Looking for some advice please on a sensible setup for heat/airflow management and power options in a VW T5 van. The intended use is 1-2 nights spent in mostly UK campsites to extend a riding trip so more at the "being fairly comfortable in a field behind a pub" end of the spectrum rather than trying to turn it into a motorhome/off-grid monster and fill it with all sorts of heavy or complex kit for weeks away.
It currently has full insulation & carpeting in the rear including rear doors & roof but fairly lightweight curtains (not thermal or blackout) in both side windows and across the bulkhead opening to the cab. One rear side window is a slide opening but there isn't another opening window or vent in the rear, only the two front windows so I assume I need to do something to promote airflow in the rear especially if I want to fit a thermal covering on the front windows/screen or a more substantial barrier to the cab area?
The rear doors are barn door style but van-spec so no window, otherwise I was thinking of an opening window or vent there - but that could still be an option? Or a roof vent but I'm nervous of cutting into the roof particularly and then chasing water leaks forever. Or do I even need another opening?
Power wise at the moment it doesn't have anything other than a campsite style hookup point installed under the bonnet and they had a switch/consumer unit and some 3-pin plugs built into a small unit in the rear with an earth strap to the body, however I'm not going to be staying in campsites that have power hookups often and more likely to just be in a field somewhere so what have people found a sensible option for a bit of power just for charging phones/bike computers etc. for a few days?
I have a Jackery type unit which will be fine for now, I don't plan to be running anything too power-hungry so I may just stick with that but come summer I might want something that'll run a small coolbox for a couple of days. Should I just invest in a leisure battery setup and if so can anyone recommend a kit, and do I supplement that with solar panel on the roof or is that not worth it for a couple of nights here and there?
PFA of the blank canvas, I already have an L-shaped pull-out bed to go behind the seats/down the drivers side so I'll have storage space under that which can be utilised:
For ventilation in the back, something like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203041124830
Basically it locks the rear door open a touch, letting air flow in but not enough that rain gets in.
That's pleasingly simple, I like that!
If you like simple, when staying somewhere with electric hook up I'll use the smallest Delonghi Nano Oil Filled radiator instead of a diesel heater. It's silent and provides "comfortable" heat. If I was starting again, bearing in mind in winter I stay on sites anyway, I'd not bother with the expense of a diesel heater. You can also buy hookup cables (aimed at tent campers) and sockets for 40-50 quid and the door seal (on mine anyway) molds around it.
One thing I wouldn't go without however is the roof vent.
Decathlon do some rechargeable camping lights that produce a "soft" light, I find those quite good and double up as outdoor lanterns/torches.
It looks like the kit that's in there currently is one of these, I'd assumed it was home-brew but maybe not:
I was hoping to do without a diesel heater for this Spring/Summer at least and then once I know a bit more about overnight temperatures and comfort etc. then maybe look into it for winter next year. Similar to you though I think in winter I'd be more inclined to stay on a 'proper' campsite anyway as there will be fewer people there to annoy me, in which case I could use the hook-up.
We never had a diesel heater in our T5. If we were cold camping we'd be on a proper site, hooked-up, and would run a fan heater.
For weekends away with no hookup, given you've already got the hookup and consumer unit, you could run a battery charger off it and wire that to a leisure battery (or batteries). Plug in at home to get the batteries fully charged and then run off them whilst you're away. A 110aH leisure battery would last us a weekend running a compressor fridge, lights, water pump etc. If you hooked up two batteries you'd be laughing.
Our set up was (it started with split charge and a leisure battery, then I progressively added hookup and solar):
How big is your jackery? I'd just run one of those as it offers you 240v and you have it already, it has all the charging options. Then add a leisure battery in parallel. You could add a split charge for charging on the go easily with a solar panel for being laid up and a 3 pin hook up to AC plug if there is a hook up. Should run a camping fridge fine for a few days.
Ventilation - mine had side windows. The insulation kept a lot of heat out in the summer.
Without a heat source in winter, even with insulation the temperatures will be similar to outside tbh.
Pretty simple to wire in a split charge setup (wired campers mentioned above do everything).
Curtains - Van X do blackout curtains. They're decent even if Van X themselves are pretty hit and miss from a service perspective. Also get some wind deflectors for the front windows. They allow you to crack the window an inch but stop rain etc getting in.
Also get some wind deflectors for the front windows. They allow you to crack the window an inch but stop rain etc getting in.
Ah yeah, forgot about these, they're a must. Between those and the door stop thing above your ventilation needs are sorted.
Luckily it already has wind deflectors, and for this weekend I've got the rear door stand-off arriving tomorrow.
I'm also just down the road from JustKampers so I might nip in and grab some thermal curtains for the cab tomorrow after work. Without a heat source I don't know if that'll achieve all that much other than keeping the inside of the van at 3 degrees after the sun comes back up but it'll block the light from the cab too which is probably more useful initially 😀
Power wise I've got the Explorer 500: "518 watt-hour (24Ah, 21.6V) lithium-ion battery pack and a pure sine wave inverter. It features 1* AC outlet (230V 500W 1000W peak), 3*USB-A ports, 2* DC ports, and 1*car port to run low to high power appliances, including a mini-fridge, air pump, and TV." so that'll tide me over, but I think a split charge and leisure battery is the way to go for sure from everyones advice!
Just bear in mind that split chargers don't really charge that much - you've got to be driving for a long time to get any meaningful charge into the battery (say it's drawing 10A, and you're trying to get 70Ah into a 110Ah battery, that'll take seven hours of driving). They're best for keeping an already charged battery topped up whilst you're driving and stuff like the fridge is running, so you get to the site with a full battery.
I think the T5 split charge system is quite simple. (The T6 start stop system is more complicated and the kit is more expensive) As Davey says above, window deflectors are helpful.
Those tailgate standoff vent things are ace, I'll get one for my van for when it's not midgy...
I have a t6.1 with a full camper conversion, solar panels, dual leisure batteries, fridge, hob, sink etc. It's great but you're stuck with it even when you don't need it all
So, to be honest, if I was you I would keep it all simple, stealthy and (re)moveble and just get a solar panel for the Jakery. Can you get a bigger battery too?
Sorry to hijack the thread, but will those Jackery things be able to fully charge 2 Eebs over a weekend? I have just bought a Transit custom and looking for something for short breaks away.
We've a wee oil filled radiator - while it's not enough when sub-zero, it works well the rest of the time. Fan heater would be even better.
Ventilation - I would fit a big roof light / vent. Not expensive really, but so much better than propping a door open in wet or windy weather. My son has one with proper extractor fan and it's superb when it's damp / bike in the van / wet clothes. Chinese on eBay under £100, Fiamma are £200.
Blackout is easy: there's dozens of insulated, sucker-on, thermal blinds on eBay. Such as https://ebay.us/m/mgSNAs
And +1 on wind vents on front window, we've even home-sewed midge nets. We sleep most nights with the front windows down 5cm.
Sounds like you are pretty well set up. We run a electric cool box off our anker power brick and we get enough solar energy to power the cool box and charge the battery on a sunny day. We're camping in the van this weekend (Newer Vivaro life with seats but have a Vangear fold out bed). No heating so plenty of duvets as we are off grid this weekend. We also have a Decathlon awning when we don't stay in the tent. We bought thermal blackout blinds for all the windows. We can leave the front open a bit as we have the deflectors and the rear tailgate has the window that pops open seperately from the tailgate.
We'll use a small oil radiator when on hookup if cold.
You might want a porta potti to avoid the early hour loo dash. That goes in the awning.
More that a couple of nights we pop the tent up. We also have thermarest Mondo king air beds.
When we had a T4 we found an external thermal windscreen blind much easier to set up and better than an internal one with suckers that start to unlatch usually just as the sun comes up at 5am filling the van with light. I think both came from Just Kampers. We kept the side window internal ones to go behind curtains on colder nights.
We had front wind deflectors and opened the front windows to let air in. Also had a roof vent in the high top.
For spring/autumn camping with a hook up a 500watt oil filled radiator from B&Q added sufficient warmth.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks all! I had forgotten I can get a solar panel for the Jackery so I'll pick one of those up for now to keep things minimal while I work out what I need/miss on the first few trips.
@IHN I hadn't considered charging rate on the leisure battery, majority of trips will only be 1-3hrs drive but I assume I could pre-charge the leisure battery a few days before if I'm only going to need it for a weekends worth of low-draw power?
I spotted a drawback yesterday with the rear door stand-off as the interior has been carpeted right up to and behind the door seal at the back so that has potential to wick moisture in. Not something I can/need to sort for this weekend but pushes me further towards adding another vent or potentially swapping the non-opening side window for one with a slider.
I've grabbed some internal thermal blinds to sucker behind the existing side curtains and cab windows, I like the look of the front external ones more that wrap around the screen & doors but not in stock for this trip.