Tom and Jordan are initially from Cambridgeshire, England.  They have spent the last few years living in a van, initially in Australia, and now exploring New Zealand.

They upgraded to a 2015 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500 with a long wheelbase for the second leg of their NZ travels.  This is their third van since their van life journey began, and they love it!

Tom and Jordan named her Matilda.

Matilda came with 100 Watts of solar power, not nearly enough to power a live on-board van.  AA Solar added a 455W panel to give the boys 555 Watts of solar power, giving them plenty of power to use and fill their batteries.

AA Solar also replaced the old-fashioned voltmeter with a new battery monitor.  Fitting a Votronic battery monitor with a shunt, which displays a very accurate battery state so the boys can see what uses lots of power and when they may be getting low.  (An infrequent occurrence with 555W of solar!).

Seven months later, the boys were ready to upgrade their 8-year-old house batteries from 200-amp-hour deep lead acid batteries to 312 amp-hour deep cycle lead acid.  Although the boys considered the Lithium option, the Lead Acid pricing made them the best choice.

“We headed straight to AA Solar. They are really good to deal with.”

Specifically, we installed:

• 2 x C12V156 AA Champion AGM Deep Cycle Battery
• 1 x 455W Solar Panel PERC Half Cell Silver
• 1 x Solar Charge Controller – Tracer AN 40A
• 1x LCD Battery Computer
• Protection and conduits

"Such an awesome team at AA Solar!  Trustworthy, responsive and reliable, they always do their best to help us with all our motorhome solar and battery needs, even as we tour this beautiful country!"

To follow the boy's epic kiwi adventure, check out their website or YouTube channel.