Introduction
For loads of different reasons, in December 2020, I bought a camper van; on March 31st, 2021, I got it.
A basic structure fully functional, including all the essentials: the bed, a small living area (is the studio, work area, laboratory, dining room and everything I need to do on a table and four seats), WC, shower, fridge and considerable storage space. For a comfortable living, it includes the air conditioner, a hot-air heating system, cold and hot water, electric power and a bed.
In addition to driving it across Europe (19.000 Km in eight months) I started improving it following a global project: making it smarter and better to work, develop, make and something more, like producing my own videos and music. The global project behind the single sub-projects adding improvements normally only available – at a higher cost – on camper van models more expensive; and not all are always available together.
Working on the features provided by the dealer I evaluated the expected power consumption; for example, the air conditioner based on the water evaporation technology will consume a maximum of 65W while working at full regime, while the fridge average power needed is about 70W. The internal lighting, all based on LED, has not any relevant impact on the energy equation.
When the power scenario was almost clear I designed the new features and components that will be added to the system. The analysis of the possibilities, implementation, calculations and – most important, a lot of warnings – has been done with the great help of the friend Jan Cumps that has also inspired the name of the van.
For those interested, the software and technical stuff on the Jan the Van project is published under the LGPL 2.1 Open Source license on the GitHub repository https://github.com/alicemirror/JanTheVan while the full tutorials to make the projects are available on the Patreon site https://www.patreon.com/janthevan
The First Essential: Adding a Solar Panel
The installation and wiring of a solar panel is the first project I have set up. In my opinion, it is the first thing to do taking care of the right sizing of the electric power that will be available in the living area of the vehicle.
The most important electrical component is the leisure battery; it is a separate battery – one or more – providing the power for the van space. This battery is normally recharged in two ways: driving the vehicle the engine or through an external 220V power supply. Indeed, these solutions are efficient with some limitations.
Not always is available a 220 V plug to recharge the battery when the camper van is parked, and not always want to drive to recharge the leisure battery. To reach the next level of energy freedom, the first improvement I made to the camper van has been adding a 120W solar panel. After doing tests in several conditions, I can say that this is the most important improvement I have added until now.
Drafting the Project
After the installation of the solar panel, I have done some travel and tested the efficiency of the solution on the go. Then, after using the vehicle for a couple of months a first series of changes and improvements have been identified for both living inside and working in the better possible conditions.
I started collecting the hardware needed and, with a bunch of Arduinos, some Raspberry Pi 4B, and different kinds of sensors I started to install and develop.
In the next episode, I will show the first project I worked around to make a more secure and reliable wired and WiFi network inside Jan the Van
