We moved some of the dome lights that came with the van, too. We provide consultation and wiring schematics complete with materials and sourcing. Next build, Im going to try to install a Victron Energy Color Control GX display as a one point stop for all of my energy monitoring needs. Some newer devices wont operate well on modified sine inverters either, so its important to research the exact appliances you plan to use and what the manufacturer recommends. This influenced the gauge of the wiringwhere the wiring would need to be run, the size of the battery array, and the capabilities of the solar panels.

towbar fixed electric step kit sprinter mercedes van Best of luck! Having a large battery means we dont need a propane tank for cooking or hot water. volt sprinter capacity power system van kit views 2007 Reach out to RoostVans.com. You can do this with a voltage meter. Once youve got a good idea of how much power youll be drawing, you can determine how big of a battery bank youll need. However, we're open to questions and totally support consulting a certified electrician when it comes to building your own system! Pay to play right? Its a bit messy. And not to worry so long as you set your solar controller parameters correctly, your solar system will just hook straight in to the rest of your electrical set-up. Important: Give this part time and patience, and an attitude of throwing it out and reworking it to be better. In case youre not already familiar, the way a solar power system works is that solar panels capture the suns energy and convert it into electricity which is then used to either directly power something, or more commonly, that energy is collected in a battery that can then be used to run power from. The panels are pretty rigid and dont necessarily need much extra support. Cables tend to be much fatterand they need crimped lugs on their ends. If you have a lithium battery, it should also come with a battery management system. Before you get all worried about lithium, read about the different types of lithium and lead-acid batteries, and why despite all the horror stories the lithium batteries used in van conversions are actually very safe. We did some research and decided touse 265W panels made by Grape Solarbecause we could fit 3 on the roof of our 170 wheelbase van and still have just enoughroom for a fan behind them. But considering a 50% max discharge requirement, the 4 x 100ah battery bank would be quite heavy at over 200 lbs and also take up a ton of room. solar sprinter An automatic charging relay is a small device that attaches to the vehicles alternator. Even if you dont plan on staying in campgrounds all the time, being able to plug in to top off your batteries is a smart option, especially for the winter months. sprinter alternator dual kit amp van 4cyl 1l Its an intelligent, inexpensive piece of equipment that allows the alternator to charge your house batteries while you are driving. In the same way that you wouldnt drive without a fuel gauge, you shouldnt use a battery without some form of monitoring. Having one of these means if you are on the road for a few hours, your batteries will be fully charged when you arrive at your campsite. It helps to know how full or empty your battery is. We like the metal fins so that whenever the batteries are totally topped up and the solar panels are still producing power, the charge controller can dissipate the energy in the form of heat effectively. Flip on a light switch. AKA, buy extra wire and crimps. We also planned to finish the conversion project, powering saws and tools right from the van itself. Well talk more about this option later on. Branch Connector Parallel Adapter Kit for Solar Panel, Magnadyne 12V Wall Mount 4 Ports USB Charging. Some people use a 30 Amp socket of the kind you find at RV parks, but we just use a regular 15 Amp extension cable. Some advice to heed, when you find yourself tangled in miles of wiring: And lastly, dont make the mistake I did give yourself twice as much extra wire out of both entry/exit points you think youll need. They perform complete custom van conversions based on your performance requirements. We have never been short on AC power even when running several high usage electronics all at once. Do you want to be off-grid without ever having to plug in? This is what I have in my van. Now lets move on to the charge controller. In fact Im having a difficult time coming up with reasons not to go this route. As a rule of thumb, youll need at least 400Ah of battery capacity for a 2kW inverter. To be honest, we could probably have gotten by with a cheaper model and we're not sure that the metal fins are truly essential but it has worked really well for us and we have no lingering fears that our power system will overheat. We also have an air compressor for inflating bike and van tires. Check it: The Relion Li-ion 100Ah battery was $1400 but is worth two 100ah AGM units. If you carry the can and the generatorinside the van, the fumes are terrible, so that means strapping themon to the outside of the vehicle somehow. Sure, it can be improved, but its safe and secure. But, this isnt necessary for everyone it all depends on what youll be powering. Mono panels are generally more efficient and have a slimmer design, but they also tend to be more expensive. Theyre built to handle consistent vibrations and changing temperatures. Erick Viking Heating & Air. This means you can get away with a smaller capacity (and lighter-weight) battery bank because you get more from each battery.

When your AGM batteries are full, your voltage meter should read around 12.8 volts. What we love about the fuse box is that it has an indicator light for each circuit so that when the fuse has been blown or if you simply remove a fuse from the holder, it will light up identifying which fuse has tripped. Follow along as we build our own Sprinter van conversion. T Tocas 300A Heavy-Duty Negative bus bar terminal, Branch Connector Parallel Adapter Kit for Solar Panel, an in-line 250Amp WindyNation ANL Fuse Holder, Renogy 2000W 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter for our AC power needs, two (2) Renogy 100W Monocrystalline solar panels, metal brackets that screw right into the roof, Stage 3: Maxxair Roof Fan Install and Sunroof Install, Stage 2: Sound Dampening, Subfloor, and Insulation, Stage 1: Demo, Clean, And Prepare The Van. Again, its all about safety and a poor electrical install has the potential to not only give you trouble, which will be super frustrating, but it can also be dangerous. Converting 120V Light Fixture to 12V | RV Light Fixture. If youve been following my blog for a while, youll know that Ive had Zamp Solar panels on both of my vans. We settled on Renogy panels and in the future will likely go with Light Harvest Solar out of Portland. Im appreciating your thorough examination of the process. Hi again, correction from previous comment.the model Im considering has 2400 watt hours ( not 1000 as previously stated ) For the 120V AC circuit, We optioned for a Cotek SD2500 Pure Sine WaveInverter. You wont be ready to go install it all yourself, but youll have a much better understanding of how it all works so you can make decisions about your vans electrical system with confidence.

Its also possible to charge the battery from the engine. If their temperature gets below freezing and you try to charge them, the batteries can be damaged. To protect the batteries and components, we added an in-line 250Amp WindyNation ANL Fuse Holder in case there is a big power surge it will break the fuse instead of damaging the batteries or components. The downside is that AGM batteries can only use 50% of their total capacity, so once theyre below 50% they need to recharge. Basically, a 100Ah Li-ion battery is the equivalent of two AGMs, and lasts longer. AGM batteries are heavy-duty and durable. I found myself plugging in more or using the vans alternator to top off my batteries and for that reason, I decided to size everything up in my second van. Unless youre an electrician, all this talk of van electrical systems like batteries, inverters, solar panels, wire, and more may have your head spinning. Share your questions, tips, and experiences in the comments below, and make sure to sign up for van life resource updates here! towbar socket sprinter towing inst Ultimately, it comes down to budget and climate demands. *We are a participant in the Amazon Service LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. I can build the rest of my Sprinter van conversion, with the power of my Sprinter! alternator dual sprinter kit amp van 4cyl 1l UPDATE: Dont want to tackle this yourself? The reason we chose a 250A fuse was that our batteries can normally supply 200A of 12v current, so you want a fuse that allows for the max electric current but will break if it goes much further. In my experience, its better to overestimate your needs than to underestimate, so make a liberal estimate when youre planning your battery bank. Our build has a lot of electrical consumers. For us, we ran out of battery a couple times early on when it was rainy for a few days and we were carelessly using power. They can help you with DIY products, full builds, or combination of both! We added up all of the load requirementsand carefully planned out what components we might actually have powered up at any given timeto calculate an amperage draw. I was wondering, how much does your electrical setup + solar panels weigh? When the days are short and the sun isnt out very long, being able to plug in if your batteries are running low will help prevent them from getting damaged while allowing you to still function in the van. Its an easy, DIY, budget-friendly setup. Ive linked to some additional info on this controller in the resources section. Heres a recap of our demo-day, cleaning, and preparing the van to build. Will you be a weekender or full-time traveler? So far, three months into vanlife, we think we made the right decision. I would have purchased locally. We also liked that if we upgraded our solar to 300w or 400w at some point we could keep the same charge controller. Not the appliance you are powering. Modified sine inverters are an economical choice, but will use significantly more energy and might not support certain appliances, like a refrigerator, microwave, or induction stove. I opted to rely on pulling fuses, which sucks. Its also a really inefficient way to charge a lead-acid battery, because the battery cant take all the power that the generator provides. Another 100Ah battery will be purchased when funds allow which will be installed in parallel. After considering the space we had left on the roof, we purchased two 100 watt solar panels from Renogy. If youre using a battery (which you will if youre planning on having a solar setup in your van), youll also need an inverter to convert the DC power in the battery to usable AC power for your appliances. This is only a very basic explanation to help you understand how everything is connected. It works like a charm and costs around $150.

Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. This video provides an overview of my second Sprinter vans power system including the solar panels: My first Sprinter van had 180 watts of solar and a 375 amp-hour AGM battery bank. Tagged: Sprinter Van, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes Sprinter, Mercedes Sprinter Van, Camper Van, Camper Van Conversion, Sprinter Van Conversion, Camper Van Electrical, DIY Van build, DIY Sprinter Van Build. Hi Ida! I discovered the power of the outdoors in my 20s, at the time I needed it most. We also opted for a nicer MPPT solar charge controller to get the most efficiency from the solar panels. Inverters, solar charger, batteries can be interchanged with other brands. We hid all of this complexity behind a really simple interface. An MPPT charge controller harnesses the maximum energy coming into your panels, so your batteries get maximum input. There are two types of batteries to consider: AGM and Lithium. If thats the case, this is a perfect option that will allow you to use power as normally as you do in your brick and mortar house. Generators can be loud, impacting your ability to enjoy the sounds of nature. Li-ion batteries are less than 1/2 the size per usable Ah. Bearfoot Theory / Outdoor Adventure Blog / Planning a Van Conversion Blogs / Camper Van Solar Panels, Batteries & Electrical Systems. volt sprinter capacity power system van kit views 2007 Our Sprinter van electrical system goals: When choosing Sprinter van solar panels we had to consider a handicap: We would likely try to park in the shade during the hot summer months. What will your van electrical system and solar panel setup look like? Renogys options, albeit good stuff, are a bit limited due to being designed in size to allow for UPS shipping. Dont forget to plug in your battery temperature probe from the charge controller as well as the MT50 display screen to keep track of your batterys voltage and solars charging data. Ive never had to plug in by necessity or had to be stressed that my batteries were dangerously low. Some of the above links will take you to Amazon, and as an Amazon Associate CreatID, Inc. will earn revenue from qualifying purchases. If so, for how long? The batterycan also be charged using solar panels. We chose Lithium Ion Batteries from Renogy because of the great customer service, decent price with discounts and long life of Lithium Ion Phosphate. As it stands now, Even with all of the planning and work, Im going to be completely reworking my wiring box to clean it up and make it something Im proud to open and show off. Click the video below and look for all the links under the video! We still had much to figure out and plan for the electrical systembut installing the track and cladding would have been an easy win. Lithium batteries are considerably more expensive upfront but also more efficient. Your solar panel doesnt produce a steady voltage or current, so its not a good idea to hook it straight to your devices or battery. Im looking to do the solar install myself but drilling a hole in the roof is well.. terrifying (as I had a company install my exhaust fan so I didnt have to cut the square in the roof myself haha). Do not underestimate how much time wiring can take. When installing the inverter, we hooked up the provided thick positive cable directly to the out side of the main system switch and the provided negative cable to the negative bus bar. Of course, if you are traveling in your van and have water in the lines, youll want to avoid freezing temperatures regardless, but if you spend a lot of time in wintery climates, this is something to consider when choosing batteries for your van.

The other type of solar charge controller is called MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracking. Another thing to note is that, if necessary, AGM batteries can be mounted outside if you are looking to save space when planning your van layout. We sometimes use a 12v mattress pad to warm the bed rather than heating the whole van. So far, this inverter has performed extremely well. If youre new to all this stuff, read ourintro to 12 Volt systems. The wiring is tucked out of the way through the right side C pillar, its centrally located in the van, and there is a power control panel that everything can be controlled from. When lithium batteries read under 12v the batteries really start to suffer and can be damaged. It relies on the van being driven regularly so that the small starter battery can be recharged. Ive been extremely happy with their van solar panels and other electrical system products and wouldnt hesitate to recommend them. Hey there! sprinter opener ador croco Peace of mind is worth something! For full transparency, we are not electricians! "Bus" bars are handy organizational tools to help connect many wires to a battery terminal. Now 15 years later, prioritizing that critical connection with nature continues to improve my life. Ultimately, the differences between the two types are only slight. Facing a sprinter conversion electrical system head-on? That would fry any regular 12v equipment. At this point we have five negative cables that need to connect back to the battery. conductors corks motorhome We had to place outlets where needed and build a central power hub. Knowing the difficulty of retrofitting electrical wire in an existing house, as opposed to new construction, helped make the decision a no-brainer. Because of this, its important to understand the basic layout of a wiring diagram. Tell me why this is a bad idea? Its fairly easy to install and is a great backup when its cloudy out. Do you have trouble understanding electrical systems like I use to? alternator lithium sprinter Want a consult? What sort of appliances will you run and how often? Yet still, we didnt have enough extra wiring when installing the circuit breaker box. sprinter roadtrek Running more than a few accessories for more than a short while will drain the starter battery so the van cant even start. So in planning out the roof rack system, we put less emphasis on the solar panel area.