Van & Boat Conversions, living off the grid

Its a great project and becoming more popular by the day!

You will have many questions about what you will require to sustain day to day living in your new project.

Naturally you will want the main essentials, Heat, Light & Water. 

These main elements require a power source, Lifepo4 batteries or lead acid for the days away from grid power, plus a way to connect to the grid when available.

Your budget dictates what you go with but always buy the best you can as you want reliable safe products on anything electrical. 

Look at the solar mounting items if you plan on using solar power on your van conversions.

You can use something called a DC to DC charger to keep your leisure batteries charged using the alternator on the engine. 

Whenever the engine starts & runs the alternator will re-charge the batteries. 

You can also combine a DC to DC Charger with Solar Power so you get the best of both worlds.

Solar Panels are here & I've listed affiliate links below to the more popular options.  

You will also see links to every other item(s) you may require, but toilets can be found here & even the kitchen sink Here

Think about the items you will want to power, laptops, phones, lights, TV, Kettle, water pumps and heating. 

Try and calculate what you use, how often and for how long on average. 

You can buy 12V appliances which don't draw many watts like traditional electrical items you are used too.  

As such you will need an Inverter to turn the battery power into something more practical - A/C.

All inverters are rated in WATTS as are all the appliances you will want to use. 

Add up the wattage of the items you will use and how long it will be used for - always allow extra. 

You may watch TV for 4 hours a day, that TV uses 200 watts so 200 x 4 - 800 watts. 

Do this for everything, even your phone, it will need charged often. 

Add the totals together and this will give you an idea of the battery capacities you will need as well as what size inverter to buy. 

Below you will find a list of items you will need to complete your project. Wiring a van or boat to use electricity may seem daunting, but the internet is full of information on this subject and the downloads page is a good place to start learning the basics. 

Be sure to check out the 12v Appliances page for links to 12v powered items & the tools page for useful things you may require.

This section will be updated regularly, so check back often.