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 I 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 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.
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
candice
Sunday 27th of November 2022
Hi Nate! Im installing this is my van right now with 2x 200ah AGM batteries, 2x 200 watt solar panels, 30a shore, and a 140v isolator rather than the DCDC charger for budget reasons. My questions are: 1) With a 140a isolator, would a 150a fuse between my starter battery and the isolator, and a 120a fuse on my positive bus bar be correct? My thinking is to use a 150a fuse for the 140a isolator and because each ah on AGM shouldnt exceed 30% ( 400ah-30%=120a) that would mean i should use a 120a megafuse on my busbar. If thats correct, would i also need an inline fuse between the isolator and the bus bar? sorry if that is confusing. 2) Is it recommended to ad a 30a AC breaker between the shore power inlet and the inverter? 3)Do I need any inline fuse between the inverter and the AC distribution panel? 4)Are any fuses recommended elsewhere in the system that maybe arent shown here?
I am asking because I see a lot of diagrams elsewhere and there are so many fuses! I want to make sure im safe in my van.
Thank you!
Gennadiy
Monday 7th of November 2022
Nate,
So i have a question? We have a off road camper trailer that i'm trying to build with ultimate wiring diagram using minimum of 400-600Ah lithium batteries and approx. 600W solar panels and including redarc manager 30 with victron if need it, that way I would be able to run our dometic A/C unit for few hours or so. Wanted to see what diagram you would suggest. I'm pretty limited on the space please advice.
Hal
Monday 17th of October 2022
Hi Nate, I am planning to add a 2000w inverter to my system to convert 12v dc to 230v ac. Does this make a difference to the size of cables required between the battery and the inverter? Your diagram is designed around 12v dc to 120v ac I presume, or does it not make any difference at that stage?
Mike
Thursday 13th of October 2022
Hi Nate, Do I have to use a 2000w inverter for this diagram or can I use a Kisae 1000w Inverter/Charger instead? If so would I have to change wire and fuse sizes? Thank you
Mike
Wednesday 28th of September 2022
Hi Nate, I think I have watched all of you vids on Solar. I'm always to the assumption to go big or go home. So I have gone with 2 200ha SOK batteries. 4 200 watt 12V solar panels, Renogy 40 amp Rover MPPT charger, 3000w Renogy inverter. will this all work together putting panels in series and parallel?
Thanks for your thoughts.