Power source?

[Britney Bevelry]

I’m wanting to get a van very soon. I’m just thinking about power. I was thinking about the power I need for an a/c or heater and other things. I see most people are using either a power bank like a Jackery, or a solar setup with the inverter, battery and such.
I was wondering what would be the difference in 400 watt jackery and a 400 watt solar setup?

 

[bullfrog !]

Most likely won’t be enough power for a/c or heating or even major appliances like a micro wave. The main difference is the power supply will have internally several ways to accept charging sources and several outlets for both Alternating Current ((AC) and Direct Current (DC). Individual components will be needed to do that with just solar panels and a battery bank. Also note that you may not have enough roof space to mount panels to supply enough power to keep either charged as well. One of the reasons full time nomads in vans follow the good weather and use propane for heating and cooking in many cases. RVs generally have more roof space and or space for a generators

 

[Tony's Dream]

You will need to look at something that can handle an inital surge of 1000 kw or better.

 

[tx2sturgis]

TD I think you meant to type 1000 w, not 1000 kw. 1000 kw is a million watts.

That's a bunch of watts!

And welcome, Britney!

Generally speaking, you will not be able to power an A/C unit or an electric heater with any normal type of portable power station, except for very brief intervals.

 

[maki2]

Most people do not heat with electricity, they heat with propane or diesel. The diesel heaters do use some electricity to fuel a blower fan, small fuel and the glow plug that ignites the diesel when the unit first starts. But the real work of heating is fueled by burning diesel.

Most people if they do have AC are powering it with either a gasoline or propane fueled generator. Those that do run an AC unit such as a heat exchanger have a very large amount of roof mounted solar panels and a very large amount of lithium batteries. That requires an investment of a few thousands of dollars and is pretty much only done in large RVs or buses because there is a considerable amount of roof area for panels and sufficient space for a large battery bank. An air conditioner is a 1,500 watt appliance as are portable electric heaters. They both consume more power than a 400 watt power station can provide to heat or cool a space.

You are of course among the very many new members who join thinking exactly as you do, that you can somehow miraculously do absolutely everything for heating, cooling, cooking, refrigeration, lighting, etc from one of those magical little solar generator units. But you can’t., they are not magical, they are just small batteries. You can do a few things with them such as perhaps a very small compressor refrigerator and your communication devices, some lights. Once the prime solar hours are over you need to stop using much in the way of power except for the fridge.

 

[eDJ_]

What I've actually seen people using on Vans that have a receiver hitch is a set up that will cost close to $1000 bucks.

A rear door window mounted 5000 btu "Soft Start" air conditioner.

A sturdy Cargo Rack mounted into the van's receiver hitch.

500 lb capacity Rack

A 2000 watt (or more) super quiet gasoline generator. (weigh around 50 lbs)

Generator

In a lot of State and National Park Camp Grounds the "quiet hours" go into effect after 10 pm.

You would want a cover for the generator when not in use. (and after it has cooled down after running)

You may still want a good house battery. With a car battery charger the house battery can be recharged from the generator. Generally you don't want to discharge the house battery much below 50%. But this is one solution if you choose not to go with solar.

 

[dhuff]

Welcome, Britney! and yeah, what others have said... A/C is very "expensive" WRT electricity in the van-dwelling world. I've seen some vans / Class B RVs that can run A/C off of batteries. But these folks have very large battery systems (expensive) coupled with very efficient 12V DC RV air conditioners (expensive). Even then, they can usually only run the A/C overnight before that large battery system needs recharging.

The window unit style A/Cs for houses (not as expensive) can be used (see comments above), but I'm not convinced they're built for all the jostling and vibration of a moving vehicle, and to be honest, I think they're kinda ugly mounted to a vehicle. YMMV on the aesthetics of that, but this will still require a large and expensive battery setup to get any decent amt of runtime.

Also, as mentioned, a way around the large battery system is a small-ish, gas powered generator. That comes with pluses and minuses of its own. Negative points being transporting the thing and the smell, bother, & fire danger of it's associated gasoline that you'll need to bring, plus noise during use.

Here's something to consider: Your home will have wheels. Just move it to more temperate climates throughout the year if that's an option. Upper elevations in the Rockies during Summer, the desert Southwest in the winter, etc...

 

[maki2]

^^^ you forgot to mention the issues of using portable generators that are always out of the box set up to run at low elevation and then finding out they will not run properly at higher elevations without having to special order in and swap out a tiny part in the carburetor.

 

[eDJ_]

Lots to consider hmm Britney. I hope we haven't scared you off allready

As you can see there are those with experience offering advice and what works for one doesn't work for all.

It might help if we had a little more information about your general location and the areas you may be wanting to traveling. It could make a difference in the answers & advice we can provide.

 

[Carla618]

I’m wanting to get a van very soon. I’m just thinking about power. I was thinking about the power I need for an a/c or heater and other things. I see most people are using either a power bank like a Jackery, or a solar setup with the inverter, battery and such.
I was wondering what would be the difference in 400 watt jackery and a 400 watt solar setup?

Welcome to the forum, Britney

The guy at SUV RVing on youtube has a video where he discusses his jackery powering his 12 volt Alpicool frig. He used a 500 watt jackery for about a year. Now he has a 1000 watt. So, if you think you might want a chest type frig, his videos are worth watching. See:

You might want to read up on mini-split air conditioners. There are plenty of youtube videos by nomads using them. Probably have a similar issue with not enough power.... unless you use a generator or shore power at a pay campsite.

Also, you may want to plan on using a pay campsite once a week to recharge everything and cool off with a portable AC unit of some type.

 

[jonyjoe303]

For the van you have to downsize your power needs and use 12 devices as much as possible. An AC even the 24 volt zerobreeze (runs on 24 volts / 10 amps 240 watts) a jackery 400 (400 watt hours) won't even run it since its 12 volts. Heaters are even more power hungry 1500 watts. The portable 120 volt AC's (with wheels) use about 700 watts.
An alternative is use alot of foam insulation (2 to 3 inches) and use a swampcooler (12 volt 2 amps) you can run that several days on the jackery 400. I been been using swampcoolers in southern california for years. Today the sun has been out all day and I have ran the swampcooler a few times but it gets too cold to run all the time. The insulation also will keep you warm in winter, where I live it rarely gets below 40F, inside the van its always 20 degrees warmer even without a heater.
If you get 400 watts of solar, that should be enough even in winter to keep the jackery 400 fully charge. I have a 365 watt panel on the roof of my van and that keeps my 500 amps of lithium batteries fully charge. 400 watts will easily run even a large swamp cooler. There is a post of someone who tried an AC in his van but then switch over to a giant swampcooler which worked better for him.

 

[Carla618]

For the van you have to downsize your power needs and use 12 devices as much as possible. An AC even the 24 volt zerobreeze (runs on 24 volts / 10 amps 240 watts) a jackery 400 (400 watt hours) won't even run it since its 12 volts. Heaters are even more power hungry 1500 watts. The portable 120 volt AC's (with wheels) use about 700 watts.
An alternative is use alot of foam insulation (2 to 3 inches) and use a swampcooler (12 volt 2 amps) you can run that several days on the jackery 400. I been been using swampcoolers in southern california for years. Today the sun has been out all day and I have ran the swampcooler a few times but it gets too cold to run all the time. The insulation also will keep you warm in winter, where I live it rarely gets below 40F, inside the van its always 20 degrees warmer even without a heater.
If you get 400 watts of solar, that should be enough even in winter to keep the jackery 400 fully charge. I have a 365 watt panel on the roof of my van and that keeps my 500 amps of lithium batteries fully charge. 400 watts will easily run even a large swamp cooler. There is a post of someone who tried an AC in his van but then switch over to a giant swampcooler which worked better for him.

I don't think we know where she will be staying. Swamp coolers only work where there is little humidity... right? Just checking.

 

[jonyjoe303]

they work better in low humidity areas but they also work in other areas. This shows the post of using a large swampcooler in high humidity areas.
Sometimes we encounter "el nino" in southern california where the temperature and humidity is very high, and the small swampcooler I have I run 24/7 and it keeps me cool.

https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/experimenting-with-portable-ac-unit.46395/

 

[quilting22]

^^^ you forgot to mention the issues of using portable generators that are always out of the box set up to run at low elevation and then finding out they will not run properly at higher elevations without having to special order in and swap out a tiny part in the carburetor.

Oh excellent info...THX

 

[eDJ_]

I used to visit my Texas relatives during the summer as a kid. It was hot and dry there when I visited and they cooled their homes with swamp coolers. I remember my younger cousin showing me how he hooked up the garden hose to the swamp cooler to supply the water to the media element. Then we went in and turned it on so that the blower drew air thru that wet element and supplied dampened air into the house. I was amazed at how effective it was at cooling the air. I live in the Ohio Valley where in the summer it can be 95 percent humidity and push 100 degrees, so there are no swamp coolers around here.

Some of our members here have built swamp coolers in the past for their rigs using ice chest with 12 volt fans powered by the house battery. But today you could use a small solar set up to power your fan. You will still need a supply of water to use as it evaporates when the cooler is in use.

Home built Swamp Cooler for a small area