Izzy and I are planning a road trip around the states this fall. As a family (all 3 plus dog), we will head to Sweden late summer, settle into the apartment we have rented, get a car, and I’m sure a lot more that we haven’t figured out yet. Susanna will be looking to start working, hopefully as a preschool teacher; she needs to work to sponsor my residence permit. Izzy will have to repeat 3rd grade, and I’ll have to be out of Sweden for Susanna to apply for my permit. Our current plans are for Izzy and me to fly back to the US in late August.

We’ll spend a week in Connecticut catching up with friends and getting the mini-van ready for our road trip. Once ready, we will head west towards St. Louis and family. From there, maybe Colorado, California, and back. We’ll have time to plan it as we go and see where we feel like wandering.

I’ll put in a rudimentary DC electrical system for the trip. We’ll need to power a refrigerator/cooler, computers and phones. I’m planning on putting a solar panel on the roof and use a 50Ah lithium battery that I already have on hand. I ordered a 100W solar panel and a 30A PWM charge controller to start early testing of the system. I’ll eventually build a box for the battery and associated connectors.

I hooked up the solar this afternoon and was getting 2-3 amps of charging current even with the overcast weather. The next challenge for the electrical system is to figure out how to run the cables into the mini-van without having to drill a hole in the roof. I have some ideas, but will have to spend some time looking more closely at the van.