*Blog Post (With Spreadsheet):* www.explorist.life/what-size-of-solar-system-is-needed-to-power-a-camper/ *Interactive Solar Wiring Diagrams:* www.explorist.life/solarwiringdiagrams
Nate, you are the man. Thanks for all the info and taking the time to explain the process and how do it right. I have a dumb question. If I need 300 watt solar panel why can't I buy (1) 300 watt panel and not (3) 100 watt panels? I was just thinking of (1) set of wires to run on the roof and into the van. I am sure you have addressed this before but I am looking for a reason to not buy (1) panel. Thanks and keep up the great work and helping people like myself Be safe and stay healthy
Thanks! Glad this has all helped. If you can fit a 300w panel; That's a fine choice. With 3x100w panels you gain a bit of extra voltage but I'd speculate those gains wouldn't be worth the hassle given most 300w panels are already 40+ volts anyway.
THANK YOU! This has to be the best explanatory video on electrical usage and solar power requirements. I have downloaded the spreadsheet but, ask do I need to change anything for the UK and 230v standard appliances?
What kind of metal would you recommend, steel, iron or perhaps some aluminum. I on the other hand would maybe suggest a medal to show appreciation of his work…..just sayin
This video and spreadsheet are “friggin awesome”. There is no telling how many people u have helped, but I bet it a ton. Thanks for the video and the resources!
Nate, you sir are a legend for creating and sharing your spreadsheet. I cannot thank you enough for the time and money you will be saving me when calculating and then deciding on my build components. Living in the UK where the sun is more like a UFO, solar efficiency is definitely not something i want to guess at. Top man, top channel, Happy Subscriber. Cheers.
I'm an overplanner, and love to go through all the aspects of these builds to ensure I'm maximizing my space, time, value, and money spent. So far your videos are head and tails above the rest, are far more informative, and really well done. Those spreadsheets are incredible, and they save people a bundle of time. It would take me hours to go back, re learn basic electrician formulas, and prepare and set up a spreadsheet just like you did. Thank you for providing this service to people for free, it truly is incredibly generous! Cheers!
Hey, I just wanted to let you know this video and your excel sheet really helped me figure out how much solar power and batteries I need in my campervan. There are so many numbers and things to pay attention to, but you made it easy. Thanks a lot!
Man this video is so helpful! He work you put into this with the spreadsheets is amazing. An extra step you didn’t have to do for us. Much appreciated!
Man, thank you so much for making these videos. I am an electrical dummy, which is doubled when addressing solar, making me a dum dum pertaining to that subject. Seriously though, you’re helping me get this broke ass airstream working, thank you.
I am thankful for your help and appreciate your videos!! You are obviously very competent and geared to master this difficult topic!! Your videos are great and complete!! Need not to watch anything else!! Thank you, great work!!
i simply purchased a plug-in power meter to monitor just how much power my caravan is consuming over a 2 week period while running on mains electric, living normally after 2 weeks i ended up with a true numbers of my power consumption.. heaters, hot water and the cook run off gas :) lasts a long time and works out pretty cheap.
What a great video! Nate, you sir are a legend. We have just started our van build and I've been watching TH-cam videos all day, and yours are by far the best, most concise and easy to understand. Thank you for providing such great content.
things often are very hard to understand when being explained by people who regurgitate but don’t actually know what they’re doing. This guy has useful info as opposed to most others
Hey Nate, really good and informative videos! We're since one and a half years on the road and I just calculated our installed solar system and our consumption with your table. I gotta say in our case, it fits pretty well with your recommendation. The only thing is our inverter that's only 250VA instead of 1000VA
Just wanted to say thank you for all your awesome content. We just started our van build out today and we've already found so many of your videos helpful for us! Thank you thank you!
It really Bums me out that you guys don't get more views. You provide really useful info and real life views of van life, but don't get the views that "Van lifers" get where a lot of what they show is just the trendy side of living in a van, and tend to lean on the sexy side of the thumbnails (bikinis, tight pants, etc etc), which I have nothing against, its just more clickbaity. I think I have watch your van build series 3-4 times in preparation for our van build, and I don't think I'll take other information as seriously as I take yours.
People generally don’t actually want to think these days, so they tantalize themselves with kewl videos and either copy other people (not necessarily useful), over-buy the need cuz they’re guessing, or - buy cheap, inadequate equipment with lots of reviews that tickle their ears. Or pay some solar place to install a bulky, mismatched snd often overpriced system that provides power with ancillary compromises the uneducated won’t have the ability to immediately see. What he described here doesn’t take a lot of work but it involves work. Way to many people these days are averse to work. And thinking. But this is very solid advice.
You just earned our 👍@EXPLORIST life - DIY Campers AND we hit the bell! Dude! We made a spreadsheet, but it was not organized as good as yours. Right now, we're converting a school bus into a tiny home on wheels, and have no prior experience with electrical stuff (like most people, right?) We're checking out your other vids now and your guide on your site to gather the links and get our system pieced together. Thanks so much!! - Brian + Erin
There was nothing new to me in this video, I am fully capable of sizing a solar setup, and still this is the best video I have seen on the topic so far, your spreadsheets is pure gold (I usually do my own on paper). Then you also learn how to live on solar, you wake up, look out, if it is sunny you might start the day by cooking porridge on the induction cooktop, if it is cloudy, you might go for a yogurt, if you have a gas stove, you might opt for cooking your coffe instead of using the electric coffemachine. On a sunny day, charge everything up, vacuum, start a washingmachine if you have one, on a cloudy day, sweep the floors instead. And so on. it becomes second nature to determing things based on how sunny it is. That said, it is nice to have a too big setup that always is fully charged by lunchtime
With all the new solar/battery generators seems would work for the occasional user and to possibly power my travel trailer excluding the air conditioner of course.
The size and number of panels in my case is very simple, all you have room for :) Battery size, pretty much depend on what you realistically can charge with 1260w of panel per day in this case.... Will have to save on electricity anyway and sometimes if cloudy for long time start up the engine because in the end what limits me is the amount of panels I can fit on the van. (here it can be cloudy for weeks at a time).
*Blog Post (With Spreadsheet):* www.explorist.life/what-size-of-solar-system-is-needed-to-power-a-camper/
*Interactive Solar Wiring Diagrams:* www.explorist.life/solarwiringdiagrams
WOW, I had no idea that I would need (want) 600 AH of batteries! ! ! $,$$$ :(
Yeah. It can add up in a hurry. What was your biggest energy demand?
Nate, you are the man. Thanks for all the info and taking the time to explain the process and how do it right.
I have a dumb question. If I need 300 watt solar panel why can't I buy (1) 300 watt panel and not (3) 100 watt panels?
I was just thinking of (1) set of wires to run on the roof and into the van.
I am sure you have addressed this before but I am looking for a reason to not buy (1) panel.
Thanks and keep up the great work and helping people like myself
Be safe and stay healthy
Thanks! Glad this has all helped. If you can fit a 300w panel; That's a fine choice. With 3x100w panels you gain a bit of extra voltage but I'd speculate those gains wouldn't be worth the hassle given most 300w panels are already 40+ volts anyway.
THANK YOU! This has to be the best explanatory video on electrical usage and solar power requirements. I have downloaded the spreadsheet but, ask do I need to change anything for the UK and 230v standard appliances?
This dude is a rocket scientist.
I can't see the chart what website is this
Sir, you deserve some kind of metal for putting this spreadsheet together and making it available like this. Fantastic help!
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
What kind of metal would you recommend, steel, iron or perhaps some aluminum. I on the other hand would maybe suggest a medal to show appreciation of his work…..just sayin
Gosh you are totally right 100%
Dude. This is the best video I’ve seen on TH-cam.
Thanks
Thanks for putting in the hours to provide the RV community with a spreadsheet that is actually easy to use. Really appreciate all the hard work.
Dude this is the greatest video ever! That spreadsheet makes it so easy, THANK YOU!!!!
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
This video and spreadsheet are “friggin awesome”. There is no telling how many people u have helped, but I bet it a ton. Thanks for the video and the resources!
Hey Tom Freer, No problem! Glad it helped! :)
Nate, you sir are a legend for creating and sharing your spreadsheet. I cannot thank you enough for the time and money you will be saving me when calculating and then deciding on my build components.
Living in the UK where the sun is more like a UFO, solar efficiency is definitely not something i want to guess at.
Top man, top channel, Happy Subscriber.
Cheers.
I'm an overplanner, and love to go through all the aspects of these builds to ensure I'm maximizing my space, time, value, and money spent. So far your videos are head and tails above the rest, are far more informative, and really well done. Those spreadsheets are incredible, and they save people a bundle of time. It would take me hours to go back, re learn basic electrician formulas, and prepare and set up a spreadsheet just like you did. Thank you for providing this service to people for free, it truly is incredibly generous! Cheers!
A God among men! Thank you!
Glad it helped
Hey, I just wanted to let you know this video and your excel sheet really helped me figure out how much solar power and batteries I need in my campervan. There are so many numbers and things to pay attention to, but you made it easy. Thanks a lot!
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
Nate yarbrough you made me understand something which I could have naver understood. Although English is not my first language. Well done bro
Haven't used this table but from watching this video, I apreicate the acsess to this and the video, thank you.
Best spent 9 minutes of my day. Thank you for doing this.
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
I'm so impressed on the super valuable information and the staright to the point explanation! I appreciate this and keep up the good work
Outstanding!! Now I can get to work. Best video I’ve seen by far on the subject, thank you heaps 👍🏼🇦🇺.
Glad it helped!
Your channel has been so fun to watch and learn. Thank you for your help!
Very informative, concise, not too fast not too slow , easy watching and clearly described thanks!
I feel so lucky to have found your video's.
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
This guy makes it so easy to understand and is really fantastic at his job thank you sir its very much appreciated 🙏
Glad it was helpful. Cheers!
I'm going to use a 48 volt solar power system on my skoolie. This is a great vid
Brooooo I've never subscribed so fast. So so helpful👍🏼
Great video thank you. It's guys like you that make society so much better.
Man.. I love your approach and thanks for helping us all out here... its appreciated
Awesome! Happy to help. Thanks for watching!
Very helpful. Great not having bad background music. Going to subscribe.
Awesome spreadsheet! Thank you for your time creating and sharing it!
Hey Jenna Brown, No problem! Glad it helped! :)
Man this video is so helpful! He work you put into this with the spreadsheets is amazing. An extra step you didn’t have to do for us. Much appreciated!
Hey cjmiles7, No problem! Glad it helped! :)
Great job Nate! Good editing from your partner getting it down to 9 minutes! Very informative and hopefully I’ll use this soon . . .
For a beginner trying to get electrical system together, this is really helpful, thanks!
Very welcome!
Thanks guys, I can't express how much your build, the solar information and all the tips you guys provide help me!
This is so thorough! Awesome.
I learn a lot from this man
Thank you so much, this is going to help me so much for my mini bus conversion!
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
thanks mate, very usefull, nice voice to listen to, great sense of humor ;-)
Hey Sander Bremmers, Thanks so much! Cheers!
Man, thank you so much for making these videos. I am an electrical dummy, which is doubled when addressing solar, making me a dum dum pertaining to that subject. Seriously though, you’re helping me get this broke ass airstream working, thank you.
Great job on the spreadsheet, thank you for that. It will save me lots of time!
outstanding. The spreadsheets are exactly what I have been looking for. Its like the missing link for all things solar
Dear god im so happy to have found this. Youre amazing.
One stop portal for solar system information.
This was a incredible idea. This will help me alot when I get to our build.
You're amazing. Best 10 minute s of my year. Seriously, thank you!
Cracking stuff Nate
Thanks! 🙂🙌
This just saved my life. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful. Cheers!
Hi Nate! - Awesome Video- THANK YOU. The Power Audit Spreadsheet is not loading. Could you please take a look? It would really help me -Thank you
I am thankful for your help and appreciate your videos!! You are obviously very competent and geared to master this difficult topic!! Your videos are great and complete!! Need not to watch anything else!! Thank you, great work!!
So stoked I found this series of videos to help guide us thru our project. Amazingly well done. Thank you!
Hey Scott Dailey, No problem! Glad it helped! :)
Nate Great video. You guys always make videos that are great! Thanks for making our life easier on the DIY projects.
i simply purchased a plug-in power meter to monitor just how much power my caravan is consuming over a 2 week period while running on mains electric, living normally after 2 weeks i ended up with a true numbers of my power consumption.. heaters, hot water and the cook run off gas :) lasts a long time and works out pretty cheap.
God bless you for making these videos dude. You’re awesome as such a big help.
Hey Micah Harris, No problem! Glad it helped! :)
What a great video! Nate, you sir are a legend. We have just started our van build and I've been watching TH-cam videos all day, and yours are by far the best, most concise and easy to understand. Thank you for providing such great content.
things often are very hard to understand when being explained by people who regurgitate but don’t actually know what they’re doing.
This guy has useful info as opposed to most others
Wow. A scientist.
Just a guy who likes spreadsheets.
I'm so glad I found you! I'm about to start my van conversion, this is great info Thank you!
Hey Hugo's Auto Clinic, No problem! Glad it helped! :)
Wow, great spread sheet! Very user friendly. Thanks for sharing that! DEFINITELY deserves a 'Like' and 'Subscribe' 👍👍
Hey, Joshua D! I appreciate that. Thanks for watching! 🙂😀
This is a super informative and very clear video, so useful... Thank you so much!
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
Subscribed!!
Hey Nate, really good and informative videos!
We're since one and a half years on the road and I just calculated our installed solar system and our consumption with your table. I gotta say in our case, it fits pretty well with your recommendation. The only thing is our inverter that's only 250VA instead of 1000VA
Nice work!
Fantastic video! Short, digestible, and informative. I'll be sure to use your Amazon site when ordering.
You're doing a wonderful service.
Awesome content ! Will bookmark that one
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
Amazingly helpful video. Thank you for taking the time to make that spreadsheet.
So helpful. Thank you so much 💪🏻
SAVED ME HOURS. THANK YOU
Great information and very helpful. Straight to the point video! Thank you.
Just wanted to say thank you for all your awesome content. We just started our van build out today and we've already found so many of your videos helpful for us! Thank you thank you!
It really Bums me out that you guys don't get more views. You provide really useful info and real life views of van life, but don't get the views that "Van lifers" get where a lot of what they show is just the trendy side of living in a van, and tend to lean on the sexy side of the thumbnails (bikinis, tight pants, etc etc), which I have nothing against, its just more clickbaity.
I think I have watch your van build series 3-4 times in preparation for our van build, and I don't think I'll take other information as seriously as I take yours.
Great comment. I agree with ya for sure
That's the yt algorithm for u...but with content like this, they'll grow fast.
People generally don’t actually want to think these days, so they tantalize themselves with kewl videos and either copy other people (not necessarily useful), over-buy the need cuz they’re guessing, or - buy cheap, inadequate equipment with lots of reviews that tickle their ears. Or pay some solar place to install a bulky, mismatched snd often overpriced system that provides power with ancillary compromises the uneducated won’t have the ability to immediately see.
What he described here doesn’t take a lot of work but it involves work. Way to many people these days are averse to work. And thinking.
But this is very solid advice.
We're at 100k views and over 100k subs..good content wins!
Idk I think this thumbnail is pretty sexy… 🤣
Wow, thanks so much for this! Makes things much clearer!!
Wow, THANK YOU!!!
this will be so helpful.
this is awesome thank you just saved me a major headache
You just earned our 👍@EXPLORIST life - DIY Campers AND we hit the bell! Dude! We made a spreadsheet, but it was not organized as good as yours. Right now, we're converting a school bus into a tiny home on wheels, and have no prior experience with electrical stuff (like most people, right?) We're checking out your other vids now and your guide on your site to gather the links and get our system pieced together.
Thanks so much!!
- Brian + Erin
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
Great content, an amazing amount of job done for providing such content, many thanks
Glad you enjoy it!
You are amazing, clear and helpful; thank you.
Amazing work done, many thanks for the content)
There was nothing new to me in this video, I am fully capable of sizing a solar setup, and still this is the best video I have seen on the topic so far, your spreadsheets is pure gold (I usually do my own on paper).
Then you also learn how to live on solar, you wake up, look out, if it is sunny you might start the day by cooking porridge on the induction cooktop, if it is cloudy, you might go for a yogurt, if you have a gas stove, you might opt for cooking your coffe instead of using the electric coffemachine. On a sunny day, charge everything up, vacuum, start a washingmachine if you have one, on a cloudy day, sweep the floors instead. And so on. it becomes second nature to determing things based on how sunny it is. That said, it is nice to have a too big setup that always is fully charged by lunchtime
I just followed the link to your site. Brilliantly explained and answered my question perfectly. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Thank you so much! This is so helpful! 😁
Hey Meli Moo, No problem! Glad it helped! :)
Glad we came across your info, going to be very helpful!!👍
you are Awesome man
Hey Ephraim Kiptiony, Thanks so much! Cheers!
Great video.
Nice one; there’s a noticeable step up in quality since the rebrand
Thanks! And thanks for that. Before we were trying to pump out quantity. Now, it's all about the attempt at being genuinely helpful/useful.
With all the new solar/battery generators seems would work for the occasional user and to possibly power my travel trailer excluding the air conditioner of course.
This is so useful and thorough. A man after my own heart. Subscribed.
Great info as usual!
Great video! Thanks!
Glad it was helpful. Cheers!
Amazing! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful. Cheers!
Nice thanks!
Another AWESOME posting!!!
Thank you bro this is the best !
XLNT and very helpful. Thanks.
best guy
You sir are Badass.....
Glad it was helpful. Cheers!
Ty for this!
Hey Charlotte Snider, No problem! Glad it helped! :)
Thank you - Gracia Mille - Merci
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!💕
Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!
Nice informative video my friend.
What size controller would be required for 700w solar power?
ie:- 4 @ 175w each?
This is awesome!!!!! Thanks a bunch.
i love channel bro. all the best to you
Thanks!
The size and number of panels in my case is very simple, all you have room for :) Battery size, pretty much depend on what you realistically can charge with 1260w of panel per day in this case.... Will have to save on electricity anyway and sometimes if cloudy for long time start up the engine because in the end what limits me is the amount of panels I can fit on the van. (here it can be cloudy for weeks at a time).
Glad you got it figured out!
Very good !🇵🇷