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Nations Alternator Install Tips Part1 | VBHQ!
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May 3, 2025
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0:00
this second alternator setup that I got going on here um let me flip the camera
0:09
around so what you're looking at here is the intake tube and then over here we've
0:15
got the turbocharger with the intake pipe and so what I'm doing is in a past
0:23
live stream we talked about how we undid the AC compressor and actually put this whole entire bracket system on to
0:30
support the second alternator this video is just me kind of finishing up putting everything back
0:36
together and there's a couple quirks in here as I'm putting
0:41
this back together and I'm just kind of I'm basically just capturing it on video so this isn't going to be a formal live
0:48
stream this is just me going through this uh second alternator install it's a
0:53
Nations second alternator install um setup and uh
1:01
yeah I'm going to show you guys what's going on here so there are two tubes here so I'll get
1:08
this light out so right
1:14
here so that is your turbocharger and so you have on this so
1:22
you have another side this is the left side of the engine so the passenger
1:27
side and you got two pipes you get that top one which is the charge tube it's actually pressurized and then the bottom
1:33
one on the left or to the left hand side that's the intake so that's the air going into the
1:40
turbocharger so when you do this second alternator uh what you have to do is you
1:46
need to take the all these tubes out because there's no way to actually work on installing the second
1:52
alternator unless you get this out you need this room but on install on reinstall
2:00
this intake boot that goes on the bottom of the turbocharger that goes in first
2:06
and then this second tube actually goes in second um you're going to have a couple
2:12
things here so one thing that we can actually go ahead and in install is one of these uh vacuum
2:19
lines so this goes into the tube this right here is another one this
2:24
comes from the pressurized air so this one just spins around
2:31
and uh we're going to have this come under and
2:37
uh so this is going to go right into here and this clip has to be cut so I'm
2:45
going to come back and do this so I'm not going to do this right now but just to let you know that there's a clip here
2:50
and this tube and this is connected to the second charge tube which is the pressurized tube coming out of the
2:57
turbocharger okay after all that's done um I did I forget to mention
3:03
there's two additional vacuum lines right there and they have Clips so they
3:10
both uh there's a bottom one and a top one so those have to be
3:16
undone and that's pretty much it here on the top side there's nothing else on the engine you need to get to um but if you
3:22
don't take these charge tubes completely out of the van it's next to Impossible I
3:27
I'd say it's impossible to get the uh alternator
3:33
installed so right here give me one second I'll reframe the
3:41
video so what I'm working on now is the bottom part of these charge tubes so
3:47
this tube right here is what is coming out of the turbocharger this is
3:53
pressurized air so this right here this goes into here
4:00
but the reason that it's up in this direction is because this is where it gets really kind of finicky um by the
4:09
way that is the second alternator the nation's second
4:15
alternator and this looks weird that there is the belt is smaller than the
4:20
pulley itself that's just the way it comes uh they put in the instructions that the belt needs to be uh set right
4:28
here to the back of this lift so just ignore the front um of the
4:34
pulley that's exposed this is the proper way to do it and then as you can see
4:41
here up top there we've got the air compressor I the AC
4:48
compressor and then it's really hard to see but there is a new tensioner that
4:53
comes with the bracket and then this belt is a new belt so the factory belt
4:58
will not uh is not used anymore so that gets thrown
5:04
away and then right there you've got
5:12
um was trying to get the wide angle lens on here let's see what I can
5:22
do um see how I did this before
5:50
uh nope all right I want to keep going so that is the nation second alternator
5:58
this is the whole setup over here
6:03
um so the van that I'm building this is a 2020 Ford Transit High roof 148 in uh
6:11
Ford Transit van we're turning into a camper van and this is an additional alternator
6:17
for charging the the batteries uh we'll talk about wiring a little bit all the wiring harnesses are
6:24
down there and that's going in today as well um but let's back up here because
6:29
this is where it gets pretty detailed so over here this you have two
6:37
pipes so you have this pipe and then there's another pipe that you can't see these two pipes come out
6:45
completely and so what I'm doing now is this is the one that is going to go back in
6:53
So this part has to be on top of this fitting to be screwed in but you you
6:59
have to do this driver side over here first okay so let's get this
7:07
into into frame so over here on the driver
7:15
side you got these two charge tubes you got this one you got a top one right
7:21
here up there and then you got this bottom one obviously top one goes in first it's the easiest to go in this
7:29
part right here has to be disconnected and one reason I'm making
7:34
this video is if we come over here this part
7:40
is this right here is the Big Challenge so trying to get wide enough
7:46
here but this bottom charge tube this top one has to go in
7:54
first see how this plastic one is on top this second one goes in
8:00
second but not only that because man everything in here is so tight um this
8:07
tube has two places it's got a place up
8:13
here that my phone's not focusing on where my finger is there's a boot here and then there's
8:20
a boot here but you have to put the pipe in both boots at the exact same time you
8:25
can't do one or the other okay while you're doing that
8:31
you also have to
8:37
um man I need this wide angle lens like right now let's see
8:44
[Music]
8:54
here all right we'll finish up with this I'm going to see if I can get a wi angle lens
9:00
uh man this is not working
9:07
okay let me regroup real quick I got to find out how to get
9:14
the find out how to get the wide angle lens on this camera if I have to turn it on after the
9:22
live stream I'll just redo it
9:30
yeah so use this time to ask some questions I'll hop back on the stream in just a second
10:24
all right hold on guys bear with me here for
11:01
all right I'm might have to just just going to have to work with
11:06
this all right so down here under the van that's a pretty good
11:13
view so we've got a tube underneath here you can't see this is the secondary tube so uh the secondary
11:22
tube this part right here has to be put in
11:27
uh this is part of the secondary tube right here this
11:33
hose but you can only attach it when this hose has been installed to this
11:38
fitting so this one we're going to put back on and it just snaps in just like
11:51
that okay so we got that sealed we've got all of our other stuff taken care
11:56
of we have this uh fitting right here so we need to just take this and snap it in
12:04
here just like that okay that is good for this side now
12:10
we'll just uh we'll move on to this other
12:16
side okay so this is where
12:22
um so you see these tabs so we've got the left side in now
12:29
we have to get the right side in and to do that this has to come out
12:37
from under from Over the clips so you have to undo it after you get the boot
12:44
in so see now this is loose and it can drop below
12:53
that uh I have not tested the wee boost haven't done that yet um
13:00
um okay so hopping over here to this side so now since this is
13:07
loose we can come over here and put this into this
13:18
boot and I don't have this connected up top so I may have to come back and
13:23
connect it up top so it doesn't come off up top but that goes like that we're going
13:29
to put the boot here I'll come back later when I'm off camera so once you connect all these boots so this one and then the second
13:36
one on the turbocharger then you can come back to these clips and you need to move this whole
13:42
thing up underneath the frame all right so getting to the point
13:49
of why um I'm making this video is in the instructions for the second alternator
13:56
now there's only one terminal for a positive cable which
14:04
makes sense however there is not a terminal for a negative cable so I
14:11
called up Nations and I said hey you know the photo in the instruction says
14:16
there is a negative post on the back of this and my alternator doesn't have one
14:23
well the reason for that is um it's really simple it's a simple
14:29
fix this right here all we're going to do is just we're going to ground our negative battery
14:36
cable to this we're essentially just grounding it to the alternator itself so
14:41
no big deal um I kind of assume that but you know I don't want to do something that
14:49
the manufacturer doesn't recommend so this is going to be the positive terminal coming out this is
14:55
going to be the negative terminal now in a perfect world I wanted to not have these charge tubes in here
15:02
when I started running my cable but I quickly found out that the Big 4 out
15:08
cable that I'm using to put the two terminals here I'm going to have a pain in the butt trying to figure out or
15:15
guess where these charge tubes are in relation to the cable runs so I said hey
15:20
I'm just going to put everything back together and then that'll force me to find out you know where I can where I
15:28
have to do the these uh cable runs so these
15:33
two pieces right here these will clamp together there's bolts that will bolt in
15:40
these clamps and then once that's all finished then we can just play around figuring out how the heck we're going to
15:47
get these uh heavy duty cables to these two terminals
15:54
um so negative is going to go here I want it to go up and out and then the positives down here and I want it to go
16:02
down and around um that way I can keep the maximum distance between these
16:10
two um it's not a make or break but it would be nice um also we've got some
16:16
communication cables here so this right here is a I believe this
16:21
is the temperature sensor for the alternator and then this is the communications uh basically this is is
16:29
like the onoff uh signal wire for the alternator itself
16:35
so it's it's really simple it's just getting this bracket in here and this
16:41
all this other stuff is uh um I mean I've done stuff like this
16:48
my whole life so just yes I'm the guy that just takes stuff apart for no reason so for me this
16:54
was not that big of a deal um it was more the fr ation was more how do I
17:01
neatly get my wiring to here so that everything looks nice and professional
17:06
um it wasn't really trying to figure out how to get it to work but um as a DIY this is what I wanted to
17:14
follow up with you guys you should be able to do this whole entire bracket in this chain exchange
17:20
here in a day so if you were in your garage um you won't you will not be able to drive the van for that whole day that
17:28
you're working on this because all your T charge tubes are off you do not want to crank the engine up or have to move
17:34
the vehicle during this time of this all being off um that be it would be not good for your engine your engine will
17:41
run but you have the risk of sucking up something into the turbo and that would be terrible it would just you'd be done
17:48
after that so long story short this is the new 280
17:55
amp alterat from Nations um I did two parts you can see here that all this is
18:01
installed ready to go lock tied and torqu down to all the
18:06
specifications my next job is to take the wake speed control wire and the uh
18:15
negative cable so if I hop over here we're using 4 a and it's going to take
18:21
me about um so this is just a negative cable that we did in a live stream the other
18:26
day so this one is a 38 in
18:33
uh terminal or battery lug I guess you can say we're probably going to use
18:39
about 20 ft maybe 19 ft to get from the alternator around the van
18:46
through uh so what we're doing is we're coming through this channel right there between the gas tank
18:53
and the new shower graywater tank that we just installed
19:00
so we'll come up through here and then right up into here so um let's see if I
19:07
can turn this drill on so you guys can see so right here I've got this uh I've got two things I've got a rubber grommet
19:14
that is RTV sealed into the Vans uh whol saw cut out
19:20
itself and then I have a secondary boot which is the one you can actually see on
19:26
camera that is the weather boot so the first one is to protect from the metal
19:33
sheet metal the van cutting into the ca cable and the external boot is
19:40
to keep out you know bugs and stuff like that uh for
19:47
example and then this is what we did yesterday just to uh show you
19:53
guys so the bolt that holds alternator um is different the
19:59
bolt on the alternator for the negative I mean for the positive is going to be a
20:05
516 hole so the post here that goes to the
20:10
positive is 516 and the bracket bolt that is going
20:16
to be the grounding location for this is going to be 38 but they're both going to
20:22
be 4 out so the other thing is the way that this is wiring right under here I'm
20:28
going to have to feed the I can't start here I actually have to start here and feed the wire up around a couple
20:36
components and some wires from Ford it will be coming up uh above this control arm
20:45
it'll come straight up through here and then it'll come right above and go
20:52
around the sway bar okay we want to keep everything nice and high away from any type of you know
21:00
mechanical components so nice and high and then it'll be right in the middle of
21:05
that rail so that we don't have any issue with
21:11
uh yeah so right above that rail no issue with the uh sway
21:16
bar and keeping it away from the exhaust header so all these things you kind of
21:22
got to think about um and then to wrap it
21:27
up I don't let's see let's
21:33
see Nova you're doing a great job um yeah so over
21:40
here so the cables we're going to protect them with wire
21:46
loom and then this will also help to make sure you know nothing chapes after we get get finished but um
21:55
yeah that is what we're talking about and guys guess what I'm going
22:01
to do a plug here for the I got a new DIY camper van course coming out really
22:07
excited it is launching October 1st 2024 um we just made our first pre-sale
22:16
for the pre-order so really excited so the pre-order you're going to
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get a discount for ordering before launch date so between now and October
22:27
1st you're going to get this pre-order discount and it's just a thank you for going ahead and purchasing this before
22:33
it comes out um I'm really excited about this camper van conversion blueprint
22:39
course because all the questions you guys have asked online um you know messages phone calls
22:48
uh any questions in the comment I've put all that together into this course and
22:53
it's just a great thing to help you with your DIY van conversion so a couple things that you can expect in the course
23:00
obviously I'm going to be in the course teaching you everything uh we're going to get started and talk about um all
23:08
kinds of stuff DIY camper van related budget planning uh you know Logistics what's
23:14
going to take to take your van on the adventures and Journeys that you're going to go on we'll go through choosing
23:21
a van you know whether want like a new used two wheel drive all-wheel drive uh
23:27
load Capac capacity so if you're going to be hauling anything or um what type of engine size you might
23:34
need because you're going to have a lot of weight in your van all that fun stuff then we'll talk about design and layout
23:40
so I just did a video where I walked through this van and said hey you know
23:46
there's a lot of things that you're going to put together in a van and once you do a layout it's really hard to
23:51
change it so having some guidance on what might be the best layout for you is going to be in the course
23:58
uh over here offgrid power system this is really exciting because I know
24:04
sometimes deciding on what power system to put in your van uh can be stressful
24:09
you know do you want to go with an all-in-one system do you want to do a standalone system uh indivi
24:15
individualize components you know what kind of mix is best for you and then how much power are
24:22
you going to anticipate using um I have a whole section there to help you understand how to properly size your
24:27
power system we'll hop in and talk about fresh and gray water storage so whether you want
24:33
to do a tank inside your van a gray tank outside your van um you know how you're
24:38
going to heat your water Plumbing all that good stuff then we'll go over insulation sound dampening um this is
24:45
really important for a van especially if you're wanting to uh keep it nice and warm during the winter cool in the
24:51
summer uh as well as quiet you won't believe how much doing proper sound
24:57
deadening through throughout the whole entire van will affect your camping experience at like a KOA camp ground or
25:05
if you're out in the wilderness um it really significantly changes that noise so with insulation and sound dampening
25:13
you think driving on the road and road noise is number one my personal experience is that when you're at the
25:20
campground everything's quiet you don't want to hear noises outside people's conversations and stuff like that not
25:27
saying that you won't hear hear that if it's properly insulated but it's going to be a whole lot quieter than it would
25:33
be if it wasn't um the last three things we'll talk about exterior upgrades so we'll go
25:39
through this whole entire van build um not this one in particular but we'll
25:44
talk about the principles behind roof racks um what's a proper weight to have on your roof uh different components um
25:51
your layout because once you go ahead and cut out a hole in your van um you
25:56
want to make sure you did it in the right Lo location and you have a plan for your roof so whether that's doing
26:02
two Max fans a Max vanan in a AC unit it's up to you but I'll help you kind of
26:10
decide on what upgrades might be the the best for you or the course will steer you in a direction that might be a best
26:17
fit for you then we'll uh talk about finalizing your build so safety checks
26:22
making sure your van's not overweight that you don't have too much weight on your roof um legal requirements so like
26:28
registering your vehicle uh we also talk about like financing banking uh you know
26:34
getting a loan to uh actually build your van out versus uh you know working with
26:41
a uh like a private Builder um I've got all that experience from past C
26:46
customers helping them out with their whole entire process so yeah really get
26:52
into details on that and then we'll just finish it up with you know putting the van together you know getting the the
26:58
bed the camper van mattress uh all the like uh cooking utensils um all the fun
27:07
stuff that kind of turns the van into a home and you're ready to go take that trip we'll talk about that last but not
27:14
least you'll get P access to our private online community so think of this as a forum so this will be a private Forum
27:20
where all you guys can ask questions we'll have the questions from not only fan Builder hq's YouTube but you know
27:27
stuff from phone calls I've had consultations that I've done with past customers uh and I'll be in the forums
27:34
asking answering questions and uh also putting information in there so really
27:40
really cool so check it out you can pre-order today just click on this link right here and you can go ahead and
27:46
purchase the course and then on October October 1st it'll be finished completed and it'll be ready to go for you guys to
27:54
uh explore and um yeah can't wait to uh put
27:59
this together but yeah this is the pre-order link go ahead and click there and um it launches October 1st so thanks
28:09
uh for listening to my little spel there um but other than the van course also
28:15
check out the DIY van build cheat sheet um that's also on Van Builder HQ vanb
28:21
Builder hq.com and it is the past three years of all of my shop purchases put
28:26
into an Excel sheet uh it's completely free it's organized it's just a cool way
28:31
to see what's out there product wise and look at the stuff that I ordered um
28:36
there's an update coming because a lot of the stuff that's in this uh Adventure van build is not in that list right now
28:46
um so there's a bunch of stuff uh cables components uh you know AC units like the
28:53
dtic um and not only that there's the new nomatic in X2 48 volt system the
29:00
ecoflow power system a lot of stuff like that it's not in the sheet but uh we'll be putting it up there very soon so
29:08
that's the DIY van build cheat sheet you can check it out put your name and email address in and it's completely free so
29:15
I'll show you that really quick so if you hop on the website go to Van Builder hq.com
29:21
it'll be right here on your right hand side and you just click download put
29:26
your name and email address in it'll be sent right to your inbox um and while you're at it you can
29:32
also go and check out the course so there's the link to
29:38
the course it's called the camper van
29:43
conversion blueprint comes out October 1st but if
29:49
you pre-order you can get a discount as a thank you
29:55
for signing up and uh yeah getting the course um again feel free to go on the
30:02
website review what's going to be in the course and let me know your feedback any live stream that I do love to hear your
30:09
feedback on any question you guys have about the course so is there stuff you want to see in the course are there
30:15
questions you have about your own DIY van conversion that you haven't found anybody else to answer I was on a phone
30:21
call today uh with someone who had watched a YouTube video on the window install they were super happy
30:28
uh that that video was available they found it they found it very helpful and
30:33
uh yeah I'm always asking anyone that reaches out you know what's something that would help them in the future and I
30:40
want to ask you guys that same question so if there's something on your mind DIY van related that
30:46
you've uh kind of scoured around and nobody has given you the answer let me
30:51
know what that question is I'll do my research or I'll probably have the answer for you off the top of my head um
30:58
um yeah so that is pretty much it for today's live stream we are going to sign
31:04
off here but I want to make sure you guys uh sign up uh not only for the
31:09
course but also subscribe to Van Builder hq's YouTube channel click the uh
31:15
notification Bell because I go live randomly throughout the week don't want you guys to miss an episode um that's it
31:23
right now for some pointers on the second alternator install as soon as I get underneath the van here
31:30
and run my wiring for the power back to the uh back of the van we'll do a little
31:35
bit more of a deeper dive on the connections to the system because the
31:41
brain of this whole entire thing right here is the uh wake speed controller
31:46
this is the brain so when I connect the brain to the back of the uh power system
31:52
that we have um we'll do a live stream you guys can ask questions on it uh I've
31:58
got a bunch of knowledge on this um I've uh there's two uh there's two online courses from
32:07
dragonfly and they streamed it live and those two
32:13
seminars they're really long they're there're each of those videos is like an hour an hour and a half but I mean my
32:19
videos are probably like an hour an hour and a half so anyway so there's about
32:24
two and a half hours of content that I watch to understand really how that controller box works and I'll summarize
32:31
it when I go to install the controller box so if you have any questions on the
32:36
wake speed regulator for the nation's second alternator for a Ford transit
32:43
install get those ready so when I uh you can ask them at the end of this video or
32:49
you can um wait until I do a live stream connecting this and uh we'll kind of go
32:56
from there but yeah uh thank you guys so much for tuning in to the channel
33:02
watching uh love to hear your comments and questions after this video is done
33:07
uh posting and uh until next time I'll see you guys in the next live stream
33:13
thanks so much for watching
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