question

baksteen avatar image
baksteen asked

Possible expansion of RV setup

Hi everyone,


I recently purchased a selfbuilt campervan (not built by me). The current setup i feel it already pretty nice but I want to look into the possible options I have to add more power.

The camper runs fully electric, meaning water heater and cooking is done on electricity. I have found that incase of dissapointing availability of sunshine the battery might drain rather fast.


What options do I have to possible help this?

Here is the current setup:

  • MultiPlus IP22 12/2000/80-32 230V VE.Bus
  • Victron lithium accu 12,8V/160Ah Smart
  • Victron Lynx Smart BMS 500
  • Victron Lynx Distributor
  • Victron Cerbo GX
  • Cerbo GX Touch 50
  • Victron BlueSolar MPPT 100/50 (12/24V)
  • 4x Victron Solar Panel 140W Mono


Thanks for any help.

offgridcampervan
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2 Answers
Duivert NL avatar image
Duivert NL answered ·

Hi the obvious thing to do is increase battery storage, and if you can more / higher ouput solar panels with a another mppt

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borealcampers avatar image borealcampers commented ·
160A of battery capacity is on the light side for an camper van that runs everything on electricity (cooking as well as water heating).

As a first step I would upgrade the battery capacity, and replace the water heateer with one that uses the engine coolant to heat water.

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baksteen avatar image baksteen borealcampers commented ·
Thanks for the tips.


Would you change the battery of add to it?

As for the solar pannels, i thought about that, problem is that the current panels fit perfectly on the roofrack. Other pannels are a different size and would require adjustments to the roofrack as well.

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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ baksteen commented ·
Add to the battery. Be sure to use the same type, so talk to a Victron dealer.

An extra battery increases reserve, but doesn't increase supply. If you're operating off grid a lot and solar is inadequate bigger panels help. But in poor light, more/bigger panels probably won't be enough.

If you spend a lot of time driving, one or more Orion DC:DC chargers will help, but don't overload the engine alternator. Keep to a max of 50% of output, taking into account vehicle loads.

The other option is a portable generator.



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baksteen avatar image baksteen kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
Thx for the advice,

Can i simply add a second 160ah battery in serie of parrelel without other hardware.


For the solarpanels. My current MPPT cannot go beyond 600w of solar corrent? I would need to upgrade that as well if i want to increase the solar capacity above the 560w I have now,


What would you suggest as a most cost effective upgrade?

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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ baksteen commented ·
Parallel, not series. Series would increase system voltage and require a new multiplus and assuming you have 12V consumers, require a 24V to 12V converter.

You can have more panels than the solar power output. Very useful in lower light conditions.

The Victron MPPT calculator allows up to 130%. But as long as you don't exceed input voltage (Voc) and short circuit current (Isc) 130% is not a hard limit.

Not clear where you are, but in winter in Europe, my max output is usually below 10% of panel max. And often zero.



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baksteen avatar image baksteen kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
I'm in Europe. The setup is on my Ducato L4 van. We like camping, but not enough to do it in winter. The setup should be designed for use mainly between spring and fall.


I will have to look at the roofrack to see what size panel would fit. The current panels are laid out with the longest side of the panel in the width of the van. They appear to fit perfectly on the roofrack.

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baksteen avatar image
baksteen answered ·

Hi everyone,

I wanted to revisit this post to provide an update and ask for some more advice.

I looked into the options provided above and found that other solar panels are not an option. Panels with a higher WP also come with a larger size. I was unable to find a suitable setup with the space available on top of the Ducato.

I was able to find a "second hand" 160 ah Victron Smart battery. I will be using this one to double the battery capacity of the van. We are opting for this because we found that when the weather is not optimal, we drain the battery too fast when cooking using induction en/of using the water heater. We would really not be able to do a single off grid day with limited sun.

I am not an electriction (my FiL is and he will be helping) and have been reading online about how to best tackle this. I would like some advice.

Am I correct that I need to isolate both batteries first and charge them to 100% before connecting them in serie?

Is there anything else I need to consider?


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