RV8R
Solar Enthusiast
Last edited:
Van build - setup design check?
- Thread starter atelierminceur
- Start date
atelierminceur
New Member
Yeah as i said in the first post its just to be free electricity wise for 2-4 days or so max and most likely i will never be really far away from a power source since there are tons of charging stations in europe and with a bit of solar and alternator i should be fine.
I don't really want to have propane in the van and i'm big into cooking so id like to still be able to eat and cook well for the few days i'm around.
So having the possibility to cook with induction and an instantpot is ideal. But then i also need a fridge. I could go with 40ish liter for 3-4 days but then the 12v volt are so expensive and huge that id rather get a good 230v fridge. Which then propels me into the electricity scheme that unfolded where if i need a 230v fridge i will have some electricity usage thats substantive. If i get a 12v fridge and run the appliance like maxxfan, charger for videos stuff etc i'm still in the 60AH per day and i still need 240aH for 4 day or so.
What ive planned to do anyway is to build the basic of the van like the bed and the rest and go with a propane burner for a bit and see how it fit my use but i'm more or less going over the board with the electric stuff when surely i can even live 3-4 days without a fridge and just an ice container since i don't even consume any meat lol
I see envision what you mean that "it becomes all about the Adventure & the Van, the Design, the Build fades into the background." and i've been told by a friend who do the same thing as me in his van and it seems just fine as a really simple built with almost no electricity. Everything is a trade i guess as always
atelierminceur
New Member
Oh wow yeah its huge haha
just look at my build in sketchup.
The ford transit custom is a really mini van !
RV8R
Solar Enthusiast
,,, Van DIY Design/Build ,,, Just a long list of Compromises !!If you can, start with the items that you won’t change. In our case the “Primary” element & what our entire van is designed around is our queen size bed. So there was lots of design criteria for the exact 3D space it occupied. Other than the insulation & floor, wall, ceiling panels, the bed structure was the 1st structure to complete & everythng else was built off that.
A good quality 12vdc fridge with a DB35 compressor with step down controller is hard to beat for efficiency. I have had both ARB & Truck Fridge & they are both very efficient & no need for an inverter.
In your case, electrically then I would look at a Kisae Dual ( Solar & Alternator ) charger & a way to utilize the ( I assume EV plugins ) / shore power charging. Thus I would want a larger battery bank for capacity & ability to quick charge off the EV Station.
Then if cooking by induction, a decent PSW Inverter that would be normally off. Alternatively a Victron Multi charger/inverter that is capable of quick charging from the EV Stations.
If you want to buy a lessor expensive fridge look at @Tomthumb62 method & the pros/cons of that, but realize you will be burning up your stored battery power to buy a less expensive & less efficient system.
There are other matters to think about with inverters. For me, when we are using our van in hot months, I do not want the added interior heat of an inverter. Also when inverters get hot they are less efficient & use more battery energy to cool them. So one thing drives another & battery energy & the system in the whole ( holistic approach ), becomes way less efficient.
Don’t want Propane IN the Van
,,, You got a trailer hitch 
;
RV8R
Solar Enthusiast
atelierminceur
New Member
idk if this is humor ? hahaha
i'm going with a small van not to haul stuff behind if that i would get just a bigger van haha
I've read around about dometic or arb fridge and i've got something like 30Ah per day to basically run one.
Not so far off from my upright fridge + the inverter consumption.
The arb zero in 60l is 1400€ too. For this price i buy the inverter + a premium fridge. So in the end i'm not sure what i'm saving anymore..
Like i've found more or less one of the best 130l fridge around the liebherr IRc 3920 Plus. 60kwh per year/27db when running for 800€ I have like 600€ left for an inverter and i need one anyway to run some of the stuff.
I have to see if the battery size thing will work or not for my build and it's true that the temp of the inverter is a problem in summer..
My old Ford Transit camper was pretty much that size (but it was the long wheelbase hiroof version)Nice concept design
(not mine)
Only difference was mine didn't have the side door as it had sliding front doors, and it had the Aussie Ford 250ci six linline motor in it (with the 'bulgy nose' rather than the 'flat' nose of the four cylinder version)
It had a very low top speed (85kph in top gear with the motor at redline- it was still geared for the four-banger motor) luckily the 250 would run way past the factory redline and many ran for years driving at 95-100kph... but they could literally pull the world around lol- I pulled a broken down 40 tonne 'swamp dozer' with mine one time after a bushfire- it only had drive on one side, and I just towed it in first gear...
It had a full length 'poptop' but even without it being pushed up, it was still spacious enough to stand up in...
(my brother had one with a modified 289 V8 which had been put in by a previous owner (my six banger was factory) which was crazy fast acceleration (at least up to 100kph)- with the duals on the rear and a factory LSD diff- it would keep up with even large motorbikes up to 100 and eat many v8 cars for breakfast- that 4.75 diff was horrible on top speed, but man, acceleration... used to be hillarious at the traffic lights in Sydney- they would take off expecting to leave this old van in the dust- and instead it was literally sit sitting right next to them lol)
Blew their minds something so big was so fast...
