The Victron Quattro inverter/chargers have been mounted in the bus. They are what will convert battery power into household AC power in the bus. They also have integrated transfer switches in them, which means they will also be used to automatically connect to shore or generator power when one of the sources comes online.
Clockwise from upperleft:
1) Testing fitting them on the custom bracket that was fabricated for the introvert/chargers
2) Mounting the bracket in the bus… the extra rectangular area on the right end of the bracket will be used to help route the electrical cables.
3) Adding some custom side arms to better secure the inverter/chargers.
4) Mounting complete!
A few more details that refer to the lower left photo: a) the generator is installed below the floor in the area that is shown on the right edge of this photo. b) the area just to the rear of where the generator is located is where the shore cord reel is located. c) the house batteries will be installed about four feet forward of the inverter/chargers in an area what starts where you can see that warm-colored wood near the top of the photo… if you extended that wood straight down until it hit the floor, then you’d be at the edge of the where the batteries will go. d) the AC circuit breakers should be mounted somewhere in that same back area where the guys were working.
That means all of the gear that needs large electrical cables will be located in very close proximity to each other, which will allow for very short electric cables.
Look what showed up in todays mail!
These are the wall switches for the vintage bus, which feature:
• Four illuminated buttons (each of which has a color-changable RGB LED for status)
• High resolution color screen (to display a menu system or video from an exterior security camera, etc.)
• Proximity sensor (so it can light up the screen when your hand gets close to it… you can even set it up to turn on the lights by swiping your hand near it)
• Infrared (IR) receiver/transmitter (so it can read and/or replace your TV remote control)
• Speaker (to listen to music or make alert sounds when things happen such as our waste tank becoming full or out batteries getting low)
• Microphone (for intercom system)
• Day/night sensor (so the screen brightness can vary during the day, or it could turn on the lights after the light of the sun is too dim)
• Wiring is completely via ethernet daisy chain utilizing power over ethernet
• Other sensors (like magnetic window contact sensors) can be connected directly to the side of the keypad box so they can share the ethernet connection
• Buttons can be configured to drive a custom menu system on the display where one button might get you to the lighting menu, another to heating/AC choices, another to control the generator, etc, or they can be setup as single function buttons
• Interfaces with the Loxone home automation system that will control most of the RV systems on my bus. That means these keypads can do anything from unlocking the front door to causing the TV to drop down out of the ceiling and start playing a movie
A total of seven of these keypads will be installed on the vintage bus.
For more info on these, visit http://www.u-lux.com/en/
I’m prepping for my next trip to the vintage bus, which is on Sunday! I’ll be there for two days before I have to fly on to Seattle for business.
The entire home automation system is scheduled to be delivered while I’m there. So, today I spent time configuring the software and got my wall keypads to light up for the first time. I know it’s in German… I haven’t had a chance to get the software completely configured yet… give me a few days and it should be all set.
