The Prospector Canopy System

The Prospector is our own canopy power system, built and wired in-house so it arrives as one finished unit rather than a box of parts to assemble in the driveway. It bolts into a full-width canopy, and everything inside it is already connected and tested before it leaves us.

Certified before it ships

Elevate Automotive holds an Electrical Contractors Licence, EC17073. The 240V work is completed by our own licensed electricians, in our own workshop, start to finish, not outsourced. Every Prospector is wired, tested and signed off in-house, and it comes with an Electrical Safety Certificate. You do not need to arrange an electrician to sign this off and ensure it is legal.

Having auto electrical and licensed 240V trades under the one roof is what makes that possible. The people who build the system are the people licensed to certify it, so what you receive is finished and legal rather than most of the way there. You can review our licences and what we cover on our 240V certification page →

What is inside it

We have used genuine Victron equipment throughout rather than unbranded equivalents, because it is what we are prepared to put our own certification against.

Victron MultiPlus inverter/charger. The heart of the system, performing three roles at once. It inverts battery power up to 240V so you can run standard appliances. It works in reverse as a mains battery charger when you connect to shore power. And it contains a transfer switch that hands over between shore power and inverter automatically, so nothing drops out when you disconnect. You choose either the 2000VA Compact or the 3000VA MultiPlus-II.

Victron Orion XS 50A DC-DC charger. This charges the auxiliary battery from the alternator while you drive. It matters because a modern smart alternator varies its voltage and will not properly fill a lithium battery on its own. The Orion XS takes whatever the alternator provides and delivers a correct, current-limited charge, isolated from the starting battery so the battery that starts the engine cannot be flattened.

Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/50. The solar regulator, rated to 50A of charge current and 100V of panel input. MPPT tracking continuously finds the panel voltage that yields the most power, which is where it earns its value over a PWM regulator, particularly on cold mornings and in patchy light.

Victron Cerbo GX with Touch 50 screen. The component that ties the others together. Every Victron device reports into it, so state of charge, solar production, alternator contribution and 240V load all appear on one screen rather than being estimated. The same information is available on your phone through VictronConnect.

EGON DC-Hub Dual. The 12V circuits land here behind a clear cover, fused and labelled rather than spliced into a loom, so a circuit can be added later without rewiring the canopy.

Garmin Power Switch, 6 circuits. It has physical buttons on the unit, so it operates exactly like a switch panel when you are standing at the canopy, and it also pairs to your phone over Bluetooth if you would prefer to switch a circuit without walking around to it.

240V and 12V outlets. There is 1 x 15A and 4 x 10A 240V outlets, every one of them RCBO protected, which means each circuit has both overload and earth leakage protection rather than a single shared breaker. Alongside them are two 12V accessory sockets and two dual USB sockets, a 240V shore power inlet and an Anderson plug solar input.

Choosing between the versions

The 2000VA Victron MultiPlus Compact suits most touring builds and will run a portable induction cooktop on its own. The 3000VA MultiPlus-II provides more headroom if you are running an air conditioner, larger tools, or several 240V loads at once. There is also a version supplied with a 200Ah Amptron Slimline lithium battery and its mounting bracket.

Battery sizing

For the 2000VA version, 200Ah is the minimum. For the 3000VA version, run either a 310Ah or two 200Ah batteries. The battery does not sit inside the unit, it mounts separately on the canopy floor, so allow space for it:
Amptron BluEdge 12V 200Ah →  ·  Custom Lithium Compact 310Ah →

Installation and fit

The unit measures 1366mm long, 440mm high and 166mm deep, and mounts through pre-drilled side holes with bolts or riv-nuts. There are nine cable entry points, four along the top and five along the bottom, so the wiring exits tidily whichever way your canopy is laid out.

For the vehicle charge feed, the most efficient installation uses a pre-made heavy duty harness rather than fabricating one on site:
Heavy Duty 6 B&S in-vehicle charging harness, 8m →