Campervan SOLAR Setup | Our Off Grid Strategy! - video Dailymotion

Life With No Anchor

Matt and Chrissy show off their newly installed 700W campervan solar system from Sandgate Auto. This complete setup features two 350-watt solar panels cleverly mounted on custom roof racks with minimal height impact.  Get a detailed look at all the components: Victron Smart Solar Charger Controller MPPT-150, DC to DC charger, Multiplus inverter system, and Cerbo GX monitoring unit. The recessed panel installation reduces wind resistance while maintaining maximum solar efficiency.  The electrical system includes multiple power outlets, USB-A and USB-C charging ports, plus planned LED work lights with switchable orange/white modes for insect control. Remote monitoring allows their installers to troubleshoot issues from anywhere with internet access.  Interior work still ahead: wall paneling, ceiling installation, workstation setup, and storage solutions. They discuss important weight distribution considerations and potential suspension modifications to handle the rear-heavy configuration safely.  Timeline: Complete all interior work by November, return for final electrical installation, then hit the road for six weeks through New South Wales before Victoria.  Technical highlights: roof rack integration, ventilation fan placement, battery housing, Anderson connections, labeled circuits, and future maintenance access planning.  Bonus content includes Matt's swollen mosquito bite story and their amusing imperial vs metric measurement debate.  Timeline: 00:00 - Introduction and solar setup reveal 00:28 - Installation miscommunication story 01:07 - Rear van walkthrough 01:38 - Lighting system explanation 03:28 - Behind the power outlets 03:50 - Ventilation fan repositioning 04:16 - Electrical components overview 07:16 - Fans and future lighting plans 09:42 - Weight distribution and physics lesson 11:25 - Solar panel mounting details 12:40 - Panel maintenance access plans 14:38 - Next steps before departure  Connect with Life With No Anchor: Instagram: @lifewithnoanchor Facebook: Life With No Anchor Twitter: @LifeWifNoAnchor

Transcript

00:00Hi guys, Matt has just returned back from Sandgate Auto and he has our vehicle with

00:08all of the solar panels and gear loaded in and ready to go. So let us show you what they've been

00:15up to. It's really really exciting. As you can see behind me here we have the solar panels on the

00:22roof. Hey peeps. And we actually had a little bit of a issue whereby Sandgate had thought that we were

00:30going to be putting the solar panels directly onto the roof but we'd actually already bought

00:35the roof racks. So they've installed roof racks here as you can see above. They've got the solar

00:41panels on top of the roof racks so that was a good little buy. Over here there is all the equipment

00:47that we can use for when we go and plug in at the caravan park. I like the fact that it's black

00:53and not stark white next to our blue car. It makes it less obvious. Check it out. Plug goes in there

00:59when you're at a caravan park. Wow okay well I haven't seen this yet so this is pretty exciting. Matt's

01:04already received a bit of a rundown so he'll have to fill in the gaps. They've done a pretty good job.

01:08What they've done is they've installed a powerpoint down here for us. So we've got the two outlets

01:13there and a USB and a USB-C. Yay! Very cool. That's very smart. Little switch there. Now that

01:19little switch there is for when our let's just pop this up a little bit higher. You're going to look

01:24up my nose for a second yeah? Okay. Now let's spin around. Immediately above us here you can see there's

01:30that white outlet there and there's another white outlet there. As that opens above us, Chrissy you

01:34want to get in the shot so you can you can talk? I don't want them locking up my nose. Look at my

01:38look at my boogers. When you flip the switch that we just pointed to over there there's going to be

01:43two lights on the back here maybe three or four where you can see what they can wire into those

01:48they might be able to double up on some of them and they're going to be our work lights for when

01:52we're cooking at night. So there'll be an orange light that'll go in there. I'm going to see if we can

01:56get a light that can toggle between orange and white. Apparently the orange light is supposed to help

02:01keeping the bugs away. Living in Australia that's actually really really important especially in the

02:06outback where there are lots and lots of flies. I'm not sure how much that will affect us with

02:11the lights but certainly will help as far as the mosquitoes and stuff like that. If and when we

02:17camp near lakes there are so many bugs. I've had some mozzie bites when we were camping in the Swift.

02:24We pulled up at one place not far out of Shepard and then camped there and we're packing up in the

02:28morning frantically and I got bitten by a mozzie about here and my head swelled up like you know a big

02:35egg bump on my head like I was. Someone had donged him in the head with a frying pan or something.

02:40Memories of when I was six and my brother threw toys at me and my donk tonka truck in the head.

02:45We've got a phone. We're not the tonka truck but the boulder. That's the earlier one. I had a few

02:50blows to the head when I was younger which might explain a few things. You didn't laugh at that. Wow.

02:54Oh you're a boy. I can't. Boys get hit in the head. Boys just do stupid

02:59shit. What can I say? Let's spin this around. So we're going to point out a few things to you.

03:03Look at what we've got here. We've got power and you saw already the outlets on the side,

03:07right? So this is all important powery sort of stuff. Non-electrician. So I'm using the long

03:12terms. Let's have a look down here. You can see down here we've got all of the main circuitry stuff.

03:16I'll need to make sure that the panelling that I'm putting in in this space takes into account that

03:21little protrusion. So we'll be able to cut around that and do that quite nicely which will be fine.

03:26And just down in the bottom there you can see that's where the back of the GPO is. So we've

03:30still got quite a lot of space down there for storage which is pretty cool. Our job over the

03:35next couple of weeks is going to be fixing up a lot of this stuff, getting the panels put on,

03:39tidying up those areas and just generally also fixing the roof space. You can see there's the

03:44fans have been installed and there's a couple of bits and pieces that we need to look at there.

03:48We did originally plan for the fan to go up in that space there that Chrissy's pointing to. They've moved it

03:53back because there wasn't enough space for it to be able to fit there due to where the solar panels

03:57are. Yeah the solar panel comes up to here. It fills that whole space and it fills that whole space there.

04:03We've got two 350 watt solar panels up there and they are they're going to pump out quite a lot of

04:09power for us. So let's have a look at this next section. I'm going to spin the camera around. Okay,

04:14so what have we got here? So that is the smart solar charger controller, the MPPT-100-150. It's a

04:23it's a solar panel thing. That's always useful. I don't know exactly which part of the component

04:30or setup that is but that definitely is connected to what is labelled as a PV isolation down the bottom

04:36there. So for those of you electrician slash solar experts out there, please pop some information down

04:42below to help people understand what this is because we haven't got the full list. So they've got all this

04:47stuff set up for us and honestly I was surprised they didn't need all of the components that we

04:51bought. There were two bits that were recommended by the supplier that didn't need to get used. So

04:56we've got a digital multi-controller that wasn't used and we've also got a USB 3 MK3 interface thingamajiggy

05:05that wasn't used. So once they've finished all of this setup and they've fitted everything off,

05:10I'll just confirm with them whether we actually need any of this. Can we get a refund or whatever

05:14from the supplier because they haven't been opened. So they could probably put those back on the shelf.

05:17What they've explained to me is that's the DC to DC charger. So all the power from the battery while

05:22we're driving will go through here to be able to top things up. This is a part of the connection to

05:28the multi-pass apparently which is hiding in the box just down under there. We've got our solar reg and

05:34our DC to DC here with a little switch and I was told, have a look inside there. If any of those

05:39are broken as fuses then that's a point for us to check. So there's some steps they'll walk through

05:44with us and they've labeled everything here. So all the connections and the fuses have all been labeled

05:49there and we can actually check those fuses as well. We pop a cover off and pull those out

05:55and we know all of those fuses and circuits are all connected to. So then we grab the camera and spin

06:01it down here. Now this looks really really boring. Like they've done a great job. They've put a panel

06:05in here for us to cover over everything that's down there. Multi-pass, the big beast monster brains

06:12of the whole thing. There's like stuff and cables that go into there. That's probably the the most

06:18expensive and biggest component in there. And then we have our Serbo GX here which is apparently

06:23connected to the whole system. Apparently with this whole rig, everything that's set up, once we're on

06:28the internet and we're connected to the system, the installers can dial in and see from a diagnostics

06:34point of view exactly what's going on with our setup. So if we have any issues anywhere in Australia

06:38or anywhere in the world, they can check it out and they can say okay do this, do that, do the other

06:42and help us troubleshoot things. There's that little black connector there, our 12 volt for our Hulk.

06:48We've got one more port there which is really really cool. And we've got a Anderson plug,

06:52a mini Anderson in there, a little gray switchy thing. And we've also got you know main circuits

06:57down there as well and other bits and pieces. So any electricians who are looking at this would

07:01know exactly what they're looking at and they'd know that I'm making a complete hash of how I'm

07:05describing what's going on here. And we cut the breather holes along the back for the unit to be

07:09able to make sure it can vent from a refrigeration point of view. And then under this which probably

07:14doesn't look like much, we've got our batteries. We've got one fan over there, another fan over here.

07:20Our workstation is just going to be over here so that's the reason why we put this here.

07:25And it's got a 360 or it should be a 360 thing. So that'll turn and be able to point to us

07:31when it's hot. And then we've just above my head here we've got the ventilation fan outlet,

07:38which also has some lights in here. And we, I can't see that the lights that have been installed just

07:46yet. No, not yet. It's just above here. So that little white thing here is for

07:51the lights. And then there's another one over there which you may or may not be able to see.

07:55And there'll be two here. So what we've, what we're going to effectively have,

08:00let me just pull that back and give you some context. So what we're effectively going to have is

08:04that's the original factory install lights, so the Hiace van. We've still got the plug for that and

08:13I'm going to have a chat with them and find out what their plan is with that. They said that there was

08:17something about it being negative switch, where it's going to be too hard to be able to use that

08:21wiring to be able to put a, another light in there. So what we may do is when we put the ceiling back

08:28on, we may just fit the original Hiace lights back in there and just be door tripped lights,

08:36which is fine. We can quite easily get away with that. These two cavities here are for down lights for

08:43us so that we can work. That's going to be over our workstation sort of very, so we'll be effectively

08:47where the lights are here. We'll get Chrissy to stand roughly where that is. So Chrissy's going to be

08:52about there. So where Chrissy, come forward a little bit please, babe. A little bit more towards,

08:58sorry, towards the front of the vehicle. That there, that there. Okay. So if you imagine that Chrissy's

09:03positioned roughly there, can you point up to where those lights are please? So directly above where Chrissy is,

09:08is where those down lights are going to be, which is going to be great for immediately above our work area.

09:13So our work area is going to be fitted to the back of the cage here. So there's a few things

09:16for us to consider with that. We're going to work on getting the paneling up on the roof and along

09:21the sides. We're going to get some felt put on the sides as well. Some cupboards built along the edges

09:26of the drawers and panels on the sides as well. Down the bottom there at the back, get our workstations

09:32sorted out, our monitors mounted, and then it really is put some little holes in the roof for the cables

09:38and stuff to feed through so the guys can do their fit off. And that's pretty much it. The only other

09:43consideration they've said is once everything is fully loaded, we'll get the vehicle weighed and

09:47we'll see how the weight distribution is looking. Because if there's too much weight sitting at the

09:52back of the vehicle, we may need to look at upgrading the suspension to help carry the weight forward

09:56so that we don't lose control. Because we don't want, think of a seesaw, right? If you've got a fat

10:02kid at one end, not judging. Okay. Be careful. Let's reframe that. Think of a seesaw. You've got a

10:10two-year-old at one end and a 12-year-old at the other end. How's that? That's a much better analogy.

10:14It's probably not so piecey. Okay. Not shaming anyone. Okay. So we've got a

10:19heavier kid at one end and a lighter kid at the other end. You can use age, you can use body weight,

10:23whatever it might be. We're talking about physics here. Okay. The heavier kid is going to lift the

10:28lighter kid up on a seesaw, right? So imagine the back of the bus or the back of the van is the

10:34heavier kid on the seesaw and the front's the lighter kid on the seesaw. We need to do something to

10:38support the bum of the heavier kid to make sure the lighter kid isn't lifted off the ground because the

10:44lighter kid at the front is our steering and our steering is pretty important. We need to make

10:50sure that we can actually turn corners because if we're like riding in the front's too light,

10:53we don't have the weight in the traction, we're not going to be able to turn properly. We've got

10:56to keep that in mind. That'll be even more important when it's weight. So Matt's got a pretty ambitious

11:01goal. He wants to have all the cosmetic-y stuff finished in a month. I reckon we can do it. So last

11:08thing, let's give you a quick heads up on what we've done with the solar. So you can see they've got

11:13the roof racks up here, which we bought two of these roof rack kits. They came in with a set of

11:18three and as they've installed these, because you can see if we look at the profile, the solar panels

11:23sit over the edge of the vehicle by about three inches. Oh yeah. Look, if you're talking to old

11:29people, three inches, not judging again. It's just a different measurement, different unit of account.

11:34If your brain is imperial and not metric, then yes, you're talking inches and it's probably about three,

11:39but otherwise it's about a hundred millimeters. For those of you who are used to imperial and you

11:44want an imperial to metric conversion, three inches is what? 200 cubic liters. Oh gosh, don't ask me

11:51that. That's confusing. So the roof racks have been really very, very cleverly used. Let's have a look

11:56at this. So what they've done is they've actually mounted some brackets underneath and they've recessed

12:01them down. Instead of sitting them on top of the rack, they've sat them down. So from a height

12:06perspective, the vehicle's not another four or five centimeters or an inch. We're a quarter of

12:11a gallon shorter than what we would normally be. And it's also, it's going to improve like the wind

12:18side of things. If you ever look underneath it, it's really, really close to the vehicle. The point

12:23at which the solar enters into the roof there is protected by the panel as well. And yeah, the great

12:28thing about it is up on top, it still enables us to be able to utilize those racks should we choose to.

12:35We haven't really discussed what we would do in that sense. I doubt we'll put anything up the top

12:40there because it means that we're going to then restrict the amount of sunlight that we'll be able

12:43to get onto the roof racks. So the only other thing which we'll probably look at doing down the track,

12:49we won't do it now primarily because of the cost of things and I don't think we really need to at the

12:55moment. But we'll probably look at installing a ladder at some stage or maybe having a foot

13:03ladder and stuff so that we can check that the solar panels are clean. Particularly if we're in

13:09an area where there are bats and birds and stuff like that, we don't want that to damage the solar

13:15panels. So we want to be able to get up there and- Good maintenance. Keep them maintained nice.

13:19We may be able to do that just by standing on the side here as I was then. I can get on the top and

13:23view those. Do you want to have a look and see if you can see the top of the panel? Based on where

13:26you're at, I'm not sure that's going to be possible. Let's see. The top. Well, you can see underneath.

13:35Not quite. Okay. So that's going to be an ineffective cleaning strategy for Chrissy. Well,

13:40what we could also do is you can get those extender pole things and as long as it's got an angle, you

13:46can- That'd be quite funny watching you do that. Yeah, you would actually. So yeah, there's setups

13:52that you can get where the back of the van, the back door can be utilized to like latch a ladder

13:59down that runs across without actually fitting it. It just sits inside that recess at the top. So we can

14:04look at that. We can look at a little range of things, but yeah, that's pretty much it. That's where we

14:09are. This is episode 11-T-3. 11-T-3. The van bill. Still a bit to go, mainly cosmetics. And what's

14:18left to go in really is quite light as far as what's going to go across the back. The heaviest

14:24thing to go across the back is going to be the mattress and everything else from a weight point

14:28of view is probably going to sit a little bit more further forward of the rear axle. So again,

14:33see-saw physics, that weight should throw forward more than throw backwards. Yeah. So something

14:37for us to consider there. So once we've finished doing the fit out of the cosmetics, then we'll be

14:44taking the vehicle back to Sandgate and they will install the GPOs onto the walls and then we're

14:51pretty much good to go. So that should hopefully only take a few days. Yeah, yeah. Put the lights

14:55into the roof and that's pretty much it. So the goal is November. November, head to Victoria. Wish

15:01us luck. Buy in New South Wales for about six weeks. Obviously, that's all pending us being able

15:06to do everything that we need to do and stuff. Very exciting. See you on the next one. Bye guys.

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