LFGSS Camper Van owners?

The only real thing you can do is check the connections with a voltmeter. On the leisure battery side you should see 12-ish volts on standby and 14-ish volts when the engine is running. On the input side you should see 14V when the engine is running. If you don't you need to work your way back to wherever it connects in to the vehicle electrical system.

If you see >14V on the input but only leisure battery voltage on the output, the charger / switch relay is dead.

Plus there's probably some fuses on both sides, or the battery itself could be toast.

Cheers, thanks for that, so basically could be anything and everything! Can check with the voltmeter at least and go from there.

Exactly what Grams said, although I wouldn’t call that anything and everything because there are only a few things to eliminate if you’re checking whether they’re receiving a decent charge. Either the alternator isn’t outputting properly or you’ve got something wrong in between (relay, connections, fuses)

Also worth bearing in mind that even if they’re receiving a decent charge from the alternator they might not be holding it if they’re too old or have been drained to flat too many times. You can’t really check the status of a battery at home so it’s a bit of a trial and error thing seeing if they hold power.

Girlfriend and I are looking at buying a camper early next year, with the view of using it for a 2-3 month euro tour in 2022 (next year we'll do some UK based smaller trips).

We want something that we can use fairly regularly, but have a car so doesn't need to double up as supermarket daily.

I spent all my childhood holidays (up until around 17) in campers (everything from a VW T25 to a Laika A Class), usually 4 weeks in Europe, so i'm familiar with longish trips in 'vans and their quirks, but not in maintaining them.

Budget is 10k-12k. I'm thinking for this money trying to find a homemade conversion on a Sprinter/Iveco/LWB Transit - basically something with a bit of space. Girlfriend is an sculpture artist and uses woodwork so we're up for giving some superficial maintenance/sprucing up a go. Is inheriting someones handy work asking for trouble though?

I suppose the other option is a slightly older factory build (autosleeper etc) or an older VW (t25 or t3/4) although I reckon the later might be a bit small for what we need.

What's the best bang for buck for this budget?

Oh, and we don't want it to depreciate entirely as we'd ideally recoup some of this cash in the future to contribute to a house deposit. Totally appreciate they'll be a couple of grand yearly costs for running and maintenance.

Some of the crazy stuff I have seen done in the self build groups, buy a panel van and build It yourself!

Having just bought a factory built t4 for just over £6k it’s safe to say your budget should do you fine! That said it wouldn’t be my first choice for an extended trip or longer term living.
Van dealer near my work always has fuck off big vw crafters etc for like £3-5k. If you and your partner are a bit handy and have the time then building your own is certainly worth considering. Your budget could easily build an absolute beauty.

If you want it to be well equipped I would recommend taking a look at race vans. There are a load of well looked after vans that are fitted with top quality equipment, but aren't wood lined yet so don't command the same prices as campervans.

E.g
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sprinter-race-van/154195540153?hash=item23e6c538b9:g:BIUAAOSwNg1fittc

If you convert something yourself, the price on new equipment and fittings will quickly add up. Add to that the needs of converting it to a motorhome on the V5, and getting any gas installation tested there are a few extra hurdles.

If you get something small enough for daily use as a car, you will inevitably compromise on use as a live in but driving a panel van to the supermarket is madness. Can't you do you shopping on a bike?

If you want to recoup value then the best way is probably get a bare but good Crafter, then get it properly converted (or at least the big bits) by a decent firm. DIY is easy enough if you're experienced and handy but won't help much if you decide to sell it as converted in a year or 3 and want to get a good price.
Transporters are too small for proper living/big trips unless you don't have any sports equipment whatsoever and there's just one or two people, even then I'd expect some luggage to go on the roof.
The fords are good vans, but don't have the VW scene tax, wouldn't bother with Sprinters as they have very bad rep.

I'm seriously thinking about a "Chinese diesel" heater. My T5.1 is a daily worker (and supermarket runner as we don't have a car) as well as a day/camper and takes an age to de-frost early mornings here in the rurals.
Has anyone fucked around with them? I am thinking contrary to the popular installations and siting it in the passenger seat base (we don't have swivel and probably won't) and also using a separate fuel tank rather than dropping and tapping into the main tank, as there's unused space near the wheel arches which might work (and I could use red diesel).

Thanks everyone for their feedback! Super useful

wouldn't bother with Sprinters as they have very bad rep.

Why do you say this? A friend who has done a couple of DIY conversions is big into Sprinters. I thought they were a bit of a 'scene'

A friend did it all in for 5k. Mine was 3x that. Both fiat ducato but mine 2017 his 2005.
So you can do it to your budget, you'll just have limits on what and how nice. But spec it out and price it up. Then double material costs.

Me, converting took 4 solid weeks of my life and cost a chunk. I'd be tempted to go 2nd hand if there is history/seller to back up what's been done.

Sprinters are known for rust. If I was on a budget I would go Peugeot/Citroen, if you want something absolutely bombproof then Iveco Daily is worth considering.

These are the vans my brother who is a mobile mechanic has just spent investigating and ended up with a LWB iveco, it’s based on a lorry chassis, so weight won’t be an issue, can also go to a XLWB for loads of space.

I just installed one a week ago and it's epic, was working straight away and makes camping this time of the year so much more comfy. I went for a 2kW one and that's already very powerfull for a small (l2h2) van

4 weeks is quite impressive! Do you have any photos of it? (Or did I miss them somewhere?)

Where did you site it, kjelm?

No I didn't post. I can whatapp a video if you're keen, dm your number.
Yeah 4 weeks, 10h+ days and a few days with some help.

Sorry for the shit picture.
First I wanted to mount it in front of the van and blowing air to the back, but that's where the fueltank is on my van so there was no space for the exhaust and air inlet to go through the floor.
Now I mounted it under the bed and blowing air to the front. The way it's mounted now is temporarily, I will make a cabinet over the entire width of the bed and it will be placed in there. I'm also gonna put a t-piece on the air outlet so the air will also go into the 'garage' to get the moisture out of there a bit too.
For now I placed the 10L fuel tank under the bed too but at some point I will connect it to the tank of the van.

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Not sure if this makes it more clear haha but it's here

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Gotcha, cool.

Seen a version built into a peli case (fuel tank was on outside of case) with an air inlet into the rear of the van, looked like a good solution to limited space.

Nearly finished this cabinet with a draw now added.

Just got to strap the cool box in and we are set to varnish some more!

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Bought this at the end of last year, it's already got captains seats and a table, going to do it up a bit more..

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Very cool! What are your expectations for reliability?

Awesome

Ha! Probs going to be as reliable as a ~50 year old van

So far have only had issues with running out of fuel and battery going flat (there was something leaking voltage).

Going to install rock n roll bed, leisure battery and clad the ceiling