u/myboatfloats

I saw u/OCcamper's post about their rechargable faucet and wanted to share my install of a cheaper alternative. I have no idea how it compares to the higher-end Dometic model but this has worked well for us so far. Link to the faucet and other parts I used are at the end of the post.

The original pump was fairly easy to remove. It was held in place on a threaded pipe so all we had to do was unscrew the nut from below. In our van, the hose was very tightly attached to the pump so we ended up just cutting it. The new pump uses ¼ inch tubing that runs down from the middle of the faucet so we were able to reuse the hole from the original faucet. To connect it to the existing hose in the van, we used a ¼ to ½ barb from West Marine. This was significantly cheaper than anything on Amazon and surprisingly they didn't sell this specific size adapter at our local Home Depot or Lowes. 

Once the hose is attached, the only thing left to do was mount the base. I cut out a piece of plastic (I had leftover scraps from my battery install, you could just as easily use wood), to roughly the size of the interior of the base the new faucet and drilled 2 holes, one for the tube and another for the bolt to hold everything in place. On the underside, I used another piece of plastic (wood also works) as a backing plate. Everything is secured with a simple hex bolt, washer, and nut. The faucet fits snuggly on the mounted base plate.

We chose this faucet because it uses a separate removable base. I didn’t want to make anything too permanent in case it didn’t work out long term. The faucet charges via USB-C, and with this setup we can easily remove the top part for charging or just run a long USB cable to it when needed.

Parts list:

• $22 Pump from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/HiPiCok-Dispenser-Rechargeable-Portable-Automatic/dp/B0CQ8BTJDH
• $2 Barb adapter: https://www.westmarine.com/seafit-nylon-barbed-hose-reducers-P01856459.html
• Hex bolt, washer, and nut
• Scrap plastic or wood for the mounting base

Over the past couple months, we’ve upgraded our van’s electrical system to get more off-grid capacity. The stock house battery powers the refrigerator, LED lights, and (if you have a pop-top) the pop-top motor and lights. We added two 100Ah batteries to the existing system (now 300Ah total) by removing the stove drawer and using that space. Three fit pretty cleanly without taking over the whole compartment.

In the storage space above where the stove used to be, we mounted a 2000W pure sine wave inverter (Redodo) and cut an opening in the back panel so the outlets are accessible from inside the van. We used a table cable grommet to clean up the opening and keep things looking finished. Power can be turned on either at the inverter itself or via a wired remote.

The two additional batteries are wired in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative). From the last battery, we ran cables to the inverter through a hole cut in the shelf. We left the rest of the wiring (solar, fridge, etc.) as-is, and the new batteries are charging via solar without any issues.

The biggest challenge was space. There’s very little clearance to work with, so everything is tight. I’m not sure how Escape originally set this up, but there’s almost no vertical clearance and the back panel is incredibly difficult to remove. The 3rd and 4th photos show how small the space is.

One downside is that the batteries we have don’t have data cables or Bluetooth, so we can’t easily monitor state of charge beyond the built-in indicators. If I were doing it again, I’d probably go with batteries that have better monitoring features.

So far, everything has been working as expected. The 300Ah battery bank provides a solid amount of usable power, and the inverter gives us access to standard AC outlets inside the van. Being able to quickly heat water with an electric kettle or use electric blankets has been a really nice. Overall, it’s made the setup much more functional for everyday use.