News and technical articles.
Guidance on vehicle power, task management and electrical-system design for the people who build and run specialist vehicles.
One Interface, Many Outputs: Multi-Output CAN Bus Installs
Complex installs need several triggers at once, such as reverse, indicators and road speed. Here is why one configurable multi-output CAN interface beats a stack of single-function boxes.
Read more →Parking Sensors and Reversing Cameras on CAN Bus Vehicles
Modern vehicles carry the reverse signal on the CAN bus, not a reversing-light wire. Here is how to trigger a camera or parking sensors cleanly, without cutting into the loom.
Read more →How to Take a Signal Off a Modern Vehicle's CAN Bus
Reverse, ignition, lighting and road speed now travel as CAN messages, not on their own wires. How to read them for aftermarket kit without cutting the loom.
Read more →Remote Diagnostics and OTA Updates for Vehicle Fleets
What remote diagnostics and over-the-air updates offer a specialist vehicle fleet, why CAN control makes them possible, and what to design in early.
Read more →Solar and Off-Grid Power for Welfare and Workshop Vehicles
How to design solar and off-grid power for welfare and mobile-workshop vehicles: sizing the battery, charging sources, inverter and load management.
Read more →Choosing a DC-DC Converter for a Vehicle Conversion
The figures that decide a DC-DC converter for a vehicle conversion: input range, continuous current, isolation, charge profile, heat and duty cycle.
Read more →Task and Power Management Systems for Ambulances
What a task and power management system does on a front-line ambulance, from load prioritisation and run-lock to switching, monitoring and diagnostics.
Read more →What a Power Distribution Unit Does and When You Need One
What a PDU does in a specialist vehicle, how it differs from a fuse box, and the signs that a conversion has outgrown a fuse-and-relay board.
Read more →Preventing Flat Batteries Across a Vehicle Fleet
Why fleet vehicles go flat, what parasitic and auxiliary loads do to a battery, and how battery protection stops it happening.
Read more →Auxiliary Power on Electric Emergency and Utility Vehicles
How auxiliary power works on electric emergency and utility vehicles, where the alternator used to be, and what protects the traction battery.
Read more →Lithium vs Lead-Acid Auxiliary Batteries for Conversions
A practical comparison of lithium and lead-acid auxiliary batteries for specialist vehicle conversions: usable capacity, weight, charging and cost.
Read more →CAN-Bus Multiplexing vs Traditional Wiring Looms
How CAN multiplexing replaces heavy relay-and-fuse looms with intelligent modules, and what it saves in weight, build time and diagnostics.
Read more →Run-Lock and Load-Shedding on Emergency Vehicles
How run-lock keeps an emergency vehicle powered with the keys removed, and how load-shedding protects the battery while it does.
Read more →Chapter 8 Chevrons and Amber Beacons for Utility Vehicles
What Chapter 8 of the Traffic Signs Manual asks of vehicle markings and amber beacons, and what that means for the electrical fit-out on a utility vehicle.
Read more →ECE R65 and R10 Explained for Warning Beacons and Light Bars
What ECE R65 and R10 approval each certify on a warning beacon or light bar, the two R65 classes and colours, and why a road vehicle needs both marks.
Read more →Spark Medical
Retrofit OLED HMI power management system with iConnex controller and keypad for a Spark Medical Renault ambulance.
Read more →Scafftech Project
In-vehicle power system with a 2000W pure sine inverter and DC-DC charger to charge mains tools in Scafftech's service vehicles.
Read more →How Long Does It Take To Charge A Battery
The factors that determine battery recharge time: Ah rating, depth of discharge, temperature, charger output and parallel loads.
Read more →Lithium Low Temp Charging
Why lithium batteries must not be charged below freezing, the temperature thresholds to observe, and mitigation strategies.
Read more →Power Solution for Mobile Catering
A Victron lithium inverter/charger system giving Sandwich Express enough power to serve up to 500 hot coffees a day from a catering van.
Read more →What Inverter Type Do I Need
Modified versus pure sine wave inverters, and how resistive, inductive and capacitive AC loads affect the choice.
Read more →Our Leisure Applications
Intellitec's approach to leisure vehicle power: Victron-based systems for campers, motorhomes, off-grid and marine, sized to real load.
Read more →Need technical advice?
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