pretty much all of the cables pulled through. Ooh, battery one needs pulling through. That goes through there.

[00:15:39]I've just got the two main battery cables to pull through.

[00:15:44]And then we're pretty much ready to get it in position.

[00:15:52]We're just going to lift it up. Lift it up. Pull it off. That's the plan. See?

[00:16:05]Yes. We're committed now. Bit of that, bit of that. Do you know what? I didn't bring with me the screws to screw it in.

[00:16:14]That was stupid. I need 18 pairs of hands.

[00:16:19]That those two cuck are causing me a problem. This is what I'm dealing with. I just need to get to sit a little higher.

[00:16:32]Oh, hang on. No, it's in.

[00:16:41]Oh my god.

[00:16:43]Oh my god.

[00:16:46]I think Oh yes.

[00:16:53]There's some cables fouling at the bottom, I think. Yes, we are in yes.

[00:17:06]Yes. Hell, that was a lot of work. Oh no, I've not plugged in screen cable. Look at that. We are in.

[00:17:16]Let's get a temporary screw in there.

[00:17:23]Look at it. Wow, that looks I'm right happy with that. So, now we need to wire in our 230, do our ground, do our battery, wire in our DC toDC cable, and then we can test it. I promised this would be up and running. Let's smash out these ground cables in here. Earth's in.

[00:17:44]That was actually really hard and awkward cuz I needed to get that behind the panel. Next up, the battery data cable goes in. I think I read the middle one. We're on the final stretch now. And I thought this would be really easy, but actually it was proving to be quite difficult. I guess it's just working in a really confined space. That was a lot harder than I needed it to be.

[00:18:11]I had to move the plinth to sit the battery on because I just need a little bit more space on this side because of the earth cables. 230 wiring easy. Plus this you can just pull out those wire these up and then just push them back in which makes wiring this thing up so much easier. Back with the Arctic blue wire and we're just connecting up all of the two 30 vol cables. the AC in and then all of the AC outs. Again, we've got a live, earth, and neutral.

[00:18:47]And we just need to connect those up to those handy little ports. Although, there was a little bit of a problem. I'm taking back my words now about it being easy to wire up. I can't fit the Arctic Blue cable into that port there. It's too big. Usually when you w when you would wire something like like a plug up like that, you'd put you'd strip it. So the blue was running into there, those screws then hold that down. But the Arctic blue is way too thick. So I think we're going to strip a little bit more.

[00:19:18]Might put a bit of heat shrink around it to protect it a little bit. So what I ended up doing here was stripping the outer sheathing back further. Then I decided to add a little bit of heat shrink around it so that it was protected. I'm not sure about this. Let me know in the comments if you've got any suggestions, but the 2.5 mm Arctic Blue was way too wide to fit in those little connectors. Again, I used fererals on the end of the wires to stop them fraying. And once I'd kind of found my method, it was pretty straightforward. You just have to make sure that you're getting the right AC in or the AC out into the correct port. Now it's wired up. That can go back into that slot and it should just clip in.

[00:19:59]Happy days. Right, that's AC in. The boiler cable wired up. I will crack on and get that done. Three, two, one. Yes, 230 volt is in. There we go. Fully in.

[00:20:14]Last job. The DC toDC cable. And then we are there. Overly dramatic music whilst we run this DC toDC cable all the way to the battery of the vehicle. I'm fully running it in conduit so it doesn't get damaged. I've got a 60 amp mega fuse and I'm positioning that nice and close to the vehicle battery. We're so close now.

[00:20:35]We're nearly there, people.

[00:20:40]The final crank. We're in. We are fully in. This needs sorting out. I don't know where I'm going to mount that yet. I haven't decided. But it is in. I've left it a little bit long for now. But we are connected. It's time to fire it up.

[00:20:56]Wait, it's not finishing screws.

[00:21:06]Yes.

[00:21:08]Look at the detail. Nice little black metal caps. Right, time to turn it on.

[00:21:14]See if we get power. Three, two, one.

[00:21:17]Nothing blow up.

[00:21:21]Oh, flashing light is starting. We're reading 13 volts. I'm going to need Roma batteries to do the setup or talk me through the setup cuz I'm not 100% sure on that. This is going to need configuring, but it is showing 13 volts.

[00:21:36]We'll attach something to the fuse board in a second. I guess we should just see if our inverter boots up. Let's try it.

[00:21:44]I don't know if it's picking it up.

[00:21:46]Menu. No, it's not not picking it up, is it? Let's try turning it on. On.

[00:21:52]Oh, got lights. Ah, we've got it on the screen. Boom. Inverting. Let's plug something in. Trusty old heat gun to test. Need to flick on AC3.

[00:22:05]We need that as well. Do we have AC power?

[00:22:11]Three, two, one.

[00:22:14]Yes.

[00:22:16]Yes. Yes. Yes. That's so good to know that that I've done something right.

[00:22:24]Yes. Happy days. Happy days. Just need to test the 12vt. I've got to look after my kids. I'll be right back. Let's wire this in. In fact, do we even need to wire it in? Can we just do a bit of a dab test? Get a jinny opinion. We've not had a jinny opinion for a while. Uh, do we have 12 volt power? Yes.

[00:22:48]>> Yeah, baby. This is why I'm not seeing it for a while.

[00:22:54]>> Not seeing Jenny for a while because my teeth have gone black.

[00:23:00]>> There we go. Look at that. It's in. It's working. We're done. It's clean this install. It's clean. I really like it.

[00:23:11]compared to the one in the crafter. I just think this looks a lot better as a finished article. Let me know in the comments what you think. Crafter electrical system or this electrical system. I'm not going to do the typical man thing. I'm actually going to read some instructions. I've got these to read to get my battery talking to the Victron stuff. I will report back once it is fully set up and configured.

[00:23:40]really pleased with it. It's come out well. I'm going to put doors on, going to put some lighting in it. There's still a bit of work to do, but the system is in and working, and that is the main thing. Thank you for watching.

[00:23:53]Thank you to my Patreon members, and I will see you in the next one. Bye.