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
Tom W
Saturday 15th of January 2022
Hi Nate,
Very informational! Curious about the budget solution. Why install both an MPP charge controller AND an inverter/charger combo unit? Why not install just an inverter with the MPP charger? Or, just install one inverter/charger unit?
John T Weaver
Friday 14th of January 2022
Most of your wiring diagrams use an inverter/charger combo. How do you wire in shore power when also using a normal 2000W Renogy inverter and a separate battery charger?
Derek
Thursday 6th of January 2022
Hi Nate,
I really enjoy your website and youtube videos. I am building a system very similar to this in my 5th wheel and already have the solar side done. I'm considering how I should wire the inverter charger as it only has a 30A passthrough and I have a 50A shore power. My stock convertor is not lithium compatible so I do want to use the Renogy to charge the batteries fully. I think I really just need the inverter to supply power to a plug circuit and the microwave.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Bruce
Wednesday 5th of January 2022
Hi Nate, based on your diagram above, I have a small project using a Renogy 2000w inverter and 2 BB 100Ah batteries. I am charging only with a Victron Blue Smart IP22-30A. Assuming the charger output wires (6 AWG) are going to the positive and negative busbars, can I safely use a 60A Mega fuse for the charger on Victron Fused Busbar? I realized I cannot buy a MEGA less than 60A and have already purchased the other components. Any other suggestions? Thanks!
Steve Wagoner
Sunday 2nd of January 2022
Nate, I wrote a note in early December which I can't find, so I'll try again. I bought and built your 2000W inverter/400Ah Li setup with B2B and finished it in October 2021. On our shakedown trip of about 3 hours, the batteries didn't charge from the alternator that I could tell. We have a 2021 PM w/ a 220A alternator. The batteries charged right up when I hooked up to shore power. How do I troubleshoot this issue? Thanks. I couldn't have done the electrical build without your help. Steve