Working remotely from a van — power needs

Remote work from a van is definitely doable, but you need to get your power budget sorted before anything else. I'd start by working out what you actually need running simultaneously — laptop, router, phone chargers, lighting. Don't just guess; actually measure it for a week.

My setup runs a 15W solar array with 280Ah LiFePO4 (Fogstar), paired with a Victron Multiplus inverter. The lithium keeps everything stable and charges rapidly when the sun's out. For someone working 8 hours a day with basic needs, you're probably looking at 2-3kWh daily minimum, though that varies massively depending on your kit.

The tricky bit is winter. If you're working full-time, relying solely on solar gets sketchy November through February in the UK. I've got a backup 2kW diesel heater running off a small tank, which also takes pressure off battery discharge during gloomy spells. Many van workers opt for a small petrol generator as a safety net — not ideal, but cheaper than underspeccing your battery bank.

One thing that shocked me: your inverter efficiency matters more than people think. Cheap Chinese units lose 10-15% of energy; Victron units are closer to 5-8%. It compounds over time.

What's your internet plan looking like? That's often the real constraint for remote work, not power. Starlink's growing more viable but the power draw is non-trivial.

Keen to hear what spec others are running. Are you planning to be stationary most of the time or genuinely mobile?

Mate, the real question is whether your coffee machine counts as "essential" or "luxury." I've seen too many van lifers discover at 2pm that their 5kW kettle doesn't play nicely with a 100Ah battery.

@LiFePO4Fan's spot on about the power audit. I'd add: actually measure what your

The coffee machine is both, depending on how grumpy you are before your first cup. Seriously though, I'd add "what's your upload speed requirement" to the essentials list — nothing worse than your Zoom call dropping because the 4G's having a mare and your Victron's busy keeping the fridge alive. I run a narrowboat setup and learned the hard way that "working remotely" and "living off solar" don't always play nicely together, especially October through February. If you're van-based, factor in that your power generation halves when the sun decides British weather is more important than your deadline.

The coffee machine debate aside, you're missing a critical bit here — simultaneous load vs. peak load. Your laptop might draw 65W, router 12W, but what happens when your fridge compressor kicks in? That's your real problem.

Work out your daily energy budget in watt-hours first. A typical remote worker needs roughly 2-3 kWh/day depending on setup. Then size your battery accordingly — I'm running 10 kWh LiFePO4 and it's comfortable for my setup, but that's overkill for pure office work.

The charging side matters just as much. Solar alone won't cut it reliably in the UK, especially winter months. I've got 2.4 kW panels plus a 3 kW charger for opportunistic mains hookup. Keeps everything topped up between sites.

What's your actual load profile? That's where the conversation should start.

Been there with the van setup, and @24V_Queen's spot on about simultaneous vs. peak. The real pain point I found was my inverter not handling the kettle and laptop charger at once, even though my battery bank could theoretically handle it.

What actually transformed my setup was being honest about when things run. I work 9-5, so my router's on all day (constant 15W), laptop charges during breaks, and I've learned to boil water when the solar's pumping in. That staggering makes a world of difference.

Grab a Kill-a-Watt meter and plug everything in for a week. You'll spot patterns you wouldn't otherwise — my phone charger running 24/7 on standby was pointless waste, for instance.

The coffee machine? Splurge on a decent 12V camping kettle. Less drama, more reliability.

The coffee machine comment was genuinely my best work, cheers @24V_Queen for the validation. But seriously, once you've got your simultaneous loads figured out, don't forget about the inverter spec — a pure sine wave Victron or Meanwell will save you headaches with sensitive kit like routers and laptops. A 3000W inverter sounds ace until you realise your laptop charger's 65W, router's 20W, and the kettle's 2000W all want a go simultaneously. That's when you're staring at your system doing the brown-out shuffle. LiFePO4 helps loads (pun intended) but you can't magic physics. What's your actual work setup — just the laptop or do you need multiple screens?

Right, you lot are dancing around the actual metric that matters — your continuous amperage draw at 12V (or whatever your system voltage is). That's what determines your battery capacity and inverter spec.

I've been running remote work from my cabin setup for three years now. My typical daytime load:

• Laptop: ~60W
• Mikrotik router: ~25W
• Phone charging: ~15W
• Occasional monitor: ~40W

That's roughly 140W sustained, which at 48V is about 3 amps. Dead manageable. But here's what catches people out — your solar array needs to exceed your consumption, not match it. I'm running 800W of panels to reliably maintain charge throughout winter when angles are awful.

The van's trickier because your roof space is limited. You'd realistically need 400-600W minimum for reliable remote work, assuming decent UK weather. Pair that with LiFePO₄ — Fogstar or Renogy cells are solid — and you're looking at a 10-15kWh bank to get through cloudy stretches

@Paddy's absolutely right about continuous draw being the key metric, though I'd push back slightly on overlooking peak loads — they'll size your inverter, but continuous draw sizes your battery bank.

The practical bit nobody mentions: your laptop charger is likely a switching PSU rated for 100-240V, so efficiency drops significantly when you're running it through a budget pure sine inverter. I switched to a 65W USB-C charger on my setup and saw noticeable improvement in overall system efficiency.

For remote work from the van, I'd spec it as: laptop (65W), WiFi router (12W), phone charging (10W) = roughly 90W continuous, plus your fridge if you've got one (intermittent but significant). That's easily handled by a 2kWh LiFePO₄ bank with a decent MPPT controller, assuming you're getting decent solar daily.

The killer isn't the equipment — it's weather. Three days of cloud cover in winter and you're relying entirely on battery capacity. My Victron Smartshunt made diagnosing this blindingly obvious; you absolutely need monitoring

@Paddy's spot on about continuous draw being your baseline, but I'd factor in your duty cycle too. Working remotely means you're pulling that laptop power for 8+ hours straight — that's brutal on a lithium bank if you've undersized it.

What I did was work backwards from my inverter capacity. I've got a 3kWh LiFePO4 setup running off solar, but realised my 2000W inverter was bottlenecking me during peaks. Router, laptop, and a kettle? Fine. Add external monitors or a second device and you're throttled.

The boring bit nobody wants to hear: actual metering for a week. Plug a Kill-A-Watt into your laptop charger, measure your router draw, check what your fridge pulls if you've got one. Then multiply by 1.5 because you'll always use more than you think.

Van life power's less about having loads of capacity and more about matching your actual load profile. Summer solar-powered remote work is dead easy. Winter? That's when you realise why people run petrol gennies.

@Paddy's nailed it on continuous draw, but the reality check I'd add: measure it yourself before you commit. I run a fairly stripped-down setup on my boat for occasional remote work, and my initial estimates were wildly optimistic.

Get a cheap DC clamp meter (£15-20) and actually log your laptop + router + any ancillary bits over a full working day. Factor in your charger inefficiency too — most are only 85-90% efficient, so there's parasitic loss you won't see on paper.

The duty cycle point @Hamish1975 mentions is crucial if you're working 8-hour days. You're not just looking at peaks; you're looking at sustained draws that'll drain a battery pack relentlessly. A 100Ah LiFePO4 sounds generous until you realise a continuous 15A draw will empty it in under 7 hours without solar top-up.

Honestly, if you're serious about this, invest in a Victron MPPT monitor (or equivalent) early. It'll show you exactly what you're pulling in real time, and

@CliffGazer's absolutely right — I learned this the hard way with my narrowboat setup. Thought I had everything calculated, then realised my router was pulling way more than the spec sheet suggested, especially during handshakes.

One thing I'd add: don't forget vampire loads. Your inverter, charge controller, even the fridge in standby mode all nibble away at your battery. On a narrowboat you notice it immediately because you're genuinely isolated — there's nowhere else to draw from.

For remote work specifically, I'd flag the WiFi router as your critical load. If it drops, you're offline regardless of battery state. I've got mine on a small UPS now, which gives me maybe 20 minutes warning before everything shuts down gracefully. Sounds excessive until you're mid-call with a client and the solar clouds over.

What's your current thinking on battery capacity? LiFePO4 gives you usable depth much better than lead-acid, but the upfront cost catches people out. Worth the investment if you're actually working and need reliability though.

The measuring bit @CliffGazer mentions is absolutely crucial — I can't stress that enough. When I set up my garden office on solar, I was convinced my laptop and router would be fine on a modest 2kWh battery. Reality check: my router was drawing far more than the spec sheet suggested, and in winter the laptop charger was absolutely murdering my available power window.

What actually saved me was going analogue first. Spent a fortnight logging everything on paper — laptop on at 08:00, off at 17:30, router 24/7, occasional kettle. Only then did I spec the battery and panels properly. Got a Victron BMV-712 later, which confirmed what I'd measured but also caught the phantom loads I'd completely missed.

For van life specifically, your limiting factor won't be peak draw — it'll be that eight-hour stretch of no sun in winter. Size your battery around that, not around peak consumption. Everyone gets this backwards.

Spot on about measuring — I made this mistake with my first setup and it cost me. Don't just go by manufacturer specs; they're optimistic at best.

What I'd add: factor in your inverter losses. A decent pure sine wave inverter (I'm running a Victron now) will draw 10-15% more from your battery than what your devices actually consume. So if your laptop and router pull 200W combined, you're actually drawing closer to 230W from the battery.

Also consider your charging reality. If you're relying on solar or engine alternator charging while working, you need enough buffer capacity to handle cloudy days or a stint parked up. I went with 400Ah LiFePO4 initially and thought I was sorted — turned out I needed 600Ah for proper peace of mind.

The other thing nobody mentions: your router will do weird power spikes. I've seen mine pull 50W for a few seconds when connecting multiple devices. Get a plug-in energy monitor (even a cheap one from Amazon) and run everything you need for a full working day to get realistic numbers.

Spot on, everyone's nailed the measuring bit. I'll add something that caught me out with my motorhome setup — you need to account for inverter losses and the fact that batteries don't like being hammered continuously at full capacity.

I was running a modest work setup: laptop, router, monitor. On paper, looked fine at maybe 200W average. Reality? Once the inverter's doing its conversion, the solar wasn't keeping pace on cloudier days, and I was draining the battery faster than expected. Ended up undersizing the whole thing because I hadn't factored in that you're not getting 100% efficiency out of your system.

What actually worked was investing in a decent Victron setup with proper monitoring so I could see real consumption data over a week or so. Sounds overkill, but it meant I could plan for winter properly and know exactly how much battery capacity I genuinely needed versus what I thought I needed.

Start small, monitor everything religiously for a fortnight before you commit to the bigger expense. You'll spot your actual peaks and valleys then, not just guess at them.

Mate, the measuring thing is spot on but don't forget about your charging strategy once you've got the numbers. Working remotely means you're probably drawing power all day, so solar alone won't cut it unless you're properly positioned and it's summer.

I run a similar setup off my array and a small Victron inverter. Key thing nobody's mentioned yet — what's your charge time window? If you're working 9-5 and only getting decent sun 10-3, you'll drain the battery regardless of capacity. Might need to factor in mains charging on grey days or a small wind turbine if you're stationary.

Also worth considering a split setup: smaller lithium battery for laptop/router (keeps them stable), separate larger bank for everything else. Stops you oversizing unnecessarily. Fogstar do some reasonable compact units if space is tight in a van.

What's your typical laptop power draw? That'll help figure if you actually need a big inverter or can run 12V direct to most kit.