About us
Hi, I’m Gijs — a Dutch mechanical engineer with a passion for building things right. Together with my partner Lotte and our dog Noor, I spent two years traveling through Europe in a self-converted Mercedes Sprinter. That journey is where Camper-Elektra.com was born.
What started with our own camper build quickly turned into something bigger. I realised how scattered and confusing the information about camper electrical systems was, especially for beginners. So we decided to bring it all together in one place: clear, practical, and based on real experience.
Over the past few years, I’ve helped thousands of people design their own safe and functional camper power systems, through our Dutch e-book, ready-made wiring diagrams, and our Camper Elektra course (in Dutch). Now, I’m taking the next step: together with a small development team, I’m building smart, user-friendly software that helps people create their own camper electrical diagrams, tailored to their needs.
My Mission: Safe & Reliable Power Systems
There’s one thing that really drives me: safety.
On forums and social media, I regularly see camper setups with dangerously undersized cables, wrong fuses, or poor connections. People using cheap components that aren’t up to the task.. and honestly, it makes me nervous.
A poorly designed system isn’t just inefficient, it can be a real fire hazard.
That’s why everything I create is focused on helping people build safe, well-designed, and understandable electrical systems. Whether it’s for a campervan, a tiny house, or an overland truck, I want people to build with confidence, knowing their system works and won’t let them down.
Our story
March 2020
We had planned to drive the iconic Pan-American Highway: from the Arctic wilderness of Alaska all the way down to the southern tip of South America.
Just three weeks before our scheduled departure, the world changed. Canada went into lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Borders closed. Plans halted. The open road we longed for suddenly became out of reach.
June 2020
With our travel plans on hold, we sat down to rethink our next move.
We made a list of possibilities: buy and renovate a fixer-upper house, build a tiny house from scratch, or buy a van and convert it into a campervan.
After a lot of dreaming and debating, the choice became clear — we bought a 2011 Mercedes Sprinter and named him Bas. Our adventure would just take a different shape than we had imagined.
July 2021
We took our time converting our van into a campervan, enjoying every step of the process. As we worked on the build, we quickly realized that much of the information available about campervan electrics was outdated, incomplete, or just plain wrong. Even many companies selling components seemed to lack a solid understanding of how the systems actually worked.
With our background in engineering, we decided to start a blog (in Dutch) to share clear, reliable information about campervan electronics and help others avoid the confusion we faced.
September 2021
Besides writing blog posts, we also started creating practical tools to make electrics easier. One of our first tools was a capacity calculator: you simply fill in the components you use daily, and it calculates the battery size you’ll need for your setup.
Later, we launched our first interactive wiring diagram, allowing users to easily create their own customized wiring plans — no technical background required.
January 2023
Fast forward a few years. As more and more people showed interest in our interactive wiring diagram and started asking for clear information, we decided to take it a step further. We launched a second, improved version of the diagram, with more options, better components, and a more extensive shopping list.
At the same time, we wrote an (e)Book to explain camper van electrics in an easy-to-read way, covering everything from the basics to building your own system.
All this, we did from the comfort of our campervan.
April 2025
Fast forward another few years — and we haven’t been sitting still. We sold our first beloved campervan and took on an even bigger project: converting a former firetruck into our next dream home on wheels.
At the same time, we created a video course (in Dutch) where we explain everything you need to know about camper van electrics — from theory to hands-on installation.
But we didn’t stop there. Over the past year, we’ve been working hard on something even bigger: a brand-new version of our interactive wiring diagram, packed with extra options, smarter features, and more possibilities than ever before.
Gijs van Heun
Founder
From a young age, Gijs was always building, fixing, or figuring things out — a trait he shares with his grandfather. That hands-on mindset never left. He later studied Mechanical Engineering and has since built everything from home projects to his own off-grid campervan.
After years on the road, Gijs founded Camper-Elektra.com. What started as a personal project has grown into a mission: helping others create safe, well-functioning camper setups without the stress and guesswork.
Gijs loves the freedom of vanlife — waking up by a lake, hiking into the mountains, or simply parking somewhere peaceful with his dog. When he’s not working on electrical systems, you’ll find him outside, building something new, or exploring with his partner and their van.
What he enjoys most? That every system is different, just like every person. His engineering mind thrives on finding the right solution, one that’s both safe and simple. Whether it’s correcting someone’s oversized battery plans or streamlining a complicated setup, Gijs is all about keeping it clear, reliable, and honest.