This DIY camper solar wiring diagram and parts list is perfect for ground-up electrical installs into campervans, skoolies, or expedition vehicles. This system is most suitable for systems that do not have a pre-existing house electrical system installed.
This diagram features:
- 2000W Inverter Charger
- 200+ Amp Hours of Battery Storage Capacity
- Up to 520W Solar Array Capacity
- Alternator Charging at 60A
- Shore Power Charging/Passthrough
Not quite what you are looking for? Check out other system setups here: https://www.explorist.life/solarwiringdiagrams
Note from Nate: It’s no secret that Battle Born Batteries and Victron Energy are sponsors of the work we do here at EXPLORIST.life. Both of those brands make top of the line, high-end equipment and in my opinion, is worth every penny.
BUT… I have seen time and time again people trying to design systems with less expensive equipment to fit within their budgets (rightfully so. I get that.) but struggle with budget-friendly system design including proper fusing, wire sizes, fuse choices, busbars, component placement, switches, and everything else necessary to build a high-end system. This is why I’ve made this diagram.
This diagram features high-quality fuses, busbars, wires, and lugs with highly efficient wire routing & system design with decreased redundancies that will accommodate most of the popular and less expensive Inverter/Chargers and other components I see people using like Renogy and AIMS.
This is the ’88 Honda Civic of camper electrical systems. It won’t win any high-performance races, but it will get you from point A to point B in a safe and reliable manner for a modest amount of time if you don’t work it too hard.
History of Changes to this Page (Click to Expand)
Post Published Jan 8, 2021
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
HOW TO USE THIS PAGE – VIDEO
This orientation video will show you how to best use this page to build your DIY Camper Solar Setup. It’s a quick watch but I think it’s pretty important.
DIY Camper Van Wiring Diagram

DIY Camper Solar Parts – Shopping List
The list below is a consolidated parts list for this entire system (Minus the solar charging leg, which is listed at the bottom of this blog post).
For the ‘Quantities’ in the below shopping list, each singular component is listed a quanty per each, wire is listed a quantity of feet, and heat shrink is listed as qty 1 = 2.25″.
For Example:
Qty 1 – Inverter Charger means you need to purchase 1 Inverter Charger
Qty 3 – 4/0 Wire means you need 3 feet of 4/0 wire. This may mean you need to buy 5ft from the product page
Qty 5 heat shrink means you need 5 pieces of 2.25″ heat shrink. This means you’ll need 5 x 2.25″ pieces of heat shrink for a total of 11.25″ of heat shrink.
Camper Solar Parts Detail
The section below will tell you where each of the parts from above fits into the wiring diagram. This is quite lengthy, but if you are having trouble seeing the diagram or just want more clarification that the diagram above doesn’t deliver, hopefully this will help:
Order of Operations for DIY Camper Solar Install
Coming soon
Mike K
Saturday 11th of March 2023
I wish I would have had this when I set up my system several years ago, but I'm happy to see I got the wires and fuses all correct. I have all the same Renogy products listed here. I set my solar up in series so I'm going to make that change.
I only ran 20amp plug for the shore power but I like the 30amp you have so I would like to make that change, but the link for that 30amp part is broken, do you have another recommendation?
Also I have a question about grounding to the truck frame. I have a box van and all my components are incased in the wooden box. None of my house systems are attached or grounded to the frame or any metal. I figured because it was a completely separate system I didn't want to ground it to the frame incase some mechanic was doing a truck repair and didn't disconnect the house batteries. What are your thoughts on this and what risks do I need to be aware of if I do ground to the chassis?
David Day
Friday 10th of March 2023
Nate - If I purchase the drawing, can it by edited? i.e. File Type, Software Required?
Thanks, David
John F
Thursday 9th of March 2023
Nate,
I'm wanting to set up something like this, but I'm concerned about battery charging.
Are there issues with the RV's Converter, Charger/Inverter, and Solar Charge Controller all trying to charge the batteries at once? I'm thinking of these scenarios (minus alternator DC/DC charging which I will not need):
- On shore power and with the solar charge controller off. Both the Inverter/Charger and RV's converter will try and charge the batteries.
- On Battery power with solar charge controller and inverter on. Both the solar charge controller and RV's converter will try and charge the batteries.
- On Battery power with solar charge controller off or receiving insufficient solar power (cloudy, dark, etc.) and inverter on. The converter will try and charge the batteries using power converted from the inverter.
- On Battery power with the inverter off - no issue whether solar charge controller is on or not (of course, only get 12V throughout RV).
I've searched all over the place looking for a clear answer and have been unable to find one. I thought about putting a diode on the RV's converter to battery connection so that the battery can only supply the RV's converter and charging will only come from the inverter/charger or the solar charge controller, since both the inverter/charger and charge controller can be switched off. This will ensure the 12V circuits in the RV always have power. Leaving the RV's converter out of the battery charging business (mine is an older pre-lithium model) will also save me the cost of updating the converter.
Thanks for all the info you provide.
Nate Yarbrough
Friday 10th of March 2023
This diagram shows how to integrate these types of systems into an OEM rv with preexisting electrical: https://www.explorist.life/30a-camper-inverter-with-solar-and-alternator-charging-wiring-diagram/
Ray
Wednesday 1st of March 2023
Hi Nate.
I found a 7 post busbar so I think I just answered my previous question.
Love your videos. If it was not for folks like you I would never have got the confidence to build a campervan.
Thanks
First time van builder
Ray.
Ray Moffat
Tuesday 28th of February 2023
Purchased the Renogy wiring diagram and I have just realized I forgot my 12v Dominic 2000 AC unit
Not sure how I add that to the positive and negative bus bars
Do I need to buy different bus bars or can I add a slot to the bus bars I have?
The AC unit comes with its own 80amp fuse
First time van builder
Ray.