Kitting out your car for your Big Lap of Austalia is a highly personal endevour. While some absolutely can’t live without their dual battery system, others could go without it. This list seeks to help you understand your options so you can prioritize which hold more importance for you.

12V Set Up

Depending on your car and van set-up, and what you want to do during your Big Lap, you may want to consider your vehicle’s 12v set-up. The likelihood is that your van will have its own 12v power system, meaning that you can charge up and head off-road for a few days, or even longer if your van has solar too. But, depending on the level of comfort you want to enjoy whilst you’re out exploring, you might want to consider a dual battery too.

Although most caravans have a fridge, many Australian travellers decide to buy a car fridge too for when they head off exploring for the day. Running additional lighting or running personal electronics is often another source of power drain to car batteries too.

If you’re going to be running anything other than just your car on your car battery, considering a dual battery system may be a good idea.

What Do You Need?

If you’re going to put a second battery in your car, you first will need to decide between an AGM or lithium deep cycle battery. Lithium batteries are quite expensive and the AGM are a lot cheaper, but there are pros and cons to both.

Next, you need to work out whether you’re going to put solar on your car or just run your batteries from your original alternator. This is something you must think about prior to installing your 12v set-up because, not only will it change the price drastically, you can get away with buying different chargers for your devices, batteries and even battery boxes to suit your needs. While solar is not essential, it does give you extra peace of mind that you’ll never be without power – which is essential if can’t start your car in the middle of nowhere!

Many battery stores have made-up battery boxes with charges already built-in, which literally plug and play. All you need to do is run your wires from your alternator or main battery to your new battery box and plug her in; there’s already 12v outlet USB points and, quite often, a solar output installed in the box. These are a really good idea if you’re just doing a budget set up.

Your other option is to go all out and look at something like a full kitted-out Enerdrive or Redarc setup, but they are more expensive, ranging anywhere from $5000-$20,000.

Why Do You Need It?

Having a second battery provides peace of mind for when you’re in remote areas. If your start battery goes flat, you can always jump it off your secondary battery. If you’re running a fridge or accessories in the back of your car, you never run them off you start batteries, so you shouldn’t technically ever have a flat battery.

There is plenty of clips on YouTube which detail how to do your own with step by step instructions. And a good way to get this past the Minister of Finance is to tell her that you’ll put an inverter in and so she can blow dry her hair, use their hair straightener, charge the computer etc.

Car protection

Whether or not you install car protection depends on where you’re going,  what you are going to be doing, and whether you will be driving at day or driving at night.

I personally would not have a touring car without a bull bar. I think this is quite important if you do some driving at night or through remote areas, as it just gives your car a little bit more protection from kangaroos, livestock, birds – pretty much anything that can jump out in front of you. Not to mention also looks pretty cool!

In our circumstances, this also allowed us somewhere to mount the spotlights for the night or evening driving we do. We try not to drive in the dark, but sometimes it can’t be helped if you’re going out to camp etc.

What Do You Need?

When purchasing protection for your car, you need to be aware that bullbars and side rails are car-specific. You also need to know if it needs to be an airbag compatible bull bar and siderails.

Whatever it is that you choose, just remember that you are buying to protect your vehicle and your family during a trip where you’ll be in the car more than ever, so get something that will do the job.

If you decide to go all out and put a rear garage on, make sure it still has your towbar on it and that it can still take the weight of your van or trailer. It’s also good idea to check with your insurance company to ensure you’re covered when you add this modification.

Why You Might Need It 

If you want an added layer of protection for your car and your family, and especially if you’re going to be driving at night, a bullbar is an absolute must!

Lights

There is an array of lights you can get for your style vehicle ranging from light bars, spotlights, LED and HD. You just need to decide on what’s best for you and the type of driving you will be doing.

A set of HID spotlights with possibly an LED light bar is an ideal set up to cover all your lighting needs for all situations. But sometimes it just doesn’t work with your vehicle or budget, so make sure you have a look at the options and work out what’s best for you.

Make sure that your car is eligible to toe whatever size van towing for the white ratios and that has been a lot of accidents on the road David is with little car towing big vans a test just can’t pull it up or down arrange an eye on the it’s a lot different to flat ground so in your car make sure you have the right breaks if you need trailer brakes electric breaks whatever it is that you need to have what do you need sway bars I’m not on your van and I’m new car a lot of new cossies does come in with come with a built-in trailer control kind of thing throughout the car so please just make sure you have the right braking system pulling power all that stuff you know for There are many other accessories you can buy for your car canopies drawers in the rear storage containers for the back your chairs your name are you find it TJM a are be where ever it is you look it’s all up to personal preference at the end you can go as cheap as you want what is most expensive if you like it’s all down to budget and preference. After saying all this none of this could be relevant to you you might just be the weekend who takes your caravan down to the caravan park 100 k’s away and you don’t need a bull bar you don’t need lights you don’t need batteries. But for those that are doing the big lap , these are the things we have done to our car to make our life easier while on the road.