The first thing we did was mount our solar panels to our van s roof and wire them together in parallel using a signstek y branch wiring connector.
Van life solar panels.
For parallel wiring all the positive wires go together and all the negative wires go together.
But there are a few key differences between the two types of solar panels that you should first be aware of before making your final decision.
The complete guide to van life.
Living the van life has seen a massive boom in popularity recently and we can see why.
We definitely have to start with solar panels right.
With that said let s get started with the 10 best solar products for van life and their reviews for 2020.
Installing rigid solar panels on your camper van will require a few pieces of mounting hardware and a handful of holes.
Once you finish reading this guide you ll know the essentials that make solar energy the best choice for van lifestyle.
Put the solar panels on top of your van where you d like them to be installed renogy solar panels installed on my van.
These panels are both an excellent choice for your campervan solar installation.
Quick note before we get started.
This is just one part of a overarching how to install a diy camper van electrical system series.
Fortunately the process is relatively simple and won t do a lot of damage to your rooftop.
Today we are going to discover the five best solar panels for your camper van to make living off the grid so much easier.
To have a complete solar setup you need solar panels for your van batteries a charge controller and an optional but recommended automatic charging relay acr.
A solar powered van in a nutshell.
You collect and convert energy from the sun to electricity solar panels and store it in batteries until you need it but a battery is pretty dumb.
The sense of freedom it brings and ability to travel endlessly is a dream until the money runs out.
Thanks to the solar panels mounted on their vans roofs vanlifers are able to adventure freely with a renewable energy source to power their gadgets while on the road.
The two main types of solar panels used in a campervan are monocrystalline solar panels and polycrystalline solar panels.
I had the general idea of where i wanted the solar panels to sit on top of my van but without dry fitting them first i would have overlooked how the mounting holes actually lined up on the contoured roof.
In its most basic sense a solar system goes like this.
Solar panels take the energy from the sun and send it down through a charge controller where it will eventually recharge the batteries in your camper electrical system.
If you ve just stumbled on this article directly without seeing that there are likely.
We ll get more into all that later in this lesson.
But with different sizes and styles it can be difficult to choose which panels will work best.
Something that pops up often as an integral part of these van builds is solar power.