Dakota Lithium Blog

Bianca & Jason are both from South Florida. Bianca is a Director/Photographer and Jason is a Landscape Photographer. From August of 2017 to August of 2019 they traveled full-time in their self-converted Sprinter van called “Roo”. Over the course of their two years on the road, they visited all 50 States. After returning to their hometown, they wrote a book on their travels and favorite places called, “Van Life in 50 States”. They also decided it was time to convert a new van using all their experiences from life on the road. Together Bianca and Jason are renovating another Sprinter van and documenting the entire van build on Bianca’s YouTube channel @DreamStateLiving. For this build, they decided to go with...

Dakota Lithium batteries are a drop in replacement for AGM, SLA, or traditional lead acid batteries. The most common size battery for RVs is the group 27 size 100Ah battery and the Dakota Lithium 100Ah battery is a drop in replacement -- meaning it is the same size and dimensions as the RV house battery it is replacing. But with significantly more performance (more on this below). But does "drop in replacement" mean you can just plug and play and call it good? No. Although you can simply drop the batteries in to your RV and enjoy increased performance, you may not get your Dakota Lithium's full capabilities without additional changes to your RV, van, or trucks' electrical system. Here's the...

Kels & Jay are both Commercial Videographers and Content Creators living full-time in their self converted school bus they call “Bessy”. They moved into Bessy, a 2001 Thomas Freightliner School bus in January of 2020, after spending 8 months converting it into their home. The conversion included removing all the seats, raising the roof 18 inches, and adding a full bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. After adjusting to “bus life” they started traveling North America full-time in June with their beautiful cat (or daughter as they call her), Pippa. Living this lifestyle has more benefits than they ever imagined.  It allows them to explore new places everyday, meet amazing people everywhere they go, and spend less money while spending more time together.  While...

Colby Elliot, was born in the rural Northern California town of Chester. He started racing bikes when he was 10 years old and never looked back. Cycling carried him all over the US and to Europe. Done with his career at 22, and tired of the sport mentally and physically, it was time for a change. Colby then attended Feather River College to pursue outdoor recreation, in doing this he was able to travel the world once again for Kayaking, and Ski Guiding. Paying rent to a house in the summer of 2018 of which he was actually present for only 6 days, was the catalyst to his migration to van living. Colby has now lived in a van for...

Billy, Sierra, and Jetty have been living on boats and cruising full-time for the past 5 years documenting their experiences on their popular YouTube channel Tula's Endless Summer. They are currently waiting for their next boat to be built and decided to hit the road full time to explore the great United States in their customized truck camper rig turned off-grid overland vehicle. They learned of the huge benefits that lithium batteries had to offer while living on their catamaran full time and knew that there would be no other battery system than Dakota Lithium in their truck camper where staying unplugged was an absolute goal. x2 100AH Dakota Lithium batteries paired with 400w of Zamp solar and x2 victron mppt...

  Ben & Nikki are both Commercial Photographers, Videographers and Content Creators living full-time in their self converted van they call "Wilson". Their home for over a year now has been a 2017 Ford Transit 250 (Extended, High Roof). Both previously vanlifers before they met, Ben and Nikki now share the small space together and have spent almost the entire time road tripping and exploring North America. They are now sharing their home with an adorable puppy called Salem (named after Salem, Oregon - a town they loved the name of during their USA road trip throughout the Winter). As Ben and Nikki are both self employed, and a lot of their work is online, having a strong and reliable...

An example of 500 watts of rooftop solar. Three larger 150 watt panels plus one smaller 50 watt solar panel on the roof of this RV generates more than enough power for the 4 Dakota Lithium house batteries they are charging. Are you looking to camp off-the-grid? To unshackle from shore power you will need a way to easily generate power. The cleanest, and easiest way to re-charge your Dakota Lithium batteries is via solar power. Here’s a size chart for what solar panels you need by size of RV/van/camper & how many Dakota Lithium batteries you have. To connect solar panels to a lithium battery you will need a lithium compatible solar charge controller (a deep dive on RV...