Free camping set up.

[shaneandsimoen]

I'm looking at setting up the van to do some free camping.
Not looking at more than 4 days at a time.

What I would like to know.
Type of battery and maybe size ( Have room under fridge to fit battery). Thinking 100A/h
What type and size.Looking at having portable solar panels.

Looking at running lights, have 12 volt and 240 V globes, maybe fridge.

Do I charge from car, then when parked have an Anderson plug also available to charge battery.
A wiring diagram would be nice.

Any help would be helpful.

Thanks in advance, Shane

[Mustang]

Hi shaneandsimoen,
Free camping will soon re-coup some of your outlay by saving upwards of $35/$50 a night in a park.

We use a 3 x way fridge which runs on gas, so when free camping this cuts down on the urgency of power.
If you use a compressor fridge they can run 30 minutes in the hour, now your power is a whole new issue, a 100am/h will struggle, or it will be ok without the fridge.

I use a portable 160amp fold up blanket panel, (Hard Korr) with this style its easy to store & you can follow the sun.

Do not connect to your car to use the charge battery, the charge battery is a different type of battery & must be isolated.

Definitely change all your globes to LED (ebay) & low power 240v, every bit helps. 

Colyn Rivers writes excellent books on 12v power & solar. link

Cheers
Mustang

[snoops]

Something else to think about if you want 240 volt power is the inverter - these still use power when nothing else is switched on, so the 2 options if using one would be to go for a unit that will drop into standby mode when no power is being drawn (these are the more top end items) or switch it off when not in use. If you have a 3 way fridge and can run it on gas as suggested, then there's no real reason to need 240 volts. If your vans 12 volt system works ok, stick LED globes in the holders and wire in a USB power outlet for charging your phones, etc. If you do need 240 volts for anything, then let me know and I can make some recommendations on which inverters to but and what not to.

As for size of battery and solar, yes a 100Ah battery as a couple of hundred watts of solar would be a good starting point and run your lights and phone chargers no dramas.

If you need to run a fridge off the system, then a good 12 volt compressor fridge will run happily for several days off a battery - like an Engel, etc. I run an 80 litre, 12 volt fridge no dramas off my batteries all the time, but it was expensive - www.caravanrvcamping.com.au/engel-st90e-free-standing-fridge-freezer?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxNT8BRD9ARIsAJ8S5xa5Kb77cwtfl5x49y8_KSAAWSzt2htWbJHbkzq73HNoVL8e2CXI_V4aAvifEALw_wcB

This unit fits in very nicely where a standard 3 way fridge goes and has a variable speed compressor and uses bugger all power, and no losses through running it off an inverter, etc.

[Mustang]

Further to Snoops advice, do not buy an Italian Vitrafrigo (?)
I had one in my Nautilus Camper & it would chew up two 120 A/H batteries in a day, the fridge recommended seems to be used by a few members, it may be a cost but a s/h fridge will cost you half of that, nothing worse than a warm beer!!
Cheers

[78466noM]

I have a 130amph agm battery and a 200w solar panel on roof I will be putting an Anderson plug in so I can run portable panels as Mustang and snoops has said this system works well as I have a 3 way fridge cook with gas a diesel heater for winter also have a 12v tv and blueray . I do have an inverter set up but have never used it . It is big enough to to run the aircon but battery would only last a very short time not long enough to cool van .
With the testing I have done the battery hasn't been under 11.9 volt at night A very simple setup but like your car make sure everything has a fuse makes it easier to find a short or broken connection and have a fuse close to the battery that is a lower rating than the wire you use .
have fun stay safe