Basic Beginner Electrical Van Life Set Up

When we first got our van we didn’t have an additional source of power other than the cigarette lighter, which is not the best option for an electricity source for your living situation, for our first 5 months in the van. We were using the cigarette lighter to charge our phones and run a small fan. Within that 5 months we used too much juice on two occasions and needed to get a jump because or starter battery was too low to operate.

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We didn’t have enough money to pay for a full solar system (Solar panel, inverter, charge controller, batteries, fuse box, and outlets) nor did we have a full understanding on how to set up a solar system to a van. Originally we were going to get a full solar system installed we received a quote for $1800 total. We found an easier alternative that was great for us, solar generators.

Why solar generators are suited for van life?

I like to refer to solar generators as “plug and play” because it’s a small unit of readily accessible electricity. It also provides the ability to receive electricity from 3 different sources (Cigarette lighter, Solar panels, or AC wall outlet). With this you have more options on how you’re going to receive and store power. For us, a solar generator worked perfect, we were able to get power from connecting our solar generator to a wall outlet at work or a friend’s house. This was able to get the job done until we had the proper funds to purchase solar panels.

Usually most van dwellers only need to run a few appliances such as phone charge , tablets, laptops, and running and fan. Most of the time if you have a fridge that will consume the most electricity out of all your appliances. Luckily, if you have a chest-style like fridge you only need to run it for a few hours and once its off, it turns into a cooler keeping your food cold for the rest of the day (NO more bags/blocks of ice….no more wet food).

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Now when it comes to solar generators, initially we were only aware of the big brand name ones such as Yetti, which were pretty expensive. But after some research we were able to find an affordable solar generator that would give us the power we needed.

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A few things that we liked about this solar generator was:

  1. Only took 5 hours to fully recharge

  2. Could take up to 300w Ac so your able to run appliances such as a rice cooker

  3. 4 dc usb ports and one 12v cigarette lighter dc port

  4. Light weight and compact. Lithium battery 23 amps total 14lbs

  5. Can receive up to 400 watts solar.

  6. All that for less than $400.00!!!!

Once we were able to save up some more money we were able to add two solar panels to the roof of our van. Quality of life improved and we no longer had to try to find a place to plug in our generator.

We were able to get it from amazon if you would like to purchase one from Amazon here’s a link. https://amzn.to/2FoqNTT

As time went on doing van life full-time, adding a puppy into our lives, having the fans on 24/7 keeping cool, and having fresh air. We were lucky to be in San Diego where its sunny year around, but we wanted to travel to other places around the country and not have to worry about our battery status as much. We were in need of expanding our electrical capacity. We were looking around for a bigger solar generator.

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So we purchased The Inergy Kodiak Solar Generator.

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This 1300 watt rated 20lbs 90 amp Lithium battery with a smart charger so you can still use the generator while its charging is just a mobile electrical system. It has has two extension ports for you to extend your battery bank to any amount of 12 volt deep cycle batteries and can receive up to 600 watts of solar!!!!!! It has 6 ac outlets and 4 dc ports that run full-time without the inverter having to be on. Once we added our 3rd solar panels it gave us peace of mind knowing that we had an efficient electrical system.

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Thank you for reading this blog. Don’t forget to tell a friend to tell a friend!

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Stealth Camping San Diego in a Sprinter Van