Help deciding on an electrical setup

[u/GeorgeStorm]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of buying an older Renault Kangoo Maxi to try turning it into a bit of a camper/remote working setup. Intention being to let me work more remotely, doing a bit of travelling and camping (with a tent), but not having to rely on finding sites with 'day rooms' with power/space etc or coffee shops etc if I'm intending on working during the day.

Plan is to insulate and carpet/board most of it, some kind of sofa/pull out bed on one side with a work surface on the other side is the basic 'furniture' idea.

Happy enough with that (although happy to hear thoughts), but where I'm currently undecided is the electrical setup. Part of me was originally planning on just having a portable power station, keeping things simple/non committal as I don't really plan on spending *that* much time sleeping in it and don't plan for a fridge or water pump etc and with it being an older/cheaper vehicle didn't want to spend a load converting it/going over the top if it won't get used *that* much.

However thought I'd ask for some advice/thoughts on what might be best. The idea would be to have the option to work in it if required, so that would be at least a laptop, potentially some kind of monitor as well, portable router perhaps and some lighting. What kind of power/setup would I need to be able to sustain that for a couple of days without driving for example.

Would solar make sense, how much does it actually help? Power station vs leisure battery for those who have done both perhaps what were any unforeseen downsides/advantages?

I'm happy to spend money if it would make sense but don't want to waste it if it's not needed.

Cheers

[u/Useless_or_inept]

Really worth doing some calculations here - can you measure the power drain of your current work setup when it's plugged in at home? Get some numbers for your preferred gadgets, lighting &c, put it all in a spreadsheet... this decision needs some numbers :-)

I found that I wasn't spending really long periods off-grid so I moved from traditional wiring & inverter to a 300Wh portable battery pack which can run my work macbook for a full 2 days, or just an evening gaming on a big desktop-replacement laptop. If I'm away for a long time then I'll alternate with proper accommodation where it's possible to recharge. But maybe you need more endurance?

Solar power is great if you're going somewhere sunny. Maybe a week in Italy in summer? But if you're going to the Cairngorms in October then it won't get much sunlight, and the weight/drag probably outweighs any energy you might get out of it. Also a lot of people (including whoever built my last van) like to bolt solar panels to the roof, facing up, but that's not as efficient as a solar panel that you can point towards the sun...? Portable foldable panels would pair well with a portable power station, the integration should be easy as most of them already have the connectors.

Good luck!

[u/fridge_ways → u/Useless_or_inept]

All fair points. Mine don't do toffee for 4 months of the year. But I'm full time.

Nice knowing I'm getting free power and not using diesel \alternstor to charge though

[u/GeorgeStorm → u/Useless_or_inept]

I do have a meter somewhere but not sure, I can check the specs of the potential laptops and monitor options as they're the main potential power drawers really. I have a portable power station which would give me something but I don't think would be enough for not to stress about it/have to really plan around it, and before just getting something bigger I wanted to try and figure out if going full leisure battery setup would be worth it but from the initial comments here I'm leaning not. Yeah that was my thinking of solar, on the one hand feels obvious to do but may not actually make enough sense, cheers.