This is the running list of what is fitted to and carried in our van, with honest notes on what has earned its place and what has not.
It is a living page. Entries get added as we finish testing something properly, and get downgraded when they disappoint. Each entry says how long we have had it, because a review written in week one is worth very little.
We are building it out now rather than publishing a list of things we have barely used. What follows is the structure and the items currently in testing. Check back, or tell us which you want written up first.
Where we link to a retailer, it is an affiliate link and we may earn a commission. It costs you nothing and it does not decide what goes on this list. Some entries here exist specifically to tell you not to buy something. Our testing policy sets out how we decide.
Electrical
The system runs a lithium bank with roof solar through an MPPT controller, alternator charging via a battery to battery charger, and a shunt based monitor. The background on how these parts fit together is in campervan electrical systems explained.
Currently in testing:
- Solar charge controller, fitted this year as a replacement for the original factory PWM unit. Before and after harvest figures being logged across a full season before we write it up, because a controller that looks good in June tells you nothing.
- Leisure battery. Reporting usable capacity as measured rather than nominal, plus cold weather behaviour.
- Roof solar array. Logging best day, typical shoulder season day and typical winter day rather than an annual average.
- Battery monitor and shunt.
Connectivity
Satellite and cellular both in use, which is the only honest way to work out whether you need one, the other, or both.
Currently in testing:
- Satellite terminal. Measuring real average power draw over a full week and what the dish heater does to that in cold weather, because the published figures and the observed figures are not the same.
- 5G router and SIM setup, across UK and European coverage.
Transport
Currently in testing:
- Electric bike. Range in practice against the claimed figure, charging draw and how it fits the van’s power budget, and where it falls short on festival sites and towpaths.
- Rack, and what it does to rear axle loading.
Living
Currently in testing:
- Heating. Fuel consumption, noise, cold weather reliability.
- Fridge. Measured daily consumption, which is the number that determines everyone else’s battery sizing.
- Water system and real world tank endurance.
- Cooking kit, split into what gets used daily and what came out of the cupboard once.
Things we got wrong
This section stays permanently, and it is the reason the rest of the page is worth reading. Kit we bought, fitted and regretted, with what we would do instead and what the mistake cost.
First entries going up shortly.
How this page works
Nothing appears here until we have run it for long enough to have an opinion worth having. Fitted electrical kit gets a minimum of one full season. Everyday items get at least a month of real use. Anything newer than that stays in the “in testing” lists above with the verdict explicitly pending.
If we recommend something and later change our mind, we update the entry and note the change rather than quietly deleting it.
