EMF Shielding for Caravans and Vans in Australia (2026 Guide)

Last updated: 16 June 2026

Direct answer. A caravan or van is not a Faraday cage. Metal vans leak RF through windows, vents and seams; fibreglass caravans have no inherent shielding; and the inverter, lithium BMS and DC loops inside the build are usually the biggest field sources. The goal isn't a full Faraday cage - it's selective shielding of the zones that matter (sleeping area, sensitive equipment, inverter bulkhead) with a single, properly bonded earth connection to the chassis. Done right: 20–40 dB attenuation as a DIY build, 40–60 dB as a pro install, verified with a TriField TF2 or equivalent.

⚠ Safety & scope. This is a materials and design guide, not electrical advice. Any 240V wiring, chassis protective earth, MEN/MPEC bond, battery/BMS install, or anything else covered by AS/NZS 3001.2:2022 must be done by a licensed electrician - that's the law in every Australian state. Most shielding products (carbon paints, fabrics, films) are combustible and have specific fire-rating limits - check each SDS, keep them clear of cable terminations, fuse blocks, inverter vents and heat-producing equipment. Shielding is not a substitute for proper insulation, fusing, RCDs or thermal clearances.

Table of contents

1. Why people shield caravans and vans
2. What a vehicle actually shields
3. The four field types
4. Measure first
5. Materials reference
6. Install in 6 phases
7. Grounding done right
8. Verification & common mistakes
9. Installer vs DIY
10. FAQ
11. Sources

1. Why people shield caravans and vans

We make no health claims. Australian RF exposure limits are set by ARPANSA RPS S-1 (Rev. 1, 2021), aligned with ICNIRP 2020, and below those limits ARPANSA states the standard provides protection against all known adverse health effects. What we sell is measurable signal attenuation. People buy it for:

• Sensitive electronics. Mobile recording, ENG/news vans, mobile medical imaging, surveying and broadcast vehicles all need a low-EMI environment so their own gear works. RTBF recently refitted an 11-vehicle Fiat Scudo news fleet on exactly this principle. HEMP-hardened enclosures to MIL-STD-188-125-1 specify ≥80 dB from 10 kHz–1 GHz; EMC enclosures to MIL-STD-461G RE102/RS103 reach 100–140 dB.
• Low-noise sleep environments. Many owners simply prefer a quieter RF environment to sleep in, especially free-camping near unfamiliar infrastructure. Same logic as blackout curtains.
• Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). The WHO fact sheet is clear: EHS symptoms are real and can be disabling, but EHS is not a recognised medical diagnosis and no established science links the symptoms to EMF exposure. We don't claim shielding treats EHS - we provide the measurable RF reduction that EHS customers ask for.
• Data and comms protection. Journalists, lawyers, executives and travelling auditors use shielded compartments to stop phones, laptops and key fobs transmitting in transit - and to block IMSI-catcher and relay-attack capture.
• EMP and solar-storm preparedness. A properly built mobile Faraday space doubles as portable EMP storage for sensitive electronics.

Every use case shares one thing: the customer wants to measure a number.

2. What a vehicle actually shields

"A metal van is already a Faraday cage" - it isn't, not usefully, and a fibreglass caravan isn't one at all.

• NIST airframe penetration tests (Grosvenor et al., NIST TN 1548) on a composite business jet showed shielding effectiveness dominated by windows, doors, seams and apertures - not skin material.
• IEEE glazing measurements (Ängskog et al., 2015, 1–18 GHz): clear glass essentially does not attenuate RF; metallised low-emission glass attenuates 10–45 dB. Most caravan windows are clear acrylic - RF-transparent.
• Fibreglass/composite caravans (Jayco pop-tops, off-road campers, sandwich-panel motorhomes) have essentially zero inherent RF shielding.

A full vehicle-wide Faraday cage (welded seams, EMC gaskets, filtered penetrations) is a specialist EMC build and out of scope here. The realistic, useful goal is selective shielding - protect the zones that matter, bond them properly, leave the rest alone.

The physics: a Faraday cage works because mobile charges in the shell redistribute to cancel external fields. For this to work the shell must be continuous - every seam and aperture is a leak. Aperture leakage scales with wavelength: at 2.4 GHz a 60 mm slit lets Wi-Fi through unattenuated.

3. The four field types

Different products solve different problems. Choosing the wrong one is the most common reason an install doesn't deliver.

The single biggest mistake is treating this as an RF problem only. In most builds the inverter and DC wiring are louder than any external source. Karl Riley's Tracing EMFs in Building Wiring and Grounding and Samlex's own EVO inverter manual converge on the same fix: keep the inverter and DC cabling short, twisted, shielded, and as far as practical from the sleeping zone.

4. Measure first

Don't cut into a panel before you've measured. The point is to (1) record a baseline so you can prove the install worked, (2) find out whether the dominant source is internal or external, and (3) identify the frequency band so you pick the right material.

Equipment. A TriField TF2 covers all three relevant field types (RF, AC magnetic, AC electric). For higher-resolution RF - especially C-band 5G - add the Safe and Sound Pro II (200 MHz–8 GHz, third-party-certified). An AM radio tuned to ~730 kHz is the cheapest dirty-electricity detector.

Protocol.

1. Park where you'll use the van. Turn everything off - internal electronics, inverter, Wi-Fi, phones (flight mode or removed). This is your external-only baseline.
2. Take RF readings at the four corners and centre of the sleeping zone at mattress height. Record peak and a 30-second average.
3. Take magnetic-field readings at the centre, head and foot of the bed.
4. Switch on inverter, DC system, fridge and Wi-Fi one at a time, re-measuring. The delta for each tells you which sources are internal.
5. Document against a floor-plan sketch. This becomes your design brief and your before/after evidence.

ARPANSA limits sit far above anything you'll measure in a typical free-camp. The Building Biology Evaluation Guidelines (SBM-2015) set far more conservative precautionary design targets for sleeping areas - we use these as design targets because that's what the EHS-segment customer asks for, not as regulatory limits. Document both.

5. Materials reference

Everything below is stocked at Aus Security Products. Specs from manufacturers' TÜV-SÜD certified datasheets.

⚠ Flammability and clearances. Carbon-loaded paints, fabrics and polymer-laminate foils are combustible. Check each product's SDS. Keep clear of cable terminations, fuse blocks, busbars, inverter vents, BMS heatsinks and 240V switchgear. None of these materials replace proper insulation, fusing, RCDs or thermal clearances. If unsure, ask your electrician.

5.1 Walls, ceiling, floor (HF + LF E-field)

5.2 Inverter, BMS and DC cable (LF magnetic)

A 2 kW pure-sine inverter in the under-bunk locker can produce several hundred milligauss at the cabinet wall - orders of magnitude above any external source. Conductive paint will not shield this; you need ferromagnetic or multi-layer composite shielding.

5.3 Windows and vents

Windows are usually the dominant leak. A 60 dB wall is meaningless next to a 0 dB window.

5.4 Grounding components

5.5 Verification

6. Install in 6 phases

A pro installer can spec a job from this; a careful DIY builder can execute the shielding side. All electrical work - wiring, bonding, earthing, MEN/MPEC, 240V, battery and BMS termination - must be done by a licensed electrician familiar with AS/NZS 3001.2:2022.

Phase 1 - Wiring done right (before any shielding)

Half the EMF reduction comes from wiring that follows correct practice. Basic EMI hygiene per Karl Riley.

• One neutral-to-earth bond only. AS/NZS 3001.2:2022 - verified by the electrician.
• Twisted DC pairs. Twisting +ve and −ve (one turn per ~100 mm) substantially reduces the magnetic field around the cable: opposing currents cancel at distance, tighter/uniform twist = better cancellation. Don't over-twist - the cable must still dissipate heat.
• Keep DC runs short. Battery, BMS and inverter within ~300 mm of each other.
• Route wiring away from the sleeping zone. No cables behind the bed head.
• Steel conduit on the highest-emission runs. Heavy but unbeatable LF magnetic cable shielding.
• 240V is electrician-only. Per AS/NZS 3001.2:2022, RCD on every final subcircuit at ≤30 mA.

Phase 2 - Source-shield the inverter and BMS bulkhead

Do this before painting the walls. No point shielding the cabin wall if the loudest source sits against the other side of it.

1. Designate a vented "power compartment" - tunnel boot, under-bed locker or dedicated cabinet.
2. Line the cabin-facing bulkhead with YSHIELD M6L-64 or M6L-85.
3. Wrap high-current DC cables in M2A or M2L foil. (Lithium BMS ICs are documented as EMI-susceptible above 200 MHz - MDPI 2020.)
4. Mount the inverter as far from the cabin wall as the compartment allows. Distance is free shielding.
5. If the inverter manual specifies copper-foil / metal-sheath wrapping (Samlex EVO does), do exactly that.
6. Bond magnetic plates to the chassis via a short GSX strap to the same single bonding point as the paint (see section 7).

Phase 3 - Walls and ceiling

1. Strip the panels to bare substrate.
2. Apply GK5 primer to any absorbent substrate. Without it the HSF54 binder soaks in - you lose 5–10 dB.
3. Apply HSF54 with a 10–13 mm pile roller (or airless 0.2–0.5 mm). Thin coats cost 5–10 dB; cover at 4 m²/L, not 8.
4. Two coats is the practical target - 53–72 dB across 1–40 GHz, above what window leakage will limit you to anyway.
5. Run GSX grounding strap continuously across painted surfaces and across every panel-to-panel seam - discontinuities are slots, slots leak. The same strap then runs back to the single bonding stud.
6. Top-coat with any water-based emulsion. The black HSF54 needs two light coats to cover. No effect on shielding.

Phase 4 - Floor (optional)

Skip unless you're parked above ground-level RF sources or targeting bed-area E-field reduction. HNS80 self-adhesive mesh under vinyl/carpet, ≥50 mm overlap, PSA-bonded seams, GSX to the bonding point. Don't ground the floor if you're using ungrounded bed-area shielding above - the geometry can increase exposure at the bed (see Geovital's floor-canopy pattern).

Phase 5 - Windows and vents

Biggest gain per dollar on most jobs.

• TitanRF blackout curtains on every window for sleeping use. Magnetic or velcro closures.
• Fixed equipment windows: V4A03 stainless mesh between glass and inner frame.
• Every air vent (Maxxair, Fan-Tastic, Sirocco) gets an MD shielded honeycomb behind the louvre, bonded to the surrounding shielded panel with GSX strap.

Phase 6 - Ground and verify

Single chassis bonding point, electrician-installed - see section 7. Then repeat the section 4 survey and document the deltas.

7. Grounding done right

Grounding is where most DIY jobs fail. Right = the install delivers. Wrong = you've built either an antenna or a stray-current hazard.

The physics. A Faraday cage will block RF without being grounded, but in a vehicle full of wiring, an ungrounded conductive surface acts as a capacitively-coupled antenna and re-radiates noise. For low-frequency E-field shielding, grounding is mandatory - the field lines need somewhere to terminate.

The AU rules. AS/NZS 3001.2:2022 superseded AS/NZS 3001:2008 with an effective date for new installs of 18 November 2023, and applies to any caravan, camper or motorhome with a 240 V inlet plug. Key clauses: 3.9 (Earthing), 4.11 (Main Protective Earthing Conductor - one MPEC per installation), 2.6.2 / 2.7.4–2.7.5 (inverter/generator earthing), 4.12 (BMS), 3.3.2 (RCD ≤30 mA on every final subcircuit), 3.9.2 (equipotential bonding - all simultaneously-touchable metallic parts bonded). YSHIELD's own Grounding TDS uses the same language: shielding is an external conductive part that must be bonded to the equipotential bonding system.

⚠ Consult the van manufacturer. While shielding materials should be bonded to the equipotential bonding system, Australian electrical standards generally require that protective earthing and bonding arrangements are designed as a complete system. We would avoid making a blanket recommendation to connect any conductive material to the chassis without considering the specific installation - every vehicle build has unique wiring, materials and compliance requirements. We recommend consulting with the van manufacturer and a licensed electrician before commencing any work.

The correct topology. 240V supply (caravan park MEN, generator, or solar/inverter) feeds the main switchboard with an RCD ≤30 mA on every final subcircuit. The MPEC runs from there to a single chassis bonding point (AS/NZS 3001.2:2022 cl 4.11) on the caravan chassis. Every shield - HSF54 paint, M6L plates, HNS80 / V4A03 mesh - runs back to that same single point via GSX strap.

Single-point bonding is non-negotiable. Multi-point bonding creates ground loops - circulating currents that radiate magnetic fields and inject noise. PCB-EMI literature and Karl Riley converge here.

Don't use a separate earth stake. It creates a parallel earth path. Caravan-park supply: the MEN is the reference. Free-camping on inverter: the chassis is the reference. A stake doesn't help in either case and causes ground loops in both. (Exception: some Powersafe/RVD systems like Spinifex RCD DUO explicitly allow generator-only operation without a stake - same single-point rule still applies to the shielding bond.)

Practical install.

1. Electrician installs the 240V panel and MPEC with an identified single chassis bonding point (typically a brass stud on a cross-member).
2. From every shield (paint, mesh, plate, foil-wrap), run GSX strap to that single stud. Strap, not wire - width gives low inductance at RF.
3. Multimeter from each shield to the stud: target <1 Ω.
4. Electrician signs off the bonding installation as part of the AS/NZS 3001.2 compliance docs.

8. Verification & common mistakes

Repeat the section 4 survey. Document the delta and photograph the meter at the same positions before/after with date and time - essential evidence for B2B and building-biology clients.

For low-frequency magnetic field at the bed with the inverter running: target ≥10× reduction (≥10 dB) vs baseline. Less = revisit the inverter compartment design.

Common mistakes that ruin the install:

• Multi-point grounding. #1 cause of "I shielded the van and it got worse." Single point only.
• Un-bonded painted panels. Each section must bond to its neighbours via GSX or PSA. Otherwise each panel is an isolated slot antenna.
• Mesh on a fibreglass caravan with nothing to bond to. The mesh is your cage; unbonded mesh is decoration.
• Walls shielded but windows and vents ignored. 60 dB wall + 0 dB window = 0 dB cage.
• Ignoring internal sources. Inverter louder than any tower? Shielding the wall just reflects it back at you. Phase 2 before Phase 3.
• DIYing 240V. Illegal in AU, voids insurance, fire/electrocution risk.
• Stake-grounding the chassis. Creates ground loops.
• Painting over the GSX bond interface. The strap-to-paint contact patch is the bond.

9. Installer vs DIY

10. FAQ

Can I do this whole install myself?
The shielding parts (paint, mesh, wrapping foil around existing cable, fitting honeycomb vents and TitanRF curtains, meter verification) are DIY-friendly. The electrical parts (240V wiring, MEN/MPEC bond, chassis protective earth, battery/BMS install per AS/NZS 3001.2:2022, and any work connecting a shield into the equipotential bonding system) must be done by a licensed electrician. That's the law in every Australian state - we supply materials and design intent, not electrical advice.

Are the shielding materials a fire risk?
They're combustible like any acrylic paint, fabric or polymer foil and each product has its own SDS fire rating. Not a substitute for cable insulation, fuse protection, RCDs or thermal clearances. Keep clear of cable terminations, fuse blocks, busbars, inverter vents and BMS heatsinks. If in doubt, ask your electrician.

Are you building a full Faraday cage?
No - and you usually don't need to. A full cage means continuous bonded shielding around the whole vehicle, sealed apertures, EMC gaskets and filtered penetrations - specialist EMC work, not a caravan refit. The realistic goal is selective shielding of the sleeping zone, equipment bay or a specific cabinet, bonded properly. That delivers 20–60 dB where it matters, at a fraction of the cost.

Is shielding a caravan legal in Australia?
Yes. The materials aren't regulated. The 240V work involved is - by AS/NZS 3001.2:2022 and state electrical-licensing law - must be done by a licensed electrician. Tampering with the smart meter or supply lead isn't permitted.

Will shielding stop my phone working inside the van?
Yes, by design. 40 dB = 10,000× reduction. To use a phone inside, step outside, open a window, or install a low-EMF 4G modem with a wired antenna passing through the cage at a single managed entry point.

Does aluminium foil from the hardware store work?
For RF, yes - single layer well-bonded gives 40–70 dB. For low-frequency magnetic fields from the inverter, no - you need ferromagnetic mu-metal or composite plates (YSHIELD M6L). Aluminium doesn't shield magnetic fields below a few hundred kHz.

Do I need to ground the shielding?
For RF-only and shield well away from wiring, no - but in practice, in a vehicle with wiring everywhere, yes. For low-frequency E-field, always. For AS/NZS 3001.2:2022 compliance with 240V, mandatory.

Typical cost?
Contact us for a materials quote tailored to your build.

Will it interfere with my Starlink or 4G antenna?
Only if the antenna is inside the cage. Roof-mounted antennas work normally. Bring the coax in via a single sealed penetration with the cable shield bonded to the cage at entry.

How long does an HSF54 install last?
TÜV-SÜD certified acrylic-bound carbon coating designed for long service life with a topcoat. Y-Shield doesn't publish a specific service life, but the binder and pigments are stable under normal interior conditions and should outlast a typical caravan refurbishment cycle. The wear points are the GSX bond joints - inspect annually.

11. Sources

• ARPANSA. Radiation Protection Series S-1 (Rev. 1, 2021).
• ICNIRP. Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (100 kHz–300 GHz), 2020.
• Standards Australia. AS/NZS 3001.2:2022. Effective for new installations 18 November 2023.
• IEEE Std 299-2006 - Standard Method for Measuring Effectiveness of Electromagnetic Shielding Enclosures.
• Ängskog, Bäckström, Vallhagen (2015). Measurement of Radio Signal Propagation Through Window Panes and Energy Saving Windows. IEEE EMC 2015.
• Grosvenor et al. (2008). Electromagnetic Airframe Penetration Measurements of a Beechcraft Premier 1A. NIST TN 1548.
• US DoD. MIL-STD-188-125-1 - HEMP protection for ground-based C4I facilities (≥80 dB SE, 10 kHz–1 GHz).
• US DoD. MIL-STD-461G - EMI requirements (RE102/RS103 reference envelopes).
• YSHIELD GmbH technical datasheets - HSF54, MAX54, ECO54, M6L, M2A/M2L, Grounding TDS. TÜV-SÜD certified.
• Karl Riley, Tracing EMFs in Building Wiring and Grounding - primary reference for twisted-pair magnetic-field reduction and single-point bonding.
• MDPI Electronics (2020), Electromagnetic Susceptibility of Battery Management Systems' ICs for Electric Vehicles.
• Samlex America, EVO Inverter/Charger manual - manufacturer EMI mitigation guidance.
• World Health Organization. Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity.
• RedTech (Marc Maes, 2025). A new generation of news vans.
• Institut für Baubiologie + Nachhaltigkeit (IBN). Standard of Building Biology Testing Methods (SBM-2015) - precautionary design targets for sleeping areas.
• Caravan Industry Association of Australia. caravanindustry.com.au - AU industry body for caravan and RV standards and compliance.

Related guides

• Smart Meter Magnetic Field Shielding
• Magnetic Field Shielding: A Practical Guide
• Solar Panels, Inverters and EMF
• What Is EMF Paint?
• How To Use An EMF Reader

Shop the products in this guide

YSHIELD collection · EMF DIY materials · EMF meters · Mission Darkness