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What to do with your 3-person passenger seat bench when it’s not in the van

Three-person passenger bench seat removed from van

The bench seats in a Sprinter are burly. They are designed to keep three passengers safe in a crash, so they are heavy and sturdy.

We move our seat out of the van every now and again, either when we’re working on the interior or when we need to carry oversize objects.

What we needed was a way to get the seat from the van to wherever we want to store it, and also a way to make sure the seat can be easily moved by just one person if it’s in the way of other stuff we need.

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Updating Victron Energy inverter settings and firmware

Updating MultiPlus Compact inverter with new firmware

Victron might not be the cheapest manufacturer of inverters and solar chargers, but their stuff has a good reputation in the marine and off-grid communities. We built our van’s electrical system around their products.

It’s nice to see that AM Solar has recently decided to use Victron components as the base for several of their RV install kits. That’s a big vote of confidence, because AM Solar tends to do their research before committing to stocking a product.

The inverters are programmable and many of their settings can be changed. The inverters and solar chargers also have updateable firmware to take advantage of new operating modes. The color controller updates itself automatically over the internet, but the other components have to be done manually. Here’s how to do it.

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There’s nothing “Stealth” about camping in a Sprinter

Overnight city parking - urban camping

People often refer to parking overnight in an inhabited area as “stealth camping.” Unless your Sprinter has no exterior adornments, no condensation on the window glass, local license plates, and absolutely no light showing through the window covers, it’s unlikely you’ve gone unnoticed. What’s more important is that you are not disturbed.

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Using the Autel MaxiDiag Elite MD802 Code Reader on a Sprinter

Autel MaxiDiag Elite 802 diagnostic tool

The Autel MaxiDiag MD802 will read and reset OBDII diagnostic codes on Sprinters. The “All systems” version will reset ABS and SRS warnings and can help you do a brake bleed too.

Although this reader can’t change values like the more expensive Mercedes STAR system can, it is still a useful tool for diagnosing and understanding Sprinter issues.

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Showing km/h on the dash of a USA Sprinter

kilometers per hour in Sprinter dash display

If you ever drive “North of the border” into Canada with your US-specced Sprinter van, you’ll soon start to curse Mercedes’ decision not to put kilometer per hour markings on the speedometer.

Luckily, if you have the highline dash display (steering wheel with buttons) there’s a fix that lets you see your speed in Km/h in the status bar section in the lower half of the display, where you normally see the temperature.

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