24/11/2023

Simple electrical installation for a camper van or small boat

By admin

We teach you step by step how to carry out a very simple and economical electrical installation, to be able to give all the comforts to your camper vehicle or small boat.
The video is specially designed for vehicles that only have one battery and you are considering adding a service battery, or you are thinking of buying an inverter to be able to have appliances on board at home. And we are going to solve it using a very simple option that we can integrate very well into our vehicle, such as energy stations. Specifically, we will use the EcoFlow River Pro, but this applies to any vehicle and power station.

The steps to follow in our installation are simple:

We start with a very simple installation like any van or street vehicle, or a small boat in which there is only one battery that is charged with the alternator.

The first thing we are going to do is a small installation that allows us to connect the vehicle, using a cable, to an electrical pole in a port or a campsite, maintaining the premises of being minimally invasive and safe. We will make a scheme like the following, which can be completely integrated into a single waterproof box.

With this we already have 220 electricity on board whenever we are plugged into the power pole, but we can add a Power Station that charges when we are plugged into the pole and that powers other sockets in the vehicle in a very simple way.

Making our power station charge automatically also when we have the engine running can be really simple with a battery separator and expanding our circuit as follows:

Finally, we can add a bunch of 12V accessories that consume from our power station instead of the starter battery in a very simple way:

With this assembly we have guarantees that all our accessories, both 220 and 12V, will work wherever they are. And even if we always leave them connected to the power station, when we are connected by cable or with the engine running, the power station will actually be charging and feeding them at the same time.

Purchase links for some of the things featured in the video:
— The power station —
The best option for us is the EcoFlow ones with which we have good experiences and on top of that we have Black Friday discounts in the EcoFlow store.
✅ Through this link https://es.ecoflow.com/pages/black-friday-sale?freegifts_code=kol-giveaway&aff=23&utm_source=affiliatly&utm_medium=kol&utm_campaign=black_friday&utm_content=thelowcostsailor
✅ And with the discount code THELOWCOSTSAILOR

You also have it available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/40PkjUZ

— For 220V connection installation —
✅ For the connection cable to the port
🔵 2 plugs https://www.obramat.es/clavija-industrial-3p-t-16a-ip44-10979024.html
🔵 3-wire cable hose of at least 1.5mm
✅ Three-way boat plug:
🔵 https://www.obramat.es/base-empotrar-industrial-2p-t-32a-230v-ip44-10317951.html
✅ Box
🔵 https://www.obramat.es/caja-superficie-estanca-4-elementos-10347722.html
✅ 220 ipx4 plugs:
🔵 https://www.obramat.es/base-trascuadro-industrial-2p-tt-16a-ip54-10156902.html
✅ Differential:
🔵 https://www.obramat.es/diferential-2p-40a-30ma-ac-maneta-orange-hager-10831632.html
✅ Automatic
🔵 https://www.obramat.es/automatico-2p-16a-maneta-línea-hager-10831555.html

— For 12v charging installation —
✅ The battery separator
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3MD5izI
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dd6wLtd
✅ Cigarette lighter plugs:
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QzEbGG
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmNZXQX

— For accessories —
✅ Outlet panel with switch
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/49vgFDK
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DCTcajz
✅ USB Extender:
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/47rD6HQ
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DCmxHTt

— Accessories —
✅ Waterproof Bluetooth speakers
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3MwwJuL
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dm6hYoJ
✅ Rugged 10-inch tablets (my top picks):
🔵 Oukitel RT5 https://amzn.to/3STRTHi
🔵 Oukitel RT7 (The Cucumber) https://amzn.to/3usgQPX
✅ Rugged 8-inch tablets (my top picks):
🔵 Oukitel RT3: https://amzn.to/49IxOd0