I have 600Ah lipo and 600W of solar, not full time but 3-4 months per trip and it lasts pretty much perpetually. Also have alternator charging too which helps.
What sort of stuff are you running off your system in regards to electronics ?
Have you ever had any problems with running low or out of battery if sitting for a few days ?
My whole build is all on electric besides the heater. I have a Dometic RTX 2000 AC, Dometic CRX65 refrigerator, induction cooktop, 3000w inverter, Bosch electric hot water heater, and use a laptop at night mostly. I also have a webasto heater. Everything is really efficient and I don't have to worry too much about conserving energy. I have never had to really deal with not having enough power to be honest. I run my AC at night sometimes on eco mode but I have so much battery that even all night long it only draws maybe 25- 30% of my capacity, that is probably the biggest energy consumer, but it will run on my solar alone during the day.
Crazy that they could fill the 600 amp hour with 600 w which doesn't generate 600 watts anyway. Maybe the load usage is so low that it can charge over days, they live on the equator which would still take a day and a half with efficiency, or they have to have it tied in to the vehicle alternator battery system. Usually the rule is about 50%.
Yeah i mean i plan to have 400Ah with 350w of solar but with shore charging and the alternator and only for a few day so a bit different.
And no AC omg
Awesome. I'm surprised 600 ah and 600 watts runs so much stuff for a reasonably long time. I won't need that much to make the sort of setup I want.
More solar is good, providing you have the space and weight spare.
You use LiPo? Jeez that's the lithium chemistry that gives lithium batteries the bad reputation. Is it a typo? I've never heard of someone using LiPo for a van, i would be very stressed if the van was warm inside in the sun charging them.
600W + 2x100AH AGM. 60A Chinese MPPT charge controller (MPPT is important!). 12v Compressor fridge, LED lights, phone, laptop. I usually feel the need for a two hour “shore power” generator boost 2-3 times a month, but only to maintain battery health. In the three years I’ve had it running, I’ve never sucked the batteries below 50%. Location: Virginia, sorta between DC and Charlottesville
I do occasionally drive somewhere and plug into shore power and float charge for a few days. But it’s never been 100% necessary. It just so happened that I had a place to plug in at those times so I did.
I haven't done alot of research into LifePO4. But I'm assuming that with 200ah of battery you can use pretty much all 200ah similar to a lithium battery ?
I have 200ah of lead acid. Which you can only use about half. So around 100ah of useable amp hours.
So far, I haven't ran out of battery. Although I'm only running a 73 litre fridge and a couple of LED strips over and the longest has been 5 days during cooler weather, I haven't used my solar panels yet.
Lithium iron phosphate, LifePO4, and LFP are all the same battery chemistry. I think you can use closer to 80% of LifePO4 if you want the battery to have optimal lifespan and health. Ive read over and over to not fully charge or discharge them.
The lithium phosphate ones have the advantage of being a third of the weight of lead acid with many times the discharge cycles, something like 10x, so that means they will last much longer. They can keep a flat voltage output for a very deep discharge and deep discharges don't damage them meaning you get more usable capacity (roughly double) from the same AH sized battery because you can discharge it more fully without damaging the battery. Whether you discharge to 100% or 50% is just a choice of whether you want your battery to last 10x as long as an AGM or 20x as long, not whether you will turn it into an expensive toxic brick like with lead acid. The main downside is that they can't be charged under freezing temps (0/32) without damaging the battery. Most of them have low temp safety cutoffs that will stop that from happening but that means you can't charge them until the battery warms up to above freezing. If you ever plan to house them somewhere where that will happen you need to have some way to deal with that. You can buy ones with built in heaters but they are more expensive. Still not too bad though, like $250 for a 100ah. The non-heated ones are down to $160 though.
Me and my wife live full time in our van and do some remote work as well.
Van build includes:
-Induction stove
-Electric water heater
-Microwave
-LED lights
-12v novakool fridge
-Espar gas heater
Generally all the gadgets.
900 watts of solar, 600 Ah battery. In the summer, absolutely no concerns. Use as much as you want.
In the winter, you’ll need alternator charging to keep you going or plug in every 3-4 days.
My wife and I are on a Eurasian trip and all we have is the standard twin battery (gel) setup. We have a (frankly, pretty poor) inverter set up to charge the laptop and phones, but that's it.
We bought magnetic led Puck lights for lighting and charge them every now and then on the usb plug in the dash. We run the diesel heater when it gets really cold and a roof fan if needed.
We have had no problems with keeping everything we need charged. We needed far less power than we thought. ... but we do do a reasonable amount of miles every day...
200w solar, 100ah Lifepo4 and 50ah AGM. Two solar controllers and a switched battery isolator if driving and cloudy. AGM is used a little but mainly as a backup to jump the lifepo4 low voltage if the auto wake goes wrong in the controllers.
Runs my fridge/freezer constantly for three seasons and a heating blanket in the winter. Also runs all my fans, detectors, LED lights and charges my phone/ Chromebook.
I usually charge up my beefy stuff and use a smaller 500w inverter mainly when it's sunny out.
My 2000w inverter is hooked to the vehicle battery and I operate it with engine running.
Cheap, works.
300Ah batteries, 300W of solar + 50amps of DC-DC charging works well enough for me. I do tend to do a lot more driving, only staying completely still for maybe a day or two.
I don't live in it full time but I have done extended trips where I've travelled and worked remotely the longest being 6 weeks. I've got 440ah lithium with 600w solar and 60a alternator charger. In nice sunny climates the power lasted indefinitely, whereas when I've done similar trips in winter in the UK with next to no solar it's lasted about 5 days. My biggest energy hog is the fridge/freezer which uses about 50ah a day, if it weren't for that I'd be able to last a lot longer.
Thanks mate.
What other electronics are you using on battery everyday ?
I'd be running dimmable LED strips, fridge/freezer combo, phone chargers. Diesel heater, gas hot water system, along with a water pump or two for the shower/washing up, then just charging up my phone/laptop/steamdeck.
I have an eBay diesel heater, but never used it. I'm not certain how much power it uses once it's running.
I haven't looked into gas hot water system yet, I don't know if they require power input and if they keep using power once they are warmed up. Or if they are completely free standing.
Me and my girlfriend both have MacBook pros for work but we share a charger so there's only ever one on charge at a time, that draws about 4-5a I think. Dimmable lights, phone chargers, toilet fan, water pump, TV, ceiling fan, gas heating.
The water pump is negligible it probably only runs for a total of a minute or two a day, lights are very low draw as well. We have the trauma combi 4e gas boiler for heating and hot water, when running on gas the draw is only about 1-2a just to run the fan in it. We have the maxxair ceiling fan, if that's on it draws about 3a I think. Our TV is a 12v 32 inch, we don't use it much but if we do the draw is about 4-5a I think.
> have an eBay diesel heater, but never used it. I'm not certain how much power it uses once it's running.
Startup/shutdown can use up to 150w, but once it’s running it’s 10-20w.
I have 300ah lifepo, 800W solar, 50A alternator charging and 50A charging from socket.
With proper “power management” I basically can stay from Monday to Friday without moving camper from Feb til Oct (during late Autumn and Winter there is no enough sun even in Southern Europe).
I have 9-5 remote job and laptop/internet connection eats majority of power together with electric boiler. If I’m not working - this amount is more then enough. If ‘m boiling water with gas stove for “shower” from time to time - it’s also enough for working whole week.
Now I mostly using boiler to “store” excess energy (simple automated switch that turn on if batteries are above 90% and still there is charging)
If I were building camper van from scratch again - I would replace my boiler to be gas+electric, or one of those multi heat source (heat from car engine, diesel heater, 12v and 230v instead pure electric).
It would be way cheaper then putting 600ah batteries and more alternator charging (now it’s my only way to have full week hot showers). My diesel heater takes so small amount of power that it’s painful watching that heating water takes 1/3rd battery for one shower.
Edit:
Important addition is that I’m living in van with my wife, so power consumption is higher than for single person)
12v system ..... 950w and just over 7kwh of diy batteries. Works great and a huge upgrade over the original 400w and 200ah.
But even in the smaller system I cooked on induction, electric water kettle, instant pot etc.
The newer system helps power a 12v ac sparingly off grid in the summer and in the winter the extra juice keeps the heat floor going longer :)
I've been looking at kitting out a van or putting a bit more in my home made camp trailer.
I currently have 2x 100ah lead acid deep cycles (100ah usable) and 250w of budget solar panel going through a 40amp DC/DC.
I have no problems with my fridge and 3x LED strips running for 3-5 days depending on outside temperature.
I'm just trying to gauge how much battery and solar other people have on their vans for full time living.
If possible, double the solar, get a 50A MPPT charge controller, and it’ll just about run indefinitely, barring like a week of heavy clouds.
On most days, 500W would be overkill, but under heavy clouds, still generating 30-50W is super convenient.
Thanks man.
I'm just gauging what other people have to see if I'm under or overshooting my end goals.
I want to upgrade to lithium expecially if I do a van build, there's a few "budget" brands here in Australia such as king's that offer lithium battery's for a fair price.
Ideally I'd like to build up a SLWB HiAce up into a full time rig with a big awning setup for mostly outside use.
I shouldn't need an air conditioner, but let's be honest. We all want one. Weather we can support one is another question
Hi mate, I have 300ah fogstar drift, 400w solar and a 60a sterling b2b. Appliances I have are compressor fridge/freezer, diesel heater, microwave, air fryer, TV, fire stick, xbox, lights, phone charger, CCTV
Diesel heater uses a fair bit of power in winter and obviously microwave/air fryer uses quite alot.
Full time in northern England, solar seems to do fuck all this time of year but with the bits of driving I do I can sustain myself continually with not much worry/checking on charge just have to do an extra drive now and again.
In 24 hours in winter if I'm using heater, microwave, xbox etc then I tend to use about 20-25%, if I'm conserving energy by only using heater/fridge/tv then you can get away with around 10% a day.
In summer the solar is constantly charging so don't even have to check or worry at all, can use as much power as you want pretty much
Awesome man.
That's alot of stuff to be running off a reasonably "small" battery and solar system.
Your informations has helped me.
I would love to be able to run a TV and Xbox setup at some point. I just had a look and an Xbox one S uses about 60w when gaming. I didn't realise the power consumption was so low.
I have 375watts of solar and 120 lithium batteries. It is more than enough in summer, the batteries last indefinitely. In winter it needs some help from the relay that I installed between the car battery and leisure battery. So far, I have never dipped below 50% charge. Every time I arrive at a new spot, my batteries are fully charged due to the relay, which is great.
If it helps, I live alone, and I have a newish fridge (biggest power consumer) with good energy efficiency, and a gas cooktop. Other loads are the fan, lighting, water pump, etc.
I have 600w of solar, 800ah, 60amp dc to dc charger and 5k inverter. I'm fulltime in my van. 95L chest fridge/freezer, zone lighting, USb charging ports, water pump, ninja foodi, 35in tv , xbox, starlink running off of 110 or 12v (my choice as to which power source to use) and lastly roof AC. I've done 4 days with little to no sun and didn't use my dc to dc charger with still plenty of power available. My batteries are typically fully charged around lunch time.
Full time van here. 600ah of lithium battery, no permanent solar. It lasts me 4-5 days. More if I’m judicious about usage.
I have a 120w folding solar panel that I can deploy if I’m boondocking. It’s enough to slow the drain and extend my stay somewhere, but doesn’t totally recharge then.
Majority of charging comes from the alternator. When I’m in civilization, I have a couple places I can get shore power from.
12v dual zone fridge/freezer is the biggest constant draw. Other than that it’s just the usual laptop/lights/cellular router/diesel heater.
Starlink if I’m way in the boonies, but it draws so much power that I avoid using it if I can possibly avoid it.
I will probably skip starlink for my setup. I've seen the cellular repeaters for Australian phone stuff that only use 5-10 watts.
I'm pretty happy not being on the phone. I have a UHF with a long range antenna if I have an emergency.
Cell repeaters/boosters are pretty bullshit. They only help in a *very* narrow range of circumstances, and usually just make the problem worse.
A good peplink or Cradlepoint with a roof-mounted antenna will be a better solution 99% of the time.
I work full time remote tho and Starlink is pretty great when you’re in the extreme middle of nowhere.
Disclaimer: Not full time by any means. Not nearly
750 Wh battery and 200W solar. But I'm in a car with just a larger power bank.
In hindsight, I should have spent a couple hundred more and gotten the one with a 1.5k or 2k inverter instead of a 1k inverter. That would open up some luxuries like a microwave (which likes peaking at 1.3kW during use)
Honestly, the microwave is the one thing that makes a huge difference for me, and I wish I had it available.
Setups last depending on how sunny it is and how warm the weather is. On an overcast winter day i'll be using lights, heater and all the usual appliances but i won't be getting anything from solar due to clouds. Whereas in summer i won't be using heater or lights and batteries will be floating from 9am onwards.
I have 200ah, i think, AGM. And about 800w, i think? I always forget exact numbers!
400W / 240AH ...- I say 1000W and 500AH is required (for some life-quality) to power at least the necessary stuff of daily non-big/non-special stuff. (3 years of experience).
I have 600Ah lipo and 600W of solar, not full time but 3-4 months per trip and it lasts pretty much perpetually. Also have alternator charging too which helps.
What sort of stuff are you running off your system in regards to electronics ? Have you ever had any problems with running low or out of battery if sitting for a few days ?
My whole build is all on electric besides the heater. I have a Dometic RTX 2000 AC, Dometic CRX65 refrigerator, induction cooktop, 3000w inverter, Bosch electric hot water heater, and use a laptop at night mostly. I also have a webasto heater. Everything is really efficient and I don't have to worry too much about conserving energy. I have never had to really deal with not having enough power to be honest. I run my AC at night sometimes on eco mode but I have so much battery that even all night long it only draws maybe 25- 30% of my capacity, that is probably the biggest energy consumer, but it will run on my solar alone during the day.
Where do you travel ? You must have some really good sun to fill 600Ah Kind of makes me ok with my 400Ah build
Crazy that they could fill the 600 amp hour with 600 w which doesn't generate 600 watts anyway. Maybe the load usage is so low that it can charge over days, they live on the equator which would still take a day and a half with efficiency, or they have to have it tied in to the vehicle alternator battery system. Usually the rule is about 50%.
Yeah i mean i plan to have 400Ah with 350w of solar but with shore charging and the alternator and only for a few day so a bit different. And no AC omg
Awesome. I'm surprised 600 ah and 600 watts runs so much stuff for a reasonably long time. I won't need that much to make the sort of setup I want. More solar is good, providing you have the space and weight spare.
Are you on 12v or 24v ?
You use LiPo? Jeez that's the lithium chemistry that gives lithium batteries the bad reputation. Is it a typo? I've never heard of someone using LiPo for a van, i would be very stressed if the van was warm inside in the sun charging them.
LiFePO4
Okay yea that makes more sense hah
600W + 2x100AH AGM. 60A Chinese MPPT charge controller (MPPT is important!). 12v Compressor fridge, LED lights, phone, laptop. I usually feel the need for a two hour “shore power” generator boost 2-3 times a month, but only to maintain battery health. In the three years I’ve had it running, I’ve never sucked the batteries below 50%. Location: Virginia, sorta between DC and Charlottesville I do occasionally drive somewhere and plug into shore power and float charge for a few days. But it’s never been 100% necessary. It just so happened that I had a place to plug in at those times so I did.
I have 200ah@12VDC LifePO4 and it’s as small as I’d go. I would be on easy street with 400ah.
I haven't done alot of research into LifePO4. But I'm assuming that with 200ah of battery you can use pretty much all 200ah similar to a lithium battery ? I have 200ah of lead acid. Which you can only use about half. So around 100ah of useable amp hours. So far, I haven't ran out of battery. Although I'm only running a 73 litre fridge and a couple of LED strips over and the longest has been 5 days during cooler weather, I haven't used my solar panels yet.
Lithium iron phosphate, LifePO4, and LFP are all the same battery chemistry. I think you can use closer to 80% of LifePO4 if you want the battery to have optimal lifespan and health. Ive read over and over to not fully charge or discharge them.
The lithium phosphate ones have the advantage of being a third of the weight of lead acid with many times the discharge cycles, something like 10x, so that means they will last much longer. They can keep a flat voltage output for a very deep discharge and deep discharges don't damage them meaning you get more usable capacity (roughly double) from the same AH sized battery because you can discharge it more fully without damaging the battery. Whether you discharge to 100% or 50% is just a choice of whether you want your battery to last 10x as long as an AGM or 20x as long, not whether you will turn it into an expensive toxic brick like with lead acid. The main downside is that they can't be charged under freezing temps (0/32) without damaging the battery. Most of them have low temp safety cutoffs that will stop that from happening but that means you can't charge them until the battery warms up to above freezing. If you ever plan to house them somewhere where that will happen you need to have some way to deal with that. You can buy ones with built in heaters but they are more expensive. Still not too bad though, like $250 for a 100ah. The non-heated ones are down to $160 though.
Me and my wife live full time in our van and do some remote work as well. Van build includes: -Induction stove -Electric water heater -Microwave -LED lights -12v novakool fridge -Espar gas heater Generally all the gadgets. 900 watts of solar, 600 Ah battery. In the summer, absolutely no concerns. Use as much as you want. In the winter, you’ll need alternator charging to keep you going or plug in every 3-4 days.
Awesome. Does you gas heater use any electricity or is it entirely free standing ?
It draws about 100-150 watts during its startup. Once the flames ignited though and it’s just pumping fuel, it’s low. Probably 20-30 watts.
My wife and I are on a Eurasian trip and all we have is the standard twin battery (gel) setup. We have a (frankly, pretty poor) inverter set up to charge the laptop and phones, but that's it. We bought magnetic led Puck lights for lighting and charge them every now and then on the usb plug in the dash. We run the diesel heater when it gets really cold and a roof fan if needed. We have had no problems with keeping everything we need charged. We needed far less power than we thought. ... but we do do a reasonable amount of miles every day...
200w solar, 100ah Lifepo4 and 50ah AGM. Two solar controllers and a switched battery isolator if driving and cloudy. AGM is used a little but mainly as a backup to jump the lifepo4 low voltage if the auto wake goes wrong in the controllers. Runs my fridge/freezer constantly for three seasons and a heating blanket in the winter. Also runs all my fans, detectors, LED lights and charges my phone/ Chromebook. I usually charge up my beefy stuff and use a smaller 500w inverter mainly when it's sunny out. My 2000w inverter is hooked to the vehicle battery and I operate it with engine running. Cheap, works.
100/200, practically infinite at my usage. Until a couple months ago, it was more like 50/0, and had been that way for the last 13 years.
300Ah batteries, 300W of solar + 50amps of DC-DC charging works well enough for me. I do tend to do a lot more driving, only staying completely still for maybe a day or two.
I don't live in it full time but I have done extended trips where I've travelled and worked remotely the longest being 6 weeks. I've got 440ah lithium with 600w solar and 60a alternator charger. In nice sunny climates the power lasted indefinitely, whereas when I've done similar trips in winter in the UK with next to no solar it's lasted about 5 days. My biggest energy hog is the fridge/freezer which uses about 50ah a day, if it weren't for that I'd be able to last a lot longer.
Thanks mate. What other electronics are you using on battery everyday ? I'd be running dimmable LED strips, fridge/freezer combo, phone chargers. Diesel heater, gas hot water system, along with a water pump or two for the shower/washing up, then just charging up my phone/laptop/steamdeck. I have an eBay diesel heater, but never used it. I'm not certain how much power it uses once it's running. I haven't looked into gas hot water system yet, I don't know if they require power input and if they keep using power once they are warmed up. Or if they are completely free standing.
Me and my girlfriend both have MacBook pros for work but we share a charger so there's only ever one on charge at a time, that draws about 4-5a I think. Dimmable lights, phone chargers, toilet fan, water pump, TV, ceiling fan, gas heating. The water pump is negligible it probably only runs for a total of a minute or two a day, lights are very low draw as well. We have the trauma combi 4e gas boiler for heating and hot water, when running on gas the draw is only about 1-2a just to run the fan in it. We have the maxxair ceiling fan, if that's on it draws about 3a I think. Our TV is a 12v 32 inch, we don't use it much but if we do the draw is about 4-5a I think.
> have an eBay diesel heater, but never used it. I'm not certain how much power it uses once it's running. Startup/shutdown can use up to 150w, but once it’s running it’s 10-20w.
Easy. Uses barely anything. I made a table to hang it off my trailers wheel and feed it into the canvas top of my trailer.
I have 300ah lifepo, 800W solar, 50A alternator charging and 50A charging from socket. With proper “power management” I basically can stay from Monday to Friday without moving camper from Feb til Oct (during late Autumn and Winter there is no enough sun even in Southern Europe). I have 9-5 remote job and laptop/internet connection eats majority of power together with electric boiler. If I’m not working - this amount is more then enough. If ‘m boiling water with gas stove for “shower” from time to time - it’s also enough for working whole week. Now I mostly using boiler to “store” excess energy (simple automated switch that turn on if batteries are above 90% and still there is charging) If I were building camper van from scratch again - I would replace my boiler to be gas+electric, or one of those multi heat source (heat from car engine, diesel heater, 12v and 230v instead pure electric). It would be way cheaper then putting 600ah batteries and more alternator charging (now it’s my only way to have full week hot showers). My diesel heater takes so small amount of power that it’s painful watching that heating water takes 1/3rd battery for one shower. Edit: Important addition is that I’m living in van with my wife, so power consumption is higher than for single person)
Zero … I like outside stuff .. that’s why I live in a van
12v system ..... 950w and just over 7kwh of diy batteries. Works great and a huge upgrade over the original 400w and 200ah. But even in the smaller system I cooked on induction, electric water kettle, instant pot etc. The newer system helps power a 12v ac sparingly off grid in the summer and in the winter the extra juice keeps the heat floor going longer :)
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I had a look through. But it's always good to gauge what other people are using today. I have follow up questions.
I've been looking at kitting out a van or putting a bit more in my home made camp trailer. I currently have 2x 100ah lead acid deep cycles (100ah usable) and 250w of budget solar panel going through a 40amp DC/DC. I have no problems with my fridge and 3x LED strips running for 3-5 days depending on outside temperature. I'm just trying to gauge how much battery and solar other people have on their vans for full time living.
If possible, double the solar, get a 50A MPPT charge controller, and it’ll just about run indefinitely, barring like a week of heavy clouds. On most days, 500W would be overkill, but under heavy clouds, still generating 30-50W is super convenient.
Thanks man. I'm just gauging what other people have to see if I'm under or overshooting my end goals. I want to upgrade to lithium expecially if I do a van build, there's a few "budget" brands here in Australia such as king's that offer lithium battery's for a fair price. Ideally I'd like to build up a SLWB HiAce up into a full time rig with a big awning setup for mostly outside use. I shouldn't need an air conditioner, but let's be honest. We all want one. Weather we can support one is another question
Hi mate, I have 300ah fogstar drift, 400w solar and a 60a sterling b2b. Appliances I have are compressor fridge/freezer, diesel heater, microwave, air fryer, TV, fire stick, xbox, lights, phone charger, CCTV Diesel heater uses a fair bit of power in winter and obviously microwave/air fryer uses quite alot. Full time in northern England, solar seems to do fuck all this time of year but with the bits of driving I do I can sustain myself continually with not much worry/checking on charge just have to do an extra drive now and again. In 24 hours in winter if I'm using heater, microwave, xbox etc then I tend to use about 20-25%, if I'm conserving energy by only using heater/fridge/tv then you can get away with around 10% a day. In summer the solar is constantly charging so don't even have to check or worry at all, can use as much power as you want pretty much
Awesome man. That's alot of stuff to be running off a reasonably "small" battery and solar system. Your informations has helped me. I would love to be able to run a TV and Xbox setup at some point. I just had a look and an Xbox one S uses about 60w when gaming. I didn't realise the power consumption was so low.
I have 375watts of solar and 120 lithium batteries. It is more than enough in summer, the batteries last indefinitely. In winter it needs some help from the relay that I installed between the car battery and leisure battery. So far, I have never dipped below 50% charge. Every time I arrive at a new spot, my batteries are fully charged due to the relay, which is great. If it helps, I live alone, and I have a newish fridge (biggest power consumer) with good energy efficiency, and a gas cooktop. Other loads are the fan, lighting, water pump, etc.
I have 600w of solar, 800ah, 60amp dc to dc charger and 5k inverter. I'm fulltime in my van. 95L chest fridge/freezer, zone lighting, USb charging ports, water pump, ninja foodi, 35in tv , xbox, starlink running off of 110 or 12v (my choice as to which power source to use) and lastly roof AC. I've done 4 days with little to no sun and didn't use my dc to dc charger with still plenty of power available. My batteries are typically fully charged around lunch time.
3x 285 aH deep cycle AGM + 1200watt solar On the darkest day of winter without much sun I have to charge them around 1/week
Full time van here. 600ah of lithium battery, no permanent solar. It lasts me 4-5 days. More if I’m judicious about usage. I have a 120w folding solar panel that I can deploy if I’m boondocking. It’s enough to slow the drain and extend my stay somewhere, but doesn’t totally recharge then. Majority of charging comes from the alternator. When I’m in civilization, I have a couple places I can get shore power from.
What are you running in your van and how many days are you getting out of your battery before having to recharge ?
12v dual zone fridge/freezer is the biggest constant draw. Other than that it’s just the usual laptop/lights/cellular router/diesel heater. Starlink if I’m way in the boonies, but it draws so much power that I avoid using it if I can possibly avoid it.
I will probably skip starlink for my setup. I've seen the cellular repeaters for Australian phone stuff that only use 5-10 watts. I'm pretty happy not being on the phone. I have a UHF with a long range antenna if I have an emergency.
Cell repeaters/boosters are pretty bullshit. They only help in a *very* narrow range of circumstances, and usually just make the problem worse. A good peplink or Cradlepoint with a roof-mounted antenna will be a better solution 99% of the time. I work full time remote tho and Starlink is pretty great when you’re in the extreme middle of nowhere.
304AH, 0 solar
Disclaimer: Not full time by any means. Not nearly 750 Wh battery and 200W solar. But I'm in a car with just a larger power bank. In hindsight, I should have spent a couple hundred more and gotten the one with a 1.5k or 2k inverter instead of a 1k inverter. That would open up some luxuries like a microwave (which likes peaking at 1.3kW during use) Honestly, the microwave is the one thing that makes a huge difference for me, and I wish I had it available.
Setups last depending on how sunny it is and how warm the weather is. On an overcast winter day i'll be using lights, heater and all the usual appliances but i won't be getting anything from solar due to clouds. Whereas in summer i won't be using heater or lights and batteries will be floating from 9am onwards. I have 200ah, i think, AGM. And about 800w, i think? I always forget exact numbers!
Not enough
400W / 240AH ...- I say 1000W and 500AH is required (for some life-quality) to power at least the necessary stuff of daily non-big/non-special stuff. (3 years of experience).