Van for my detailing business - power.

[Josh Corps]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum I'll start with a little bit about myself.
I'm an electrician/generator maintainer in the Army, I've recently purchased my first T6 2016 DSG SWB Highline. Its my intention to convert it but also use it for my business I have set up as a detailer ready for when I get out of the Army.

I've been thinking long and hard about how I should power my camper, obviously the first thing that came up was a good generator, but I've really got my head set on making it green, using a bank of batteries and plenty of solar panels.

I've had quite a lot of work to do with batteries over my career but I've never had to do anything like this. any advice on what voltage I should run at 12v/24v? with a step up inverter to 240? how long does a battery usually last when using it alone?

I have no knowledge what so ever on solar panels so any advice what so ever would be appreciated.

Thanks
Josh

 

[Lord Mfwic]

I have no idea but welcome to the forum. Someone will be along very soon I'm sure.

 

[xpfloyd]

When you say power your camper, do you mean for your detailing business (and if so what kit do you need to run?) or do you mean when it’s being used as a camper?

 

[Josh Corps]

Idealy both, however I'm fully aware that a 1.6kw@240v jet washer will be quite unattainable. But thats why I'm here, maybe there is some wizardry to make this work.

 

[xpfloyd]

For the camper side of things what I done was install a leisure battery under the drivers seat. I then installed a battery to battery charger so that when I was driving the leisure battery could charge from the starter battery. Then from the leisure battery I ran led lights in the back, the fridge, usb sockets, the water pump and probably a couple of other things I’m forgetting. I then ran a mains cable from the engine bay to a fuse box in the rear so that when I’m in campsites with hook up I can get mains. The fuse box then powers two 240v sockets but also powers a second battery charger that also charges the leisure battery when I’m plugged in.

All the kit I used was bought from @travelvolts on this site who is a really helpful guy on these things.

With regards to your pressure washer, I have no clue I’m afraid

 

[Josh Corps]

Do you ave an inverter for 240 power from your leisure battery

 

[xpfloyd]

No I didn’t bother with one as I generally don’t need mains power when camping. I always hook up if available but mainly just so that the leisure battery is being topped up and my camera and phone batteries are charged quicker. I can get by without mains though by just using the usb charge sockets I installed.

Will depend on what you want to power though

 

[Pauly]

Thats such a difficult question, what kit are you looking to run and how long do you plan to be away from mains for ?
Add up everything you want to run, assume its a cloudy day and your solar is putting out max capacity and you can start to get an idea of what you need, figure out what capacity you are looking for in the battery/batteries then you can figure out a charging regime for the battery/batteries

For most a single battery with a DC-DC charger and/or solar panel will suffice but if you are looking at running lots of kit for extended periods then you may need to consider more than one battery
@travelvolts is our resident guru and can supply everything from batteries to complete kits with chargers etc etc
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