Wissel
Forum Member
Hey all. For the past few weeks I've been fine-tuning the power and charging in our van. It's a fairly different setup to what I imagine most are currently using, but it's close to being right so I thought I'd post an account for anyone else wanting to do similar.
We use a lot of power. We fulltime and I work online. I don't like using a laptop if it can be helped, I prefer a PC. For years I've been building PC's with a Pico PSU so they run off 12v, but these are unreliable (in my experience).
As self-builders, we all have different needs. Fulltiming, these needs probably change again. Our need wasn't having a van as such, it was making do with a small house and having an epic garden. It was the freedom (financial and location) that van life could provide. We love living in a van, but we love home comforts as well. That means power, for us.
In our last van we had a fairly good electrical system. We had 4 x 100Ah batteries with CTEK charging and a couple of 100w solar panels. This was 6 years ago and that was a lot then. At the time I was berated on some forums for going over the top - hard to believe considering the solar setups that are common now. Even though we only used the van for 3-4 days at a time back then, it wasn't enough. I constantly found myself juggling the power usage, often having to turn the fridge off to use the PC. Worst of all I'd constantly be looking at a Nasa BM1 to see what power we had. Hardly a relaxing break (I have to have PC on or no income).
For this reason we decided to go with LiFePO4 on our current build. We fitted a 400Ah Winston battery, with 123BMS and very clever Votronic charging. It wasn't cheap, but should do the job. We also fitted an extra 2 x 100w solar panel, so had 400w in total.
Then last year, on another forum, I was made aware of how @wildebus had used a 240v fridge in his van and all of the work he had done documenting the power usage. I read the thread and joined WildCamping. That thread alone was worth the sub fee too me. I copied exactly what he had done and it worked great - it was quiet, far cheaper and in my opinion better than any 12v fridge I'd owned in the past. I was and am very happy with my fridge
The unexpected bit with my new fridge setup was how useful it was having 240v on tap. I'd always steered away from inverters, believing them to be power drains and not the most suitable power source in a van. I had one (1500w Edecoa), but it was switched on only to use our Tassimo in the morning or if the Missus wanted her hairdryer. After having the fridge running on a small Victron inverter for 6 months, and being able to charge etc without dedicated 12v chargers, we were sold.
The small Victron went and was replaced with a Victron Phoenix Smart 2000VA, which would be left on all the time. This enabled us to do the unthinkable - run most of the van on 240v.
It sounds nuts, but this made running the PC a doddle. I replaced the Pico PSU with a Platinum rated Corsair. The monitor wouldn't need a 19v voltage regulator, the router wouldn't need a 12v regulator, it was easier to start the Tassimo in the morning and far easier to charge our Type-C phones. We still have 12v where useful, but now run most high draw items from the inverter.
The inverter we chose is 92% efficient, so we lose a little power in the conversion, but it doesn't seen any worse than the 12v converters we were running before. It's very efficient in what power it uses itself, with a programmable ECO mode.
The trouble was, with everything running, we used around 75w constantly. Unless we went around the van and switched all the sockets off at night, we would use about 1.8kWh on 24 hours. We have about 4.5kWh of usable power, but I wanted the flexibility of knowing we had 3 days power without any charging. We needed to save power and get this figure below 1.5kWh.
I didn't like the idea of getting up to switch everything off at night and again on in the morning. I like lazy
Having added home automation to my Dad's house a while back, I was quite familiar with the benefits. So figured I'd try it all in a van.
I went with an Echo Spot as the hub, then added WiFi switches where useful. With the Echo I could add Routines, so multiple tasks could be actioned with a single switch/voice command. The PC was a bit of a head scratcher, but adding a 12v WiFi switch to the power button and setting the Bios to auto power on when powered at plug sorted it.
I now have it set so during the day it's all on. At night, I say a command (or flick a button on phone) and it powers the PC down, then switches everything else off (apart from fridge, Echo, phone chargers and our 4G router (we have a WiFi router as well that takes over if WiFi is available automatically, and switches back to 4G if WiFi lost to save data, but just 4G at night to save power).
In the morning, Alexa switches everything back on at 8am, plus puts the radio on. If we leave the van, a single command puts all into standby. When we return the van auto wakes up. The result - power usage down from 1.8kWh in 24 hours to 1.2-1.5kWh if we spend all day in their. Plus the Echo Spot enables us to check on the dog
With power and storage working how we want it, it's now solar we are tuning. 400w isn't enough, but 750w should work well most of the year and will fit. I had hoped to build the array to tilt in winter (with a roof tent under the incline that could be accessed from van), but think it would be too heavy. Sadly it will be a silent genny I think - but only if for some reason we can't drive (60A B2B).
So the search for a system that suits us is almost there, but not quite. I know most reading this will think it ludicrous, but as I said earlier, we all have different needs
Actually our real need is a new van. Ours blew up and isn't cost effective to repair We are parked on my Dad's drive (he's very ill so we would be here most of the time helping out anyway at the moment) living in our dead van while we save up. Still, at least by the time we have the new van, the interior should be built ready, and right, and ready to install.
In two weeks, we will have lived in a van for a year. During this time almost everything that could have gone wrong has. Main thing we have learn't - we love living in a van and both hate the idea of having to move back into a house. Van life is for us without any doubt - we are just getting the bad luck out the way early
Hope this was useful to someone,
David
We use a lot of power. We fulltime and I work online. I don't like using a laptop if it can be helped, I prefer a PC. For years I've been building PC's with a Pico PSU so they run off 12v, but these are unreliable (in my experience).
As self-builders, we all have different needs. Fulltiming, these needs probably change again. Our need wasn't having a van as such, it was making do with a small house and having an epic garden. It was the freedom (financial and location) that van life could provide. We love living in a van, but we love home comforts as well. That means power, for us.
In our last van we had a fairly good electrical system. We had 4 x 100Ah batteries with CTEK charging and a couple of 100w solar panels. This was 6 years ago and that was a lot then. At the time I was berated on some forums for going over the top - hard to believe considering the solar setups that are common now. Even though we only used the van for 3-4 days at a time back then, it wasn't enough. I constantly found myself juggling the power usage, often having to turn the fridge off to use the PC. Worst of all I'd constantly be looking at a Nasa BM1 to see what power we had. Hardly a relaxing break (I have to have PC on or no income).
For this reason we decided to go with LiFePO4 on our current build. We fitted a 400Ah Winston battery, with 123BMS and very clever Votronic charging. It wasn't cheap, but should do the job. We also fitted an extra 2 x 100w solar panel, so had 400w in total.
Then last year, on another forum, I was made aware of how @wildebus had used a 240v fridge in his van and all of the work he had done documenting the power usage. I read the thread and joined WildCamping. That thread alone was worth the sub fee too me. I copied exactly what he had done and it worked great - it was quiet, far cheaper and in my opinion better than any 12v fridge I'd owned in the past. I was and am very happy with my fridge
The unexpected bit with my new fridge setup was how useful it was having 240v on tap. I'd always steered away from inverters, believing them to be power drains and not the most suitable power source in a van. I had one (1500w Edecoa), but it was switched on only to use our Tassimo in the morning or if the Missus wanted her hairdryer. After having the fridge running on a small Victron inverter for 6 months, and being able to charge etc without dedicated 12v chargers, we were sold.
The small Victron went and was replaced with a Victron Phoenix Smart 2000VA, which would be left on all the time. This enabled us to do the unthinkable - run most of the van on 240v.
It sounds nuts, but this made running the PC a doddle. I replaced the Pico PSU with a Platinum rated Corsair. The monitor wouldn't need a 19v voltage regulator, the router wouldn't need a 12v regulator, it was easier to start the Tassimo in the morning and far easier to charge our Type-C phones. We still have 12v where useful, but now run most high draw items from the inverter.
The inverter we chose is 92% efficient, so we lose a little power in the conversion, but it doesn't seen any worse than the 12v converters we were running before. It's very efficient in what power it uses itself, with a programmable ECO mode.
The trouble was, with everything running, we used around 75w constantly. Unless we went around the van and switched all the sockets off at night, we would use about 1.8kWh on 24 hours. We have about 4.5kWh of usable power, but I wanted the flexibility of knowing we had 3 days power without any charging. We needed to save power and get this figure below 1.5kWh.
I didn't like the idea of getting up to switch everything off at night and again on in the morning. I like lazy
Having added home automation to my Dad's house a while back, I was quite familiar with the benefits. So figured I'd try it all in a van.
I went with an Echo Spot as the hub, then added WiFi switches where useful. With the Echo I could add Routines, so multiple tasks could be actioned with a single switch/voice command. The PC was a bit of a head scratcher, but adding a 12v WiFi switch to the power button and setting the Bios to auto power on when powered at plug sorted it.
I now have it set so during the day it's all on. At night, I say a command (or flick a button on phone) and it powers the PC down, then switches everything else off (apart from fridge, Echo, phone chargers and our 4G router (we have a WiFi router as well that takes over if WiFi is available automatically, and switches back to 4G if WiFi lost to save data, but just 4G at night to save power).
In the morning, Alexa switches everything back on at 8am, plus puts the radio on. If we leave the van, a single command puts all into standby. When we return the van auto wakes up. The result - power usage down from 1.8kWh in 24 hours to 1.2-1.5kWh if we spend all day in their. Plus the Echo Spot enables us to check on the dog
With power and storage working how we want it, it's now solar we are tuning. 400w isn't enough, but 750w should work well most of the year and will fit. I had hoped to build the array to tilt in winter (with a roof tent under the incline that could be accessed from van), but think it would be too heavy. Sadly it will be a silent genny I think - but only if for some reason we can't drive (60A B2B).
So the search for a system that suits us is almost there, but not quite. I know most reading this will think it ludicrous, but as I said earlier, we all have different needs
Actually our real need is a new van. Ours blew up and isn't cost effective to repair We are parked on my Dad's drive (he's very ill so we would be here most of the time helping out anyway at the moment) living in our dead van while we save up. Still, at least by the time we have the new van, the interior should be built ready, and right, and ready to install.
In two weeks, we will have lived in a van for a year. During this time almost everything that could have gone wrong has. Main thing we have learn't - we love living in a van and both hate the idea of having to move back into a house. Van life is for us without any doubt - we are just getting the bad luck out the way early
Hope this was useful to someone,
David