Van Life ~ Solar Setup & Bed Build

[@chartmann43]

Wow! I’m getting a bunch of good ideas from you! I’ve been trying to figure out what to do over the wheel well on my bed side and you just showed me! Basic and “easy” instead of difficult! Thanks so much! 😊

[@ADKOverlandNY]

That's what sites like KZbin, Facebook groups and such should be doing - providing a space to share ideas. Sometimes I just draw an absolute blank and can't get my brain to engage on anything lol. Other times - a spark may ignite "something". That template video was honestly the first time I ever cut one for the wall! Thanks again for being a subscriber & watching!

[@MrRobbie545]

Very Clean electrical install!

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Thanks! I took my time and tried to keep things as neat as possible, but boy is it a challenge when you get so many devices and different lengths of wires on things lol.

[@mjrootz]

Jeff! What a great job.. dude, I was in engineer at a major aerospace company for over 40 years.. I started out as an electronics technician and I can tell you that even I would have a hard time doing that as neat as you did.. I carefully looked at what you did and i am very impressed. You covered all the bases! I agree those batteries are great.. I bought 3 of them this year to use in my camper and ended up using them in the boat..for the trolling motor.. I ran that trolling motor for two weeks on and off and still were not even 3/4 discharged. I also follow Will Prouse and he really knows what he is doing.. couple of suggestions make sure to use one of the two batteries for the negative wire to the inverter and the other battery for the positive wire to the inverter..since the batteries are in parallel it will balance the power drawn from the batteries. The other thing is and this may be debated: run heavy duty ground wires instead of depending on chassis grounds in your vehicle.. I hate chassis grounds! They are the source of a lot of problems in automotive wiring.. OK if you don't do that, then make sure to run a wire brush where the chassis ground is until its nice and shiny before you reconnect the ground wires.. then use some spray ignition sealer over the entire bolt and the lugs. Again.. really proud of you pal.. you're doing a great job.

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Hi Mike! Thanks very much for your comments. It was your help that allowed me to take my time and get the right stuff to make this happen. The ground wire that I ran up to the chassis ground may be removed to the ground bus bar instead. I debated that after reading that the positives and negatives of this system should stay together. The long positive cable you saw at the end of the video (connecting the positive terminals of the battery) was just a temporary to get my system up and making electricity. My shorter, 2 ga cable came in yesterday & I'll replace it today. I used 2 & 4 on most everything; 10 ga to and from the fuse block since anything planned to connect there is very low draw. I remember what you said about connecting the inverter wires to opposite batteries. I now have the circuit breaker but haven't decided where I'm going to mount the inverter. I ran a heavy 4 ga wire from the back of the van to the front to eventually hook up the DC-DC part of the controller. So, it's mostly finished and up & running. I had to work on that in between other van projects like the bed, walls, etc and extreme heat and storms, but I'm getting there! Thanks again for all of your help!

[@mjrootz]

@@ADKOverlandNY fantastic. I really like those breakers you used. I use those all the time as compared to the cheaper other ones.

[@ADKOverlandNY]

that's why I got them - you said you used them & liked them so I got the same thing!

[@lawrencedavidson6195]

Nice neat solar setup. Greetings from Jamaica.

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Thank you, Lawrence! I tried to research everything thoroughly and tried to be as neat as possible. It just makes it easier to work on it should anything arise! Thanks for watching!

[@Go4Corvette]

Your woodwork and electrical look great, just like a factory RV.

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Thanks Mike - I'm taking my time - too long sometimes because I just want to get out and travel lol. Stay safe in your travels!

[@Go4Corvette]

@@ADKOverlandNYI keep making changes to my van it all depends on what works and what doesn't. Sometimes you don't know till you use it every day. Good luck.

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Exactly - using it will allow me to see if everything works as I intended or if I need to make changes. But that to me is also the fun part of the build itself!

[@melissasemenske7662]

Anytime 😊- look forward watching more - Natalie

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Thanks for watching - hugs to Natalie for me!

[@ggme4682]

You have got to be one of the nicest, most humble sounding guys on KZbin. I do not like your videos, I LOVE them! I watch and like every one associated with the van (I did watch one with the Jeep (in my youth I owned five CJ5 Jeeps) in which you installed the Midland radio. As a matter of fact, last summer I traveled from central Mass to Glens Falls to buy my second hand motorcycle. I wished I knew about that hot dog place back then!! I'm seriously thinking about selling my house and moving to the van life, I just don't know how to begin, it's overwhelming. But your videos are a help and a blessing!! I do have a question please, are you building your van at your house, or a garage, or possibly, a storage unit? (Sometimes I see a glimpse of a garage door that could possibly be at a storage facility). The reason I ask is another concern of mine is not having a garage a great place to do a build.. THANKS AGAIN for ALL your videos!!

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Thank you for your awesome comments! Good memories of owning and customizing my 1st van 40+ years ago plus the unaffordable land prices everywhere made my decision to do another build. I was looking for land to build a cabin on or another van to call my cabin on wheels. This van was only 3 years old (lease vehicle I think) with 50k miles and it was black! I couldn't ask for more...but wait - there was lol. It had been undercoated and rust proofed, options like electric windows, locks, cruise, etc made my decision easy. I rent a storage unit because where I'm staying has no garage, so I have no cover from the elements or to store my tools. It's easier for me to drive to the unit where I have everything in one place and room to work. I didn't have the room initially until I moved my jeep to my son's place. You'll have to stop at New Way lunch on your next road trip and grab some "dirt dogs"! Give me a shout when you do!

[@ggme4682]

@@ADKOverlandNY Well, I hope you see this"reply of a reply" haha. And I most certainly will!! It would be fantastic catching up with you. I'm 63 y/o and longing for the van life. Thank you so much and I find that very interesting about you doing your build at a storage facility.... I "slightly detected" that and it's great to be made aware of that possibility for me. I don't have a garage and no ideal place at my house to do one.... So that's an interesting option for sure, thanks! Quick question if I may, does the storage company pester you about doing the build there?? (I suppose they are all different in their rules)

[@ADKOverlandNY]

My storage unit isn't large enough to hold my van, so I still have to work on it in the elements. Today for instance, it poured. Started out nice with lower temps and felt very comfortable, but then turned nasty. I tried to do what I could and even had some frustrated moments until I conceded that "today" was NOT going to work lol. The storage unit has a list of things they don't want you to store but that's about it & the manager is very accommodating. I park in from of mine, pop open the door and at least have a place where everything I need is there. I temporarily stay with a relative, so I drive back & forth several times a week to work on the van. Good luck in whatever decision you make. Mine was made for several reasons, but as long as I'm comfortable with those reasons, I guess that's all that counts. Take care!

[@ggme4682]

@@ADKOverlandNY My gosh thank you again for the insight and new idea! I truly appreciate it. And I hear you about those rains. I'm not super far from you (in central Mass) so our weather is definitely related lol. As a matter of fact, this past Friday evening I saw the radar map of Hurricane Debbie and it looked like your area got pretty belted from what I remember. Looked heavy through western NY area. We definitely got her winds and rains but we seemed to be on the eastern edges of her. Thank you again, keep up the excellent work and videos, much appreciated!!

[@ADKOverlandNY]

This year has truly been a challenge weather-wise. Just in the month of July, we had 40+ tornado warnings and 20+ actual touch downs within NY State alone!! It was never like this. Since moving my jeep to my son's residence, I've been going through my storage unit to get rid of things I really don't need & I'm looking to downsize to a smaller unit. I look anywhere I can to save money lol. Maybe as my van build winds down, I can start getting out but then again, beautiful fall colors and apple picking are right around the corner!

[@NE_Overlanding]

Electrical system looks great! I’m going with the renogy solar setup as well but the 20amp controller I’ll only be running one panel. I was going to go with big fuses in between the panel and controller but I might go with those circuit breakers now that I see those they look nice. Do I just match the circuit breaker size to the controller size? Like if I have a 20amp controller do I get a 20amp circuit breaker? Great video as always!

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Thanks as always! I wasn't sure what I was going to go with in terms of a setup, but figured if I didn't use the full capacity of my system, I'd have room to grow. That's why I went with the 200-watt panel and 50-amp MPPT controller. I'm not running much now, but who the heck knows. I was going to go with one of those red power disconnects between the solar panel and the MPPT, but the breaker does the same thing because you can manually shut each section down. The Renogy MPPT came with a fuse, but I figured the circuit breaker would allow me to disconnect power by switching it off plus you're able to reset things once a short has been detected. I'm not sure if you've followed Will Prowse or not. He's like the guru of solar setups lol. Between him and one of my subs who is a retired electrical engineer, that guided me along the way. I sized my breakers according to the MPPT, same for my inverter.

[@NE_Overlanding]

@@ADKOverlandNY I haven’t watched his videos yet I watched someone a bit similar but I’ll have to check him out as well!

[@ADKOverlandNY]

Will has a website that shows solar setups that will probably help. That's what worked for me, plus help from one my subs. I tried to keep the wiring at 4ga when it was called for or upsized to 2ga when possible, in case I want to expand later on. I ran 10ga from the bus bars to my fuse block because everything I'm using there is low draw (LED lights, etc).