Here's a quick description of how the setup works with some photos to help demonstrate how it all fits together.
The heart of the system is the house battery that is located beneath the drivers seat. The battery is charged whenever the the vehicle is running and is then isolated from the starter battery when the engine is turned off. This isolation is provided by a relay that is also located beneath the driver's seat. The house battery has its own fuse panel beneath the driver's seat that is connected to the refrigerator outlet at the rear of the driver's seat, the 12V outlets on either side of the rear seat, the 12V outlet to the right in the rear storage area and the fluorescent lights above the passenger area. It does not power the radio, 12V dash outlet or any other interior lights in the vehicle. Those are still powered off of the starter battery so be careful about running those items while camping. You'll be looking for a set of jumper cables. It is possible to jump the starter from the house battery but drawing down a starter type battery to a "dead" state will often make it unusable and in need of replacement. I decided to replace the starter battery with an Optima battery that is designed to provide starting power and house battery power just to provide a margin of safety if I inadvertently leave something on that's drawing from the starter battery.
The batteries that I've installed are below:
Starter Battery:
You'll notice that the vendors say it doesn't fit but it in fact fits perfectly in the stock position and provides some added peace of mind.
https://www.amazon.com/Optima-Batteries-8040-218-YellowTop-Purpose/dp/B000MSDKMA
House Battery and hold down strap:
I have connected three items to the house battery:
A solar controller:
A battery tender:
A 12V to 115V Inverter:
and connecting cables and fuses:
Fuse Holder and Fuses:
The solar controller's battery outputs are connected to the positive and negative terminals on the battery.
The battery tender's 115V AC input is connected to the rear reflector AC plug and its outputs are connected to the positive and negative terminals on the battery.
When the van is parked where 115V AC is available I connect a surge suppressor to the source and then connect the cord behind the reflector to the suppressor. I carry a 15ft 12-Gauge cord to make the run from the suppressor to the connection on the van. I also carry a 50A to 30A adapter and a 30A to 15A adapter to be ready for sites that don't offer 15A outlets.
When connected in this fashion to 115V AC the outlet that has replaced the ashtray is available for direct connection of 115V AC appliances and the battery tender is providing a continuous 4A 12V current to the house battery which is providing power to all of its devices.
When 115V AC is not available for extended stays I connect the solar panel to the solar input on the controller. The controller charges the battery with about a 3A current on a normal day. In bright sun I've seen it output up to 6A.
All of the additional devices I've attached are connected to the device output on the solar controller so that I can monitor the draw and the health of the house battery. At present those additional devices are the Dometic 12V Refrigerator, the 12V sink water pump and a 12V 10" portable fan.
In my configuration all of the mentioned devices are attached to the kitchen pod that I built to replace the rear-facing seat behind the driver. I'll cover the pod in a future post.
Happy camping!
