Recently purchased a 2007 Sprinter and are in the process of making it our weekend warrior. The thought was since we technically don't have a tent to fit the five of us (including three children under 5 for a few months), why spend $500-600 on a tent when you can spend $20K on a van??
So far the vanventure has been very good thus far as we're only doing a very basic platform bed + upgrading some of the other essentials (adding insulation, upgrading speaker/stereo, installing carpet) - but now we are to the electrical part and I have some questions. We have installed a Maxxair ventilation fan in the rear of our van, but instead of hooking up the power to the starting battery I left the wires coiled up in the ceiling for the time being and used it only as a vent. Well now summer is around the corner and it's time to connect them to somewhere and we have settled on starting our process with a Goal Zero Yeti 400 as we don't intend on living out of the van, but still would like to use the fan, some LED lighting, and charge some USB electronics overnight or while we are out and about.
Could anyone comment on the best way to run/extend the Maxxair cables to the Goal Zero unit? I was thinking of either running them down to one of the 12V cigarette lighters in the rear and then running another cable from there to the Yeti 400 when we wanted to use it, but was also thinking it might be easier/better to just run directly to a new mounting hole near the existing 12V cigarette outlet by using something like:
https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-5-5mmx.../dp/B01ERPCV1Y
https://www.amazon.com/outstanding-S.../dp/B073W4V9VB
Some of the basic questions I have would be:
1. What gauge wire would i need to run?
2. Is there any need to use a fuse at all since I will be using the Yeti as my source?
3. Anyone have pictures/examples/details of how they are using a Maxxair fan (or other type) and powering it using only a Goal Zero or other power supply would be helpful.
So far the vanventure has been very good thus far as we're only doing a very basic platform bed + upgrading some of the other essentials (adding insulation, upgrading speaker/stereo, installing carpet) - but now we are to the electrical part and I have some questions. We have installed a Maxxair ventilation fan in the rear of our van, but instead of hooking up the power to the starting battery I left the wires coiled up in the ceiling for the time being and used it only as a vent. Well now summer is around the corner and it's time to connect them to somewhere and we have settled on starting our process with a Goal Zero Yeti 400 as we don't intend on living out of the van, but still would like to use the fan, some LED lighting, and charge some USB electronics overnight or while we are out and about.
Could anyone comment on the best way to run/extend the Maxxair cables to the Goal Zero unit? I was thinking of either running them down to one of the 12V cigarette lighters in the rear and then running another cable from there to the Yeti 400 when we wanted to use it, but was also thinking it might be easier/better to just run directly to a new mounting hole near the existing 12V cigarette outlet by using something like:
https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-5-5mmx.../dp/B01ERPCV1Y
https://www.amazon.com/outstanding-S.../dp/B073W4V9VB
Some of the basic questions I have would be:
1. What gauge wire would i need to run?
2. Is there any need to use a fuse at all since I will be using the Yeti as my source?
3. Anyone have pictures/examples/details of how they are using a Maxxair fan (or other type) and powering it using only a Goal Zero or other power supply would be helpful.