'Cause the Power You're Supplying, It's Electrifying!

The most complex part of Ansel's design has been the electrical system, from the overall design and selection of components, to the size of wires and fuses, to the physical layout of everything.  While the process wasn't overly difficult, there was definitely a big learning curve, and I had to create a spreadsheet just to keep track of the details!

The spreadsheet!

In the process I had to make a number of important decisions, such as:

• How many watts of solar did I want?
• Did I want to have the ability to connect to "shore power"? (Shore power is an external AC power supply such as you'd find in many campgrounds.)
• What size inverter did I need?  (An inverter converts DC power from the battery to AC power, which is used to power AC devices, such as a laptop, which is really the only AC device I plan to run.)
  
• How many lights, 12V outlets, etc. did I need?
• And, most significantly, what type and size battery did I need?

The last question was dependent on a number of variables, but most importantly cost and how long I wanted to be able to run off the battery without any charging.  Originally I was going to go with an AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) battery due to cost, but they are extremely heavy, and I would've had to get at least two to satisfy my desired battery life.  And there were other negatives as well.  So in the end I purchased the crème de la crème of RV batteries, a lithium battery (or more technically, a lithium iron phosphate, or LiFePO4, battery).  Other than the van itself, this was the single-most expensive item I bought.  But, I found a good quality one at a reasonable price, and the size (200ah) will theoretically supply my worst-case power demands for approximately two days without charging, even from solar (which is unlikely to happen)!

The battery fresh out of the box (it weighs about 60 lbs)

The battery in its final home.  The cargo strap and 2x4's are to keep it securely in place.

One of the major challenges was where to locate and orient all the major electrical components.  The goal is not only to have ready access to these components for repairs & future modifications, but also to minimize length and a mish-mash of electrical cables.  During my on-line research, I found one van-life couple who used two sides of a piece of plywood for their electrical panel, thus making use of three dimensions versus just two, which is what many van builders do.  I thought this was a brilliant idea and decided to emulate this concept.  So, I traced out the panel on a piece of cardboard and kept moving the components around until I felt I had the best configuration.  I didn't know exactly what the back side would look like until I actually started running wires, so I needed to use some imagination and rely somewhat on faith.

I decided to mount the panel at a right angle to the van wall and over the wheel well for space and access reasons.  This resulted in an unusually shaped panel, which only added to the layout challenge.  After insulating the van wall and sheathing with plywood, I added an outlet for shore power and mounted the converter/charger on the wall.  I then cut out the electrical panel, mounted it in place and installed the rest of the components.  

Next step: install the solar panels and start running cables.  Then, first power-up.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

The insulated side wall of the garage before plywood sheathing is installed.

 

Side wall with plywood sheathing and with converter/charger mounted (converter/charger is plugged into box which is connected to external shore power connection).  Note also insulation over wheel well.

The electrical panel before installation.  The oval slots and some of the round holes are for cable pass-thrus to the other side.  The remaining round holes are for isolation switches.

The electrical panel in place before mounting components

The panel with components mounted (clockwise from upper left: the solar panel controller, the 1000W inverter, the fuse box, and the DC to DC charger).  The round red & black items are isolation switches, and the small black rectangular items are breakers.

The back-side of the panel with bus bars (top left) and couple in-line fuses.  You can see I've started to run a couple wires already.