Boondocking power options

[charliem]

Works as advertised! All I'll need to do is finish wiring the front when the second fuse block arrives from Amazon.

So, I've just about doubled my total battery capacity, and actually reduced tongue weight a hair. Of course, picked up a little total weight. but I can live with that.

[font size="3"]Looking good, Eddie. And your Flex will thank you a bit.......[/font]

[fasteddieb]

Done!



[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7315/26212762524_d51028dd02_z.jpg"]

Seems to work as intended.

Thanks to everyone for their input!

I will be ordering a solar panel in about a week. Eventually may go to two 6v golf cart batteries on the rear bumper - that should be easy since I have plenty of room for another battery box.

[daplumbr]

Good looking work! If you left the 30 amp fuses in the fuse holders, it would make me happier if you carried a couple 40 amp spares with you. For heavy DC use, 30 amps might be marginal and 40 would give you a cushion. With the "superwire" you used, you could safely go even higher on the fuse rating.

[fasteddieb]

[quote timestamp="1462404810" source="/post/20999/thread" author="@sandroad"]Good looking work! If you left the 30 amp fuses in the fuse holders, it would make me happier if you carried a couple 40 amp spares with you. For heavy DC use, 30 amps might be marginal and 40 would give you a cushion. With the "superwire" you used, you could safely go even higher on the fuse rating.[/quote]
Thanks!

The 30A was either suggested earlier in this thread or a wild guess.

1) Is there any way a 21BHS could possibly draw more than 30A? I recall someone posted a spreadsheet of the current draws of each item - I would not mind seeing that again.

2) To be fair, these fuses are not only protecting the huuuge 4GA wire, but also the much smaller wires running from the battery selector switch to the converter.

3) Probably not a bad idea to carry some 40 amp as well, just in case.

As an aside, both batteries now have 2-conductor trailer plugs attached, wired through their own fuse holders:



[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7074/26252817463_090583a7f5.jpg"]

That voltage is with the trailer hooked up to shore power and maintaining battery charge.

[fasteddieb]

I went ahead and got the Renogy 100W portable panels that came with controller, supports and carrying case. Added about $60 for the case and supports, but I thought it worth it.

Everything seems robust and well designed.

Got it set up this weekend:




[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/27145516266_9fe1e10a7e.jpg"]

Charge to the batteries:


[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7373/27178658305_e2b028bf48.jpg"]

Status screen:


Now, just need to go boondocking! Will report as to how effective it is in real life.

[admin]

Was it this kit? http://amzn.to/1qFiIOs

[fasteddieb]

Was it this kit? http://amzn.to/1qFiIOs

That's the exact item.

[admin]

I've had that pop up in my searches a few times; I liked the looks of it. How does it feel? I've had a few solar items in the past that just feel cheap, and usually last about as long as you'd expect with that same feeling.

-Sean

[mitch]

I'm guessing these batteries were mostly or fully charged when you took the pictures of the controller?

[fasteddieb]

[quote timestamp="1464033887" author="@mitch" source="/post/21435/thread"]I'm guessing these batteries were mostly or fully charged when you took the pictures of the controller?[/quote]Yes, the trailer had been on 30A shore power, so they should have been maintained at or near full charge.

[fasteddieb]

I've had that pop up in my searches a few times; I liked the looks of it. How does it feel? I've had a few solar items in the past that just feel cheap, and usually last about as long as you'd expect with that same feeling.

-Sean

Feels very solid and well made.

Downside? Awfully heavy. The manual says 27.65 lbs but sure feels heavier to me - I'll weigh them next time I'm down at the trailer.

BTW, manual can be found here: http://www.renogy.com/wp-content/uploads/Manuals/60W-100W-12V-Monocrystalline-Portable-Solar-Suitcase-Manual.pdf

[buffresmgnt]

Sean, fasteddieb -

We also use the Renogy 100 watt suitcase style solar panel.  This is a stout unit, nothing cheap or plastic about it and it works well.  We use this unit to keep the battery charged on our 8.1 as we mainly camp in the national park system where shore power is not available.  We will be really putting this unit to the test in the next few weeks as we will be traveling west and doing some real boondocking in nonestablished camping areas.

Steve

[gbpack]

Fasteddie- looks like a great setup. Can you use that for more than just charging your house battery? In other words, can you run any 110v items or appliances in your trailer (with an inverter)? If not, how large would your system have to be to run the television and microwave? And how large would it have to be to run the air conditioning? Thanks!

[david]

gbpack:

It would take a large inverter, 2,000 watts at least to run the A/C and an even bigger battery bank- 8 golf cart batteries to run the A/C over night. And the even bigger problem is how to replace the 400 amp hours it would take to recharge them for the next night- about 10 times his 100 watts of panels.

Fasteddie's system is big enough to run a television for a few hours at night or even a microwave for a few minutes to warm up a cup of coffee. A 1,000 watt inverter would handle both but not at the same time.

Again the problem will be recharging. His 100 watts of panels will charge about 30 amp hours in full sun for a day. That will cover TV watching and microwave usage as well as some margin for cloudy days.

David

[davidb]

We stay at a place in Colorado where I don't have electricity in my campsite but there is some nearby where I could always pull the battery and re charge it with a charger.

I got three days with the 24 size battery using the furnace in the morning, lights, water pump, television, etc. The fridge is on propane, we still had plenty of juice leftover.

The battery is a little over three years old and I decided to get a new one and carry the old battery as a spare, I narrowed it down to an Interstate brand and the EverStart from Wal Mart, I decided to go with the Wal Mart 27DC because it is only a few more dollars than the 24DC (size not volts). I figured there is a Wal Mart just about everywhere in case I had an issue with it.

If I had the space I would have gone with the two Trojan 240ah 6 volt batteries.

I also picked up a 1000 watt inverter to use with the extra battery for use with a blender for margaritas (450 watts) ,coffee percolator (500 watts), toaster (700 watts).

I looked at the solar panels also, but will wait until we do more long term boon-docking, I really like the Zamp and GoPower folding portable solar kits although a little pricey.


http://www.zampsolar.com/rv-solar-kits/portable-rv-solar/

http://gpelectric.com/products/portable-solar-kits