Old Forum Closed – Maintained as an Archive › Old Forum Closed – Maintained as an Archive › Solar Power › Things we run on our "Boondocking Solar Power"!
- This topic has 14 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 2 months ago by
Slim Lundeen.
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March 8, 2017 at 7:22 pm #44406
Eddie & Aileen
ParticipantHowdy Campers! I put a short video of the things we run on our solar power storage system.
Happy trails!!!
March 11, 2017 at 10:09 pm #44652Slim Lundeen
MemberSo 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.
March 11, 2017 at 11:01 pm #44654Eddie & Aileen
ParticipantHowdy 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!!!
March 12, 2017 at 7:31 pm #44691Slim Lundeen
MemberHadn’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?
March 12, 2017 at 8:36 pm #44693Eddie & Aileen
ParticipantSlim, 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!!!
March 13, 2017 at 8:57 pm #44781Richard Machida
MemberGood 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!
March 14, 2017 at 9:45 pm #44845Slim Lundeen
MemberLooking 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.
March 20, 2017 at 12:03 pm #45077Eddie & Aileen
ParticipantHowdy 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!!!
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This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by
Eddie & Aileen.
March 20, 2017 at 8:00 pm #45091Jd
ParticipantSo 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.
March 20, 2017 at 9:51 pm #45093Eddie & Aileen
ParticipantHowdy 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!!!
March 21, 2017 at 6:45 am #45097Thierry
ParticipantGreat 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
March 21, 2017 at 3:27 pm #45107Slim Lundeen
MemberThis 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.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by
Slim Lundeen.
March 21, 2017 at 4:31 pm #45110Jd
ParticipantThanks for the info pretty much what I thought. Putting the charger in with 4 AGM 12 volt batteries then next 400 watts of solar.
March 21, 2017 at 5:05 pm #45114mikemonster
ParticipantHi,
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
March 21, 2017 at 9:40 pm #45158Slim Lundeen
MemberI 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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This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by
Slim Lundeen.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by
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