Van Electrical, Solar, & Lighting

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ELECTRICAL, SOLAR, LIGHTING

Standard Setup:

If you’re looking for a standard electrical setup, this will be plenty for you. You can charge electronics, run lights, and use any 12V things you may need. This is the setup that the majority of people have and it’s perfectly sufficient. Each item is linked if you want to read in depth on each one.

My Van Setup:

I had to choose a little more for my electrical because of the induction stove, 110V fridge, having quite a few lights, and also several 110V outlets around the van. This may be excessive if you don’t think you’ll have to run so many things. But if you know you’ll need extra power, this is a perfect setup so you know you’ll always have enough!

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I’ve had nothing but great experience with Renogy solar panels. If you just need a standard set up, the 200 Watt kit will be perfect for you. Buying the kit versus just the panels is really nice because it comes with almost everything you’ll for solar. It includes the charge controller, mounting brackets, MC4 connectors, solar cables, and cable entry housing. Instead of having to piece everything together, the kit just allows you to get everything at once. I have an induction stove and a 110V fridge so I needed 400 Watts of solar and just purchased the 400 Watt kit to make sure I had plenty of power! It has worked perfectly even on super cloudy days.

This 1500W inverter comes with 3 AC outlets, a USB port, and a remote switch and cables. So you really won’t even need 110V outlets in the van with this inverter because they’re already in it. Other inverters that I’ve seen with this much power are more expensive and don’t come with as much to offer. I’ve had this one in both of my van builds, and it’s always been awesome. You can easily turn it on and off when needed or just leave it on 24/7 if you run a 110V fridge like I do. Can’t go wrong with this one!

I used Duralast 95ah batteries for my build, but I wish I would’ve gone with these VMAX Solar 110ah batteries instead. They are only a little more expensive but do offer more amp hours and aren’t so difficult to find. Unless you’ll be running very little on the battery, I really recommend having 2 to cover everything. Even a very basic setup typically will include tow batteries of roughly this size. This is a really trusted brand though and I’ll probably go this route if I do another build in the future.

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Recommended:

These are the lights that I’ve used for both vans and I absolutely love them. They are 12V, use up very little power, and are super bright. You can get them pretty cheap and I recommend getting as many as you can. They are made for motorhomes and boats so they’re even shock and vibration resistant. I had everything hooked up separately so you can have just the bedroom lights on or just the kitchen lights. But they install really easily and look beautiful in the ceiling.

Under Cabinets & Toe Kick

These are 12V lights that work perfectly if you want additional lighting your upper cabinets in the kitchen or even in your toe kick to light it up at night. They’re super bright and are really easy to install. The back is self- adhesive so they just stick on. I like having as many lights as possible so I can options and these are perfect for that.

Decor/String Lights

These lights are really just for decoration or hanging outside when you’re at a campsite. I love these at night with the doors open because they just give the van such a different vibe than the puck lights in the ceiling. They’re also pretty bright so they do work to light up the entire van when they’re hanging! I’ve posted lots of photos with these lights and people always love them!

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