Electrical..... need help!!!

[TARobison]

Hey folks, I'm a little in over my head. I've started a van project and it's gone along quite well, but I realized that I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to electrical. I have a little refrigerator (I don't remember volts, amps or anything, but I'll know that tonight when I go back to the shop), but I have no idea how to set it up. I would prefer to have it run off batteries that are charged by the alternator or something, but like I said, I have no idea what I am doing! Anyways, I'll post some photos in a day or two, it's nothing fancy, but I think we've done quite well for our given time restraints.

Tanner Robison
Utah

 

[boardrider247]

Ok. I'm assuming you are starting completely from scratch. So bear with me if I dumb this down too much.

You most likely are going to want to run two battery circuits a starting circuit witch you already have in the van, and a house circuit.
The house circuit will be for your fridge and any other electrical needs when the van is NOT running.
To prevent killing your starting battery you will want to separate these circuits with a battery isolator.

This post has a great how to write up for using the t-max battery isolator.
http://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/607791-t-max-dual-battery-install.html

Start with that. And digest the diagrams a bit.
He has the house battery labeled as AUX, this is the one you want to run your fridge from.

This is pretty vague but it will get you going down the right path.
Get us some more details and we can better help out. One major thing to think about is how many electrical devices do you want to run? And what are they?

Good luck!
Post some pics:sombrero: