4. Electric Ladyvan!

 In order to get power from the outside to the inside, I have planned two intersecting systems. The first is solar power, running into an EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 Portable Power Station- a battery generator that can receive power, store it, and send it where it's needed through 12 volt DC, 240 volt AC, and even USB. That comes later. The first system is called 'Shore Power', and it involves running a weatherproof 240 volt AC cable from an electrical source (in this case- a house) out to a similarly weatherproof socket and master switch. 

The socket and switch.

This is then wired into a fuse box just like in a house. The fuse box will have a switch for changing between shore power and roof mounted solar, depending on the circumstances.

The problem is, while I have the cables, plugs, sockets, and switches, there is nowhere out of the way and flat to mount them.

The slope is problematic.

While the socket and switch unit is rated as weatherproof, I don't want to tempt fate by mounting them to a surface that will direct rainfall directly into the plug area. So I bought a plastic box for electronics and made a template to conform to the curves.

I traced the template lines onto the box...

...then cut the shape with an angle grinder. Being plastic, the box melted and made a huge mess, but some work with a file cleaned it all up.

The aftermath.

Correctly centred and positioned.

The work area was cleaned, and the newly cut-down box was held in place with magnets and gaffer tape on the inside.

It's not pretty, but it's weatherproof!

Then a seam of Sikaflex 221 was added to the outside edges, to keep out the weather, and also as an adhesive.

Sealed.

The plug and switch unit was drilled with a hole saw to allow for cables to run through.

Then the unit was positioned on top of the lid of the plastic box that was already mounted. I traced through the holes I had just made...

...which revealed the positions for the holes in the lid.

Then those holes were drilled out...

...and the lid was screwed into its box.

Then the switch and plug unit was mounted with M5 bolts, washers, and nuts. A hole from the inside of the grey box will be drilled through the fibreglass top behind it for wiring access once everything else has cured, ready for the electrician.

It's a new day, and I painted the grey box white. I'm not the best at applying silicone sealant/adhesive cleanly, so I thought I'd try masking each side of the bead area this time.

 

Here's another view.

Still not perfect, luckily this is a solution to the housing crisis and not an AirBNB or I'd be in trouble! Once it's fully cured it can be sanded to neaten it up.

In my excitement to get this part of things done, I accidentally mounted the inside socket on the outside. Luckily this is an easy fix by undoing the 4 mounting screws, and swapping the sockets over. The sockets are swapped, and here you can see the shore power plug. It screws into the socket to keep the water out.

I popped off the cover again and used the hole-sawed hole in the box to extend the centre of the hole, then used a long drill bit in reverse to send the hole through both layers of fibreglass to the interior.

This is the hole saw (also run in reverse so the fibreglass doesn't split)... you can see the small hole from the outside beneath it.

Now the wires have access through both layers of fibreglass and both plastic boxes; and all holes line up neatly. No one but the electrician will ever see, but it's nicer to do clean work wherever possible.

The exterior socket is replaced, and the wires run into the interior. The interior socket mounting box was mounted with metal screws into the fibreglass, which ended up being a lot stronger then expected, even without adhesive.

The plug is wired and the socket screwed into its mounting box.

It looks good!

The switch unit was mounted next to it, using the sockets position as a guide to keep everything centred. This will be the eventual location of the fuse box as well. It's above the bunk area over the back doors, so it's a convenient place to keep the kill switch, with a second one for the fire department on the exterior (in case the worst happens).

Now there is power running to the outside socket, through the fibreglass, and to the inner socket, everything is waterproof, and all is mounted with more strength than will be necessary. Successful project!

Later edit: The mounting brackets I ordered arrived in the mail, so I mounted them to both sides and the top of the box with M5 hardware and metal screws into the fibreglass of my roof. The adhesive was probably strong enough on its own, but it doesn't hurt to over-engineer it with hardware that was laying around, just in case. Now the weight of the shore power cable won't be able to pull the box loose. I also drilled a couple of drainage holes in the bottom of the box in case any moisture gets in there, just to be safe.

At the house end of things I added a fuse for safety.

See you next time!