Free Camper Van Electrical Diagrams
Please scroll down to see our example power systems and other resources. But first, we have some advice on how to get started…
What kind of solar/electrical system do you need in your rig? We recommend a 3-part evaluation.
Step 1: Figure out your needs with a load calculation. We have a detailed blog post including sample load calculations you can use for this step. This exercise will really help you with the next two steps!
Step 2: Make a foundational decision on the type of system you'll be building. We've narrowed this down for you to four basic approaches/architectures - all of which use lithium type batteries. and each one has a detailed blog post, free example wiring diagram, and, for the Victron-bases systems, a discounted Victron Energy product bundle that you can configure to your specific needs. You'll save a bundle with our bundles! You can think of this as the primary components.
Step 3: Add on the "accessories" that you need for your particular system with our discounted accessories bundle that includes everything from shore power inlets to circuit protection and wiring. These are the products that will tie everything together into a fully functional power system!
Finally, we have tons of other resources on our blog about power systems.
Option 1: EcoFlow Power Kit
The easiest way to add a power system to your adventure vehicle is something like a drop-in electrical system such as the EcoFlow power kits. As an essentially “plug-and-play” system, they take most of the complexity out of the process compared to installing a more traditional power system like the other options on this page where you might need to learn a lot about electrical systems and wiring to complete the project. We made a comparison between an EcoFlow system and a similar (in terms of specs) Victron Energy system that uses our “Internal BMS” bundle.
Option 2: Internal BMS Battery System
The most affordable and easiest to install for a basic camper van electrical system that charges with solar, when driving through DC-DC chargers and also through an inverter/charger when you have shore power. You can use any deep cycle batteries with this system but we recommend high-quality lithium batteries with internal BMS systems like Victron SuperPak or a great value like SOK. Other examples include Battleborn, Dakota and others.
Option 3: External BMS Battery System
If you need a fairly large power system, and therefore large batteries with high amp hour capacity, you start to benefit from batteries that use an external BMS which allows you to fit more battery storage in the same footprint. Starting with this system and using a Lynx Smart BMS makes for a simple upgrade to a dedicated secondary alternator in the future.
Option 4: Dedicated Secondary Alternator
If you need the best off-grid capability with large “loads” like air conditioners, this is the most reliable and powerful way to keep your battery bank charged up. This system is based on our “external BMS” system but adds the dedicated charging alternator. We have a 3-part blog post about this approach: an introductory post, a deep dive on how to use Lithionics batteries, and another deep dive on how to use Victron Smart lithium batteries.