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Installing LED light pods on your Sprinter van

LED light pod on Sprinter van

There are many options when it comes to adding exterior lighting to your van. If you browse Instagram, you’ll quickly see people put high-output LED lights on their roof racks, front bumper, push bars and sometimes you even see them underneath vans (never really understood that location). We installed some on our rear doors even. You’ll also see that people install different types of lights: light bars, pod lights and area lights. In this post we dive deep on the installation of LED light pods for your Sprinter van.

We recently put together an LED kit very similar to the one described in this post. Click here to see the kit!

See Our LED Kit >

 

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Headliner shelf options for your Sprinter van

Vannon headliner shelf installed

Whenever you are traveling or living in your van, space is at a premium. Our van is 144 High Roof. One of the nice things about the high roof model, besides being able to stand up with good posture is that there is some extra storage space if you get creative. (This is also why we design our window covers to fold and stay up when you don’t want them down, it saves space!) A number of people and various companies have capitalized on making a shelf that sits right above the driver and passenger side seats. These shelves are typically called “headliner shelves” or “overhead shelves”. This post explores the various options available for these shelves, including both DIY and just purchase and play. At the end we discuss the option we decided to go with for our own van.

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Installing a Thule Hideaway awning

Thule awning on a Sprinter van

Whether you’re a weekend warrior, family camper or live in your van full-time, awnings are an indispensable part of what makes a van a home. Functionally they practically double the square footage of your van and they provide great protection from the sun and rain. For many, cranking out the awning when you’ve arrived at your destination for the day is the final part of camp setup that says, “yeah, we are here, time to kick back and enjoy.” In this article we dive deep into installing a Thule Hideaway awning on our 2016 Sprinter van 4×4.

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Inverter installation in our Sprinter van

One of the best things about my work is that I can take it on the road. In order to do that (and be productive) I need two things: 1) reliable internet and 2)  power to keep my MacBook Pro computer charged. I’ll save a post about reliable internet for another day as that is a big topic with no easy answers, but keeping my MacBook Pro charged is done with an inverter. This post dives into how I installed a 1500W inverter in our Sprinter van.

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Installing 200W of Renogy solar panels on our Sprinter Van

Sprinter van in Death Valley National park

This is going to be a pretty massive post covering a significant upgrade to our electric system. Specifically we will go over exactly how we installed  200W of Renogy solar panels on our Sprinter van by tapping into our existing electrical system. While we also installed an inverter during the same time, I’ll save that post for another day as it is a whole different beast. 

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Building Insulated Window Shades for Your Sprinter

sprinter van window cover

Insulated window shades for your Sprinter van are a must. Even if you are a diehard “boondocker,” at some point you’ll wish you had some more privacy or you’ll grow tired of the heat leaking through your glass. Once this realization takes place, it is time to procure some window covers for your Sprinter van.

UPDATE: we’ve learned A LOT more about Sprinter van window shades and put together a comparison of ones available to purchase.

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Dry run with our solar hot water system and privacy curtain

Sprinter van rear door privacy curtain

We recently took our van out on a day trip to Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon to do some birding and adventuring. This made for the perfect opportunity to test out our KISS (keep it simple silly) roof-top solar hot water system and DIY privacy curtain.

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How we chose our Sprinter van for a family of four

Sprinter Van Camping Arizona

My wife and I married 10 years ago and for our honeymoon we drove from Vermont to Alaska. It was during this trip that I was first exposed to what life on the road might look like in van. What I didn’t know, was that  10 years later I’d be figuring out how to find a Sprinter van for a family of four!

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