Any Vantech conversion owners out there? Questions..

Hi folks

Are there any vantech conversion owners out there? I have a hitop lh129 and have a few questions about how some of the interior equipment works.

If anyone out there is ready to answer a few questions, please let me know and I'll post them up on here?

Thanks

Matt

I don't own a Vantech conversion but post a few pics and I might be able to help.

Sorry it's taken so long to reply - lot's on and had a few trips away in the van. I think I have most of the 'challenges' sorted out now.

Just a couple of general questions really:
1) I assume that the 12v option on the 3 way fridge will hook it up to the van battery and therefore the engine really needs to be running (so its used when travelling)? Otherwise something in the van (assume its the charger / 240 converter) makes a clicking noise.

2)the fridge is tuned off, all the fuses are switched to off and something is actually making that
clicking noise now (whatever it is) even though nothing is turned on. Seems weird, but assume it's linked to the camping battery as it does it when the battery has been drained by the fridge (which happened this weekend whilst away). Nothing seems to turn it off though and not sure what is pulling amps / volts still.


Other than the above items, am loving the size and practicality of it. It's way more roomy and usable than the old VW vans I'm used to.

Sounds like your fridge is wired direct to house battery (leisure battery) this is not correct on a 3 way fridge it should be wired on 12v only when engine is running via relay it should not drain your house battery at any time, if you cannot work this out get it sorted by an auto electrician.

the clicking is a "battery saver" device.  Silver box in a nearside cupboard on mine, but that's a shorter LH119, so may be different.  Mine drew so much current it was mostly responsible to bringing the battery down to the cutoff level anyway...  and as soon as it cut off, the load on the battery reduced, the voltage increased, it clicked and cut in, load on the battery increased, it clicked and cut out...and so on.

I ripped the whole lot out.  That was a fun day The big devices in the van have their own cutoffs.  And I replaced the lights with LED.

Can't help with the fridge, replaced mine with a 12v compressor fridge.

We had a 12v compressor fridge but found it far too noise so bust the bank did a full refurbe including 3 way fridge rear bed with 125mm cushions electric bed head lift 70ltr water tank LED lights £3000 in all but now so comfortable.

Interesting. The fridge definitely runs on the leisure battery when its switched to 240v, but I'm not connected to the mains, so I'd assumed that the 12v setting would switch it to the van battery. I think this needs further testing.

When its been run for a long time, it definitely runs the leisure battery down, so the battery saver device clicking would make sense.

There's a cut off switch near the side door. Switching it off stops any draw on the leisure battery (battery saver stops clicking), so not sure what's pulling current when everything else is switched off. A mystery!

JT69 wrote:

We had a 12v compressor fridge but found it far too noise so bust the bank did a full refurb including 3 way fridge rear bed with 125mm cushions electric bed head lift 70ltr water tank LED lights £3000 in all but now so comfortable.  

Yeah, the fridge is a bit noisy. Mine has some additional freezer part to it, which is really noisy if you turn that on as well, so I just used it for bringing the fridge temp down quickly whilst the van was parked up at home, prior to leaving. A few bottles of Henry Westons cider helps reduce the noise too..

Loving the conversion generally though, -high quality Japanese work. Really wanted a cruising wagon with a pop top as never been a fan of high top vans, but loved the space inside and condition inside when I went to look at this one.

I stuck some clear front indicators and clear and red rear lights on mine the other day too. Tidies up the look a bit. Next step is to get all the old decals off and paint the wheels black.

Yes mankey now I understand a 12v compressor will be permanently connected to the leisure battery and yes ours did run down the battery another good reason not to have one, a 3 way on gas will run for weeks and with a solar panel we can free camp a long time.

When I originally got my van the leisure battery was toast. It would run lights but nothing else. It would charge up to 12v but it wouldn't put out enough juice to run anything but the interior light, and they would work for long. Once drained low enough the relay under the sink would click when I turned flipped the main switch.

I replaced the leisure battery and the fridge and water work perfectly while the van is off. They will drain the battery quickly though, like over night, so I am hooking up a solar panel to help keep the charge.

I think these things are meant to only run your fridge a short time in between driving and hooking up to shore power.

Nice looking van by the way!

jafo843 wrote:

When I originally got my van the leisure battery was toast.  It would run lights but nothing else.  It would charge up to 12v but it wouldn't put out enough juice to run anything but the interior light, and they would work for long.  Once drained low enough the relay under the sink would click when I turned flipped the main switch.

I replaced the leisure battery and the fridge and water work perfectly while the van is off.  They will drain the battery quickly though, like over night, so I am hooking up a solar panel to help keep the charge.

I think these things are meant to only run your fridge a short time in between driving and hooking up to shore power.

Nice looking van by the way!

Thanks!

Definitely only intended for 6 hous max usage I suspect, which is why I wondered about switching it to 12v whilst driving. Also, how does the gas setting work? the fridge is an electrolux RM185R model, but doesn't come with a manual. I managed to find one in German,but no English version and I'm not inclined to use one of them rip off manual sites as they rarely have what they promise anyway.

The fridge control look like this:

The switch and green light on the top panel operate the freezer component.
I think (based on other similar types) I set it to gas, turn the thermostat to full, turn the gas to full and hold in the knob. the piezo starter is automatic by all accounts. I'll probably give this a try at some point as they run OK on gas if cold already and it could save on the draw on the leisure battery and let it last a bit longer between 240v hook ups.

All fun stuff though! We even had some sunshine in the UK, whilst at the beach this weekend.