2003 E450 Transit bus conversion

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Hello, I thought I would post my build log of my bus conversion here...

Little background on me, I have been doing westfalia conversions/restorations for sometime now and have a good understanding of how stuff should be but I am sailing a few new waters here...see below

This conversion will be for my dad who was recently paralized in a bad car wreck, since this time he is bound to short in town trips and without his loads of medical equipt and special bed, I hope this gives him some freedom once again for traveling.


My plan is to

1. Basic galley, 2 burner dometic stove, TF65 fridge/freezer, some drawers with microwave

2. 2 fold down beds (similar to toy hauler beds) 1 being an adjustable bed, head incline and feet.

3. Seperate 12v system with 110ah bank (that will be higher I hope as budget allows) and a few 120v outlets

4. 16k btu suburban furnace


Pix to follow.
 
Few things that I plan on ordering this week I have a few qestions on, Normally I use on my westy conversions a separate charger and everything is on DC with one main breaker box (around 10amps DC) BUT since I know when they are going to be on shore power that the load will be much higher then what I'm use to dealing with that changes what im use to using.

My thoughts where to get a WFCO power converter (WF-8725)in 25amp and this would cover needs for now...BUT that has a limited a/c circut and if they ever add a rooftop a/c unit this wouldn't cut it, I see on the 25amp model it lists 4 a/c breakers but I see 1 main and another knockout for a breaker.

spec sheet: http://www.americanrvcompany.com/assets/images/wf87128725.pdf

My needs DC wise this will cover it perfectly but A/C i'm not sure
 
Welcome to the RV Forum. Are you sure 25 amps is sufficient? Most of us with RVs that size have 50 or 100 amp total boxes. Even if you don't use it now it is cheap insurance to put a bigger box in.
 
If I add a/c into the loop yes, 25 would be low.

looking at the rooftop unit its gunna pull 20amps, so 35amp unit might be a better choice.

 
Hi Purple, Welcome to The RV Forum!

If you're doing your own conversion, there's no reason to limit yourself to the cheap junk installed by commercial RV manufacturers.  The all in one power panels are chosen for their price and ease of mass production installation, not quality.

An alternative is to go with a residential breaker panel that you can get at a hardware or big box store and use that for your 120 volt needs.  Any of the smaller panels will work.  One breaker position becomes the main breaker connected to the hot lead on your power cord.  The rest are your branch circuits.

For your 12 volt distribution, the best products are those made for boats.  Again, RV stuff is mainly driven by cost, not quality.  There are several nice 12 volt standalone fuse panels available in the marine market. Blue Sea Systems is one manufacturer, if you're near the water a visit to West Marine or another boat shop will turn up many more ideas.

If you go with separate 12 volt and 120 volt distribution panels, you'll need a standalone converter.  Some of the best are made by Progressive Dynamics.  Their Charge Wizard does a great job taking care of your batteries, allowing fast recharging without excessive water consumption.  The 9100 series uses an external Charge Wizard, the 9200 has it built in with an external pendant allowing similar user control of the converter's automatic functions.

If you're looking for an all in one power center take a look at the Progressive Dynamics offerings.  Both for the better converter and the fact that they're made in the USA vs. China.

WFCO has had problems in the past with converter failures - I don't know if they've improved their newer products.  On the breaker issue, the 4 breaker rating is based on using duplex breakers - two independent breakers in a single package.  Again, you'll use one of them as the main breaker connected to the power cord's hot wire.  The remaining 3 breakers are available for your circuits.

 
Ok, Pictures...i've been bad about updating...but with fun and work I've neglected to update.


Here is the bed I built
 

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Ok, Cabinet built...I used some of my westfalia tastes on this cabinet (folkstone grey formica) and black t-molding, dometic stove with a TF6 fridge and a suburban RV furnace (more on furnace issues)

 

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Ok, now for the slight hiccup.

I'm using the suburban NT-20SEQ furnace and it came with the standard vent pipes...I am needing the extended ones due to me miss calcing my cabinet thickness, the manual calls out for different tube lengths available but cannot seem to find them!  :mad:
 
Exhaust vents solved, made new ones  8)


Here are a few finised shots,
 

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