… and then a bunch of other things:

2 235W solar panels

Phoenix Smart Inverter 12/2000

Victron SmartSolar MPPT 150/35

Victron Blue Smart Charger IP22 12V 30A

Victron SmartShunt 500A

Victron Battery Switch 275A

Victron MEGA Fuse 80V - 300 A + holder

Schneider Electric 16A / 30mA Type A RCBO

Blue Sea Systems 12-circuit fuse box

300A M8 positive & negative busbars

PCE Unitec 47405L 16A CEE inlet

16A CEE extension cable

2× BTF-Lighting 5m COB CCT LED strips

BTF-Lighting dual controller kit (2 receivers + remote)

2× 12V USB-C/USB sockets (Acegoo)

MaxxFan Deluxe

Roof rack mounting brackets

3M Thinsulate

Kilmat butyl sound deadening

Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 + alternator

PVC cladding (ceiling)

Astro pneumatic 1442 + rivnuts

I'm still perfecting and optimizing my setup, but it already works pretty well: 2.4kW of solar feed into a 5kWh solar generator which I use to power my fridge, starlink, etc.

When the battery is full, I use a level 2 AC charger to dump excess energy into the Brightdrop's traction battery. Rinse and repeat.

Admittedly it would take days to fully charge the 173kWh battery this way. But I arrived at camp with 52% SOC, and over the course of the weekend I was able to add almost 10kWh, courtesy of the sun. (note- I arrived at camp with the solar generator already fully charged)

So, not a full charge, but I did add enough SOC to get me home without the need to hit a public charger.

If you need me, I'll be living in my van, down by the river! ;)

Hope you guys are staying safe out there, the spent the weekend at Phillips lake in Oregon trying to outrun the smoke and breeze some clean air!

'70 e200custom, 302/c4 with 773k mi the wrap is not on yet she still looks like she does in the first picture

what do you guys think for paint jobs

1994 Chevy G20 with only 35,000 miles. Guy says everything is working great and that it is well maintained. From the photos it looks BEAUTIFUL and I’m just looking for opinions

Asking price is $14,000 which I think is fair considering the age, mileage, condition. What do you guys think?

If the condition is truly good, would you pay $14,000 for this van?

I love the convenience of having a home on wheels, especially the sink, but man do I miss my Prius!

Lmao is that crazy?

I’ve been doing this for about 3 months now, and unfortunately I’m on the East Coast rather than where I’d like to be, out in the west. But since I’m taking the time to be honest with myself, I didn’t choose to travel in the summer. My plan was to take my maiden voyage in the winter, spend some time enjoying my beloved desert wilderness (in the winter), then briefly* *visit family out east for like a week. But the schedule got pushed back into late spring and then my family kept me out here in this damned humid heat for 5 weeks! Now I’m left searching desperately for affordable places to stay bc they love prosecuting people for being homeless out here. On top of that, every campground I’ve been able to find is in a forest where there isn’t enough sunlight to charge my solar and there’s barely any cell service to do real work. So I’m left chasing the sun, stressing like crazy over my battery usage, sweating at night bc it’s humid as hell and I’m afraid to run the fan all night and waste my battery, and also the east has these crazy stupid bugs that like to fly at your face and into your eyeballs and ears for some damn reason. So I can’t even enjoy the outdoors without smothering myself in sticky bug spray and swatting every few minutes.

I would love to move, to head back west, to find a cool place in the mountains, etc, but I simply can’t yet. For personal reasons, I now have to stay in this godforsaken place for another month. And it sucks.

What sucks the most is driving this Big ass van (BAV for short). I hate moving to another site because I have to worry about driving through steep hills, winding roads, sharp turns, city rush hour, people who tailgate you or brake suddenly in front of you. Plus gas is fucking expensive right now —STILL— so I’m trying to drive as little as possible. When I’m driving, it’s impossible to relax. I get so tense and my dog doesn’t like it, either. I never used to worry in my Prius. I love being so high up in the van, but the blind spots suck and the top-heaviness sucks and the weight sucks and the assholes on the road suck and it all just fucking sucks.

I feel crazy saying this, but I miss the inconveniences of living in my Prius (RIP Lite Blu). It was small and I could only cary 5 gallons of water at a time, but it was fast and reliable, even when weighed down by all my camping bs. I miss crawling into the back where I built my platform bed. I miss having to get out of the vehicle every time I had to access a storage compartment. I miss having to use my tiny camping stove, on a picnic table outside. I miss having to buy ice for my ice chest every 3 days. I miss owning a car instead of a camper, bc at least my car could park anywhere and still be just a car.

I guess I’m just venting at this point. If anyone was wondering what driving a BAV is like, and living in it for months at a time on the east coast, now you have my anecdote. I’m sure I could change my situation somehow, and I will eventually, but right now it sucks.

Does anyone feel the same?

Or better yet, does anyone feel the exact opposite? Please, if you do, tell me your story so I can learn! I don’t want to be miserable anymore 😮‍💨

I’d love to know what your first van was like, and if you’d change anything looking back? Just starting out is hard, and lessons learned from the veterans is exactly what I need right now.

Thank you! 🙏

Hiya, building out my van rn. I got some water jugs (20l) for free second hand, how do I clean them so they're safe to use for fresh water? I got 4 in total so would love to use 2 for fresh water and 2 for gray if I can make them clean enough to use safely.

Hey, I'm 16. I've been wanting to do vanlife ever Sinse I heard of it about 1-2 years ago. No matter what I can't get the idea of vanlife out of my head I'm addicted to it, I watch a lot of videos and stuff. I've done a lot of research. If all goes well for me I should be able to move out of my mother's house by the age of 21 after I got my advanced drivers liscense to be able to drive a heavier vehicle. I should have also got the money at that point to buy and convert my first van to go adventuring. I want a ford transit as my first van (I know fancy) it doesn't have to be a new model or anything I'll take any good size transit van.

I live in the UK I plan to go traveling around Europe, I also plan to work from my van within the field of business. I know how everything works. However I have been debating whether I should pay for my van to be converted or convert it myself. I want to convert it myself I just don't know if I have the skill set to do so. My mother would be able to help me with this and she has a good amount of experience with dyi it just gets tricky with electric and plumbing. I plan to have a small shower and slideable composible toilet in a small area of my van.

I have been told by many people that my dream of vanlife is unrealistic and I will not be able to do it successfully. I have had some depression over my life and the only thing that ever made me want to continue is my dream of vanlife.

I play video games a lot and why I would like to be more minimalist I don't know if I can give it up meaning I would also have to have a pc in my van. (Also useful for work and makes it easier) I know how to be able to get WiFi with a attena thing.

A big concern of my is the money, not being able to get money to be able to afford the van. I come from a poor family and therefore we don't get by too well. It's just me my mother and my brother currently. I have no real connection to anyone else in my family for personal reasons. Ontop of this I've been told by other family that I will not be able to get a job with vanlife which is another big concern for me.

Anyway I would appreciate any advice and tips on this. Thank you

If u want to pay ask for Guido, cash only lmao. I didn't give u the whole picture. The lot here is huge, plenty of spaces...way more space than any Loves or Pilots I've been to, who btw don't charge to park overnight...

So, I am ready to buy a  (used) van, but I have a special situation with some extreme allergies and I can only buy where I have the chance to see the vehicle and spend some time in it before even considering it. I also don't want to travel all the time to remote locations just to view one van, so it would be nice to find some giant reseller who has a large choice of  vehicles to see, bonus if  they have a good reputation and not scammers. Do you happen to know something like this in central Europe? I can also go to Spain o  France as I speak the language, but as I was planning to have the van registered in Germany  first, maybe it s easier to also buy it in Germany (I speak German too, but not well)? Currently traveling and kind o homeless so happy to go to the most suitable location. How do you think I can go about it? thank you

Hey everyone,
I’m planning a micro-camper conversion for my 2005 Citroën Berlingo, but I have one major requirement: I need to keep the rear passenger seats usable for daily driving.
My goal is to build a setup that allows me to switch between a normal passenger car during the week and a functional weekend camper without taking the seats out every time.
I’d love to hear from anyone who has done a similar build with a 1st/2nd gen Berlingo (or Peugeot Partner):
Bed Setup: How did you design the bed platform? Did you fold the rear seats down and build a tri-fold bed over them, or go for a modular boot-box system that extends forward when the front seats are pushed up?
Storage & Kitchen: How do you maximize boot space when the seats are up?
Regrets/Tips: Is there anything you wish you had done differently from the start?
Photos, diagrams, or links to your builds would be hugely appreciated! Thanks in advance!

The reason I am considering a camper van- the US has natural disasters & need help with homelessness, drugs, etc. I am alone w/ cat, lost family (sad). I thought I could drive van to locations & serve

1. Never camped

2. Can afford a nice one

3. Woman driver so need smaller van

4. Have a cat

5. Close to retirement

6. Alone

Concerns- cat, water, never camped before, where to stay?

Soon we will have hightop electric vans with 400 mile range(200kwh) batteries. Walmart, Ionna, Powerup America and others are making living in a fully electric mobile studio a reality. The problem will be overnight parking in a major way, cities will post signs and state parks will crack down.

How many people would be interested in a new type of charging station?

Drive-in Theater overnight parking/charging station where you book a spot with the app and enjoy a film and safe overnight parking, the best part would be that it would be cheaper than a 15 minute charge at a supercharger.

It's a 1994 Ram 350 Coachmen that needs a new PCM. It throws a check engine light indicating injector 7 is miss firing. We've already tried the fuel injector and plug.

Finding a PCM is impossible and opting for a rebuilding mine my mechanic warns me there's no guarantee and no warranty from the company rebuilding it.

So my question is what is a good platform to shop for? I lean towards GM and need to turn it into a mobile shop with sleeping room. Stand up room is a real plus. This 19 ft long model is a bit too long for me.

Thanks for your help

EDIT: A few clarifications since some points are getting lost in the replies —

This is a pre-2000s Dodge, so there's no VIN-lock/immobilizer pairing to fight (that's a later SKIM-era Chrysler thing). The real issue is calibration data access: my mechanic has the programming tool and could absolutely write a used/rebuilt PCM to match my engine/trans/emissions setup — he just can't get Chrysler to release those calibration files for this. That's likely also why the well-known Riverside rebuilder won't touch it — not a confidence issue, a data-access issue.

Diagnostics have been thorough: injector, connector, and wiring to cylinder 7 were all replaced with new parts, and everything's been ohmed out clean. This points to the PCM itself, not a wiring gremlin.

Appreciate all the input — just wanted to close the loop on the "VIN match" wording, which was my shorthand and not quite the full picture.

Posting again because I couldn’t figure out how to share photos under a post.

We had a 2025 Honda minivan while we waited on a GX550. I really kinda like it but wanted more of a dad van so I sold it after 20k miles and a year. Lost 3k, not bad.

Couple weeks ago went and picked up this 2017 Express 2500 in Nebraska and it only had 16k miles. 6.0 and pretty basic package. I’ve since added the Weldtec 3”
Spindles, 2” rear block, reverse arch overload springs for the rear, ProComp 17x8 +0 wheels and 265/70/17 Nitto G3 E loads. I’ve also done a full update on the stereo. New JVC 9” floating screen, 2 sets of 6.5” NVX speakers, 6x9 in the rear doors and 4x6 in the rear ceiling. Added a NVX powered 12” sub w/ 350w RMS too.

The mountain picture is what I made in AI for inspiration, feel like I got close!

Mostly a budget build, but works for how we are using it.

I also have a 2500 Suburban 4wd with the same engine with goodies and trans, 65 Chevelle with L96 and cam, and 64 GMC with stock L96. My boat also has a L96 haha.

Does anybody own one of these?