Hey All,
I signed up here as I’ve recently installed an Ekrano GX in my AVan Cruiseliner - upgraded from a CCGX and figured we should share our system.
We own a 2023 AVan Cruiseliner Adventure Pack that we bought brand new. I knew straight up that the factory solar and power offerings were going to be sub-standard - so we ordered ours with no solar and I set about designing a system to absolutely push the limits.
You can follow along with our adventures on YouTube if you would like - https://youtube.com/@rubitherubicon22
The original design goal was to be able to run the microwave for up to half an hour at a time, without needing to plug into shore power. To reheat food as we travel with our kids in the van - and reheating leftovers is an absolute must.
We hit the goal before I had even upgraded to the Lithium batteries. After that at some point it became “How far can we take this” and we’re pretty happy with where we have landed.
A LOT of people in the AVan forums said this couldn’t be done. We’ve done it and exceeded everyone’s expectations.
So, on to the system. In our AVan Crulseliner we have:
On the front roof:
1x Sunman eArc 310W Flexible Solar Panel
1x Repco 80W Flexible Solar Panel
On the rear roof:
1x Lensun Solar 400W Flexible Solar Panel
2x Lensun Solar 50W Flexible Solar Panels
In the “equipment bay”:
1x MultiPlus 12/1600/70
2x SmartSolar 75/10 (2x50s and 1x80)
1x SmartSolar 100/20 (1x310)
1x SmartSolar 100/30 (1x400)
1x Lynx Distributor
1x Orion XS DCDC
1x GX Tank 140
1x USB GPS that’s poked into the rear bulkhead of the van for tracking
1x 10 port USB hub
All devices connected to the USB hub via Ve.Direct to USB cables
On the opposite side of the van (Battery side). We have:
2x Valen Enlifen 240Ah LiFePo4 batteries in AS3001 compliant enclosure
1x SmartShunt 500
Victron Battery Isolator
2x SmartSolar 100/20 connected to Auxilliary Inlets below the main 240v inlet - which we rarely use
For tank monitoring both our diesel heater fuel tank on the front of the van and our main water tank (62L) we are using Safiery Ultrasonic tank sensors.
Our internet is connected via a custom Mikrotik RBM33G with a high power 2.4GHz wifi card and a Quectel RM520N 5G card coupled to a RFI CD8195 on the roof.
The whole system is managed by an Ekrano GX located in the cupboard by the door.
With this system now, we are capable of - when deploying our extra external solar blankets - running the Air Conditioning during the day as long as we have good coverage, and if we set the temperature to a moderate 23 degrees, it can run overnight if we are spending the day away from the van the next day to recover the power usage.
We absolutely pushed beyond the limits of what was thought to be possible. 890W of solar on an AVan is absolutely un-heardof, and fitting a panel to the section of the back roof was largely considred not possible - well, with some small spacers and some extra foam strips, we made it possible.
We can run the microwave for as long as we need before dinner.
One of the biggest challenges for the system was finding space for everything. The AVan Cruiseliner is not a very big van and it’s a pretty tight fit, but we got it all in there and now it’s literally a “hook up and go” rig. We don’t have to worry about power - everything “just works”.
So that’s our little system. Hope you’ve enjoyed the read.
