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:
- 3000W Inverter Charger
- 400+ Amp Hours of Battery Storage Capacity
- 400W-1200W Solar Array Capacity
- Alternator Charging
- Shore Power Charging/Passthrough
Not quite what you are looking for? Check out other system setups here: https://www.explorist.life/solarwiringdiagrams
TABLE OF CONTENTS
History of Changes to this Page (Click to Expand)
Changes Made July 17th, 2020: Changed main DC Distribution busbars to be the Victron Lynx Distributor system instead of the EXPLORIST.life busbar. The EXPLORIST.life busbar is still available to be a DIY solution but I simply could not keep up with the demand for making these. Building busbars was taking up so much time I was having to neglect producing more videos and blog posts, which is what EXPLORIST.life is really about. The Victron Lynx Distributor is an all in one DC distribution unit that houses the fuses, positive and negative busbars needed to take the power from your battery bank to your individual main components. This product is an EXTREMELY elegant solution I think you will be very happy with. I also added an inline fuse and fuse holder between the battery bank and Victron Lynx as well as an inline switch. If you have any questions, as always, leave them in the comments below.
Changes made to diagram July 8, 2020: Changed equipment case ground wires to daisy chain back to the negative busbar instead of each having their own individual runs all the way back to the negative busbar. This results in less wire used, less clutter, and more free space at the negative busbar. I also removed the 300 amp terminal block at the house battery in favor of a 400 amp ANL fuse attached to the busbar. The 300 amp terminal block is adequate but I have heard of isolated events of this fuse blowing prematurely. When a 3000w Inverter is running at full capacity, it could be pulling near 250 amps. At surge capacity and heavy DC loads from around the camper, it’s possible the 300 amp terminal fuse could blow under normal, safe operation. If you are reading this and already have a 300 amp terminal fuse attached to the house battery bank; you do not need to replace it UNLESS it starts blowing prematurely. Finally, the 50A terminal fuse attached to the house battery bank protecting the wire going to the battery to battery charger was replaced with a 60A terminal fuse as I could not find a 50A terminal fuse in stock. If you have a 50A terminal fuse in that location, that’s completely fine and you need to make no changes.
Changes made to the parts lists July 8, 2020: A complete audit of all of the parts on this page was performed. Supply chain issues took a toll on this page recently and left many of my links incorrect. I have found a way to keep up with my links in a much easier way I have been doing in the past which means the links on this page should be MUCH more accurate going forward. Also, I added MULTIPLE different solar wiring examples to the bottom of this page so you can choose which solar configuration suits your own needs rather than providing a crash course in solar array design as that was proving to be too complex and therefore leaving the ‘done for you’ nature of this blog post lacking.
This page was originally published February 27, 2020
Thanks for your patience with these changes. I’m constantly trying to find better ways to teach this stuff and these parts lists and diagrams will be continuously optimized over time. -Nate
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:
Solar Charging Parts List & Wiring Diagrams
The following section provides you with several different options for solar charging. The above parts list can remain completely unchanged and the diagram above can remain mostly unchanged except for the alterations noted by the diagrams below, but whatever solar array setup you choose below for your needs, these parts will need to be added to your shopping list. These are broken up by total solar wattage. As a general rule, you want to have twice as many watts of solar as you do amp hours of batteries. So, 300Ah Batteries = 600W solar. 400Ah Batteries = 800W solar. 600Ah Batteries = 1200W of solar. This is just a rule of thumb. Not a law.
400 Watts – 4x100W Solar Panels – 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
600 Watts – 6x100W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
600 Watts – 3x200W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
800 Watts – 4x200W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
1000 Watts – 5x200W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
1200 Watts – 4x300W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
Order of Operations for DIY Camper Solar Install
This list is a rough guideline of what order things need to be connected for systems using this wiring diagram. THERE IS MORE TO KNOW about this process, though, in the user manual for each component. READ THE USER MANUAL FOR EACH COMPONENT as this ‘order of operations’ does NOT supersede anything in the user manual.
- Arrange all parts & components where they will be mounted
- Mount & secure all components to the wall/enclosure as necessary (EXCEPT Lynx Distributor)
- Wire battery bank together
- Assemble Lynx Distributor, master disconnect switch & shunt assembly
- Mount Lynx Distributor to wall/enclosure
- Verify Main switch is in the “OFF” position
- Wire Positive wire from Lynx Distributor to Main fuse
- Wire Positive Wire from Main fuse to Battery Bank
- Wire Negative Wire from Shunt to Battery Bank
- Connect negative wires from Lynx Distributor to Inverter/Charger, Charge Controller & 12V Fuse Block
- Install fuses inside of Lynx Distributor
- Connect Positive Wires from Lynx Distributor to Inverter/Charger, Charge Controller & 12V Fuse Block
- Connect Positive Wire from Lynx Distributor to B1 Terminal on Shunt
- Verify dual-pole disconnect switch for solar array is ‘off’
- Connect Charge Controller to Dual Pole Solar Disconnect
- Connect wires going to solar array to dual pole disconnect
- Cover Solar Panels with Cardboard
- Connect solar array together (Order does not particularly matter)
- Remove Cardboard from Solar Panels
- Verify proper solar array voltage at dual pole solar disconnect
- Remove ‘wire bridge’ on Victron Orion DC DC Charger
- Connect positive & negative wire from Orion to Starting Battery pos & neg (as per user manual)
- Adjust Orion Output Voltage Setting as appropriate in Victron Connect app
- Connect 10/3 wire from shore power inlet to Inverter/Charger
- Connect 6/3 wire from Inverter/Charger to AC Breaker Box
- Verify all 120V breakers in breaker box are ‘off’.
- Connect AC Branch Circuits to AC Breaker Box if not already connected
- Connect DC Branch Circuits to 12V Fuse Block if not already connected
- Connect RJ-11 cable & BMV-712 Monitor Gauge to Shunt
- Verify proper voltage between main fuse & shunt (Approximately 12V-14V)
- TRIPLE CHECK THAT ALL WIRES ARE CONNECTED, POS (+) TO POS (+) & NEG (-) TO NEG (-) (except series wired solar panels) AND CONNECTED TO THEIR PROPER PLACES IN THE COMPONENTS AS PER THEIR USER MANUAL
- Turn on Master Disconnect Switch
- Turn on Dual Pole Solar Disconnect
- Replace wire bridge in Orion
- Turn Inverter/Charger ‘On’.
- Turn on Main AC Breaker in Breaker box & Branch Circuit breakers
- Configure system charging through the parameters as per user manual of each component
Joslyn Danielson
Saturday 9th of January 2021
Hi Nate! Awesome website, I've spent hours here today! I have a few questions that I can't seem to find the answers to online. I'm very new to this so bear with me, I'll try to explain it all correctly. I'm a bit long-winded, sorry in advance.
We went with 3000w inverter, 600w solar panels, and a battery bank totaling 600 amp hours. We're planning on having our outlets be 110 AC, and our lights on 12v DC.
1. The inverter that we bought is the 3,000w inverter (NOT inverter/charger) from renogy. Is there a way for us to still use shore power directly to our system without that? Meaning is there a way to bypass charging the batteries entirely and connect shore directly to the system while we're parked somewhere with electricity? (we have an external charger for car batteries we could use if need be).
2. DC and AC systems must be kept separate, correct? We cannot run both AC and DC on the same circuits? And we must have different breakers for each?
3. The Victron Smart battery monitor that you listed on this page is expensive, and I'm wondering if it's necessary or just an added perk to monitor your batteries if you want to?
4. To keep things streamlined and cheap, we'd like to add in the shore power and alternator connections later. Will the rest of the system still function if we leave that out?
5. Do you have to use different types of wires for DC and AC circuits? I saw in another blog post of yours that campers and boats must use stranded wire, but most DC wires I've seen running to lights and stuff is 18awg, which is only two strands instead of three. Are we able to use 14awg stranded wire instead of 18, if so what do we do with that third ground wire?
Thanks for reading all that! I'd really appreciate any help you can give!
Nate Yarbrough
Friday 15th of January 2021
1: The most straightforward way would be to use a transfer switch with the 2 inputs being shore and inverter with the output going to the breaker box. You would just need to turn your charger off every time you disconnected to shore power.
2: Correct. They are completely different. If you tried to combine them, somehow, you would be running 120V on a 12V system, which would fry every single piece of 12V equipment you have installed (batteries, inverter, charger, etc.
3: The battery monitor is how you tell how much power you are using from your batteries and how much power is left (and a lot of other data). Althogh the system will function without it, I feel this is a necessary component as leaving it out would be like driving your car without a fuel gauge or speedometer. A less expensive option to the Victron BMV-712 is the Victron SmartShunt: https://amzn.to/38LchTs It is wired in the same way I show in this diagram but lacks the physical gauge and is monitored via bluetooth from your phone.
4: Yes. Plan for it now, though, and leave ample space on your busbars for those components down the road.
5: 120V uses Triplex wire: https://amzn.to/3bIcOre 12V wire uses Duplex wire: https://amzn.to/2LE2NAG (using appropriate sizes, of course)
Linsey
Saturday 2nd of January 2021
Hey Nate, Going through everything and getting ready to order all of my components! Thank you so much for doing this, I would not be able to do this without your help! I was able to sub for some of the products on the list, but the hardest one to find was the Blue Sea ANL Fuse block. The only option on Amazon was from a 3rd party seller who was charging a ton for shipping and didn't have great reviews. This is another one that I found that looked similar, will this work in it's place? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B28RSWQ/ref=ewc_pr_img_20?smid=A3QWSZ44N8P3XH&psc=1 Thanks so much!
Nate Yarbrough
Monday 4th of January 2021
I cannot recommend anything other than Blue Sea ANL Fuse holders at this time. Looks like they are out of stock on amazon at the time of writing this comment. A quick google search for the same ANL Fuse should turn up alternative sellers outside of Amazon.
Anne Purcell
Thursday 31st of December 2020
I have been reading about the Victron components and I was wondering about the BatteryProtect devise. You don't use one in your electrical layouts and I haven't seen them used by anyone else sharing their schematics. Are they not useful?
Anne Purcell
Thursday 31st of December 2020
Ugh, *device.
Nate Yarbrough
Thursday 31st of December 2020
It's a great device, but not a necessity. I only include components into my diagrams that I feel are a 100% necessity to build a high-performing system. If you wanted to use a battery protect, it would go between the Lynx Distributor and the 12V fuse Block in the power distribution panel.
Anne Purcell
Wednesday 30th of December 2020
I'm working through the parts list with the wiring diagram. I've only made it through the battery assembly and on to the busbars and already I think the list is missing two 4/0x5/16" lugs for battery connections (I count 22 but only 20 in the list) and there is no shunt listed in the components. I am far from an electrical expert so appreciate any guidance.
Anne Purcell
Thursday 31st of December 2020
@Nate Yarbrough, Thanks, I do tend to get a bit mired down in the details. I spent yesterday feasting on your blogs and videos (which are invaluable!) so I'll try to manage my stream-of-consciousness questions.
Nate Yarbrough
Wednesday 30th of December 2020
The shunt is included in the Victron BMV-712 battery monitor kit. I'm pretty sure my lug counts are accurate but feel free to buy as many lugs as you feel necessary.
Linsey
Sunday 27th of December 2020
Hey Nate, The 2-1 MC4 Combiner is a bum link, can you please update? thanks!