Hey all, new to the forum and not sure if anyone here can help.

I've just bough a 1990 L300 4x4 (Petrol 2.2L), and its previous owner had decked it out with a huge soundsystem, bed etc.. Now I'm not one who's done a lot of car electrics/audio and am wondering a few things.

- For a start I'm guessing a second battery is going to be in order to run everything in the back. And if so whats the best option for keeping that batter charged? Can you get power boards for 12v, and can you run multiple appliances off it? I.e. laptop, the sound system etc, and if so what kind of battery life can I expect?

- I was thinking of putting an external power plug on the van -> internal power board so if I am parked up somewhere with power I can use mains inside to power appliances. If I do this, is there anyway to run a car audio system off mains to save the second battery life?

- When the van is running, if appliances are running in the back off the second batter (say the laptop and sound system so someone can watch a movie whilst we travel) would the alternator be pouring enough current into that second battery to not have to worry about losing a lot of charge?

Sorry if these questions are a bit stupid, but I really have no idea where to start with all of this, and am hoping someone out there has done something similar already :)

Also, what kind of mileage have peoples vans done? This one has 220,000KMS on the clock, just had is cambelt, ballance belt done under 500kms ago, and has a 4 month old clutch and bearings + no rust. Has it still got a fair amount of life left in it?

Thanks for reading, and cheers in advance for any help you give me!

Greetings and good luck with your L300 conversion. I have had an '85 model since 1990 and have made many improvements, including gas, 15" wheels, 2.6lit engine, heavier rear springs, aux fuel tank, dual battery systems and a bunch of other things. The original alternator was only 45A I think, which is a bit weak, ( I now run a 70A unit) but the 45A will still support a second battery. I built a platform for the 2nd battery on top of the chassis, directly behind the front RH tyre, and installed a microprocessor based battery link module which I designed myself. 240V inverters are also good value.
Important note: engine earthing on the L300 is poor because of simple crimp terminals used. Battery charging will improve considerably by placing a nice earthing strap from the side of the alternator to the body.

The original format of this van was sadly lacking in several areas, but some modest improvements can turn them into very capable vehicles. I have dealt with most of the nasty things that can happen to them over the years and are happy to pass on tips if it will help.
Cheers

Hey Ian,

Thanks a lot for the reply.

I definitely have a few problems with mine at the moment which I'm slowly working through. I'm guessing the alternator on this is standard, so I may look at upgrading it as well. And I'll look at putting in a better earth too.

Did you do the engine upgrade yourself? I'm still trying to find out what people pay to have an engine replacement or complete recondition in these.. Im finding that the engine I have has NO power at all. It will crawl up to speeds, but if you put your foot right down there is no suddent grunt. I'm going through the process of checking to see if my head is cracked etc, but shes already done 222,000kms and I have half a mind just to replace the engine or get it reconditioned.. but with people telling me it can cost up to $2000 to get the head alone done, I'm guessing that those two options are extremely expensive if you cant do the work yourself.

Most of my problems are listed in the "Help with a L300 4x4 Please!" post, so I wont repeat the list here. It seems to be growing as I go along as well.

As for the electrics, I think I'll get a nice big Deep Cycle for my second, and have it on a battery charger so when I am next to mains I can just plug the "Van In" and that battery will have a constant charge. Then have all my appliances etc running direct from mains and have a step down transformer from the 240v mains to power my 12v appliances. The only issue I have here is, is there a way to make the 12v appliances auto switch their power supply from the battery to the step down transformer off mains if it is plugged in. I.e. instead of me having to manually unplug the appliances from the battery and plugging them into the mains, once ive plugged the 240v supply in and the step down transformer has got power the appliances just go "Oh, power here now.."??

Cheers again,

Caleb

Hi, It sounds like you have a lot of work in front of you.

On the engine, I have the 2.6 litre Astron II, which is the same as the early sigmas had. While it had been recently fitted when I purchased the van in 1990, I did have it re-built in 2001. (now up to 380,000 total on the clock and going really well) The 2.6 gives it lots of power relative to the original 1.8. I towed a large camper right around Aust back in 93, including the top of Cape York. (running mostly on gas) The 2.6 is a physically bigger engine, but it will go in ok. There is one trick though. Most people will tell you that you need a full 'lift kit' to get the extra couple of centimetres needed to clear the seat in the engine bay, but this is only because the original carby is quite high. Mine has a cortina carby on it which has a lower profile, and a full lift kit was unneccessary.

It is hard (impossible?) to fit a bigger radiator into the available space to compensate for the bigger engine, but you will get by fine if you add an electric thermo fan in front of the existing radiator. It should only need to cut in on very hot days.

Another tip for the L300. The top radiator hose is a short section that goes from an inlet on the radiator to the thermostat housing. Every time you go over a bump, the engine will jiggle a bit and pull on the radiator. Eventually it WILL crack the spighot and top tank on the radiator (when you least want it to!) The Solution: Throw away the standard 'correct' top hose and replace it with a universal 'concertina style' hose.
These will take up all the engine movement and save your radiator.

On the 12V appliance dilemma, there are two solutions. One involves a pair of large diodes. The second, superior method is to purchase a relay with a 10A changeover contact and a 240VAC coil from an electrical supplier (Middendorp etc.) Wire it so that the relay coil is engaged whenever your 240VAC is present. Then use the changeover contact to switch your appliances to the 12V mains adaptor. When mains is disconnected, the changeover contact switches, which in turn connects your appliances to your second car battery. This way the relay draws no power when you are 'on the road'. I used this technique on a fleet of Telstra vehicles that needed chargers to charge up laptop PC's used for specialised cable testing work.

That will do for the time being. Let us know what you think. Cheers.

Hello again,
I thought of something else about your engine. Unless you loose a lot of water in your radiator (and steam comes out of your exhaust!) your head is probably ok. If your power is bad, have a mechanic simply re-adjust your valve clearances. This is a possible cause. The early engines did not self-adjust. Over time the valves tighten up and you loose your compression seal. This happened to me once when the power was failing badly. After a simple re-adjust I recovered all of the 40% power I had been missing. A cheap fix. Cheers.

Hi ianjackson,

would you have a picture of that platform you built for the battery? If so, I'd really like to see it so I have a better idea of what you mean exactly.

Thanks!

just a tgought on runing 2v equipwile using 20 volt
a/ ueavtrcce chager on mans to carge batts while usng 240 v applances
2/ i alwyse carry a mains cargable jumper batery on remotetravels and wire that to sound sytem and plugin to mains
chears