FULL DIAGRAM DIY VAN LIFE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM OFF-GRID

If you found yourself reading this post, then i 100% believe in you, you can do this! I was in exactly same situation, didn’t know literally anything about electricity, but thanks to internet and countless hours spent researching and quick learning, I’m writing this to make your Van electrical step easier.

You’re already past the hardest part, you know that you can do it! Down below i am leaving my personal electric diagram that exactly replicates what we have in our van, connected exactly as shown on diagram. Firstly you need to decide how big of an electrical setup do you need, what are you trying to power? if it’s only to charge your phones and couple other devices that can all be done with 12v, then you can actually take out some stuff from my diagram, if you’re trying to go fully of grid for days, then something similar to my system is a must have.

We wanted to be able to stay off-grid for 5+ days, and with our setup we can! I know it’s intimidating project but if you can stay focused, this is one of the best projects to do yourself because if anything goes bad while on the road, you don’t have to look for electrician or any help because you will know exactly how everything works!

VANLIFE ELECTRICAL DIAGRAM

I know it looks crazy complicated and can be overwhelming by just looking it or thinking about it, I was almost to the point to seek professional help too, but I’m so glad I did it all myself. Let’s break it down. All components to my electrical system are numbered and i will list them down below with links to where to purchase so you can easily find them. Feel free to copy my system exactly how it’s on diagram if you’re looking for off-grid vanlife electrical system.

To simplify things let’s discuss how this all works. As you can see on top left we have solar panels (1), my system actually has 4 panels connected in series(which means you connect + of one panel to – of the next one). Note: Positive(+) side from solar panels has inline fuse that comes with solar kit.
From solar panels your cables are going through roof entry gland(14) and coming inside your van and connecting to MPPT solar charge controller(4). From there we have to get it somehow to the battery so it can charge it, but instead of going straight to the battery terminals, it is a lot better and safer to go to anl fuse(11) with your positive(red) wire, also make sure you use correct size anl fuse, in my case i used 40 amp because my solar charge controller is rated at 40 amps. From fuse i’ve put a cut off switch(10) for solar panels, so in case i need to, i can isolate the solar panels from my system to be able to work on them/replace them. After cut off switch it goes to the positive busbar(15).

Purpose of busbar was so confusing for me, but it’s really simple, you don’t have enough space on your battery bolts to put 4-5 terminals, so we use busbars to run only one big wire from battery to busbar, and then connect all our other terminals to busbar, it’s just like a big distribution block for power and it looks a lot neater too. Negative(black) wire can go straight to busbar from solar charge controller. Then finally from busbar final wire goes back to the battery(6) with another cut off switch in between so you have option to isolate everything from the batteries.

Negative cable is going to different device before it goes to battery, it goes to device called a SHUNT(12), you don’t necessarily have to have this device, but to be able to install battery monitor(12) you have to have negative wire going through shunt. To complete installation of battery monitor, you need another small wire going from positive battery terminal to shunt itself(but this is easy as all pictured instructions come with battery monitor). And lastly don’t forget to run extra black wire from outgoing terminal of shunt to your van chassis(make sure it’s good connection with metal, scrub the paint and tighten to the metal). There you have it, you’ve successfully hooked up your solar panels to battery, and your batteries will be charging.

Now let’s get to the rest of the electrical system.
Next up is alternate charging way from van’s onboard battery and alternator, this step is also not necessary but it is definitely good to have if you want full of grid experience in vanlife. This step will charge your batteries whenever you turn on your van. To get this to work successfully you need to run bigger gauge wires(depends of the length of the run, do some more research on this) from your van’s positive and negative terminals to dc-dc charger(5), again positive needs to go to anl fuse(11) in my case fuse is 40 amp since charger is rated the same, from there you just need to get it to bus bars, as you can see on my diagram, negative wire can go directly, while on positive i’ve put another 40 amp fuse and cut off switch, then took it to the busbar, from there you don’t need anything else as it’s already done from previous step.

Let’s move onto the rest of diagram.
From here, if you’re planning to use only 12 volt devices, you will only need one more wire from positive and negative busbars going to your 12 volt fuse box(7), that will power up your fuse box and from there it’s pretty simple, just run positive and negative wires to each one of your devices, in my case: roof fan(16), 12 volt water pump(17), 12 volt fridge(18), 12 volt lights(19) and 12 volt outlets(20).

If that is all you need then you are done! But if you also need 110v power for your laptop, blender, coffee maker etc. then there are couple more things you will need to install. The inverter(8), the device that will convert your 12v to 110v. To get this hooked up properly, you need to run a wire from your positive and negative busbar to your inverter power IN(make sure you hook it up in proper place, because there is also power out and in some inverter/chargers like ours, there is place for shore power in).

Of course again insert anl fuse(11) in between busbar and inverter, in our case we’ve put 200 amp fuse as our wire was thick enough to handle it and we have some devices that take more then 100amps. From inverter Power OUT you need to run 3 wires(now since this is 110v power, your black wire is positive, white is negative and green is ground), run them to your breaker box(9) to appropriate places while still inserting anl fuse on positive(black), in our case we used 200amp fuse. From breaker box you can run your 110v wire to 110v outlets around your van, make sure you insert appropriate size of breakers inside the box, 20amp will be fine for any outlet.

Lastly, your last available terminals inside inverter/charger are for shore power coming in, this is 110v as well, so you need to run 3 wires(black, white, green where black is positive and white negative) to your shore plug preferably mounted on the outside of your van so it’s easy accessible to plug in when you have access to power. This is also not necessary but it is good to have if nothing else works, gives you the ability just to plug in and charge all your batteries. And last step is to connect your batteries(6) together so they can give you more power.

Connect as many batteries as you have in parallel(positive to positive, negative to negative), make sure to use thick gauge wire, i’d suggest 0 or 2 gauge. For batteries we used lithium batteries as they’re a lot more efficient since you can drain them all the way and they will still be fine. For full off-grid living, you will need at least 300amp/h of lithium, or 600amp/h of AGM batteries. Lithium is so much lighter and it’s worth extra money in a long run. And here we are, at the end of electrical system for the van, it really wasn’t that bad ha?

Let me know if you have any questions on my Instagram

FULL LIST OF PRODUCTS WE USED

1. Solar premium kit or get 10% off if you buy from HERE
2. Van battery/alternator
4. MPPT solar charge controller
5. DC-DC charger
6. Lithium batteries
7. 12v Fuse box
8. 2000W Inverter/charger
9. Breaker panel
10. On/Off switch
11. Anl fuses (search same brand different sizes)
12. Shunt(comes with battery monitor below)
13. Battery monitor
14. Roof entry gland
15. Positive and negative busbar
16. Roof fan
17. 12v water pump
18. 12v fridge
19. 12v LED lights
20. 12v outlets
21. 12 gauge wire
22. Wire terminals
23. Hydraulic crimp tool

Obligatory Disclaimer: This post describes what I did with my own system based on my own research, and i hope you’ll find it helpful. That said, i am NOT ELECTRICIAN. Working with electricity in any form can be dangerous. It’s always a good idea to read the manuals for all of components and consult with a licensed electrician before doing any electrical work.

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