12-Month-Old Caravan, Overhauled: 600Ah Lithium, 950W Solar & Victron MPPT

This van was only 12 months old, but its electrical setup was already struggling to keep up with how the owners actually use it. They brought it into our Garbutt workshop for a proper overhaul: more than double the lithium storage, close to triple the solar, a Victron MPPT sized for the new array and a rebuilt DC panel. Here's what changed and why.

01 The problem: a new van with an entry-level system

Plenty of new caravans leave the factory with a power system sized for a weekend at a powered site, not weeks of free camping. Run a fridge, lights, water pump, fans and device charging every day and a small battery bank with a few hundred watts of solar can't put back what you're using. The van itself was fine. The power system just wasn't keeping pace with the way these owners travel.

02 Storage: 270Ah to 600Ah of lithium

The original bank was two 135Ah lithium batteries, about 270Ah in total. We replaced it with three Baintech 12V 200Ah LiFePO4 batteries in parallel for 600Ah, more than twice the usable storage, strapped down in the same front compartment.

Before

After

03 Solar: 360W to 950W on the roof

A bigger bank is only useful if you can refill it. We took the roof solar from 360W up to 950W, so the batteries recover properly during the day instead of slowly running down over a trip.

04 A Victron MPPT sized for the array

More panels need a controller that can handle them. We fitted a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 150/70-Tr, which has the headroom to run the full 950W array into a 12V bank. It has Bluetooth built in, so the owners can check solar yield and charging from the VictronConnect app on their phone.

More than double the storage, a lot more charging on the roof, and a switchboard you can actually work on.

05 A DC panel you can actually work on

The original panel worked, but it was a tangle of cable that would be slow to fault-find on the road. We rewired and re-laid it out: cabling runs through duct, OEX fuse holders and a labelled distribution hub sit on a proper mounting frame, and every circuit is easy to trace. If something needs checking down the track, by us or another auto electrician, it's quick and straightforward.

Before

After

06 Before and after

07 Is your van keeping up?

• Your battery is flat by morning, or you're watching the monitor every evening
• Your solar can't refill the bank after a cloudy day
• You've added a bigger fridge, an inverter or other gear since you bought the van
• You want to free camp longer without running a generator
• The wiring behind your panel is a mess and nobody wants to touch it

It might need a full rebuild like this one, or just a bit more out of what's already there. Either way, we'll look at how you actually use your van and size the system to suit.