Off-Grid Power Systems
Fiadh designs and builds off-grid electrical systems for campervans, motorhomes and adventure vehicles — sized properly around how you actually use the van, and built to run for days away from hook-up, in any season. The same off-grid engineering goes into our own bespoke gasless builds, so what you get is a system designed by people who live with these vans, not a parts list bolted together.
What is an off-grid power system?
An off-grid power system is everything that lets a vehicle generate, store and use its own electricity, independently of a mains hook-up. In a modern camper that means a lithium battery bank, a way of charging it (from the engine while you drive, from solar, and from shore power when you have it), and an inverter to run 230V appliances. Done right, the parts work as one system. Done piecemeal, you get a van that runs flat, charges too slowly, or trips out when you put the kettle on.
Do I need a full off-grid system, or just a bigger battery?
It depends entirely on your power budget — what you run, and for how long between charges. A weekender on regular hook-up needs far less than someone working from the van for a week in a remote glen, or wintering in Spain. The honest answer is that battery size is only one piece: a big battery with too little charging capacity still leaves you stranded, and a modest battery with good solar and a sensible load can outperform it. We start from your actual usage and size the whole system to match, rather than selling you the biggest battery and hoping.
Why off-grid matters more on a gasless van
Fiadh builds gasless — cooking, heating and hot water run on electricity and diesel, with no LPG on board. That removes the gas bottle and the border hassle that comes with it, but it puts real demand on the electrical system, because loads that used to run on gas now draw from the battery. This is exactly where off-grid design becomes make-or-break: the system has to carry induction cooking, electric or diesel heating and hot water, and still have headroom. It is the single most important calculation on a gasless build, and the part most often under-specified by converters who treat electrics as an afterthought. We don't — it's where we started.
What goes into a Fiadh off-grid system
- Lithium battery bank — LiFePO4, sized to your daily energy budget with realistic headroom.
- DC-DC charging — charges the leisure bank from the engine as you drive, the workhorse charge source on the move.
- Solar and MPPT — quiet, fuel-free charging that does most of the work in summer and contributes year-round.
- Inverter / charger — runs 230V appliances off the battery, and charges the bank fast from shore power when you have it.
- Monitoring — so you can see exactly what's coming in, what's going out, and what's left.
We design and install predominantly with Victron components, paired with the lithium bank suited to the build. The specific battery brand, model and system layout are chosen per vehicle — there's no single right answer, and we'll tell you why we've specified what we have.
Will it work where I'm going?
That's the right question to ask, and it's the one we design around. A system that copes with a Scottish summer is not automatically one that copes with a Scandinavian winter, when solar yield collapses and heating load climbs. We reconcile your charging sources against your real consumption season by season — not just whether the peak charge current is theoretically available — so the van performs where you actually take it, whether that's the far Highlands, winter Iberia, or further still.
New build or existing vehicle?
We design off-grid systems both as part of a full Fiadh bespoke build and as a standalone upgrade or rework on a van you already own, of any make. If your current setup runs out of power, charges too slowly, or was never sized for how you use it, that's a fixable problem — and a common reason people come to us.
Talk to us about your build
Every system starts with a conversation about how you use the van and where you take it. Tell us that, and we'll tell you honestly what it needs.