Active Camper Off-Grid & Free Camping Fitout [Video]

Hey guys, Briohny here from Accelerate Auto Electrics and Air Conditioning on the Sunshine Coast. Today we’re gonna show you through the 12-volt free camping fitout we’ve done on one of our customers’ Active Camper. It’s set up on the back of their BT-50. This setup has allowed them to go off-the-grid camping for an unlimited time as long as the sun’s shining. So come inside and check it out.

So first up, we’ve upgraded their dual battery system. We’ve put a second dual battery in here so they’ve now got two dual batteries, two 120 amp hours. This has allowed them to store extra daylight in the batteries for when the sun’s not shining. Outside we’ve installed a cigarette socket here, and the customer has an annex light that plugs into there for the outside at night.

What’s Inside:

So inside we’ve put a Redarc Battery Management System. This takes the input from the solar panels, 240 volts, or an Anderson plug if it’s plugged into the car and charging while driving. It then decides which is the best input to charge the batteries. It also gives us ratings of all the batteries and what’s currently being drawn and what input’s being put in at this point in time.

We’ve also got this set up for a TV, so we’ve put in a bracket here and we’ve got an aerial in here. They plug the aerial in, and there’s an aerial on a pole that they can put out to get reception. Then just also under here, we’ve got two cigarette sockets, and another one on top so they can plug the TV into any of those.

We’ve also mounted a 12-volt fan in here. So that’s nice and easy and adjustable for angling whichever way you want if you’re in the bed or having a seat at the table.

Other Accessories:

In the cab of the BT-50, we’ve installed a Uniden UHF radio, and we’ve also got two reverse cameras. There’s one that clicks over their existing mirror here engages when they’re in reverse, and then we’ve got a second one here that’s attached to the rear of the camper. This allows them to permanently see behind the camper while they’re driving, it stays on all the time using heavy duty cabling.

We’ve also put Airbag Man suspension under the tray. When the camper is on the back, they can pump up the suspension to return the car to its true ride height. When they take it off, they can let all the air out of the suspension there to put it back to normal hight for driving on the road.

On the roof, we’ve also installed two 100-watt flexible solar panels. These solar panels take energy from the sun, pop it into the BMS, which then feeds into the batteries and keeps them fully charged. These guys can stay off the grid and don’t have to plug into 240-volt for as long as the sun’s shining.

If you would like help with getting your Active Camper set up for off-the-grid camping, you can give us a call on 1300 227 353, or comment below.

That’s Briohny from Accelerate Auto Electrics & Air Conditioning.