Solar, Energy and CBE Display Panel – DIY Van (diyvan.co.uk)

The first of two controls panels, this one is fitted into a door above the internal passenger seats. Rather than group all the control/display units together I decided to break them up into two control panels for ease of use and to prevent crowding. Here is the first one. Links for each of the controls are at the bottom of the page.

The control or Display Panel above is built into a cupboard next to the bathroom and above the inside passenger seats.

I have added a “panel on panel”, I’ll explain below with an image. The vehicle is metallic silver, the furniture is grey, I thought it would be a nice idea to use the surplus metal cut from the van when making the windows and use a piece inside the vehicle. Below is a scrap piece of metal that came out of the side of the van. I have already used it once to make a cover for the Hook-Up Hatch Cover.

Below: First, cut the metal to size.

Below: Its important to make sure the edges are dead straight. Because this metal panel is sitting inside a square shape so any miss-alignment is going to stand out. To get the edges straight after using the jigsaw, (they were not perfect) I clamped the panel between two straight pieces of wood either side of the panel and filed the edges until dead level. I checked the edges for daylight (high or low areas). Only when the four edges were straight did I move onward.

Below: The next stage is to position the individual control panels into the Display Panel.

Below: Using the metal panel I have just made I transferred the shapes onto the cupboard door ready for cutting

Below: I used a router to cut a recess into the back of the panel (but not all the way through it). This is so I could have access to unplug the power input.