New Van - 2017 B9 BlueHDi build

[Sol]

Thanks Saskak :o)

Arrived today and to be fitted with some updates to the thread:

1. LED 3rd brake light with Integrated Camera, and Mirror monitor to go over a standard mirror - from Dolphin Parking Systems

2. Leather gear gaiter with orange stitching

3. Heavy duty full rear floor bonded-edge carpet (500gsm)

4. Rear view mirror to hold the monitor (the mount is in the windscreen already - odd for a van with no rear windows but very handy in this case

5. 2 new air vents as the drivers side ones have been abused too much lol

6. "Custom Covers" diamond stitch leatherette heavy duty tailored seat covers, not cheap but very nice. Existing seats not as tidy as I'd like, especially for a 5 year old van. Most online seats for sale are waaaay worse than mine! Looking forward to fitting these bad boys. At some point in the near future I'll find and fit a nice as-new set of seats when I locate the right ones.

Finally when I decide on the exact one, a double din Kenwood Android Auto head unit with camera input and all the toys. It can wait for a few weeks.

[Sol]

So yesterday I was off work for a long weekend, and thought I'd get started:

Old gaiter looked sorry for itself

   

New leather one fitted, much nicer.

   

Mirror fitted to hold the new camera monitor:

   

Monitor clipped on and wiring ran to overhead shelf space:

   

[Sol]

Wires above the shelf. Will power the monitor from the 12v at the centre roof module...more on that bit later.

   

Rear camera was fitted and wiring pulled through the van using a trusty nylon cable fish. Bonus is an LED brake light in addition to the camera.

   

Fitted to the door

   

Pulling the cables through

   

[Sol]

More on the cable work, 5 attachment limit!

4 tabs to gently release with a small screwdriver so the cable containment between door and body can be released

   

Pulling the fish through, taped to the cable. I had both ends of the rubber gaiter off, pulled the fish through gently then guided the fish to a nearby body hole and out, so I could reattach the gaiter.

   

It's now been fished to the overhead box section above the doors, to be powered from the opposite side where the rear 12v power is. 

Identification of the rear light wiring

   

   

Top to bottom (plug and rails of the light unit at the plug):

Tail - pink
Brake - white
Indicator - brown
Earth - green/yellow
Fog - grey
Reverse - yellow

[Sol]

Now a warning on connecting stuff to the rear lights...there's a large sticker wrapped onto the rear lighting harness marked PELIGRO!!! NON CONNECTAR!!! In big red text.

On the other side, in English it says of course, DANGER!!! DO NOT CONNECT ANYTHING TO THIS WIRING - A SERIOUS INCIDENT MAY OCCUR.

The reason for this, is the BSI. No more than 10ma can be drawn by any device added to the wiring or the BSI outputs can be damaged..so a DC relay is being picked up today along with an add-on automotive fuse box, I intend to wire the fusebox up at present to distribute the power from the rear 12v socket, and drive the camera by switching a relay from the yellow reverse wire on the drivers side, and feeding the N/O load terminals of the relay, from the new rear fusebox. This relay will power the camera when reverse is selected, without stressing the BSI output to the reverse lamp.

I'll do more on the fitting of that fusebox and the wiring of it. Likely this will be later today.

Once the fusebox is in, I intend to use it for other items like rear interior LED lighting, accessories, mains power from my 500w inverter - but for that I'll need to run a battery fused feed of higher power than the rear accessory plug. However this will do for now to get the reversing camera online.

I may adjust the angle of the camera and power it permanently from that ignition supply and not the reversing lights, as it would then give me a permanent rear view mirror on the van despite the steel doors...let's see.

[saskak]

Great stuff! That rear camera within the 3rd brake light looks cleverly designed.

Really good to know about the rear lights cluster. 10ma from the 12v rear lighting is literally nothing, the max power that can be drawn is 0.12W (12V*0.01A=0.12W).
What kind of 500W inverter are you using and more importantly are you happy with it :-) I am looking for a 500W inverter, but there are always bad reviews out there for any product and I have not decided on any at the momoent. It does not need to be pure sine.

[Sol]

Thanks mate, so the one I have came from Machine Mart. It's an ERA 500w unit, I primarily got it to power my industrial glue gun for PDR repairs (dent pulling to those who didn't know) and it works great, that gun is 250w so the 500w inverter is perfect.

Never had a problem with it and I've owned it for 5 years. I use it either on the car battery, or lately I've used it with a booster pack, the old school kind that doesn't check what it's connected to, relying on the sense of the human operator.

I also have a Lithium Ion jump start pack that's small enough to put in your pocket, and kicks out 350A to start Diesel engines up to 2.5L but it's picky about the connection, and a pure dead battery will make it freak out. The old school Halfords one is a lump, with two Lead AGM batteries inside. It kicks about 350A too - I've used the inverter hooked up to that instead of the main battery when using it.

Here's the full range:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/categories...h=Inverter

[Vivian]

Very neat work there. Am following your progress with interest. Cheers. Vivian

[Concizat]

I have fitted one of those dash-cam/reverse cam mirrors to my Berlingo and the problem with it is that, because you are looking upwards towards the sky, if it is bright or sunny, it's virtually impossible to see the screen. I don't know why but this car is the most difficult I've had for reversing. The fact that it's an automatic gearbox doesn't help. Maybe it's the colour (dark metallic grey), but I can't see the rear corners. I've had other similar size cars before (Renault Espaces and VW Camper vans) without this problem.
I'll be interested to know how you get on with the reverse camera.

[Sol]

I can reverse the van pretty well without the camera, judging the rear by the side mirrors but I really want to see the rear view. The mirror monitor itself is a temporary solution, as I intend to fit a Kenwood 125DMX or whatever the letters are, as it is a great double din stereo with Android mirroring and camera inputs so if the mirror monitor is crap, it won't be used for long.

Good point though, thank you so much for this valuable input.

I'll have it installed tomorrow as my fusebox and relays arrived today so I'll let you know.