There are many benefits from installing a solar power system aboard your campervan. One of the main reasons is that you can generate electricity without being connected to the ‘grid’. As long as you have an adequate amount of sunlight, you technically have a way to generate an unlimited supply of electricity aboard your campervan. This means you can now stay in a stationary position for much longer without having to worry about running out of electricity. If you just need a laptop and some USB gadgets charging then we recommend the Powertraveller Condor 100. With a 27,000 mAh battery giving around 100Wh of storage, it can recharge a laptop twice and a smartphone up to ten times on a single charge. Fantastic! Ah stands for Ampere-hour, which is a unit of measurement used to describe the capacity of a battery. It represents the amount of charge that a battery can deliver in one hour. Some may have a peak efficiency of just 50-60%, whereas others are going to be between 80-90% efficient. A useful remote control panel with an on/off button is provided. The remote panel also provides the health status of the leisure battery.

The AC50S can operate as a light source of its own – there is a switch on the side which fires up a broad light beam. It’s not going to replace a dedicated camping lantern, but is a useful feature and we found that it worked well in a tent. Recharging the AC50S Therefore an inverter can be a useful piece of kit to provide you with the flexibility to power a range of devices from your caravans or motorhome’s leisure battery. Auxiliary Battery Charging. The first reason why would install a split charge system aboard your campervan is to charge your auxiliary battery. As your vehicle already has a primary power system that creates 12-volt power, it makes sense to connect this system to your auxiliary system. By doing so, you now have an efficient way to charge your auxiliary power system when your vehicle is operating. OK, now time to install the split charger. It’s important to fit one fuse close to the starter battery and one close to the auxiliary battery. In this picture you can see a short length of 70 amp cable coming from the starter battery, then a fuse. We use up to date 120W flexible panels and the most up to date MPPT controllers for our solar installations meaning you might never need a hook up.Low-wattage appliances designed specifically for camping are readily available from outdoors suppliers. So, a coffee maker rated at 1,000W would consume 4.3A at 230V but 83.3A at 12V (83.3 x 12 = 1000). This latter calculation does not allow for losses within the inverter or wiring so the actual current needed would be nearer to 90A.

The combination of these 2 factors can help you decide the size of battery bank you should install. For example, as we knew we would be using our campervan fully off-grid, and we would be living in our van, we wanted to ensure we would have at least 3 full days of power off-grid without any charging. This meant that in the case of poor weather for a few days (no charging via solar) and staying in one spot (no charging via the alternator / B2B charger), we would still have enough power to see us through. The efficiency of the panel does depend on the light level so they will be more useful in the summer months but they are active all the time there is some sort of light, so unless you park your camper indoors all the time, the leisure battery will always be undergoing conditioning, which is a vital process to maximise your batteries lifespan. A lead acid battery rated at 100Ah is good for about 50Ah before it should be recharged. This is calculated over a discharge time of 20 hours. If you discharge it faster you will get less than 50Ah; if more slowly, you will get more. This is an effect known as Peukert’s law and is something to bear in mind when working out what you might be able to run using an inverter. Note that you should only use the Polarity Reverse Adapter if it is definitely needed. Otherwise, you will have inadvertently created reverse polarity in your van! How many Amps are you using?I found a convenient plastic plug beneath the right-hand rear light cluster void on my car, so I drilled through that instead of the bodywork, making my task easier. This void also had the capacity to house the TEC3M relay and its associated wiring. TEC3M relay If your inverter needs a higher-rated fuse, increase the cable diameter to suit. In general, if in doubt about cable size, go up a size. No allowance is made for the effects of Peukert’s law (see Useful formulas below). This means loadings below about 200W are likely to give slightly longer times than shown here, while loadings above will result in reduced times.

Although not strictly accurate in all circumstances the following should prove handy when dealing with inverters: Charge Leisure Battery. By installing a mains-powered battery charger, you can simultaneously run high voltage power while charging your leisure battery. Once you have decided on the best type of inverter for your needs the next consideration is what power rating you will need and where that power is going to come from. First you need to consider the wattages of the devices you intend to run, deciding which of them you might want to run simultaneously. The following table can be used as a guide when using single-core Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) insulated cables. Cable Sizing for Inverters

Victron MultiPlus inverter/chargers

The 1,100W inverter to power our microwave is pulling 91.67A (amps) from the leisure battery! – Image: CaravanChronicles.com In our house, we give power usage some thought but definitely aren’t perfect. We try not to leave lights on, don’t re-boil the kettle when it’s still hot, and remember (sometimes) to shut down computers overnight. The form factor (case size) is exactly the same between the Delta and the Delta 2, and so is the 1800W of power which can be supplied to your gear. The main change to the newer model is the battery technology which moves from standard lithium-ion to the safer and much longer lasting lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries. The new batteries in the Delta 2 can take at least 3000 cycles before dropping to 80% of their original capacity, whereas those in the original Delta would only need ~500 for the same drop.