eberspacher wiring and fuel

cliffy the climber · Post by **cliffy the climber** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:13 am

hi peeps..im fitting my eberspacher heater today..i bought a n.o.s.dilcc for a decent price got all the stuff i need now ..yesterday i had to move a weird vacuum thingy to make room for the heater (what does this do ?)anyway mines a 24 volt one..so when ive fitted it i need to get 24 volts somehow...i have the 2 massive batteries in the front but didnt want to have to switch these with massive switches etc...so already having a leisure battery in the back i have bought another one the same a.h. and wired them in series...so does anybody know the best way to go about this...now the rear leasure battery must already have a feed from the front coz it charges god knows where from and what with..and there is a sparkrite charger (12v) built into the unit to charge from a hookup i guess...my fridge will run on 12 and 24 and i have got a 24 volt pump(water on the way..although i realised later that i could have just got 12v from one battery to do this.
now the way i see it..i could charge one with the feed from the front and the other with the mains charger through an inverter although mine is only a 300 watt...or use two mains chargers..but lots of heat loss etc...or i have seeen a waeco 12v to 24v converter charger that is intelligent and charges at 27 volt and up to 20 amps without me having to intervene at all but...145 quid....or could i use some kind of split charge setup from the front..which i may have some sort of split charge already....
obviously its whatever is cheapest and simplest...the idea of buying a 24v heater was to save dosh..but by the time i bought all the stuff i needed it wasnt cheap anyway...plus i figured maybe 24 volts in the rear would give me the option of more efficient accesories like kettles microwaves etc and they are cheaper sometimes..i.e.meant for truckers...
also where do i t into my fuel pipe.?? and do i need a one way valve..i somehow get the feeling that this is not needed..ive serched on here for info but i never seem to find anything...

any info help mucho appreciated its bloody cold and not fun working on the bongo at the mo....
thanks all....cliffy

roosteruk · Post by **roosteruk** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:44 am

Sooo many questions...lol
Firstly, I would find out what the weird vaccum thingy is, I hope it's not the brake servo, that#s a vaccum thingy?
Getting a 24v one, I would think you have opened a big can of worm problems there, unless you are going to run it from 2 12v batteries wired in series and totally independent of everything else. As the heater does not (I presume) require any great amount of amps, I would look at two small motorcycle batteries that could be hidden away neatly. These can be charged from the alternator/split charge relay and using a bridge rectifier can be made independent from everthing else.
BRIDGE RECTIFIER & DIAGRAMS
As for the fuel for your heater, you could fit a seperate small tank and use red diesel, relatively cheaper to run then, or take a feed from the main fuel line from your fuel tank. I am not sure if your heater has its own pump, hence one of the reasons for the 24v supply (not just for the controller?) I wouldn't think there would be a need for a one way valve, as there is no pressure in the main fuel line, only suction and I would think the heater pump would stop air back peddling into the system (if it has a pump?)

I am sure someone with the knowhow will be along soon with better advice?

Karl

tonygadget · Post by **tonygadget** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:59 am

cliffy the climber wrote: i had to move a weird vacuum thingy to make room for the heater (what does this do ?)

It means you have the cold weather kit & it controls a valve in the exhaust. (BTW this sometimes sticks & means the engine can't get above 1500 revs)
I can only help with the fuel at the moment. You should have a separate feed from the fuel tank (Usually come with the kits) As long as the tube is cut shorter than the original fuel pick up you will never run out of diesel over night

If you remove the seats & rails the carpet can be removed. Approx near the rear heater controls is a metal plate. This provides access to the top of the fuel tank for removal of the fuel sender & fuel pickup. I removed mine & was able to fit the heater fuel pickup along side the existing ones.

cliffy the climber · Post by **cliffy the climber** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:03 pm

hi tonygadget..i dont have the pickup pipe i just have tubing and a t piece..so i just want to know where the best place to t from is...
thanks cliff

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:08 pm

Someone has happily fitted a 24v unit before on BF but can't remember who. Have you done a Search for old (no more than 12 months old) threads?

roosteruk · Post by **roosteruk** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:28 pm

mikeonb4c wrote:Someone has happily fitted a 24v unit before on BF but can't remember who. Have you done a Search for old (no more than 12 months old) threads?

Are you sure? not 3 months???lol

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 1:28 pm

ya got me there Karl

Actually, I can't remember but it might have been BF member Yamaha or wrster

Yamaha · Post by **Yamaha** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:15 pm

I did a indeed do writeup, in the tech section, dated Feb 16th 2007 -

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ht=webasto

Both Wrster and Dandywarhol contributed a lot of knowledge to the project - but personally speaking, I have no regrets with my choice of a 24v heater - more work involved - but half the current consumption!!

I would recommend fitting both inlet AND exhaust silencers, though - mine is very quiet in operation, if you were camped next door, you wouldn't hear it.

Mike

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:57 pm

You've cheered me up no end Yam. My memory isn't so flaky after all (well not where Bongos are concerned anyway - remembering the kids birthdays is another matter

)

pippin · Post by **pippin** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:57 pm

but half the current consumption

That may be so, but it is still the same power consumption in the end!

OHM'S Law - look it up!

W=VxI
I=V/R
V=IxR
and so on.

Yamaha · Post by **Yamaha** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:21 pm

Thankyou for that little aside, Bruce!!

Mike

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:28 pm

Yamaha wrote:Thankyou for that little aside, Bruce!!

Mike

I didn't know Pippins real name was Bruce. Would that be Bruce Almighty

Post by **Simon Jones** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 10:37 pm

I fitted the 12v version & few months ago & I'm very pleased with it. With regard to the fuel feed, I used a T-piece (bought from eBay) for 99p & fitted it in the rubber pipe between the metal pipe from the tank & the fuel filter. The nearest size T-piece I could find had 8mm fittings which is a very tight fit into the existing pipe. I ended up buying a new length of pipe & fitting the T-piece to the pipe before fitting to the vehicle. That way, you can safely heat the pipe up to make it more pliable.

The biggest problem I had was getting the air out of the thin tube from T-piece to the Eberspacher pump (which doesn't have a lot of 'suck' in it). Unless there is a good supply of diesel to the heater, it will shut down after a few minutes which may not be long enough to get the fuel drawn through the pipe. I ended up using a modified bike pump just to get the system primed & get all the air out. So far, it all works very well.

At some point, I'll post a few pictures taken during the fitting process. Good luck - hope you get it fitted before the summer

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:08 am

HERES some pics of my installation. I "T" pieced into the main fuel line but made sure the feed to the Eber pump was a much smaller bore than the main pipe. That way there's no problem with air/vacuum lock.
There's a one way valve in the Eber pump.

Yamaha · Post by **Yamaha** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:14 am

Cliffy - the 12v / 24v switching circuit was designed by Wrster ( or his Dad ), and I only copied it!! It works very well - but the fuses are a MUST.

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... highlight=

Dandywarhol did have a web page detailing his installation - but it seems to have disappeared - maybe he could add to the topic. Think he used a 12v unit, though.

I did have a small problem in the summer, after a French touring holiday in the Bongo - one evening the heater wouldn't start up. On inspection, I discovered one of the plastic fuse holders had partially melted, so not supplying the 24v - obviously a poor contact had produced heat - but the fuse hadn't blown. Once cleaned up, it has been faultless since.

I have managed to source some 40A relays from Radio Spares, but they don't do a heavy duty change-over type - so I am going to rebuild my switching box using two of these single-pole relays - and some heavier duty strip type fuses - these bolt in, so should avoid the problem reoccuring.

As for the fuel supply - don't bother tapping into the tank - the T-piece onto the fuel pipes works fine - just a bugger to fit into the existing pipes - you need an 8mm feedthrough, but with a 6mm output to the heater.

Mike

eberspacher wiring and fuel

eberspacher wiring and fuel

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