Most reacted posts

removed post because OP didnt want answers

Well, #1, you came to a solar forum, so the obvious is to just put solar on the trailer and be done with it. 200 watts might be enough. WIth this you may never need the vehicle to charge. #2, electricity is not free when driving. You will be using the alternator to charge which means taxing...

I finally finished the Parking Air Conditioner / 12DC a/c. It surpassed my expectations. I paid $300, got lucky on ebay. These are the ones you see on eBay for $500-800 that run off battery, 12, 24 or 48 volt depending on choice. it is basically a mini split, or more precisely more like your...

stircrazy, no, I disagree with everything, and Im not judging anyone. Camping is a learning process and I can help shortcut all that. The OP needs the minimal power to run Dc lights, pump and maybe a fan. Microwave anything taste like garbage, popcorn included, but to add enough battery and...

Victron is nice stuff, but you do not need the name-brand to do the same job. Will has tested many batteries that are a great price. is price a concern? Lots of controllers and shunts out there that are much less pricey and do the same thing. I have used the EPever controllers with no issues...

Beware of flex panels. Because the lay flat on the roof they will get very hot. Heat kills efficiency in PV panels. IT will not be worth whatever benefit you are going for. Use glass panels with a little air flow under them so they run cooler. Do not tape flax panels directly to the roof...

you can stop now, sometimes it can be helpful to disagree, but sometimes you are just wrong when you try to second guess things and info you do not have. EPever solar controller used to be that cheap on ebay, prices have increased. Sometimes you can find really good deals on the internet...

Someone posted this before... There is no right answer, answers are difficult, but you are correct that you do not want a ground loop, ground once. See https://diysolarforum.com/resources/grounding-made-simpler-part-4-mobile-systems.159/ .Grounding info

By "long-term" are you preparing for grid-down possibilities? shft? govt deeds? Otherwise, I am confused why you need to wash clothes during power outtages. What is the longerst power has been out? A week, two? I would simply buy a few days worth of clothes and wait for power to come back on...

Those brackets look like way over-kill so should hold until the panels themselves break apart or the roof rips out. Use whatever length lag bolt or screw or nut and bolt set you need to to work on your particular roof. Lots of folks on this forum seem to think we still drive on wagon wheels and...

Dreaming.... They are right, this is a fools errand. Stick with the inverter, they are efficient enough for what you are doing, and I would not get the mindset that every single last watts counts hat much. Use a smaller inverter, the smallest that your items run on, or get two, a small one...

Dc-dc charger is to protect your alternater from the battery drawing too much. It will not hurt anything. yes, a hand-sized shadow kills, not to zero but might as well be zero watts. AZ is dry, 90 degrees is cool. 100 getting hot. Have you considered putting another belt drive compressor in...

Agree ^, I would use multiple smaller panels so you fit the shape better, or build the super structure frame. If it were me I would use aluminum angle iron, the thin 1.5 inch (or so) from HD, and tape it on with double sided VHB tale, tape the angle iron on the roof front to back oriented, and...

A lot will depend on what type of driving you will be doing.... cross country highway trips or just moving from spot to spot in Quartzite... The guys with the big truss panels above everything on their roof tend to be parkers, while those with better mounts tend to drive. Which is you? If I...

He ruined your thread with really bad wasteful inconsiderate humor, err nonhumor of complete waste of everyone's time who was so unfortunate to have read it and been sad and mad after. "Where do you get sun at night?" Really? You have to ash this? Buddy, the sun does not shine at night, that...

A fool's errand! Yes, I saw that vid. he did not go far each day, stopped for days in a row to recharge, then did not go far the next drive effort. Is doable and if the grid were down (no power for stations to pump gas) then you would be king being able to drive 50 miles. The way to do it is...

More battery gives you a higher starting point, but after that initial use, then the limiter is your panels/ how much they can recharge the batteries per day. Not a lot of use having more storage than your ability to fill that storage, unless you plan more panels one day.

It is a FACT that it is possible and has happened sometimes, but most of the time, no, no issues will occur. The danger is to the controller itself and not your lack of handling live wires. I advise ALWAYS disconnect the solar panel first before disconnecting the battery (or anything else)...

Depends on the crossbar. You talking the stock luggage racks on a mini van or after market roof racks for toys? Round, flat, oval? Aluminum, steel? Does the rack come off? How many panels, will there be panels side by side touching?

Yea, you need tighten the split-washer until it flattens out, not just to 6 ft lbs, haha. Invalid test! Use either choice, but if you want the nut secure, use two nuts tightened against each other, the same as on a bicycle axle from the old days....

I doubt road grime gets up 12 feet that much. Mine overhangs off the back by 6-10 inches or so. Yes, legal under 3 feet and if over 3 feet then you need a red flag like you would if you have a ladder hanging off the roof. I hope this is not a question about legality, if so then Im out... The...

Nice work. That answers a lot of questions we wonder about but never think to investigate. Your alt is not meant to be able to run at its max capacity for too long. There are 100% alternators, but will not come stock on a vehicle. Alternators will burn out if run at 100% for too long. Check...

Stick with calling it frivolous load bc people want to scrutinize your wants and desires instead of helping.... sometimes... Easiest way is to keep the second system separate completely, except for alternator charging if it comes to that. You can connect the two battery banks with a DC switch...

Are people still moving about on wooden wagon wheels? I keep seeing people mention rough roads and harsh rides. Just how stiff is your suspension? No, a sprung vehicle is not a rough ride! Springs on the suspension, air filled tires.... they do amazing things to smooth out the ride. Though...

Did you scan the forum before posting, literally the post right next to this is the same question... https://diysolarforum.com/threads/help-w-rv-curved-roof-mount-weight-limits-flexible-panels.76610/ Go there, I will answer there, not here. Follow the rules.

Sometimes the sun angle is better on a wall than on a flat roof. I have been toying with putting 600 watts on the wall too. I would hinge it so it could angle towards the sun on either side of trailer, but mostly just park with panels facing south. Yours is a solid idea.

LoL, you are at the wrong website. Yes, driving every day while camping is the easy way to charge batteries. Why would you even own solar panels? I think whether you need solar panels or not , knowing that you need them is kinda a pre-requisite for having active interest in solar panel...

ok. I thought you said money was not a problem. Trust me though, if it were me knowing what I know now, 23 years on doing this sort of thing, I would sell trailer and make that life's issue and financial goals. You have a lemmon, sorry, this is not the trailer you want to invest time and money...

Here is a thing... Solar panels will always have the potential to flow current, but will only flow the current that the faucet, err, the charger controller allows to flow through. So a controller on a 100% charged battery will not let any current flow (or just a trickle) even if hooked up to...

use the icon to the right of the smilie face icon to insert a pic. IDT people want to open attachments on their google computers. I am not a big fan of mounting panels high up. Can you not mount them close to the roof (1 inch air gap) and go around all the roof clutter? Do you already have...

You might be fine, one thought... the AC unit will shade the panels next to it. I assume the two next to it are in series. Shading just one credit card sized area of one panel will decrease the panel output more than you can imagine. Consider how to remedy, maybe put the two as stand alone...

I have had the flex panels, one only made it a few months before dying, and it was secure 100% of the time to a roof. At the time I did not know that it needs air under it and being directly on the roof it burned the fiberglass and discolored it, could have burned the panel to death too. Junk...

Sorry, you are wrong on all accounts, and I have never charged from shore power, I have solar, I have alternator. Everything I bought is new. Pure sine wave inverter, 300watts is big enough as I do not try to imitate a house. I have a 2000 REnogy sitting around but have never needed it. Don't...

So, you are on solar forum so I also assume you have solar that does most of the charging? The alternator is for those times when you need more. I had a similar truck. Here is what I did. I just used a manual switch to turn on/off the connection from truck to camper battery or DC to DC...

The deployable panels were added and the existing ones left alone - as this way I did not have to un-do any existing panel wiring in a tight space. The top panel is the deployable and it is selected to power the front battery because the front batteries panels are under the deployable ones. So...

If the other battery is the same chemistry and voltage then you can just wire it directly to the pos and neg terminals and let it feed off the solar. There are downsides to doing this but for a temporary solution to charge a battery for a few hours this will work fine. Other idea is to wire in...

Nothing adds up here. I suggest leaving the solar forum and talking to a toyota forum as your vehicle has issues - electrical issues, like your wires are so corroded that they cannot conduct enough amps when at idle to power anything. This is not an issue I have ever ever heard of, and should...

Agree, never buy a modified inverter again. Those are of the past, as past as 110v (is 120 now). Some things are fine on a modified inv, but some things will be ruined in 1 second. Just buy a pure sin wave one. I would not run 120v AC over the vehicle while driving, is so much more dangerous...

As far as wattage I have only found that they all put out about the rated wattage, so are all the same in that aspect. The difference would be in longevity, so I can only give half an answer because all the glass one I have used, all off-brand, have held up well yet the flexible ones had about...

I understood your post right away, so skipped all the other post after reading misunderstood response. I think you want to let the camper battery charge the starting battery and NOT jump start from the camper battery. Easy way is to install a 100 amp (maybe 50) A-B selector switch after the...

aluminum L-angle. Get aluminum L-angle iron that is tall so you can make up for the slope. Get one piece that is not tall for the crown, and one that is tall for the edge. You drill a hole as needed on the angle iron to achieve height and drill into the aluminum solar panel frame without...

That's only if you drive, and if you drive a long drive. The drive is a reset of the "starting point". Yes, I understand the bigger battery part lasting longer, but after that initial discharge then it is your solar panels that are the limiting factor. When solar cannot keep up then you...

is fine. My first rig I added a DC outlet just for this reason - to charge from a charger that I put DC plug on. Ths outlet doubled as an actual outlet when not used for charing. Though, mine went straight to the battery and not through a fuse panel, still fused of course. Was super easy way...

Yep. I notice that when driving the batts charge back quicker from panels than when sitting still. (no alternator). The reason has to be the cooling effect of driving vs still air. I never checked the charge amps right when stopping a drive to check, but just that it is faster suggest cool...

I advise people when getting into the rv lifestyle, to consider becoming an RVer and learn the ways of the force, I mean the ways of camping and RVing. Propane is a wonderful thing, lots of energy stored in the bottle, and though it cost every fillup, there is no up-front cost like on...

exactly why I posted, too many bad "reviews" out there...

https://diysolarforum.com/resources/grounding-made-simpler-part-4-mobile-systems.159/ Grounded

So, this is a TC? Is there room in front of the fender wells? Yes, keeping them inside where is between 32-110 is the best thing to do. You will ruin them charging them below freezing, but unlikely you see temps so low that you cannot discharge/use them. heat is also another factor, but rare...

My RV was smooth with no vibrations. My trailer is smooth. Are you on wagon wheels? Things will fall off shelves when you turn corners for sure so bolt it down. Lawn mowers have a lot of vibration, but wheeled vehicle should not. Sometimes you get a big bounce, but that is not a vibration and...

Keep your charger/conv, it will not charge to 100% but will get close (seems like I just said this in another post...). It will not hurt the lithium. Get one 200 am/he battery, not two 100s. Yes, dc-dc charger, 20 amp should be plenty for 200 amp hrs under normal conditions. Thats ~20 amps per...

4 bolts per panel will be enough. You will be drilling into the rack, it will take decades for it to corrode, so i would not worry about that. However you have to mount them. Once they are bolted in they will be very secure, sideways, frontways, it wont matter, just whatever seems to fit the...

no worries on your mppt, just set it to "lithium"; the charger knows what lithium is and this setting will be good enough. If you want to perfect the lithium charging more then you need to have a battery picked out and that battery manufacturer will have their own numbers of how to specifically...

Your house is only grounded at the box. Neutral bonding is different, as yes, check the specifics on your inverter. There is the right answer out there but there are more discussions on the topic than can be tolerated. I personally do not run the inverter "through" my camper, I only plug...

We need more info on what you plan to run, and for how many days. Future proof means almost always starting with more than 100 or being set up to have more than 100. Maybe you will not use much battery, and maybe all your trips are a day or two, so 100 will be plenty. I started with 200, then...

The truck alternator has available power/capacity, but you are not wasting power by not using it. The alternator puts out the amps it is asked for. Ask for more amps and the truck engine will have to ramp up horse power to drive the extra drag on the alternator that is now putting out more...

Put your newly aquired panels on a separate solar charge controller. You can feed multiple charging sources into one battery just fine. I have two separate solar systems that used to feed into one battery via separate controllers. The controllers will not get confused and nothing bad happens...

YES, 24v is common when you have high electrical needs, not for regular RV needs. Not interference, but that the Ltih batteries will try to draw more current than the alternator normally puts out. The save is that the wire run is so long to a trailer that this is not reality, but the DC-DC will...

On-demand water heaters are great for saving space in small trailers, not much else though. They do not save water. When you stop the water (to save water) then the water in the no-a-tank gets too hot, then you get scalded when water flow is back on. They just do not make them for RVs where...

Incredibly BAD answer, no offense, and it was the very first answer, not a good sign... I stopped reading when it starts out this bad. I might add, yes, a sheet of toilet paper will stop a sniper's bullet! Place a steel plate in front of it! Can a moped pull 100 train cars? Yes, chain a...

IDT there is anything special about your panel. Is there? In the end it has one positive wire and one negative wire coming out of it, the same as every other 100w panel. Seems like you provided useless info, or is this info signifiant somehow? The fridge is also useless info, or is it? What is...

I would never never never buy or use a "modified" sine wave inverter anymore. You pay a little bit more for a pure sine wave, but is worth it because it will not ruin anything ever. Ask me how I know... Back 20 yrs ago there was a huge price difference from modified to pure, but not so much...

Can you fill a pool with multiple water hoses? Also, please read a few forum post using the SEARCH function as all this is discussed already- before you make a new thread. You can fill a pool with multiple hoses. This answers all of your questions above. Chargers with an equal voltage when...

As said, rare to get 100% of the rated wattage. Need to be aimed directly at sun to get most available light possible. No, they do not last as long, but until they go bad they are the same as any other 100 watt panel. How are they attached? Danger is they lay on the van roof and trap water...

Forget the slots. Why not just hinge the panel to the side above the slideout, and move the panel in upright position BEFORE sliding the room out. No need to intertwine the two. Make it so the panel can be positioned to aim at the sun, not just lay flat too. I dont think that the room will be...

I read that too, after i put all my breakers in. I have them for years with no issues. I use one as a switch as well from alternator. It was a 100amp breaker before I got a DC-DC and now I put a 30 amp one on there for 20amp DCDC, a cheaper one, so not sure if it will be as bad as forum...

Are there no upright 12v DC fridges that will be similar price? The upright do take up less room than the chest sty bc the door opens into the walking space, not into the cabinet space. I have a DC chest fridge and will never go back to propane. I put 1.75 inch thick styrofoam insulation...

So, the power is going to be used in the camper but the batteries and everything will be in the van, and the solar panels on the ground? You don't go through the body, you go through the floor, between the fender and the inside wall perhaps. Use an Anderson plug that hangs out at the bumper...

Yep, exactly. Most use a switch like this: With this one you can charge either or both or neither. The solenoid or relay option with toggle above will do the same thing too, but just more complicated, and only if you must have a remote toggle switch. They key is that both batts should have the...

Corrugated plastic. If you wait til an election day then the plastic is free and you keep it out of a landfill.... $90 is they see you coming. You can get it new at hardware store too. Lots of Camala vote signs in the trash these days, just look around. Just dont tape both ends of the flutes.

Consider adding another charge controller and just having your odd panel be a separate charging system to the same battery. You can have multiple solar panel/charge controllers feed into the same battery(s) and still be fine. volts plus volts plus volts of the 3 panels feed the battery, then...

Sounds like you most likely got it figured out with firmware.... My only suggestion, and might help a lurker who has shocking issues different to yours is to: Make sure all of your wires on AC side are wired correctly, do NOT reverse Hot and Neutral. Reversing them on anything plugged into AC...

maybe don't get the flexible ones this time. You already know why....

lol. yea, he gave up pretty quick, or wether got cooler. Is not necessarily bad to continue a topic as you can see the post to reader ratio means there are a lot of people reading the topic for some reason, maybe to find their own answers to the same question.

what is the question? Are you asking about vehicle aerodynamics or the forces on the panel? Roof wind turbulence is so messy, there are no direct from-the-front wind forces, it all swirls around unless you drive a soap bubble.

correct. the heated air is the air you heated in the cabin, not cold outside air, I should have been more specific about blowing fan air on it. *** edit, Just an update to confirm... 14 degrees the other night in the camper and I still had to leave a window and a roof vent cracked to keep...

There is the diode in that little box too, or something. You will have to buy one and make modifications yourself if you want it. Others are right, this is dumb. Im not trying be mean, this is dumb and your reasoning is invalid. Use glass panels!!! Flex panels are for dire situations, not...

This has to be so negligible that is almost immeasurable. You realize that the alternator at full output might be 6-10 hp, up to 25? Your alternator hp needs increase as the electric load increases. Your RV battery typically is not at zero percentage every time you drive. Usually the...

So, I went back to post #1. Yea, you didnt start out with all the info, only dripped it out, and after 4 pages now Im not going to sift through to find it all.... What I gather is you are living in a van that is not built out. You stuck up some cork and called it insulated? You have bare...

he is not my boyfriend, he be dont care, Im sure his feelings are not hurt. Read what others do and write and move on with your life. take advice where you can get it and use what you need to use. Stay on topic and avoid trying to be the feelings police.

I had a class C with the front half of box, about 7x7 foot area with bed over cab, and the 13.5 AC unit was still over-kill in a 120 degree desert. A 9k would have been plenty for that. When I opened the door and cooled the entire 15 foot box then the 13.5 was still fine. I would put in the...

None of your loads DC are worth a worry. The diesel heater will use amps when heating up the glow plug, mine is less than 8 amps, but after that it is only the fan that pulls power at about 3 amps max. I cannot argue with Will, but I think for your needs today that aluminum wire is more than...

One option is to take the existing battery to a Battery Store/ repair shop and have them put in all new 18650 batteries. This is a simple task for a battery enthusiast. 18650 batteries are in everything including the tool 12v battery you mentioned. They are the favorite for Tour de France...

I highly suggest one 200 amp hour 12v battery. No, don't crank generator just to pop corn. Get battery that does the job. When you say, "all I need...", lol. you list everything. The all-I-need category is guys who just need lights, fan and water pump, they can run off a couple of D-cell...

I think part of the answer is to swap out the alternating current compressor for a DC compressor so you can run the compressor straight off the battery. This have to be 12v compressor. Then you have a fan that is still alt current, so you still would need , though be it a smaller inverter, or...

All good points... How handy are you wiring stuff? The converter I had was for FLA, it would put a charge on the battery and provide 12v to the camper fuse panel. It just had one switch to choose battery (converter off) or converter. Turns out the converter put out 18volts, but nothing blew...

I think 9k is plenty enough as long as you are insulated, the glass being the biggest heat loss. I have a 9.2k Coleman Mach roof unit, not mili-split, but is 9k range. It is in a cargo trailer and is way way more than needed. If they had a 4K I would use it. As is the compressor runs just...

Looooong time ago when I was just learning stuff... I had 135 amp alternator on a cube van camper and was trying to run the fridge off the DC heater element while driving, big mistake and never try this and is dumb that fridges even have a DC powered element option, but even with the big 460...

At work I ask co-workers to check my work, and sometimes when it is a long day I ask for another set of eyes to make sure I did not make dumb move or over look some obvious thing. Is usually the most simple of things that we mistake. I ask dumb questions so I do not make dumb errors. Same on...

Those guys in vid make nice looking sturdy stuff, but all I see is a giant radiator. Same problem vanlifers make... not insulating the metal body on the inside. The metal is a great conductor of heat/cold, so hot outside then the metal conducts all the heat to the inside. When you have a...

Be careful getting camping advice from those who only sell camping, but do not do camping... same goes for solar. 100w is poor minimum ,but if you really will only ever need 100w then that is that, but once you start down the solar path forever will it direct your destiny. Yoda once told me...

Yes, good choice to use dc-dc. Yes, I too burned out a 135 amp alternator trying to run a propane fridge on DC while driving. IDK that amperage, but it was fine the first day and on second day went out. The driving battery slowly faded and I ended up running the generator all day to give DC...

Actually, the electric company WANTS you to do solar and sell it to them. Their other option is to build a new power plant. That is not an option they want. It is much cheaper for you to build the power plant and sell them electricity. Yet, IDK why they make selling solar power so difficult...

No, dont plug inverter into a DC outlet. Wire it directly to the battery with 2 or 4 gauge wire. The inverter should have a fuse in it so should not be necessary to fuse it, but a fuse will not hurt, or a DC circuit breaker. Really better to wire it to a fuse block so your wire going to...

I would not. Get another MPPT controller and run that into your one battery at the same time as the other one charges it. Things break, and this way you have two complete solar working set-ups. The charger/controller is not the expensive part, $50 or less on ebay for you small wattage. I...

thanks, yes I do have great insulation as I built it out myself and paid attention to things that matter. I dont ever use a fan to move air in or out when heating, just crack a window or top vent is enough. Yes, cold air comes in, but is needed to even out the temps as the heat is just too much...

hiding the systems in a box is still kinda useless unless you plan to hide it until post-emp. How to protect a working system is the question, not how to hide it in a box. IDT anyone has missed the faraday box option, nobody is asking how to put anything in a faraday box, this is simple, they...

Still, the furnace is hungry for amps and for many RVers is what kills their batteries in the middle of the night. I have a furnace I keep just in case, but the diesel heater is my primary as it sips electricity and sips diesel. My comments dont apply to me since I no longer use a furnace, but...

I have not checked to see what each pin on the rs485 does, but that is a generic computer industry connector, not just for solar stuff, so good chance they use the pins as designed to be used. For example, all RJ45 pins would either be A or B style. In computer world people do not change up...

sure, that is how it works. That is why people DO use it, but is not the topic of why people do NOT use it. If you buy a store bought rv with this stuff in it already then you do use it one would assume. Why do people who do not have it not go to the trouble of installing one? or is this all...

Well there are such switches and they are everywhere and cheap and quite easy to acquire and set up. They are called... wait for it.... Thermostats. It will be harder to find one that works below 60F, but if it is a mercury switch then you can just tilt it (wont work driving) , or if bi-metal...