Tow behind solar trailer

[Sasteve49]

Hello All,
My wife Maria and I have been mostly full-time RVers for over 30 years. Seasonal workers at many different jobs in many States. Have driven in all 50 States...
Finally, while having lived in our fifth 5th wheel for 20 years, have decid d to go off- grid solar.
But I did not want to drill holes in the roof of our 35ft trailer so came up with the idea of a tow behind.
Had not realized that it had already been done!
But anyways, we found a perfect flatbed 8x4 ft trailer with 16" removable sides, which I made into hinged sides and extended the height.
The complete system will be in this trailer with a 50 amp shore plug on the solar trailer front for power.
Now at the stage of mounting the 6000w MPPT Inverter...then comes hooking this all up!
Any suggestions/ input welcome!
Will post photos soon ..

 

[offgriddave]

So interested in photos. I want to do this as well. Because I want to move the solar trailer to different parts depending on the solar radiation in the year.

 

[Sasteve49]

So interested in photos. I want to do this as well. Because I want to move the solar trailer to different parts depending on the solar radiation in the year.

Will have to get the photos stored on my laptop, when I have access to Internet. Really slow and spotty where I am...hopefully tomorrow.

 

[eXodus]

roof of our 35ft trailer so came up with the idea of a tow behind.
Had not realized that it had already been done!

So you are building a triple tow?

Solar Panels are big sails - make sure you anchor them down really well.

 

[Rednecktek]

Will have to get the photos stored on my laptop, when I have access to Internet. Really slow and spotty where I am...hopefully tomorrow.

Resize them to 1080 in Paint before posting them, it'll speed up the upload and still be plenty high enough resolution for us all to drool over.

 

[timselectric]

Very interested in pictures. I have a similar plan in my head. Open frame tilting trailer, with "Transformer's" type framing.
To deploy 6kw worth of panels, once on site.

 

[Rednecktek]

"Transformer's" type framing

 

[STW]

Just finished one. 7x200w panels, Victron 250/100, 3500w inverter, 3x200ah lithiums. It will run an AC no problem. In retrospect having it on the RV would be more convenient. Just mount panels on strut channel… another project I just finished.

 

[Rednecktek]

7x200w panels, Victron 250/100, 3500w inverter, 3x200ah lithiums.

7s1p and 12v system?

 

[STW]

7s1p and 12v system?

Yep. Buddy should have bought 8 panels to do 4s2p. Because he didn’t it cost a lot more for the charge controller. Those large Victron get expensive… but they are nice.

 

[Sasteve49]

Ready to connect it all up. Done with constructing the trailer and mounting everything....6X 200w panels, four 12 v 200ah lithium batteries, 6000W MPPT controller/ charger inverter.
see latest photos.

 

[timselectric]

Ready to connect it all up. Done with constructing the trailer and mounting everything....6X 200ah panels, four 12 v 200ah lithium batteries, 6000W MPPT controller/ charger inverter.
see latest photos.

Looks great

 

[ghostwriter66]

These are the ones that we use for work -- there is a company named Kerberos International that makes these. The great thig is that it has 2 panels on each side and then 2 panels on top ... also auto tracking -- and they use LiFePO4 batteries for everything. I think that you can go to www.nexgensolartrailers.com also and see the skidmounted version that can also be mounted on a trailer. We have had them build us this small one like is in the picture all the way up to a 40' foot one that had (20) 455W solar panels, enough LiFePO4 to run a small city and a small diesel generator for backup. Allot of the time we will lend those trailers to the RED CROSS or counties going through an emergency or something ... its hard to see but in the front of the trailer there is a 30 foot mast that our environmental guys put a 250,000 dollar camera on to look for any type of leaking or fumes and can cover about 5 miles in any direction .... you can imagine how many of these things we have ... The tires are specially made for us - they are military KEVLAR run flats - i won't even tell you what one costs .... but for most part a good Load Range C fits this trailer just fine

 

[Sasteve49]

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These are the ones that we use for work -- there is a company named Kerberos International that makes these. The great thig is that it has 2 panels on each side and then 2 panels on top ... also auto tracking -- and they use LiFePO4 batteries for everything. I think that you can go to www.nexgensolartrailers.com also and see the skidmounted version that can also be mounted on a trailer. We have had them build us this small one like is in the picture all the way up to a 40' foot one that had (20) 455W solar panels, enough LiFePO4 to run a small city and a small diesel generator for backup. Allot of the time we will lend those trailers to the RED CROSS or counties going through an emergency or something ... its hard to see but in the front of the trailer there is a 30 foot mast that our environmental guys put a 250,000 dollar camera on to look for any type of leaking or fumes and can cover about 5 miles in any direction .... you can imagine how many of these things we have ... The tires are specially made for us - they are military KEVLAR run flats - i won't even tell you what one costs .... but for most part a good Load Range C fits this trailer just fine

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Looks just like the system that I saw in a grocery store parking lot.
That's what gave me the idea for my tow behind solar trailer.
Expensive setup you have there!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sasteve49]

Very interested in pictures. I have a similar plan in my head. Open frame tilting trailer, with "Transformer's" type framing.
To deploy 6kw worth of panels, once on site.

Scroll further down to my next post.
All the photos so far.
Next time, I would do aluminum sides and framing. Much lighter.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

would do aluminum sides and framing. Much lighter.

And a lighter wallet!

 

[45North]

View attachment 89234

These are the ones that we use for work -- there is a company named Kerberos International that makes these. The great thig is that it has 2 panels on each side and then 2 panels on top ... also auto tracking -- and they use LiFePO4 batteries for everything. I think that you can go to www.nexgensolartrailers.com also and see the skidmounted version that can also be mounted on a trailer. We have had them build us this small one like is in the picture all the way up to a 40' foot one that had (20) 455W solar panels, enough LiFePO4 to run a small city and a small diesel generator for backup. Allot of the time we will lend those trailers to the RED CROSS or counties going through an emergency or something ... its hard to see but in the front of the trailer there is a 30 foot mast that our environmental guys put a 250,000 dollar camera on to look for any type of leaking or fumes and can cover about 5 miles in any direction .... you can imagine how many of these things we have ... The tires are specially made for us - they are military KEVLAR run flats - i won't even tell you what one costs .... but for most part a good Load Range C fits this trailer just fine

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Nice!
Looks like something made by the Wright brothers. Does it fly?

 

[ghostwriter66]

we tried aluminum originally but running these things 30 miles down oil patch trials that are ROUGH at best caused tooooo many issues with the aluminum -- like bending ... so galvanized painted steel it is ... LOL

 

[Jennifer]

 

[Sasteve49]

I have mounted a 50amp shorepower box on the trailer but not sure how to run the lines from the MPPSolar to the outlet.
A 4-wire connection.