TMariano
New Member
Hello all, new user here. Apologies for the lengthy post or if any of this has already been asked here, I just want to be as thorough as possible for my particular situation. Any info/recommendations are welcome and appreciated. Please be kind as I am not an electrician and just a humble human doing my best to survive.
I'm putting together my first power system (12V) for full time van dwelling. Was going to wait a while longer but I impulse bought a 230AH LifePO4 battery (Litime) because it was on a good sale and what I planned on getting anyways. I will be getting everything else over time as I can afford it. I have only a basic education with electricity and did my best to keep things realistic and do thorough enough research to ensure I have safe/adequate power to live off of without breaking the bank, but was hoping for some advice before I go any further in case i'm wrong so as to avoid costly mistakes. Here's a list of the major components I planned on using:
230AH 12V Litime Plus battery
Renogy Rover BT 40A Solar charger
500-600 watts worth of 12V solar panels, maybe 24V if I can use that with my system somehow.
Weize 2000W Pure Sine Wave inverter (may get Renogy if it means more efficient power)
Renogy 12V 40A battery charger (would be using all day/night 3 days a week)
250A Positive/negative busbars (not sure what brand yet)
Blue Sea 5026 12V Fuse block (100A I believe?)
Per my calculations, I would be regularly going through 30-40 amps a day at most. Going into detail, I am planning to power up to two cooking appliances a few times (give or take) a week, for no more than 20-30 minutes at a time with the heaviest load being 1500 watts (600W skillet and 900W air fryer/multi-cooker), and still have enought power stored to be able to charge my laptop/phone. Maybe even an hour or two of ps4 time, though I could easily live without it in my van. I will also have a 12v fridge running all the time, website states 45W on ECO and 60W on MAX, I plan to only use ECO. Other than that I plan for a few puck lights, a computer fan (for toilet vent), temperature monitor, and a two way baby monitor/camera for my dog so I can watch over him while I work.
My main concern is that I won't have enough power to last through the work week. I will have access to power for 3 days a week (my weekends) that I plan to recharge using a converter/charger, but will be parked on the street for 4 days a week (about 50 feet from where I work) with no access to power. Will most likely also invest in few small power banks just for phone/laptop charging, just to be safe..
Also, for the sake of thoroughness, here is a crude sketch I made based off a working 12v system that, aside from being wired to a 100AH battery and no converter involved, is exactly identical to what I planned for above. I am hoping I can still use the same amp ratings on fuses and such with my 230AH battery along with adding a 40A converter, if anything about this is wrong or looks sketchy please let me know.
Thanks in advance for anyone who is willing to help me out with advice, recommendations or corrections!
I'm putting together my first power system (12V) for full time van dwelling. Was going to wait a while longer but I impulse bought a 230AH LifePO4 battery (Litime) because it was on a good sale and what I planned on getting anyways. I will be getting everything else over time as I can afford it. I have only a basic education with electricity and did my best to keep things realistic and do thorough enough research to ensure I have safe/adequate power to live off of without breaking the bank, but was hoping for some advice before I go any further in case i'm wrong so as to avoid costly mistakes. Here's a list of the major components I planned on using:
230AH 12V Litime Plus battery
Renogy Rover BT 40A Solar charger
500-600 watts worth of 12V solar panels, maybe 24V if I can use that with my system somehow.
Weize 2000W Pure Sine Wave inverter (may get Renogy if it means more efficient power)
Renogy 12V 40A battery charger (would be using all day/night 3 days a week)
250A Positive/negative busbars (not sure what brand yet)
Blue Sea 5026 12V Fuse block (100A I believe?)
Per my calculations, I would be regularly going through 30-40 amps a day at most. Going into detail, I am planning to power up to two cooking appliances a few times (give or take) a week, for no more than 20-30 minutes at a time with the heaviest load being 1500 watts (600W skillet and 900W air fryer/multi-cooker), and still have enought power stored to be able to charge my laptop/phone. Maybe even an hour or two of ps4 time, though I could easily live without it in my van. I will also have a 12v fridge running all the time, website states 45W on ECO and 60W on MAX, I plan to only use ECO. Other than that I plan for a few puck lights, a computer fan (for toilet vent), temperature monitor, and a two way baby monitor/camera for my dog so I can watch over him while I work.
My main concern is that I won't have enough power to last through the work week. I will have access to power for 3 days a week (my weekends) that I plan to recharge using a converter/charger, but will be parked on the street for 4 days a week (about 50 feet from where I work) with no access to power. Will most likely also invest in few small power banks just for phone/laptop charging, just to be safe..
Also, for the sake of thoroughness, here is a crude sketch I made based off a working 12v system that, aside from being wired to a 100AH battery and no converter involved, is exactly identical to what I planned for above. I am hoping I can still use the same amp ratings on fuses and such with my 230AH battery along with adding a 40A converter, if anything about this is wrong or looks sketchy please let me know.
Thanks in advance for anyone who is willing to help me out with advice, recommendations or corrections!