Category: Vanlife

Optimizing Alternator Charging in a Ford Transit Van Build

The Problem: Charging a 14kWh House Battery from the Alternator

If you’re building a van, sooner or later you’ll ask yourself: Can I charge my house battery from the alternator? That’s exactly what I set out to do. When ordering the vehicle one of the options I could choose is to factory-equip it with dual 250A alternators. For under a thousand dollars, it seemed like a great deal.

Unfortunately, things weren’t that simple.

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Integrating Trigger 6 Shooter with Home Assistant

I am using a Trigger 6 Shooter in my van build. This is a 12/24V capable device that contains 6 remotely-controlled high-power fused outputs. The outputs can be controlled either by the included physical remote, which I have mounted above the front console, by using their mobile app, or by buttons on the device itself. I am using it to switch my front and rear LED lightbars, side LED lights and to open my gray water dump valve.

I am also using Home Assistant for various purposes – it can show me all the details and control my elaborate electrical and hydronic heating systems (more on those on a separate post some time in the future..). It can also control the inside lights, and eventually it will also control the air conditioner and roof fan. Being able to control all of the van’s systems from a single place is extremely convenient – I can check on things and control them from anywhere where there is Internet, as long as the van is also connected (through its 5G or Starlink uplinks). It also means I can control anything from anywhere inside the van, as long as I have my phone on me. Even though the van is a small space, not having to get up from bed or from the drivers seat to turn on the heat or change the lights contributes to a better experience. Its also nice to have everything under one control panel in the form of a tablet mounted on the wall at the center of the van. The alternative is having many control panels and switches – lights, AC, fan, heating, grey water… it adds up.

So in the process of getting everything to play nicely with Home Assistant I wanted to have the 6Shooter join the party. There’s currently no existing integration for it, so I had to come up with my own solution – which consists of an ESPHome device that controls the 6Shooter over BLE, similarly to the native mobile app.

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Van – Solar and power

Electricity in a camper van is extremely useful (and to be fair, outside of a camper van as well). In my van, I use is to power the lights, diesel heater, water pump, wifi access point, sound system, microwave, kettle, and the roof vent (and even all at once, if for whatever reason I ever find the need to).

The internet is full of a lot of valuable blog posts about people’s various takes on designing their battery and solar systems, each having a different set of priorities and constraints. For me, being able to power all of the above without having to be extra conservative with energy usage as well as being able to leverage solar energy were the key requirements. Additionally, I wanted to be able to monitor the system remotely. The setup I ended with is a 5kWh custom LiFePo4 battery pack, monitored and charged using an ElectoDacus SBMS40, and an array of 600W of solar panels.

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Vanlife – Intro

Last year I finally pulled the trigger on what was a dream of mine for many years. Following a festival that left me questioning how I should spend my free time and energy on, I decided to embark on the adventure of buying a large cargo van and converting it into a vehicle I can take to festivals and occasionally (and maybe at some point full time) live in.

After much research I have decided that I would like to get a 158” Dodge Sprinter, either 2005 or 2006. The reason for this was that this was pretty much the only vehicle within my budget that I can stand in. It’s possible I could’ve afforded a newer Sprinter, but they are considered very unreliable and that scared me. Once I knew what I was looking for, I spent about two weeks refreshing Craigslist any moment I was awake, until I landed on an ad from a guy named Tim who owns a business called Sprinter Pit Stop in San Diego. He had a 2005 Sprinter with 257,000 miles for a bit less than $10,000. After a bunch of email exchanges (he was super helpful, answered all my questions, sent pictures, etc.) I decided it’s time to go see it in person and booked a flight. I met him the next day with a friend of mine who knows a thing or fifty about vehicles, and we took it for a drive. My friend did the mechanical inspection and nothing major came up. After sleeping on it for a night (especially because it does not have an AC which was hard to swallow) I decided to go for it. Some price negotiation took place, and I was the proud owner of this ex-FedEx delivery vehicle which I then drove to San Francisco. And so it began.

 

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