After a few trips now in the van, we decided the 200ah Lithium battery setup was enough but just so. Since we primarily use the van in the summer months, we wanted to take advantage of “free energy” = SOLAR! After much research and observing of other’s setups, we settled on the following:
- 2 x 200 W (400 W total) Kosta 12V Monocrystalline Solar Panels wired in parallel
- Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30A
Renogy Rover 30A MPPT Controller/Charger(update 7/25/23) - Unistrut Rails (1 5/8″ for the North/South rails and 13/16″ for the East/West)
- DIYvan.com Transit roof pads
- Unaka Gear Co. Stainless Unistrut Solar hardware (stainless spring nuts and assorted bolts/nuts/washers)
- McMaster-Carr Unistrut Covers
- 10 gauge solar wiring
- 8 gauge battery wiring
- Blueseas Circuit Breakers for solar cut-off w/Blueseas housing (solar panels to solar controller)
- 2-1 solar branch connectors
- 30A inline fuse/breaker (battery to solar controller)
- ABS Double Solar Wire Gland
- Sikaflex 221 black and RTV silicone
So far its working great! Haven’t been able to test in full sun but on a cloudy day I’m still getting about 6 Amps charging which I’m fine with. Here are the final pictures of the install.
5/30/22 UPDATE: Used the panels for the first time in a real scenario. Soccer tournament over the holiday weekend and parked in a parking lot. Temps in 70°s with mostly sunny skies. Had the Maxxair fan running at 75% speed, 12v Truck Fridge, charging multiple electronics (phones, tablets), Wi-Fi router and 21″ 12v Android tablet on. The system didn’t even flinch at this! 100% battery at the end of being out for 8 hrs.! SOOOO happy about this as my goal was to simply be able to run the fridge on solar. My only slight concern is the way Lithium batteries charge as they jump from 13.6 to 14.4v when at 100%. This means any devices that are sensitive to 12v must be regulated. I safe guarded from this for most of my devices except for the DC fridge which can take 12v-36v but I’m going to add another regulator onto this circuit just in case. Only thing left to do is make sure the rack bolts are nice and tight!
