Your caravan, bakkie or converted off road 4×4 van can provide all the little home luxuries that you need and are used to; from charging your mobile cellular devices, and powering an induction stove to running refrigerators for ice cold drinks and keeping those all-important lights on. One only needs to add a few solar products to power your needs.

As a guide, a typical van consumes between 500W and 2000W of power. Using a battery means you can store electricity for overnight or those cloudy days. Although lithium-ion is a more expensive solution than traditional lead-acid batteries, the long-term benefits make them more cost-effective. Lithium batteries also have a lower internal resistance during charging compared to lead-acid batteries, which makes them charge much faster.

You could either charge the battery with the vehicles alternator while driving or use solar panels. If the sun is shining on a good day, a battery will recharge relatively quickly, especially if it is lithium.

Solar redefines your outdoor adventures and you can be confident that you have the equipment you need to stay out longer and soak up all the outdoors have to offer.

To make things a little easier for you, we have prepared a list of VICTRON essentials to super charge your next outdoor adventure with the installation of solar backup for your vehicle.

Victron Energy products are sophisticated, smart and customisable and the company is continually developing to bring the newest and most advanced equipment to the solar market. This means that you can use Victron energy products to power your home, office or mobile home.

Battery – The less power you consume the longer the battery will last. If you want to ensure autonomy for essential loads, consider a dual-battery system which means you will have a dedicated second battery to run essential appliances like your fridge.

Inverter Multiplus 12/2000/80: For the consumption of a caravan, including an induction stove for cooking, the continuous power of 1600W that a 2000VA inverter can provide is sufficient. Choose the Victron Multiplus 12/3000 if you would like to power more devices at a time or have other needs and want to ensure your inverter is large enough to support your loads. The Multiplus series is very useful for systems with limited space because it combines inverter and battery charger in one unit.

Solar Panels – When the weather is bad or during winter, a solar panel produces less energy because it captures less light. A 500W panel installation is enough to produce the electricity needed to charge the batteries and power the minimum consumption. Alternatively, you could always charge the batteries with the alternator while driving if you do not have access to a stable electrical supply.

The Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger – Typically used in dual battery systems for vehicles or boats where the alternator is used to charge the starter and backup battery. The Orion prevents the starter battery from discharging as it takes the higher priority. The DC/DC converter will also prevent the alternator from overcharging the battery, the starter battery from discharging as well as the lithium battery from being charged with too high (or low) voltages that can damage the battery. The unit can be monitored and programmed via Bluetooth and can be remotely controlled via a remote on/off switch.

The Orion Tr-Smart charger can be used in 12V or 24V systems and is suitable for both lead-acid and lithium batteries.

Cerbo GX – This communication-centre allows you to always have perfect control over your system from wherever you are and maximizes system performance. Simply connect through the Victron Remote Management (VRM) portal, or access directly, using the separate GX Touch 50, an MFD, or our VictronConnect app thanks to its added Bluetooth capability.

Instantly monitor the battery state of charge, power consumption, power harvested from the solar, generator, and mains, or check tank levels and temperature measurements. Easily control the shore power input current limit, auto start and stop generators or change any setting to optimize the system.

Smart BMS Victron 12/200:– The BMS is a special protection system for lithium batteries. It checks the condition of the battery, mainly the voltage of the cells and their temperature. The BMS can stop the battery charger (protecting it from overcharging) or cut off the supply to the consumers (if the battery becomes too discharged). In addition, the BMS will prevent charging if the temperature is too low or too high, to avoid irreversible damage to the battery.

Victron Smart Battery Protect 12/24V 220A: A battery protector is an electrical switch that cuts off the connection between the battery and all electrical consumers such as lighting and the refrigerator as soon as the battery drops below a certain voltage. This prevents the lithium battery from over-discharging. The battery protector works independently, but is best placed in combination with a BMV monitor to have a direct view of the battery status in real time.

Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 Regulator – an MPPT solar controller maximizes the energy collection of a solar panel and stores it in the battery, increasing the efficiency of your installation. The SmartSolar MPPT with bluetooth allows you to monitor performance, system data and all kinds of installation statistics on your smartphone, tablet or pc with the VRM app.