Yet another 80 build thread

[steverjuk]

Well after some shouting and allot of Tiger Seal the snorkel is on, never ever to come off:

I also managed to fit the winch, I ran the live into a 300amp breaker, so I can switch the winch off and have some anti-short protection. I can't believe that the winch under max load could even pull 350amps, I had to make a little bracket for the circuit breaker to go on. Although that short piece of 2awg live cable is still freaking me out, I'm even tempted to add a fuse to the positive battery post:

The only pain I had was having to remount the solenoids but whilst I did that I also fitted a wireless winch remote. If anyone needs a 12v winch remote system, let me know I somehow managed to order two.

As you can see I mounted the solenoid on the bumper just to the right of the winch, the little black box on the side is the winch remote.

I'm planning to change the hook for a factor 55 splicer anyone had any experience with them?

 

[Chris]

Purely my take on winch wiring but I never put anything between the winch and the battery other than good cable and connectors. I have done a lot of winching, much of it in perfectly safe conditions where being stuck is a mild inconvenience. But I have also used winches in situations of what I'd call, mild peril - once in actual life threatening circumstances. And in almost all of those circumstances (with someone else's truck) we've been let down by some piece of crap stuck in line with the cabling. It's not unusual to be in a situation where mine was the only winch still working. Of course there are many different scenarios and if I was building an off roader (again) I might put some protection in because the winch would be used and abused possible a lot. But on an overlander when the only time you need a winch is when you're truly in the s***t, then it has to work, be easy to get to and not let you down.

Of course it's all your call, but I'd make really good connections, use a proper quality TG Thompson solenoid and carry a pair of cable cutters in the glove box for the very unlikely situation that that a well installed and well maintained winch goes rogue. Something I've only ever seen happen once in all my years of off roading and travelling.



Truck looking truly Boss though Steve. Nice work.

 

[steverjuk]

I agree with your line of thinking @Chris but having a 2AWG cable directly to my battery and hanging out in my front bumper scares me.
I mean if that shorts on something (crash etc) it's going to start a fire or weld something. That's the only reason I've added a circuit breaker is so I can disconnect that wire and for some sort of short protection, although 300amps shorting is still going to be interesting.
I made the cables long enough, so worst comes to worst, I can connect both ends to the same post on the circuit breaker to remove it from the circuit.

Just wondering if the factor 55 kit is worth the money ? and if I should get one of those cable protectors that goes over the Dyneema rope? Actually that reminds me anyone recommend and good place for a fire extinguisher in the front?

 

[Chris]

Those protectors are a pain in the ass. Don't over think it.

I think if I were concerned about a crash situation (and I agree) I'd simply disconnect the live supply from the battery and only connect it when I needed the winch. With a dedicated post for the lug and a spanner to had it would take second. Yes I know I said don't over think it and always have it ready for action, but just saying. Sticking the cable on and spinning the nut down in an emergency would be far preferable to trying to disconnect something jerry rig a by pass.

 

[Chris]

Oh, my extinguisher is mounted on top of the grab rail on the dash - passenger side.

 

[guyc]

A couple of thoughts on an interesting thread.

Water - Tek Tanks can make bespoke tanks although they aren't cheap

https://www.tek-tanks.com/

You could separate out the usage of drinking water from other uses e.g. washing, washing up and that might give you some alternative tank options.

https://www.bluesea.com/products/9012/L_Solenoid_-_12_24V_DC_250A

do some good quality marine electrical components which are pretty robust. You could fit an isolator rather than a circuit breaker.

For a fire extinguisher, you could consider a water mist one.

https://www.safelincs.co.uk/ultrafire-water-mist-fire-extinguishers/

 

[steverjuk]

I've got an isolater rated to 300amps but worried about something shorting out as its going to pump way more that 300ams through the chassis etc so I fitted a circuit breaker as it should offer some protection.

I got a quote from tek tanks and it came in more than both tanks (off the shelf) filler and switch over solenoid for just one tank.

So I'm going for off the shelf tanks, they will offer me a little less capacity due to having to buy standard sizes but are roughly a 1/3 of the price of custom tanks.

I've just fitted a powder extinguisher as it can be pretty much used on anything.

 

[SteveJB]

Mr Stever if you have some half inch heater hose hanging around then cut up say 3 inch long bits and wrap them around the cables and secure with cable ties where they might rub against the bodywork hope this helps til you get a better solution

 

[GeekOKent]

One of the things I constantly struggle with is storage of the water tanks when not in use. Never quite sure if the water is ok to drink so have resorted to using smaller potable containers for drinking water and plumbed in for washing up.

Even getting water to and into the tank once fitted is an issue. Do you trust the hose to be clean enough.

 

[SteveJB]

Karl had this problem and some advised to keep them half full so that the water sloshed around the tank and you could use milton baby bottle cleaner to sterilise it or some caravaning stuff that is available at a store near you

 

[Chris]

The water can get a little tainted if it's in there for a long time, but I just run mine through a charcoal filter for Screwfix. It's not there to remove E-cola bola etc, just to freshen up Derbyshire tap water.

 

[steverjuk]

So now for something a little different, after the last trip, I decided I needed to up my battery capacity and having an 80ah lead acid battery wasn't going to cut it.
So I decided it was time to go lifepo4, but after looking at the 12v batteries and the price of the cells I decided I could build my own for 2/3 of the price and actually know the quality of the cells and BMS.
So I took the plunge and ordered 4 120ah lifepo4 cells. Because these cells come unprotected you need to buy a BMS to make sure you don't under/overcharge them, so rather than going for a standard BMS I found a BMS that had Bluetooth so I could monitor the cell voltages and even alter the cutoff voltages/temperatures. Finally, I needed something to house this all in and found these waterproof covers for normally car batteries.

After waiting for a few weeks the cells finally arrived:

As each cell is 120ah at 3.3ish volts you need to wire them up in series to get to 12ish volts, after wiring together adding the BMS and test fitting in the enclosure.

As you can see there is some space, so I knocked up a spacer piece to attach the BMS to and also stop the batteries from sliding around.
The final product looks like:

So after some testing, the cells are actually 130ah cells, so I've got a 12v 130ah lifepo4 battery with Bluetooth monitoring for around 450ish.
I've kept this post short as it's not really cruiser related, if you have any question let me know.

 

[Chris]

Questions? Where do I start

Tidy looking job there Steve, although I haven't a clue what you just did. Any idea what that all weighs out of interest? Are these cells super light compared to good old lead plate?

 

[steverjuk]

@Chris all in all, it weighs about 12kg (26lb), so about half the weight of the lead battery alternative, with about twice the useable capacity.

 

[Chris]

I had to go a look at battery videos on You Tube. Interesting stuff. In the 80 I have one 75Ah Optima yellow and it runs everything just fine. With the new solar panel set up it's even better. I've just done a build in the back of the Hilux and put two Centrury AGM batteries in there that I had kicking around. They're 120 Ah each and weight 35kg. Absolutely ridiculous 70kg is a passenger!. However, I ran the fridge (empty) from them and after a constant session of 96 hours straight with no other input, they were still sitting at 12.6 volts. I think I could probably just use one. The solar panel I bought in Germany is still surprising me. I put it out today in dull light and it was making 3 Amps at 12.97 volts. Can't wait til it's sunny! I've put in a DC2DC charger but frankly I don't think I'll need to run it.

I guess the perfect score is light batteries that give good discharge but take charge really quickly. Technology is racing ahead with batteries now; but the old tech does still work.

 

[steverjuk]

So a quick upgrade today, replaced my winch hook:

Super simple to do and suppose to be safer, not sure about that.

 

[steverjuk]

Such a long time without doing anything to the truck but finally got some time today to fit my compressor. I've been looking for a compressor to run off the engine but a friend was selling an arb compressor for next to nothing so I snatched his hand off and set about installing it.
After looking in the engine bay, I had an idea to actually fit it inside the truck in some totally wasted space, so the first step was to fabricate a bracket. After reading online these things get hot I decided to make it out of 5mm aluminium so that it acts as a massive heatsink as well.
So after some time with an angle grinder, hacksaw and a marker:

Luckily a few days before I got a few rivnuts, otherwise my plan wouldn't have worked, then time to install it in its new home.

As you can see it just fits, just some air hoses to run and some wires to run now but that's tomorrows job, as you can see it's totally hidden.

I've got a 5l tank, safety blow-off value and electric pressure switch to install but the hard parts are done, I'm looking for a quick air discounted for the front and rear bumper anyone got recommendations.

 

[Chris]

Very very tidy install Steve. I put mine under the bonnet but I don't have ABS so there is a ready made space. I did do some tests a long time ago and found that 6mm id tube upgrade made a difference. The black ARB hose is a bit crap too and I found it kinked really easily and spilt

 

[SteveJB]

PCL airline connectors from screwfix and are used by tyre and motor trade or give your nearest motor factors a call or visit

 

[steverjuk]

@Chris I'm using 6mm solid plastic tubing with those quick connect fixings, it almost seems too easy to route and install. Just need how to get a wire from the engine bay to the compressor and an air hose under the car to the 5l tank, can't see a way to route it without drill through the floor etc.

@SteveJB been thinking about those, just wondering if you can get ones that our waterproof / come with some sort of cover.