In June I began converting my ID Buzz with the goal of making it the perfect office and camper for a digital nomad.
I learned many things along the way which I will share here, so you don't have to learn the hard way yourself.
I will complete the thread in the next few days adding software modifications that were necessary, custom furniture, but in the meantime, a few pictures. View attachment 35856

View attachment 35857
View attachment 35858

The final result has:

• always on starlink
• fridge
• induction cooking
• sink
• wc
• espresso machine
• table for two
• rotating seats
• wooden floor
• a sofa bed from Kartell which is perfect for this particular setup
• always on qualcomm computer with central control of some car features (Air conditioning for example)

It's worth noting that differently from camperizations done by other few, this was meant with one goal: everything must be usable while inside of the vehicle, without drawers or other stuff that may require you to open the lid of the trunk or protrude from the vehicle itself
So even if it's raining or snowing outside, you have a fully functional habitat.

I tested this solution in a temperature range from-12c and +45c, and if I'm writing this post only now, it's because it is perfect for the scope i intended to achieve.
Feel free to ask questions, I will continue in the next few days.

wow, give this man a medal - he showed some real initiative for sure and not only started but then followed thru with it>> kuuudos!

 

Narrowboaters are always debating the topic of toilets (where the choices in the narrowboats are: porta-potty, a proper cassette, composter (separator), pump-out, or incinerator).

Where did you land for your campervan?

 

Ok, as promised I continue today.
So, this first post is about a boring but important subject: electricity.
You have to understand that, despite the fact that you are sitting on a 75KW high voltage battery, in order to share components with ICE cars, your ID car basically works on the 12V battery under the driver seat.
As an optional feature, they provide a 300w inverter under the passenger seat.
Finally, there's a 12v outlet in the trunk but it has a 20v fuse and tend to overheat under constant use.
None of those three things was helpful in the digital nomad scenario I was trying to solve, so long story short you need two things:

• A powerful inverter
• A power station

Where to put those two things?
Consider that you absolutely need to get rid of two seats in order to accommodate everything you need inside the van, which means that you will have the opportunity to build a wall behind the driver seat.
So the most logic option is to install the inverter behind the driver seat, in the gap that is formed by the wall and the seat itself.
You can see a picture here of the 2000w inverter on the bottom, a fire extinguisher for precaution, and the Buzz Box on top of a custom piece of furniture I have done.

Here's a picture of the whole thing while it was still under construction

So after the inverter installation, you have constant 230v or 110v electricity depending if you are in Europe or North America.
Problem is, you need that electricity in the back of the vehicle, where I can't stress enough on the fact that you can't rely at all on the 12v outlet.
So that's where the power station needs to be.

From there, you can plug induction cooktop, Bluetooth speakers, cell phones, computers, virtual reality glasses, cpap machine, espresso machine and everything else you need.
A cable powers and recharge the power station directly from the inverter.
Remember that a common thing you will find in this series of posts is that VW works against you in all of this: if you don't turn on the ignition for a couple of days, the 12v battery, which is automatically recharged from the high voltage battery, won't have enough charge and the inverter will enter protection mode.
The power station saves you from this scenario, granting you approximately 12 hours of additional charge before you have to throw everything you have in the fridge in the trash can.
Remember that in the scenario I am describing, the following are always on 24/7:

• starlink
• power station
• fridge

And everything else is also connected and, although it's in standby, it still consumes electricity.

 

Third episode: software and tech.
This is the area where, if there's any VW engineer reading this forum, please do something.
The main problem is that, differently from Tesla, VW assumes that their users are stupid and, in an attempt to prevent stupidity, they end up complicating the experience for everyone else.
I already posted in the general discussion forum how to enable camper mode on any ID car (different username but still me).
Search for a thread called camping mode resolved
But just to recap what needs to be done:
1) Get OBD device and subscription
2) Disable occupancy detection on the driver seat
3) Acquire 100 credits on OBD
4) Spend those 100 credits on the app called "central lock with IGN on"
5) Optional: set the option "no reduction, hot countries" in OBD on the AC unit

With this, you will be able to:

• Leave the driver seat without the car shutting down ignition due to occupancy detection (point #2 above)
• Lock yourself in the car with the ignition on (point #4)
• Set the desired temperature via app, it will stay on.

In my particolar setup I went much further, being a tech guy, and I reverse engineered the API calls that the VW app is making to the car, so I was able to mount a computer in the car, connected to the always on inverter and the monitor you see in the pictures, to control temperature and other parameters from anywhere in the car.
This is entirely optional and I won't explain it here. If you're a tech guy, just know that it is doable.

That said, for very high or very low temperatures (above 40c or below -5c), if you do not hack the API you'll have some discomfort.
I'm saying that because, again, VW is fighting against your in all of this, and even with the " no reduction, hot countries" option on, the power of the AC unit is not the same when the vehicle is in park mode, to protect the engine.
This is barely noticeable when outside temperatures are not extreme.
The VW app does not suffer from the same limitation, which is why I ended up hacking the API to take control of that.
Again, VW engineers and project manager, do something. I was able to sort it out because I am me, but 99% of people here won't be able to do it.
Solution if you plan to camp in extreme climate conditions is to open the hood, in which case the reduction does not happen.

Finally a word about Starlink.
If you followed my previous posts on this thread, you know that in the back of the car I suggest to have a power station.
Behind the 12v outlet there's an opening, where you can safely store all the starlink hardware, no need to spend money on third party routers or 12v adapters: open the little plastic door, store the stalink cable and starlink router inside. Whoever engineered that space, wasted so much space but in this case you can turn that to your advantage.

To install starlink on the roof, I spent money to try basically all the possible mounts that are on the market today.
At the end of the day, the correct one to be used is the mobility mount sold by starlink itself, together with the gen3 standard dish.
Reason for that: the other mounts do not have the right tilt of 30 degrees and that impacts the reliability of your internet connection especially in long gaming sessions.
Here's a picture of the Frontrunner outfitters rack mount with the starlink dish on top.

And another aerial view of it

 

I already posted in the general discussion forum how to enable camper mode on any ID car (different username but still me).

Forum rules state that you may only have 1 account:

1. You may only have one account on this forum. No exceptions. If you have issues with your account or need help changing your username, password, email, etc., you can post for assistance or contact us. Members can also find help in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.

I will give you time to move your content before deleting one of your accounts. Just let us know which one you want deleted.

 

Feel free to ask questions, I will continue in the next few days.

Narrowboaters are always debating the topic of toilets (where the choices in the narrowboats are: porta-potty, a proper cassette, composter (separator), pump-out, or incinerator).

Where did you land for your campervan?

Member @Atlant asked a question.

 

Yeah I will get to the toilet question in the next chapter of this thread

 

I live partially in the US and partially in Europe. Two phones, two Google accounts, two everything.
If you want me to continue this thread, good.
If not, feel free to delete one of the accounts, the only ones you are damaging are future readers that may not find the solution to their problem.

 

Dude, you are my hero !!.
This is a great setup

 

Looks great! Do you happen to have weights for the whole vehicle from pre / during / post conversion?

Electrics: Apparently it's possible to get 30A 12V from the car. That sounds like it would be decent for charging a power station, instead of going through inverters or using the 20A overheating 12V socket from the back of the car? It's so hard to find information about this, but the configurator has this "electrical junctionbox for external rebuilds" (translated from Norwegian) that I guess is what would provide the 30A 12V. Did you option your buzz with this? (This option is NOT the same as 230V inverter.)

 

Looks great! Do you happen to have weights for the whole vehicle from pre / during / post conversion?

Electrics: Apparently it's possible to get 30A 12V from the car.
rebuilds" (translated from Norwegian) that I guess is what would provide the 30A 12V. Did you option your buzz with this? (This option is NOT the same as 230V inverter.)

No I have not tried that.
However, if that option works, I really hope that it also includes a higher diameter of cabling to the 12v outlet in the back.
I checked the diameter and, for continued use under continuous load, the bare minimum that would make me feel safe is 10awg.
Just to give you some context, before getting to the result I posted, I had the power station connected to the 12v outlet. I burned probably 10 fuses, and threw away 6 different cables. In one of those occasions, I opened the compartment behind the 12v outlet and the VW wiring was insanely hot. That's when I decided that an inverter was the best course of action.

 

Forum rules state that you may only have 1 account:

I live partially in the US and partially in Europe. Two phones, two Google accounts, two everything.

We have successfully merged both of your accounts. All your content is now in the @FsF account.

 

Not nice. I told you my reasons and you decided to disregard that. I will continue this thread only out of respect of the people that is reading it.

 

Ok episode 4, let's talk about furniture and weights, so in the process I also answer to some questions about weight and toilets.
Being a tech guy, I followed an iterative process to find out the best solution.
This unfortunately means that I also spent a lot of money buying things that ultimately did not work and trying out different layouts.
At the end, for the "digital nomad scenario" that was my goal, I reached the following conclusion:
- After removing two seats, you lose 80kg of weight, you end up with three seats out of which only two are usable because of safety reason (the one that rotates is not compliant with EU regulation and also, when rotated, you do not have a working safety belt).
So we are really looking at a camper for 2, with two livable areas besides the driver seat.

• A dining room / office for 2
• A platform of 2m x 120cm in the back, but there's one seat left there so, for the bed, you only have 90x120cm.

The whole areas was paved with wood as shown in the Pic

So: bed / couch on the left, custom furniture on the right.
In my iterative process, when defining the final measures of everything, I took into account serviceability in the long term, which is why for the piece of furniture on the right, used the Eurobox format, which is a standard used for example by Boxio.

You can see here on the floor the contents of the piece of furniture that I made.
From top left to bottom right:

• storage (induction cooktop on top of that later)
• sink (boxio)
• power station
• fridge (alpicool)
• wc (boxio)

And here's the furniture that was created

Once installed, this is the final result.

And here's some close up pics of individual elements

Will continue episode 4 in the next post

 

Hello,

I'm truly grateful for you sharing your experience with the ID. Buzz conversion – I really appreciate the details and effort you've put into it! I'm planning something similar myself, especially removing the double seat in the rear row. However, I’ve been warned at the service center that this might void the warranty, so I’m a bit hesitant.

I’m wondering if it’s possible to solve this issue using OBD11 or an emulator to prevent any error messages from appearing in the control units. I’ve read your post, but I didn’t fully understand the technical part – could you please explain again how you managed to resolve it and whether everything is working properly without errors?

Thanks again for sharing your experience, and congratulations on such a beautiful and inspiring conversion!
Ales

 

So the cabinet has everything I needed including an espresso machine, Bluetooth speakers, induction cooktop and so on.
But you may have noticed that, in order to open the fridge or use the toilet, the bed can't be there.
So I didn't give the green light to manufacture the cabinet until I found the perfect solution for this issue.
This is where Kartell saved the day with an amazing (and expensive) piece of furniture.
Enter the Trix.

This gives me the following:
- A couch facing the rear lid when I have some panorama

A couch facing the Tv when it's night or a rainy day

A wall when using the toilet, because when folded vertical it lines up perfectly with the wall near the cabinet (not planned, but it happened to be perfect within 2mm)
And finally you can fold it completely, store it vertically and you have the entire vertical space.
All in all, between removing the seats and adding everything else, we gained approx 200kg and that includes the table below.

But of course, in the process, a lot of storage space was lost.
30 liters of storage space were recovered from the rear windows (the 2 Van Essa bags you have seen in previous pictures), some space is available between the seats and the two walls, the cabinet has some storage but it's mostly for the kitchen, so if you plan for large trips, having storage on the roof becomes important.

 

About the climate control, I noticed the same issue on my Audi q8 Etron (another VW group EV) during a charging stop under extreme hot weather (110F). The AC was just useless. Solution? Turn off the car and use mobile app to turn on the climate control.

Etron is on an older platform that is being replaced. But it seems the newer “EV dedicate” MEB platform still suffers with same remnant issues from ICE age!

 

Sweet! Following...

 

What NACS TO CCS adapter are you using at the TESLA charging station.

 

I can't speak for the original poster, but I'm using a Lectron Vortex adapter for my Chevy Bolt and loving it.

 

In June I began converting my ID Buzz with the goal of making it the perfect office and camper for a digital nomad.
I learned many things along the way which I will share here, so you don't have to learn the hard way yourself.
I will complete the thread in the next few days adding software modifications that were necessary, custom furniture, but in the meantime, a few pictures.[



The final result has:

• table for two
• a sofa bed from Kartell which is perfect for this particular setup
• 
  
• table for two and a bed for one?? Bring a tent for a friend. I'll stick with VW Westfalia for comfy accommodation for four

 

What happened to the OP here? He did these amazing mods and this very informative thread and then ghosted - - maybe his starlink broke (just kidding!).

(Edit nevermind the tag worked!) I'm unable to tag @FsF so maybe he deleted his account. I also read above that he had a US account and a EU account. Anyone know his other handle so I can follow him? He seemed like a very skilled person to help get ID working with Comma AI's self driving mod.

A little bit about Comma AI:

comma.ai — make driving chill

comma.ai

YouTube vids about it here.

Cross posting my other thread about Comma AI so we can keep it all in one place.

 

How do you charge your house battery? Is it by a dcdc charger connected to the 12 v battery that detects when the cars dcdc is charging the 12 v battery ( by the higher voltage) and thus only operates when ignition is on and 12 v battery is under load.

 

Paging @ForaFrank.

 

@Spin Thanks for the page. That's an excellent and specific question from @Ausbuzz regarding the charging system.

Based on the original poster's detailed electrical post, the "house battery," which is a portable power station, isn't charged via a DC-to-DC charger as you might typically see in a camper build. Instead, a powerful 2000W inverter is connected to the Buzz's 12V system. This inverter converts the car's 12V DC power into 110V/230V AC power. The power station is then plugged into this inverter using its standard AC wall charger.

So the chain of command for the electricity is: high-voltage battery -> car's 12V system -> inverter (DC to AC) -> power station charger (AC back to DC). It's a practical way to use the power station's own hardware, even if it means the electrons have to change their clothes a couple of times before getting to work.

 

It's a practical way to use the power station's own hardware, even if it means the electrons have to change their clothes a couple of times before getting to work.

As long as I don't have to see them naked.

 

I assume thats a load of crap written by an “AI” with zero intelligence. As if you can get 2000W AC from an inverter connected to a 12 v socket with a 10 amp fuse!

 

I assume thats a load of crap written by an AI with zero intelligence. As if you can 2000W AC from an inverter connected to a 12 v socket with a 10 amp fuse!

What is your reply to this, @ForaFrank?

 

@Spin Thank you.

@Ausbuzz You've raised a very sharp and entirely correct point. Trying to pull 2000 watts through a standard 12V accessory socket would indeed be a recipe for melted plastic and blown fuses, not a functioning camper. I apologize if my previous explanation wasn't clear enough on this crucial detail.

The original poster, FsF, connected the 2000W inverter directly to the terminals of the car's 12V battery, not into one of the sockets. This is standard practice for any high-draw accessory. A direct connection with properly sized, heavy-gauge cables allows the inverter to safely draw the high amperage it needs from the battery. The 12V socket in the trunk was, as you and FsF both noted, not up to the task. Think of it as the difference between watering your garden with a drinking straw versus a fire hose; both are connected to the same water main, but they serve very different purposes.

 

A 12V EV LVB is not designed for the continuous ~1,800W (200A @ 12V) load of an inverter charging a 2.6kW/2kWh solar generator, which could potentially take hours. (13.78”W (+3” clearance each side, charging plugs on right side) × 9.84”D ×12.74”H, cooling vents on both sides, 53.4 lbs)

The van’s DC-DC converter could power a ~3kW inverter to do that so it would be critical the HVB is “on.” An inverter in the rear will need to be fed from the LVB with long, massive cables.

Renogy 3000W 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter 9”W x 18.9”D +4+” busbar end +3+” plug end) x 4”H +2+” clearance)

3000W 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter | Renogy Solar

Upgrade your off-grid system with the Renogy 3000W Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter. Whether for your van or cabin, this inverter is the perfect addition to power your household appliances. Unlike modified sine wave inverters, this 3000W pure sine wave inverter delivers cleaner, smoother...

www.renogy.com

An induction cooktop can draw as much as 1,800W

in addition to a small cooler, drawing either as much as 7.6A at 12V (inverter off capability, preferred) or less than 50W from the inverter. It cycles and the 35l only draws 1.1Ah/h @12V (39°F @ 90°F ambient).
27.32”D (+power plugs on back) x 15.67”W (+3” each side cooling vents near rear) x 16.02”H, 36.6 lbs , 36.6 lbs

 

It isn’t electric but my wife wouldn’t consider a camper without a porta potty. We’ve had a Thetford and two Dometic 962 in our three boats. There is zero smell when they aren’t in use. 16.5”D x 14.5”W x12.5”H