Our first big trip in the van was to Platte River Campground near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The portion of the campground we stayed in does not have power available at the sites, so it was a great test of the solar panels and battery bank in the van.
We spent 5 nights there, and it was a great test of the van and our setup. We borrowed a pop up canopy from my parents as we haven’t decided if we want a canopy that extends from the van or a stand alone one yet, and this let us try it out without a consequence. I think the answer is a stand alone canopy so we don’t have to take it down when we want to drive somewhere. Or at least that is the answer for now!
Cara’s parents were camping on a nearby site for the 5 days, and her cousin and cousin’s husband also joined us for a few nights. We were able to do some biking and hiking and lots of relaxing during the 5 days, and it was a fantastic vacation.
The van performed great, and while we were a little worried about how the solar panels and battery would do (especially since all our food was in our fridge and needed electricity to stay cold). The first night we only let the fridge run and used no other power, and the batteries were over 95% charge in the morning. The second night we ran one of the ceiling vent fans, and the third night we ran both vent fans and still had no issues. By the last night we ran both vent fans all night, made 2 pots of coffee in the morning and a full batch of waffles (Cara’s parents were headed to another campsite with power that day and had come with their trailer fully stocked, so we tested our system and took advantage of their gadgets) with no issues.
Each day the solar panels had us fully charged back up by the end of the day, and we’re now comfortable with what kind of things we can do without running the batteries all the way down. We don’t have a TV or any other big appliances in the van, so our power consumption is minimal most days. The other nice thing is that the van’s alternator charges the batteries, so even if we run them down overnight and use more in the morning for coffee/breakfast, if we drive somewhere to go biking, hiking, or anything else we may want to do the batteries get charged up and we don’t have to hope for a sunny day to top us off.
Making waffles using the power of the sun!
-Jeff