[hpark21]

Doesn't the interior light shut off eventually? Or does it just kept on? I say utilize the under floor storage by storing an extra battery there to be charged by solar panel or something like that while car is not running. Maybe you can hard cable the extra battery to your main one also to be charged while driving. That said, I do like my rechargeable LED tent lantern. It can be charged by USB cable while driving and these will last you long time with one charge. 2 of these should be bright enough for whole interior and it is portable if you need light outside.

 

[Frontporch]

I do like my rechargeable LED tent lantern

I agree that lighting should be simple enough to do with a device that does not use the van's power. If you really have a good reason to use the van's interior lighting, there are LED lights that can be used to replace the interior lighting. I haven't looked into them, but I would think they use less power. The problem I see with the LED upgrades is they are really bright... maybe too bright.

I am planning on converting my van to a camper and may eventually go down the path of an external battery. I could justify that if I needed to power something like a laptop, air compressor, sink pump... ( Even charging a cell phone might be better handled with an external power bank. cheap and reliable and you can charge on the go like the lantern.)

I don't think the storage area has the height to store a normal 12v battery. If there are shallow batteries that can do the trick I don't know about them.

 

[PostalTech]

A starting battery is not meant to be drained down. It likes to stay fully charged. You'll need a deep cycle battery for long periods of use and don't replace your car battery with a deep cycle. You'll need 2 separate electrical systems.

On a side note, I hope this is a voluntary situation and all is well in your life.

Sent from my Samsung S8+ using Tapatalk

 

[marvinstockman]

I would look at replacing all the interior lights with led bulbs, which is the perfect application for them. You could probably run them for a good many days without draining the battery.

 

[Rice_rocket88]

Agreed with everyone here.. it would be a very bad idea to drain the stock starter battery. I used to have regular bulbs and if the kids left ONE them on overnight it would be pretty weak. I replaced it with LED and it does indeed have less draw, they still have a habit of leaving one or two one and even with a day or even two it doesn't hurt my battery. However.. a lantern that I have for power outages takes 4 AA batteries and stays on for like 12 hrs is a far smarter idea. Heck, even a 10000mah or more powerbank could power a light for longer and not even touch your important car system. You could recharge that powerbank when the car is running (or at a plug if you get to a destination that has power). Or.. buy a whackload of AA batteries and run lanterns. (Or go with rechargable ones.. and a solar panel) Lots of other options!

 

[Boogety Boogety]

When we prepared for our Alaska sojourn a couple of summers ago, I installed an Optima blue top battery in the underfloor storage (laying on its side, it fits perfectly), a dual battery isolator (I forget the brand, but it was highly rated), and switched all our inside bulbs to LEDs. We could power our lighting, communications, and our portable refrigerator with absolutely no issues for at least two days without starting the van, with the system still reading above 11.8v... But I agree, get yourself a couple of LED battery-powered lights instead of going to the trouble of rewiring your van for dual-battery use (although if you do go that route, you'll feel invincible out in the boonies). There's no comparison between the draw of incandescent vs. LEDs...