EV Camper LPG removal & conversion.

[ruairidh]

I have a 1999 EVC and I am thinking about removing the LPG system and converting it 100% into battery/solar. Am I crazy?

A build of 300w total in solar panels, two 31AGM batteries in sequence, and a 3000W inverter replicates what the LPG system provides - furnace, stove top, and fridge. This also builds an onboard 110 system which doesn't require a shoreline. The weight difference between the two is minimal.

The stove top would be replaced with two variable wattage induction burners (450w boils water). A 1000w space heater replaces the furnace. A fridge is not necessary, but those specs power a mobile ice chest.

Any thoughts or input would be lovely. I haven't found any examples of this kind of conversion yet online. Side note, my tank is already in need of repair and probably needs to be replaced. I already have solar attached to the poptop. This is a 3 season rig with the 4th in snowbird land.
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1971 KG (rusty parts)
1999 eurovan full camper (new acquisition)
2016 golf sportwagon (daily driver)

[Abscate]

You have about 180 amp hours of total capacity, so about 90 amp hours of usually capacity. That is 1100 watt hours of useable power, not even close to the power needed for any one of the three devices you want to replace.

That battery rating is usually at 30C, too, so in other months you will have less
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.ssS!

[dazey77]

Your crazy if you think you can store anything like the same energy thats in the LPG tank in lithium batteries.

Induction takes a lot of energy, so I am not sure where you intend on getting it all from. Its not coming from 300w of solar.

If you use the furnace, then that already takes a lot of energy in winter just to turn the fan (if your working off solar), to power the heat from batteries would kill even a big battery bank over night.

Thats not to say there can't be a use case. If you are normally on hook up, mainly camp in summer, have short breaks, then it might work. Off grid, forget it.

You shouldn't even consider induction on lead acid, draws too much current, lithium is more sensible for this, and your into 24v teritory to keep wire guage sane.

'Mobile ice chest' unless its a compressor one, will eat batteries.

I think you need to work the power calcs carefully.

You can find examples of people doing induction over on the Victron community forums (but not with the heat and with a much more serious system in terms of storage and solar)
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My van modification blog:
www.dazedproductions.co.uk/Vanity

[dazey77]

[steve2sloth]

In my EVC, I put 3x100w solar panels on the roof and added a larger 200ah AGM coach battery. It's enough to run my Engel fridge 24/7 and to plug in additional electronics like a TV+Playstation and never see the battery drop below 97%... but there's no way that I could replace the heating and cooktop with this. It's too many watts.

If I were to run a 1000w space heater w/ my 2000w inverter, I'd deplete the usable 100ah of my battery in a little over 1 hour and have nothing left to cook with. Then it would take hours to charge back up off of solar in optimal conditions, probably all day in winter months when the sun is at a lower angle.

In theory, someone could try to use a 12v heat pump (like one made by Hot Spot https://www.hotspotenergy.com/ ) to heat their van off of solar as they are dramatically more efficient at producing heat, but it's a pretty large/heavy/loud unit and will hurt your gas milage... also heat pumps cannot produce heat when the ambient temperature gets much lower than freezing so it's not 4 season. The Hot Spot also works as an air conditioner in the summer, but it really needs 900w of solar to not run down the batteries when heating/cooling at max power. It's intended for off-grid homes w/ large solar banks.

As for cooking, you could use an insulated electric pressure cooker like an InstantPot since an hour of cooking really only uses the 1000w for like 20 minutes... but it's fairly limiting. Inductions stoves are more flexible but less efficient.

Overall, I could see an 'all electric' setup work in a bigger van with 600ah+ of batteries and limited climate control use, but in a small EVC it seems impractical to me.

[steve2sloth]

Nobody asked, but if it were me in need of a LPG tank replacement on my EVC, I'd try to figure out a way to remove the tank entirely and install a LPG hookup/connection there outside the van, and a second hookup inside the van under the sink, with a small 5lb tank propane tank attached and usable. When I got to camp, I could optionally attach a second 20lb tank at the external connection point. The removable tanks would be easier/cheaper to refill than the stock LPG tank and it wouldn't be the lowest point on the van, getting dragged on the rocks from time to time

I feel like I never know how much LP gas I have in the stock tank... I've filled it ONCE, 3 years ago, and went on a dozen+ short camping trips since. It's warm in CA so I don't use the heat much but I really should stop running on empty. Maybe that's why I want 2 tanks, as a backup.

[Abscate]

[ruairidh]

[ruairidh]

[steve2sloth]

@ruairidh Given the very limited amount of cook time and climate control that you intend to use the electrical system for, I suppose that you could go "all electric" while aware of the limits. You'd definitely want a reliable battery monitor to know exactly how much charge you've got... so I'd suggest using a Renogy or Victron battery monitor with a "shunt" which gives far more accurate info than does a cheap voltage meter, like the stock 3 led voltage meter or the ones built into solar charge controllers.

You can do the math on how much battery you'd need to cook for your team but you can always try to make your kit more efficient by searching out 12v hotpots/boilers to avoid inverter inefficiencies, or by using insulated/finned pots to heat faster, or by using some sort of solar collector to preheat your cooking water during the day for you to use later that night. With so many solar panels you'll have more energy during the day than you could store in the batteries mentioned so using the available energy is always a plus.

As for your desire for AC, I feel ya. Trouble is that they use too many watts but in the deserts of the SW you could use swamp cooling very effectively. I spend most of my camp time in hot dry places so it's a planned project for me. I want to build something like this bucket cooler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHbQYajfGqM) and pipe the cool air into the rear passenger side window. I already have a MaxxFan powered vent in my roof to remove warm air already so this would compliment that.

In general though, I wonder why you even have a EVC instead of a weekender? You say that you don't want/need the gas stove, heater, or fridge... maybe it makes more sense to have the larger beds of the weekender and just use a portable coleman stove to cook on. Idk, maybe it would be a shame to remove the gas system from your van and depreciate the value of it... not that those thoughts ever stopped me from cutting up my van to suite my own needs

Have fun and if you do add new propane hookups plz share the details