>>962360

Thats going to be a fuck huge current draw...unlikely you'll be able to keep much of it powered up for much more than 3-4 hrs...go deep cycle gel cells and hope for the best...

>>962360
>big flat screen LED tv, a high performance PC, a PS4, a microwave, and a fridge at the same time but rarely.

heres what to do. Take each of these vital-for-virtual-existence necessities above, add it to the phrase "average power consumption of .." - Google it, this will give you a figure in watts. Add all these watts up, then, come back with this figure - this is how much electricity you need from your batteries. Plural.

Heres a clue, before you start tho - its too much. Even assuming you had the battery capacity to run this shitload of crap, how in fuck are you planning on charging them?

&SAGE.

>>962360
>I want to be able to run a big flat screen LED tv, a high performance PC, a PS4, a microwave, and a fridge at the same time but rarely.

You are obviously new to vandwelling.
You are going to be able to charge your phone and run a small very efficient ultrabook.
Maybe a fridge.

You would spend more on your electronics system than your van to be running that shit

>>962360

AGM's. And a shit load of them are the way to go.

I used to do a lot of long term boating with my family. Our boat had two banks of batteries, one for starting the motor and a "house" bank for everything else (fridge, lights, fans and inverter). The house bank was two banks consisting of two 6 volt deep cycle AGM's run two in series and the then the two banks in parallel. That was good for a night of just using the lights, fans and refrigerator sparingly.

For you, you should double that at least. And don't skimp on the ways to switch between banks.

>>962360
Make sure whatever batteries you buy are deep cycle. Look at the power usage for all your devices, and multiply that by how long you plan to run each day. Multiply by 1.2 to compensate for inverter losses. Then, size your batteries so that amount of energy drains them roughly 50%. This is a good median depth of discharge to get a reasonable life out of them. I'm assuming you'll use lead acid batteries.

Putting batteries in series is preferable to putting them in parallel, as it forces equal charge/discharge current. I'm assuming you're using a 12 volt system; try to make a 12 volt string using lower voltage batteries that have higher capacity, as opposed to putting a bunch of 12 volt batteries in parallel. Make sure to match the age, type, and capacity of the batteries.

Make sure you bring them back up to full charge as soon as you can! Have a good AC charger on hand (or get an inverter/charger) for when you do have access to the grid. Make sure that the charger you have is set up to charge the battery type (flooded, AGM, or gel). Also, set your vehicle's alternator up with an isolator, so it can charge both batteries at once without having one drain into the other.

>>962360
>I want to be able to run a big flat screen LED tv, a high performance PC, a PS4, a microwave, and a fridge at the same time but rarely.
Reconsider your power requirements.

are your trying to sound like the biggest sheltered neet ever

have you ever been inside a class b motorhome?

that is the spacious version of what you're going to cram all of this shit + pizza hut uniform into

>>962360
you're way beyond what a battery bank can do, you're pushing what an APU could manage, in fact you're heading into small towable generator territory.

>>962516
1 bank is 2 banks of 2 six volt batteries?
thats like 4 batteries that are 6 volts, or 2 12 volt batteries.
Id hardly call that a "bank". When you say bank, I think atleast a dozen batteries.

I feel like op would have to upgrade his suspension to haul the equivalent of a forklift battery around.

>>962915

Most boats don't have room for dozens. SO yes, that is a bank of batteries.

The starting bank was two 12V AGM's in parallel.

>>962516
i lived in a van with my dad for a while and did essentially the same thing with 2 car batteries and another for the car. he had a relay switch to charge the bank when the engine was running, it powered a big ass crt, a ps2 and an electric stove top for like 4 hours. the alternator eventually blew though... homeless living was fun..
>>962360
and the fridge isn't necessary if you don't mind driving to the grocery store when you need fresh shit, worked for us.

Literally just get a fucking generator.

>>963034
This is probably the best thing you could do OP, makes no sense to buy a shit ton of batteries and worry about power draw and recharging them all the time

>>963033
This guy gets it, fridge requires constant energy usage.
Drop it, buy fresh

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>>963305
My rv has a propane/electric fridge. When on propane mode it uses only a tiny amount of electricity. It also barely cools shit down. When driving or generator is running I have it set to electric. When parked and genset off I set it to propane.

Rv has a bank of 2 deep cycle for the coach and 1 regular for the chassis.

>>963305
If you have a decent electrical system (batteries, inverter, panels, etc.) then a electric fridge isn't actually much of a burden.

Of course, a van's not going to have the space or the mass for that.

Youre going to need a generator.compare what your trying to do with a sleeper cab semi truck.those drivers can run all that stuff 24hours a day even with the engine shut down but the truck is equipped with a tripac generator.

>>963033

The boat stock had just two batteries on two separate circuits. The owner before us completely rewired it (i.e. the guys who designed this boat didn't do it right, let me redo it) and wired a relay in like you did. Except he also moved the regulator wire for the alternator from a common ground to the ground on the starting bank. A couple years after we bought the boat the relay failed and my dad removed it thinking nothing more of it. We needed to charge the house bank and selected that, regulator saw no charge, so for the couple hours that we ran the engine the alternator was putting its all into four batteries that were past their max. Melted four batteries, killed the shit treater, and the radio. We were helping the electrician trace the wires to see what happened when we found out about the issue with the regulator. Guy was bro and told the insurance company it was a lightening strike. Six brand new AGM's, all new wiring to replace the welding cables the guy used to wire up the new banks he put in, all new idolator switches. new shit treater, radio, stereo. You name it he got the insurance company to pay for it.

Best part was when on the 12V system we would get stray voltage on the 120 circuits (two completely separate circuits) until the professional rewired the boat. He doesn't know what he did to fix it but some where he did it.

Protip:

Don't buy a boat that was rewired by Curly.

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>>963007
nigga, just say batteries. Youre acting like the person that buys two guns and calls their closed the armory.
pic related is a battery bank

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Okie dokie champ, here's what we got:
Tv, computer, ps4= let's call it 20 amps just to be safe.

Microwave: 20 amps

I'm assuming you mean mini fridge, let's call it 7 amps.

Grand total = 47 amps.
50 amps x 120 volts = 6000 watts

Probably a little over kill but there you have it

You'll have to run the van if you want to run this shit.

>>963956
Even running the van won't keep all that going. A 200A alternator (which is fuckhuge) at peak output at 12V would only be putting out 2400W, assuming no loss through the inverter. Even if you rigged up something with dual alternators you wouldn't easily hit 6000W.

>>963956
Those are peak numbers. What you need to focus on the amount of watt hours you're going to be using during a day, and how you are going to replenish that. The OP should invest in a kill-a-watt or similar device and figure out the energy used per day and go from there.

Replace this big screen by a smaller. You will not have space in a van to watch from distance, so it being big will not help you anyway.

>>963034
>>963251
Isn't the van engine a generator?

>>965038
Only if you're driving around a lot. Running the engine for the sake of charging the batteries is a massive waste of fuel.

>>965038
Alternators are not huge, they are usually designed to just run the vehicle and very little accessories.

>>963956
Tv, computer, ps4= let's call it 20 amps just to be safe.

I'm all for calculating in extra's but you're exagerating, I think 10A would be plenty on a 120V net no?

solar power

>>965219
Solar power is fairly expensive, and with the roof area of a van you won't get much power. If OP just wanted to run some LED lights and a low-power laptop solar would work well, but it's not going to run a big-ass TV and desktop.

>>965652
>Solar power is fairly expensive

Not these days it isn't. You'd be surprised what you can get a couple of 200 watt chinese panels for. They all come out of china anyway.

>>965677
>You'd be surprised what you can get a couple of 200 watt chinese panels for.
Sure, but getting worthwhile controller to run them costs decent money. Otherwise you piss away half the power they produce.

>>965708
This. Also those preset dumb pwm controllers that charge at 14.4 etc will ruin your batteries. They are designed for light use like a camper. You might cycle the batteries deeply a few times a year. Do it consistently and you will find those voltages are to low for a complete charge and they will sulfate quickly. Get a midnite kid charge controller. Do 24 volts so you can use up to 700 watts. Adjust for more aggressive charging voltages. Like 14.6-14.8. etc

>>963607
A poorly designed battery bank. Protip: The more paralllels you have the less it will last. Maximum is 3, 2 is ideal. Wire thickness and how even it is will be vital. The difference in resistance will unbalance the cells. The fact that they are so far apart can fuck it up. They should be on one long strong with the same length connectors for each. Connected and paralleled at the end with a single busbar or equal length wires.

We had one of those old Starcrafts from the 80s with an Nes and cooler in the back. Had a second battery for those which isn't really relevant here. What was relevant however is that the roof had a small solar panel to be charging the secondary battey. Idk if the alternator had any involvement. Just a thought

>>962468
You can run a microwave if have the engine running and a 2000W inverter.