Building a functional camper on a big budget is easy - pay someone to do it. Doing it on a budget requires research, patience, and work.

> Tips and tricks to being a cheap o?

If you read nothing else: avoid flexible solar panels, AGM batteries, and solar generators. They are all niche products with niche (ie, doubled) prices, and very few vandwellers need them.

• It is cheap to think of the camper as a camping tent on wheels. It is expensive to think of it as a mobile apartment.

• avoid heating/cooling with electricity you make offgrid. Use propane or similar for heating and cooking.
• avoid using power-hungry PCs or laptops. Use a tablet, chromebook, phone, or other low-power device.\
• run discretionary loads when you have excess power

• Buy larger/higher-voltage panels which are cheaper by the watt.¹⁾
• if you are using PWM controllers, choose poly panels vs mono due to their higher Imp rating. When choosing between poly panels at the same price point, pick the one with the higher Imp (and thus lower Vmp)
• if you are going to be deep-cycling the batteries every day²⁾ consider using a dirt-cheap shunt controller rather than PWM.
• overpanel your MPPT controller; +10% is optimal, and 20% is reasonable in challenging insolation.

• learn your battery manufacturer's charging recommendations, then charge to them. Incorrectly-charged lead batteries die early.

• do add an isolator to your solar charging system; it is cheap “horsepower”
• don't assume alternator charging alone will keep your deep cycle batteries happy. Augment with solar or with charging at home.
• don't pay extra for voltage-sensing or DC-DC isolators if you already have solar. Exception: DC-DC chargers with the solar controller built in.

• avoid convenience items like “solar generators”
• use 6v deep cycles in series rather than 12v singly or in parallel
• use flooded rather than AGM. If you need massive current, use lithium rather than AGM. LFP lithium and 6v deep cycle have very similar costs in the long term. AGM costs 2-4x as much per lifetime kAh.

• consider moving to a bank that does not charge ATM fees (Ally, Schwab), checking fees, etc
• get your internet use under control and downgrade to a cheaper plan
• avoid keeping a self-storage unit