Off Grid - Happy Time

There are upgrades you add to a campervan because they look good.

There are upgrades you add because they make life easier.

And then there are upgrades that quietly change the way you use the whole van.

Vanilla’s new solar setup has become one of those upgrades.

A new PV Logic PS-8688 200W Thin Rigid Frame Solar Panel, a brilliant Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15, and suddenly the roof of the van has become one of my favourite bits of equipment.

Not because it makes a noise.

Not because it flashes.

Not because it looks particularly dramatic.

It simply sits there and turns daylight into electricity.

And I’ve become slightly obsessed with watching it happen.

Vanilla had a solar panel before.

I always wanted to understand what it was doing because I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of proper off-grid campervan living.

I wanted to know how long the van could genuinely look after itself.

How long could the fridge run?

How much power would the Webasto use overnight?

How much could the solar recover the following day?

Could I spend several days somewhere without needing an electric hook-up?

The old panel must have been doing something.

But I never really knew how much.

Then it failed.

And that opened the door to doing the whole thing properly.

The replacement is a PV Logic PS-8688 200W Thin Rigid Frame Solar Panel.

It’s wired into Vanilla using the existing roof wiring and connected to one of my favourite pieces of kit in the entire electrical system.

The Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15.

Solar used to be something happening somewhere above my head.

Now I can see it.

I can see the voltage.

I can see the charging current.

I can see the power.

I can see daily production.

I can see what happens when the sun comes out.

And I can see exactly what happens when another large Staffordshire cloud parks itself over Vanilla.

Solar has gone from being invisible to becoming part of the adventure.

The Victron app is dangerously addictive.

A bit of sunshine appears.

Check Victron.

Cloud moves away.

Check Victron.

Vanilla starts producing more power.

Check Victron again.

I’ve essentially invented Solar Top Trumps.

136 watts. Beat that.

And while 136W might not sound extraordinary when the panel has a headline rating of 200W, this is the real world.

The panel is mounted flat on the roof.

Vanilla isn’t following the sun around on a giant rotating platform.

This is Britain.

There are clouds.

Lots of clouds.

So seeing strong real-world figures from a permanently mounted campervan panel is genuinely encouraging.

The impressive bit isn’t the maximum number.

It’s what happens over an entire day.

The fridge is running.

Phones are being charged.

Lights are being used.

The various gadgets inside Vanilla are quietly consuming electricity.

If it’s cold, the Webasto joins the party.

Meanwhile, whenever daylight allows it, the panel is putting energy back.

That is exactly what I wanted.

Solar doesn’t necessarily have to power everything continuously.

It just needs to keep contributing.

And every watt-hour collected from the roof is a watt-hour I don’t need to get from somewhere else.

This is probably my favourite part of the whole setup.

Imagine a normal off-grid evening.

The fridge has been running all day.

The lights have been on.

Phones have been charged.

The Webasto may have been running.

The battery has naturally dropped overnight.

Then morning arrives.

Daylight appears.

The Victron wakes up.

Solar voltage rises.

Charging begins.

And Vanilla starts putting the energy back.

That moment is ridiculously satisfying.

There’s no campsite bollard.

No engine running.

No generator.

No extension cable.

The van is simply sitting there using the sky.

That’s where the title of this story comes from.

Off-Grid Happy Time.

It’s that moment when you’re parked somewhere good.

The engine is off.

There’s no electric hook-up.

The fridge is cold.

The lights work.

The battery is healthy.

The kettle can wait because there are more important things happening.

Somewhere inside Vanilla, a Victron controller is quietly converting sunshine into electricity.

That is campervan happiness.

The solar panel isn’t working alone.

Vanilla now has several different ways of looking after the leisure battery.

The PV Logic PS-8688 200W panel collects energy whenever conditions allow.

The Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 converts that solar input into useful battery charging while giving me proper information about what the system is doing.

The Victron Orion Smart 30A DC-DC charger provides substantial charging while Vanilla is travelling.

When electric hook-up is available, Vanilla can still charge from mains power.

The Victron SmartShunt gives me a proper view of what’s happening at the battery.

Put all of that together and Vanilla has become a considerably more capable off-grid campervan.

Drive somewhere?

Charge.

Plug in?

Charge.

Park in the sunshine?

Charge.

That’s how it should work.

NO HOOK-UP? NO PROBLEM.

Electric hook-up is still useful.

I’m certainly not declaring war on the blue campsite plug.

But the difference now is that it feels increasingly optional.

And that changes where you can stay.

Small campsites become more interesting.

Farm sites become more practical.

Remote pitches become easier.

Simple overnight stops become much more appealing.

Instead of choosing a pitch because it has electricity, I can choose it because I actually want to be there.

That is a much more interesting way to travel.

There’s another part of solar that I absolutely love.

Vanilla can be parked outside doing apparently nothing.

But she isn’t doing nothing.

The fridge may be running.

The battery may be recovering from the previous evening.

And daylight is arriving on the roof.

Electricity is being produced while the van simply sits there.

No fuel.

No cable.

No moving parts.

Just physics quietly doing its thing.

That still feels slightly magical.

WATCH: VICTRON SMARTSOLAR

A useful introduction to the Victron SmartSolar controller and how these clever little MPPT units work:

WATCH: INSTALLING A VICTRON SMARTSOLAR MPPT

A closer look at installing and using the Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15:

WATCH: CAMPERVAN AND RV SMARTSOLAR INSTALLATION

Another useful look at using a Victron SmartSolar controller in a mobile off-grid electrical system:

WATCH: VICTRON 75/15 OVERVIEW

A closer look specifically at the Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 with Bluetooth monitoring:

One of the biggest differences compared with the old setup is information.

A campervan battery system can otherwise feel surprisingly mysterious.

Something is charging.

Something is using power.

The voltage moves around.

And everyone starts guessing.

Now I can actually see what’s going on.

Between the SmartSolar and SmartShunt I’m building a real picture of Vanilla’s energy use.

That means I can stop thinking in theory and start learning what actually happens in my van.

My fridge.

My heater.

My lights.

My gadgets.

My travelling habits.

My camping.

That real-world information is far more useful than any theoretical off-grid calculation.

Naturally, there is only one sensible thing to do now.

Test it.

Properly.

More nights away.

More off-grid camping.

More Webasto use.

More fridge.

More monitoring.

More mornings watching the solar system bring the battery back up.

I want to know Vanilla’s true off-grid endurance.

Not what a brochure says.

Not what somebody on a forum thinks.

I want to know what Vanilla can actually do.

And judging by what I’ve seen so far, I think the answer is going to be impressive.

I’ve added plenty of things to Vanilla.

Some have made her more comfortable.

Some have made her more practical.

Some have simply made her look better.

But this solar upgrade is rapidly becoming one of the best.

Because it improves the thing a campervan is ultimately supposed to do.

Go somewhere.

Park.

Stay.

Live comfortably.

Then move on whenever you fancy.

The PV Logic PS-8688 200W Thin Rigid Frame Solar Panel has massively improved the solar side of the van.

The Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 has given me the visibility and control I wanted.

And together they’ve transformed solar from something I knew was somewhere on the roof into something I genuinely enjoy using.

Solar Panel: PV Logic PS-8688 Rated Output: 200W Panel Type: Thin Rigid Frame Solar Controller: Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 Battery Monitor: Victron SmartShunt Driving Charger: Victron Orion Smart 30A DC-DC Mission: Proper off-grid independence Status: OFF-GRID HAPPY TIME

That’s probably the simplest way to describe what has changed.

The engine can charge Vanilla.

Mains electricity can charge Vanilla.

And now the sky makes a serious contribution too.

The sun rises.

The Victron wakes up.

The battery starts recovering.

And somewhere nearby I’m probably looking at my phone thinking:

“Go on then… how many watts are we getting?”

That’s off-grid happy time.