Summer Tour - Camper Van Solar Yield

For those of you who don’t know, Michael’s degree is in Electrical Engineering (which means he is a certified nerd). Our 2020 DIY Ford Transit camper van has 340 Watts of solar panels on the roof rack, hooked up to a fancy 30 Amp Victron SmartSolar MPPT Solar Charge Controller, charging a 230 Ah LiFePO4 battery. This setup powers all of our electrical loads (completely independent of the Ford 12VDC factory electrical system), including lighting, fans, refrigerator, water pump, USB chargers, and most importantly, a 2200 W inverter that powers our 120VAC electric kettle and our beloved air fryer.

This system is a massive upgrade from our old Sprinter’s questionable setup. It took a lot of research and deal hunting to put together something that works extremely well for all of our needs.

Our total solar yield was 51.1 kWh on our summer tour (an average of 980 Wh / day for 7 weeks). The average of the daily maximum PV power was 289 W, and the average hourly yield assuming 6 hours of sun per day is 164 W / hour on our 340 W system. That peak you see on 8/8? We were so grateful to be staying at Erin's cousin's house near Kansas City, since it was over 100°F most of the day 🙃 Good sun means a hot van.

Let us know if you have any questions or if you’ve ever built something similar!