A camper van leisure battery is necessary for providing power to all the electrical devices in your van. But without a way to recharge your battery, these electrical devices will eventually completely drain the battery. Empty battery means no more power. That is why it is critical to learn about the different ways you can charge your camper van leisure battery.
Here are the four common ways to charge a camper battery:
- Solar panels
- DC-DC charger (from vehicle alternator)
- Shore power
- Generator (gas/propane)
In this post, we go over each of these common charging solutions, review their pros & cons, and give our best product recommendations. At the end of the post, we discuss which of the four charging solutions we use in our own camper van and how much we rely on each solution to provide power to our batteries.
Don't Know Anything About Camper Van Batteries? Read our leisure battery guide to get a basic understanding about camper batteries. This will help you before reading this comparison post.
So if you’re ready, let’s dive into it.
1. Charge From Solar Panels
Utilizing solar panels is a popular way that camper vans charge their leisure batteries. Solar panels convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity, which is then stored in the batteries through a charge controller. Because of their renewable, eco-friendly solution, van lifers are increasingly turning to solar power as their primary charging solution.
One of the best aspects about having solar panels is that the charging process is entirely passive. As long as the panels are receiving sunlight, they will be sending electricity to the batteries. No other work or action is required on your part. You can be wild camping miles away from civilization and your batteries can still be receiving power from the solar panels. Yay science!
Based on our experience with solar panels, we would break down the pros and cons of installing panels as follows.
Pros Of Solar
- Clean energy source
- Passive charging
- Energy independence
- Improves van resale value
Cons Of Solar
- Not cheap
- Tricky to install
- Sunlight dependent
Figuring out how much solar you need to keep your leisure batteries charged can be tricky. To get the right size solar means having the right size batteries first. Below, we provide a two-step process to help you determine how much solar power you need to keep your batteries consistently charged.
- Calculate battery size – Use our battery calculator to help you.
- Calculate solar size – Once you know your battery size, use our solar calculator.
Once you’ve picked out your solar panels and are ready to install them, check out our camper van solar install guide to help you get started. We also provide a solar wiring eBook, which includes useful wiring diagrams and product recommendations. It’s free to download.
From the solar panels, to charge controller, to the batteries, and everything in-between, this eBook has you covered. 12+ pages of detailed diagrams, product recommendations, and links to additional resources.
How Long Does It Take To Charge Camper Van Leisure Batteries From Solar Panels?
The amount of time it takes to replenish your batteries from solar depends on the size of your battery bank, how many watts of solar you have, and how much sunlight there is in the day. There are a lot of factors to take into account and so there is no solid answer.
If you use our solar size calculator, we are confident that you will arrive at a total wattage figure that will serve you well no matter what season you will be traveling in. (Note: To use this calculator, we recommend using our battery calculator first, which we linked to further up in this article.)
We have used this calculation method for our own camper van build and it has served us extremely well during the rainy seasons, winter months, and when parked in shaded campsites. However, we would never recommend solely relying on solar power to charge your leisure batteries, and that is why we recommend more charging solutions below.
2. Charge From Alternator
Camper van batteries can also be charged by receiving power from the vehicle’s alternator. An alternator is a device that connects to the van’s engine and generates electrical power when the motor is on. The purpose of the alternator is to charge the vehicle’s starting battery when driving.
By connecting the leisure batteries to the starting battery, which is already connected to the alternator, these auxiliary batteries can also receive a charge when the engine is running. To do this you will need to connect either a split charge relay or DC-DC charger (preferred) in-between the leisure and starter batteries.
- Split Charge Relay (Battery Isolator) – Cheap device and easy to install, but does not work with lithium batteries.
- DC-DC Charger – More intelligent device Works with lithium batteries.
Since we strongly believe you should be using lithium batteries for your van conversion, we recommend the Victron Orion DC-DC charger for anyone interested in charging their leisure batteries while they drive. We personally use this charger and love the device’s functionality, high quality build, and Bluetooth capability.
Charge your leisure batteries quickly with Victron's 30A DC-DC charger (up to 360W). Works great for both lithium and AGM batteries. But the highlight is the charger's Bluetooth connectivity, which pairs with Victron's UI-friendly smartphone app.
Based on our experience with our charger, we would list the pros and cons of DC-DC charging as follows.
Pros Of DC-DC Charging
- Cheaper than solar
- Passive charging
- Great when highway driving
Cons DC-DC Charging
- Engine must be running
- Not for short drives
When you’re ready to install, read our DC-DC charger installation guide. The post includes useful product lists and wiring diagrams (like the one below).
3. Charge From Shore Power
The term ‘shore power’ is defined as any electrical socket outside a camper van that is connected to the main power grid. A shore power socket could be located at a campsite, in the garage of your house, or even at a gas station.
However, because shore power is supplied in alternating current (AC) power and the batteries operate on direct current (DC) power, you will need the appropriate charging equipment to utilize shore power sockets to charge your batteries. The two most popular chargers are:
Most camper vans use inverter/chargers to charge their batteries from shore power. Inverters typically take DC power from the batteries and convert it to AC power. However, if you get an inverter with an additional charger module, you will also be able to convert AC power back to DC power, to charge the batteries.
- Inverter/Charger Combo Unites – These are typically larger devices that convert 12V to 120V (and vise versa). They also tend to be more expensive than standard inverters.
- Standalone Chargers – Only convert 120V to 12V, but are considerably smaller and cheaper than inverter/charger combos.
Below is an example of a Victron standalone charger and an inverter/charger combo. We personally use the 2000W inverter/charger and love it, but it is a more expensive unit than just the charger itself.
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Description: Simple dedicated battery charger to recharge batteries from shore power. |
Description: Powerful 2000W inverter/charger combo unit. Converters 12V DC power to 110V AC and vise versa. We use this unit in our camper van. |
Simple dedicated battery charger to recharge batteries from shore power.
Powerful 2000W inverter/charger combo unit. Converters 12V DC power to 110V AC and vise versa. We use this unit in our camper van.
Based on our experience with our shore power charging experience, we would list the pros and cons of shore power charging as follows.
Pros Of Shore Power
- Affordable Option (Can Be)
- Reliable Charging
- Fast Charging
Cons Of Shore Power
- Dependent On Socket
- Reliant On Campsites
If you’re ready to install, check out our inverter/charger installation guide. It includes useful product lists and wiring diagrams, like the one below.
Budget Alternative: If the Victron models are out of your budget, consider a simple 20A battery charger. It's small and can delivery a powerful 20A of power to your leisure battery. The recommended charger below is compatible with both AGM and lithium batteries.
4. Charge From A Generator
Leisure batteries can also be charged by connecting them to a portable generator. Most generators require either gasoline or propane (LPG) to run. Generators are convenient because you don’t need to rely on sunlight or driving a certain distance in order to function. As long as you have gas or propane, the generator will provide ample power to send a charge.
However, portable generators are not popular within the camper van community because they can be loud when turned on. We wouldn’t want to be wild camping in a pristine, quiet setting only to have the moment ruined by a loud generator humming in the background. Some campgrounds do not allow the use of generators because of their noise. If they aren’t prohibited, we doubt your neighbors would enjoy hearing your generator churning out power.
But generators can be useful in emergency situations. So for some, carrying a small portable generator, like the recommendation below, can help provide power as a last resort.
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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Champion Power Equipment 200961 2500-Watt Dual Fuel Portable Inverter Generator, Ultralight |
$692.01 |
Buy on Amazon |
Pros Of Generators
- Easy To Use
- Only Reliant On Fuel
Cons Of Generators
- Expensive
- Loud
- Bulky
How We Charge The Leisure Batteries In Our Camper Van
Having sufficient power to run our electronics is critical. Because we work remotely, we value power reliability and cannot afford for our batteries to run out of charge. That is why we set up our van’s electric system so that we can charge our leisure batteries in three different ways.
1. Solar Panels (360W)
We installed two 180W solar panels on our van’s roof and feed the power through our Victron charge controller to the leisure batteries. On a long and sunny day, we are able to put back as much as 1.8kWh back into our batteries. On average, the solar panels provide roughly 60% of the total power used to charge our batteries.
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2. Alternator Charging With DC-DC Charger
The second way we charge our batteries is by connecting our leisure batteries to the van’s alternator through a DC-DC charger. We opted for the DC charger, instead of the cheaper split charge relay, because our lithium (LiFePO4) leisure batteries are a different chemistry than our AGM starter battery.
The DC-DC charger works great when the solar panels have been sitting in the shade and were not able to supply sufficient power to our batteries. But with the DC charger, our batteries can still be charged back to full after just a few hours of driving. On average, the DC charger provides roughly 25% of the total power to our batteries.
Charge your leisure batteries quickly with Victron's 30A DC-DC charger (up to 360W). Works great for both lithium and AGM batteries. But the highlight is the charger's Bluetooth connectivity, which pairs with Victron's UI-friendly smartphone app.
3. Shore Power Charging With Inverter/Charger
The third way we charge our leisure batteries is by connecting to shore power with our inverter/charger. When plugged in, our Victron inverter can put ~750Wh of power back into our batteries each hour. However, because our solar panels and DC-DC charger already do such a good job in keeping our batteries charged, shore power only provides roughly 5% of our power charging needs.
We love our Victron Multiplus. We know it's built tough because we've driven 65,000 miles to Argentina, many on tortuous Latin America roads, and we've never had an inverter issue. Not once. If you need to run an induction cook top, water heater, or A/C you need to upgrade to a 3000W inverter.
Conclusion
If keeping your camper van batteries charged is as important to you as it is for us, we can’t stress enough the importance of utilizing at least three different battery charging methods. By doing so, it ensures you will have sufficient power throughout your van life journey.
If budget is a concern, skip shore power charging and focus instead on solar and alternator charging solutions. These two methods will be where most of your power comes from.
If you have any other battery charging related questions, be sure to send us an email to the address listed in our footer.
Happy building!
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