DIY CAMPER VAN ELECTRICAL INSTALL (Start to Finish Tutorial)

This video will show you, start-to-finish, how we installed a full DIY Camper Van electrical system into this 2021 Ford Transit Camper Van.

In this transit electrical install, we cover a wide range of topics, so we have included chapters at the bottom of this description if you need to find a specific part of the install.

This comprehensive video will cover wiring a 24V Battery Bank, building the battery enclosure for the camper out of 80/20, wiring a battery heater, wiring a lynx shunt and lynx distributor, installing a rooftop solar panel array, installing a ground deploy solar array, wiring a Victron MultiPlus, wiring the chassis ground in a camper van, wiring a 24V Nomadic A/C, wiring a 24V to 12V Victron Orion converter, wiring two 12V fuse blocks, wiring a 120V breaker box, wiring 30A shower power to the MultiPlus, wiring the Victron Cerbo GX and GX Touch 70 (with an HDMI hack!), mounting batteries to the camper van, wiring the battery bank to a lynx shunt, wiring a solar isolator, wiring an auxiliary solar port, and finally, programming and testing our electrical system in the van.

*Parts for this system:*
✅Use code 'explorist' for $50 off per battery.

*OTHER ELECTRICAL PROJECTS ON THIS VAN WE TACKLED BEFORE THIS VIDEO:*

*Timestamps*
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:37 How to Wire a 24V Battery Bank
00:04:45 How to Secure a Battery Bank Together
00:06:06 Building an Aluminum Extrusion Enclosure
00:08:11 How to Wire a Battery Heater
00:09:37 Finishing the Aluminum Extrusion Enclosure
00:13:14 How to Wire a Lynx Shunt and Lynx Distributor
00:16:20 How to Install Rooftop Solar on a DIY Camper Van
00:22:04 How to Install a Ground Deploy Solar Array
00:27:33 How to Wire a Victron Multiplus
00:32:27 How to Wire a Chassis Ground
00:34:45 How to wire a 24V Nomadic Air Conditioner
00:36:00 How to Wire a 24V to 12V Victron Orion Converter
00:40:11 How to Wire Dual 12V Fuse Blocks
00:42:54 How to Wire a 120V Breaker Box in a Camper Van
00:48:22 How to Wire 30A Shore Power
00:49:49 Alternator Charging
00:50:30 How to Wire the Victron Cerbo GX
00:53:50 How to Wire the Victron Touch 70 GX
00:56:29 How to Mount an Electrical Enclosure to a Camper Van
00:57:05 How to Wire a Battery Bank to a Lynx Shunt
01:00:10 How to Wire a Camper Solar Isolator
01:02:01 How to Wire an Auxilary Solar Port in a Camper
01:03:53 Turning on the System
01:04:26 How to Program a Camper Electrical System
01:07:23 How to Test and Commission a Camper Electrical System

[ottigreenisgo]

Ive been installing 12v electrics in cars/caravans for 20 something years, I still watched your video through till the end. The time you have taken to plan and deliver a concise message for this install is commendable. I’ll definitely be sending this video to people who are asking me for help in the future! Well done

[lcbrme]

Incredible. I've spent the last two weeks researching how to do just this. I wake up to this tutorial. Unbelievable. Thank you so much

[Pseudo-Geek]

This is also a tutorial on how to make tutorials. I'm not building a camper any time soon but the explanations of the principles of how to wire up solar and batteries is so good that I can't stop watching. Also appreciate that you didn't edit out your small mistakes, instead explaining what you did to fix them. And the fact that you provided links to the sections. You've set a new standard here for tutorial videos.

[dalltex]

I don't have solar anything and I don't have a van but I watched the whole thing just because it's well produced and very cool.

[danielvermeer]

Nate and Steph, Thank you! Finally a power supply instructional installation video! Thank you for clearly and explaining everything in layman's terms.

[erwinschumann]

Best instructional video on anything ever! Clear video, clear audio and no music!!

[cablewrangler]

Ya’ll have done it again! Great walk through of an efficient 24v system. Thanks Nate and Steph!

[davew]

Your video was so professional I thought I was watching an episode of How It's Made. Absolutely amazing video quality and narration. Extremely well done, thank you for the content!!

[paulkozakiewicz]

The most helpful video I have ever watched on YouTube. Being a good van builder I’ve always had a fear of the electrics. This is helping me a lot. This video needs to reach near and far, to help people out. Well done

[TheOffGridIrelandDream]

You have been our go to guide. Our system has been going strong for 2 years now off grid in Ireland. Brilliant channel

[jonosphere]

Wow!!! The quality of your tutorials is light years ahead of anything I have ever seen on youtube! The attention to detail, the professional filming/editing, the pedagogical explanations, everything! Having this freely available is mind-blowing.
And this comes from a non-native English speaker from Europe used to the simplicity of the metric system, who gets the chills every time some weird units pop up, like 4/0, 5/16", 6 gauge and whatnot :D. Kudos for the work on the Closed-Captions that make even these confusing units/words accessible :)
Unfortunately, the mismatch in units/electrical systems means I probably won't be buying many kits from your website, but I wish your business to prosper nonetheless and I will for sure keep on watching more of your videos :).

[ccsmith]

Wow! Such a professional video. The detail you included, the explanation of each step you were performing, the description of all the parts that you used is much appreciated. You deserve a YouTube Creator Award for this!!! Thanks for all the time and effort you put into it.

[jordanb]

One of the best all around electrical videos on the internet for van builds, thank you so much for putting this together! I’m in the process of gutting and upgrading the electrical system in our class C, and while I can’t quite afford all the high end stuff you have here, it’s still extremely useful from a planning perspective. Now if only the price of copper would go down… 🤨 Keep up the good work, the world of DIY really appreciates it!

[fuentes]

I am paraplegic laying down in my bed for two years. I don’t have a convention van and I’m watching this video for almost an hour. More like 160, 000 people watching this video

[kadachiman]

I am a qualified electrician and telecommunications technician in Australia (40+ years in the trades)
I have recently taken ownership of a mobile home with 2.5Kw of solar on the roof with 800AH of lithium batteries, via a Victron EasySolar 3000VA
Found your video to very well put together and should go a long way to make DIY van electrical system builders a lot more confident in what they are doing and therefore a lot safer for the industry as a whole...very well presented.

[codycranson]

Thank you for such amazing content! This tutorial is certainly worth paying for, but you clearly spent considerable time and effort putting it out there for everybody to learn from. Thank you, again, for sharing your knowledge so freely!

[riverbankjournal]

Your content is incredible in every way. Id really expect to be paying for this kind of tutorial but you are giving it away for free - how awesome is that!

[thereefaholic]

One of the best most comprehensive build videos I have seen. As a tech who builds these systems in mobile command posts I have two pieces of advise.

First, Only use the washers and nuts that come with the battery fuse terminals. These terminals pull current through the first washer and simply tossing a stainless steel washer in there will heat up enough to burn your hands, melt plastic and even start a fire.

Second, would be to include some active cooling in that enclosure. Inverters get very hot and a simple PC fan on a thermal switch circuit can extend the life of everything in that enclosure.

Less of a technical comment and more of a preference would be to hit all that birch plywood with some wipe on poly, wax or some other clear coat to keep the wood from staining. Even the sweat from your hands can leave marks on the birch ply and if you are OCD your gonna go nuts.

[Grabtheone]

I couldn’t thank you enough for this very precise video. I keep watching it over and over this is by far the best out there ❤ thank you

[allenkenning]

One of most comprehensive information videos since my IC-A school in 73, and Gyrocompas school in 75. excellent job.