Van Electrical

Here is a picture of the electrical system before everything got built around it. It consists of a 12V, 206ah Lithium Phosphate battery that can be charged via 400W of solar power or 600W of vehicle alternator power. The system has the option for using 120V AC power, using the inverter, or can use 12V DC power.   

TLDR: Because modularity and cost per watt-hour!

Today, there are many power systems available that come prebuilt, requiring no major knowledge on the internals or makeup of the system. Typically, these systems are great because of size, ease of use and lack of complexity. However, where they lack is in modularity and cost per watt-hour. Examples of prebuilt power stations are below:

Cost Per Watt-Hour

In terms of cost per watt-hour, take, for instance, this Jackery 2000 Plus Solar Generator. It has a capacity of 2042.8 watt-hours and comes with 400W of Solar Panels for $3,299. Doing a quick cost/watt-hour calculation, that comes to $1.615/watt-hour. In my DIY system, I have 2472 watt-hours and 400W of Solar Panels, costing $2,494 at the time of build. Doing the same calculation, that comes to $1.009/watt-hour.  It may not sound like much in that perspective, but that's 37.5% less per watt-hour, paired with the ability to modify your system.

In fact, the most expensive element of my electrical build, the battery, has come down in price significantly, since I made my system. Originally, costing $1,064, it is now on sale for $629. With that in mind, the DIY price comes down to $2,059 making the new ratio cost to be: $0.833/watt-hour. That is a difference of 48.4% less per watt-hour than the Jackery.

If you are interested in a deeper dive of the electrical system, check out the only tutorial video I have! If you have any feedback, that would be greatly appreciated!

Here is a comprehensive list of all the electrical components used in the build. It wasn't cheap, but I am glad I went with quality components because the system has worked great so far!

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Here is another view of how the electrical components work together.  When making this system, I used prior knowledge from my time at school, but also relied heavily on experiences from other people who have already built one. This included watching several videos, scouring internet forums (especially reddit), and even reading a book by Will Prowse called Mobile Solar Power Made Easy. That was a huge help! From there, I designed my own rendition on paper, got it peer reviewed by the smart people on mobile solar forums (about three different times), then purchased the parts and carefully built it. This was easily the most fulfilling part of the build for me!!