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Howdy Campers! I put a short video of the things we run on our solar power storage system.
Happy trails!!!
So what size inverter do you use and how many watts solar. I have 500 going onto Tilly when she finally gets here. Going to be fun doing a power survey and figuring out if I need more. One of the most interesting project is going to be mounting 4 batteries on the front of a conventional trailer. Good battery boxes are expensive.
Howdy Slim! We run a 2000-watt pure sine, and a 1500-watt modified wave inverter. We have over a 1-K of solar in our array charging 900-AH’s of battery bank.
Try looking at a truck side rail tool box or short in-bed PU box for a battery storage on a TT.
Happy Trails!!!
Hadn’t thought of a truck tool box for a battery box. You can get some of those pretty cheap. Well reasonably cheap and I am still working for a while longer. Great idea. So how many batteries is 900 ah?
Slim, in our case it’s (8)-T-105RE (GC2) batteries. Less Batteries with L-16’s, but we did not have the vertical room for them.
Happy Trails!!!
Good information in the video. And thank you, Eddie. for the great information on the YouTube videos both your videos and Rays. I had some of the information needed to get my solar setup started. Right now it’s just set up in my garage here in Fairbanks on a board that’ll get installed in the front storage bay of the fifth wheel. The actual panels (4×100 watt Renogy) are in OR and the trailer is in WA so I won’t get any of this installed until this May when I drive down. Only half of the compartment is available as there is a metal divider with the propane tanks on the other side. I’ll have a week to get the rig ready to go before my wife flies down.
I’ve been testing the setup with a borrowed Kyocera 130 watt 12 volt panel. And seeing what type of things I can run off of the battery bank and for how long. And working on a Raspberry Pi to log data from the Tristar. I don’t think I would’ve even known where to start without your knowledge sharing. Thank you!
Looking at Better Built Chest type boxes. A little expensive but at first blush it looks like I could put 6 of those L16 batteries in there. But I am going to have to wait till Tilly gets here. I don’t know how much room I have between the front of the trailer and the propane tanks. But the options are pretty much endless. Giddy I tell you, Giddy.
Howdy Campers! Along with the things we run on solar power, people have asked what our system in our RV looks like. So I made a video on the power supply in the “Mobile Homestead”. We did the solar power in stages, refitting/replacing as it grew in size. If I could, I would have wired heavy in the beginning, (like I do on most of my payed installs) then we wouldn’t needed to change wiring each time.
Happy Trails!!!
So I purchased the intella charger like you have. If I put it close to the batteries in the front compartment and hook it directly to my batteries do I have to disconnect the OEM charger or can I run both if I am on my generator or sure power.
Howdy Jd! You could leave the old converter hooked up. The Intella power charger will take lead and the OEM unit will follow, Master & slave set-up, you could also just unplug or turn off the 120-volt beaker to the OEM unit until you needed it again.
Hope you liked the video!
Happy Trails!!!
Great Videos Eddie,
thanks a lot always ton of informations.
Ice cube maker really cool idea love it. Did I mist something you never use the Microwave or is it one of my old timer moment and I was not listening correctly 😉
Thierry, Nicole, Ben and… crazy Maya
This is such a great thread. Thanks so much for the great education. Right now I am going to stick with the 500 watts that I have and tell Ginie to run what she wants and see what we need to do. I am not a total Solar Snob but I sure would like to only run the genset in the morning for a couple of hours at the most if I have to. We shall see. Let’s have an adventure.
Thanks for the info pretty much what I thought. Putting the charger in with 4 AGM 12 volt batteries then next 400 watts of solar.
Hi,
I’m new to this forum, but I’ve been lurking the RV sites for a number of years.
1st- Eddie thanks for your video.
Slim- I’m in the process of gathering my components for a first phase solar addition to our RV. I have a towable Toy Hauler, so like you, I have the “battery placement” problem too. I’m a DIYer and after many searches bought a “truck sidebox” to hold my batteries. Rather than hi-jack this thread I’ll open a new thread to follow as I progress.
Thanks,
Mike
I just made a quick check to see what is out there. Haven’t even looked at the side boxes yet. I didn’t want to get all spun up on something just to find out it won’t fit. I ordered my trailer with solar installed; just got too good of a price. It is coming with two batteries but I know I am going to want more. This waiting for Tilly to get here is excruciating. But man I am getting excited. I look forward to seeing the thread/progress that you make. Yeah Buddy!
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