If you will not be using your van, properly store your RoamRig power system so that it is ready for your next adventure.
The most robust way to store your van is to fully charge, then turn off the house switch then the breakers. Keep reading for best practices for storing in particular scenarios.
Unless your system is completely powered down, you MUST monitor your batteries to ensure that they do not run out of power for ANY component that remains on, such as the refrigerator. This is true even if you are connected to shore power or charging via solar.
To monitor, do not solely trust SOC. You must also check voltage to ensure your batteries are not depleting. If voltage is 12.2 or lower (even if SOC is high), your batteries are depleted and you should charge immediately via shore power or driving. Read our guide on drift to understand why.
Short Term Storage
Turn off the house switch to disable loads (including your refrigerator). Perfect if you only use your van on weekends and leave it parked during the week. To use your van, turn on the house switch and deep charge via driving or shore power.
Do not leave the inverter on if you are storing the van with the batteries on. The inverter will drain the batteries more quickly.
Long Term Storage
Fully charge, then turn off all loads via the house switch and shut the system down by shutting off all DC breakers on the front of the bench seat (where are the breakers?). When fully shut down, maintain your system every two months by turning everything back on and deep charging via driving for a few hours or plugging into shore power.
Note: Whenever power is shut down and then restored, the Victron gauge will default to reading 100% state of charge. This CANNOT be trusted until your system has been deep charged via driving or shore power. Read about it here.
To use your van, turn on the DC breakers and house switch, then deep charge the system via driving or shore power.
Cold Weather Storage
The batteries cannot charge if they are 32ºF or colder. If you are relying on any component to stay powered, there are additional considerations you must take in cold temperatures, which you can read about here.
Store your van by following the long term storage instructions above.
While in storage, maintain your system every two months by thoroughly warming the interior to bring the battery temperature above 32ºF. Then turn everything back on and deep charge via driving or shore power.
To use your van, thoroughly warm the interior then turn everything back on and deep charge via driving or shore power. If the interior temperature is above -4ºF and your batteries are not discharged, you may warm the interior by turning the system on and using the Rixen heater for a few hours. Remember, if your batteries are not heated to above 32º, then driving will not charge them!
Common Questions
Won’t my solar be enough to power a few systems, like the refrigerator and fan, indefinitely?
Solar is not a guarantee of running anything continuously. For example:
Assuming that the refrigerator and fan average around 7A over 24 hours, they will consume 168ah. Convert that to watts, and it is roughly 2200wh consumed. If you have 230w of solar, even if it produces at peak power for 8 hours during the day, that is only approximately 1800wh of solar power.
That's 2200wh of power consumed compared to 1800wh generated – not enough to operate the fan and the refrigerator without depleting the system.
This estimate is generous! In most cases, you will not generate peak power from Revel stock solar panels, regardless of sun.
After storing my van, nothing will turn on.
Do not worry – the power system has safety features to protect the batteries if things don’t go according to plan. If nothing will turn on, you may have reached a low voltage shutdown. Check out our article, Power Won't Turn On for next steps to reset your batteries.
In cold conditions where the batteries are below 32ºF, if the batteries are completely depleted then they will be unable to power on. In this case, you must warm the interior of the van (and the batteries) with an external heat source before proceeding with resetting the system and immediately charging via driving or shore power.