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Nearly done! What am I missing?

922 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  realityguy, 
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Full 300 watts of solar, two batteries (1 connected to front, 1 gets solar), awning, 5in lift, 30in tires, interior entertainment system, iPad navigation system, new speakers.

What are some little things I can do to really increase my love for this van? I want slotted rear windows, window fairings to protect from rain, and a big ol grill cover, but I’m also blanking on what kind of performance upgrades would be available to me to give it something special nobody else has.

ill be bringing it to some locals to redo the interior completely to open it up and make it livable, but until then this is what I have. Ideas welcome!!

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copperhead said:
Looks good. Just a couple of comments/questions. Why are the solar panels elevated so much? Are they mounted to a rack? As to the batteries, how many usable Amp Hrs and any reason separating the charging of them? I've got both of mine hooked to my panel and the alternator using a battery isolator.
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i mounted the panels to the rack so I could have a bit of storage underneath them and avoid drilling so many holes into the roof.

each battery is 100 ah and I separated them because I wanted to have an absolute fail safe if one was depleted or if one encountered a problem.
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copperhead said:
Gotcha, panels and usable roof space/storage is a trade off. FWIW, a member here showed a way to mount panels using OEM roof rack(which I stole BTW) so extra holes needed. Doesn't allow for under storage though. Not sure on what your power requirements are/will be, but I'd be surprised if whoever does the interior conversion doesn't recommend re-configuring your battery setup with them both to be charged from the 2 sources.

Who love to see more pics of your awning setup and where it came from. I spent quite a bit of time and money rigging up a "tinker toy" setup, but honestly, never ended up happy with it. I wish I had used the money toward a pre-fabbed unit.
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unfortunately I don’t have any details on the awning- it was installed already when I bought the van.

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