Van Solar in Australia
Australia has excellent sun nationwide, so arrays can be modest, but remote travel and extreme heat drive the design. Long stretches between towns reward a bigger battery for genuine autonomy, and high temperatures cut panel output and demand strong battery ventilation. Cold-weather derating only matters in alpine and southern winter travel.
How to plan a build for Australia
Australia's sun is excellent nationwide, so the array is rarely the binding constraint; distance and heat are. Long stretches between towns mean genuine autonomy matters: a bigger battery buys you days parked up without moving, which is the actual use case here. High ambient temperatures cut panel output and stress batteries, so ventilate the battery compartment properly and keep an air gap under the panels. Cold-weather derating only applies to alpine and southern winter travel; for most routes you can size on the annual figure and be comfortable.
Take a steady 1,500 Wh/day build. At Australia's annual 5.5 peak sun hours that needs about 364 W of solar. In winter, with only 4 hours, the same load needs about 500 W — that is the ×1.4 winter penalty in one number. Size your array for the season you actually travel, and let the battery cover the cloudy days.
The calculator below is prefilled with Australia sun. Add your loads and toggle winter to see your own numbers.
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Battery bank
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Charge controller (MPPT)
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Inverter
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Battery-to-inverter wire & fuse
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Estimated cost
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Budget street price → premium brands.
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