An auxillary airconditioner is located in the back driver side corner of my van. This add on accessory is intended to give me the ability to cool the living space when the van is running. This was the primary cooling option I had in mind until I later incorporated the portable AC unit.
In order to pipe the rear AC into the living space I attached some flexible aluminium ductwork to fixed metal fittings. I pushed the fittings in place over the rear AC unit for an imperfect, but stationary fit (or so I thought).
Unbeknownst to me, the reducer fiiting came loose during driving. What you see in the first photo in this post is what happened when the fitting landed ontop of the nearby battery stack. The fitting fell right ontop of the postive and negative terminal of the same battery. Enough energy passed through the fitting to heat a hole right through the metal.
By the time I realized what had happened, the van was parked in my driveway. The burn was clean enough that the metal fitting was no longer in contact with one of the battery terminals. But when I kicked the fitting sparks flew.
Kicking wasn’t enough to disloge the fitting however. The screw on the battery terminal had melted into the fitting.
With all the wood and sawdust in the van, I’m surprised something didn’t catch fire from this incident.
I won’t be forgetting what could have happened any time soon…
While we’re on the subject of electricity, it’s an absolute mess back there right now. I have the DC powered lights and fan wired into a fuse box which I connect to the batteries when I need power. Anything electrical back there (except for the batteries) is temporarily in place until I build a shelf for the inverter. The rest of the wiring will move around as necessary.
With my next paycheck I should have the money to pay for the install of the propane tank I bought a couple weeks ago. That will give me the ability to heat the van just in time for colder weather.
The dream is still alive. Stayed tuned. Thanks for following along.