Most reacted posts

Not understanding your logic. Im not sure you know how this works. There are two fans. They are NOT connected, not on the same shaft like older models. There are two fans, two fan motors that do not care what the other one does. They do not blow on each other, do not need the other to do...

The foot under or next to the panel will not matter, either way will hold it.

lol, "affect mpg's" lol.... umm, I gotta go poo now

My guess is in PNW and in the woods that your alternator is going to be key to charging. I still say forget the portable unit, those are just high priced battery/controller/inverter packaged in a plastic case. Just get more batteries instead. I was looking for pics but is on another device... I...

I would not do 4 batts! Keep it at 12 unless 24v just is needed. 12 makes everything RV in life so much easier. Get two 200 amp/hr batts instead of your 4. The reality that one batt goes bad and you just have to replace 1/4 of your batts for 1/4 of the price is just not realistic and not worth...

What do you mean by kill switch? Are you just disconnecting the connection with a switch? This is easily done with a circuit breaker, or DC on/off switch. You can disconnect anywhere along the connection. Keep in mind the rule the solar panel ask, disconnect the panel first. Is this related to...

dumb me. it was factory set at wrong voltage. I only ever seen these set at 12. I wasnt going to program it until I hooked up the panels, but this was the inverter end... cant delete post now...

If properly installed nothing goes wrong. Thousands of RVers have done this. This is not your mom's masking tape, VHB is very strong stuff. You figure out how strong it is once you try to remove it for renovation. I had to use a 1,500 degree heat gun to melt the glue/stickie enough to pull it...

side note, slightly off topic... There are devices that "clean up" sine waves of bad sources. We use them with $30,000 TVs for better quality picture. I dont buy them, I just install, but I wonder if it could help on a messy generator to clean it up some. It supposed to give a clean wave...

Sorry. you going to have to do a little work. The RV dealer or manufacturer did not do you any favors. RV dealers/mans do not know what they are doing except how to trick you into thinking they do. I would start over from scratch and do it right, not do it dealership method. Don't use chassis...

Electrically it does not matter. Buss bars are nicer and do that if you have that option. WIth FLA you DO want to get all your connections away from the battery a few inches so do use a buss bar, this is due to the FLA off gassing, with lithium this issue does not exist. I have a stack of...

That is an aluminum top. Make sure the roof is very clean and dry first where tape goes. Use thick tape so it has more chance to sink into the texture. With metal, a 1 inch by 5 inch tape on each corner is plenty. Seriously, no need to go crazy, it is strong stuff. I have mine to a metal roof...

I just posted this story. lol. 3 pairs of 100 watt panels going thru 3 charge controllers to two separate batteies. One set of panels can be switched to either battery bank. My solution was to just add more panels so I still get enough power in the partial shade (is never really 100% shaded in...

Are you wanting the panel to double as a faring? A gutter mount roof rack on your van roof would make a good base and easier than making something. If you mount it as an extension of the windshield carrying up to the box roof then there really wont be that great of forces at play., should make...

The second solenoid under the seat is so you can jump-start your engine battery off of the house batteries. There should be a switch on the dash to do this. Was very common back in the day.

Easiest to just install an AB switch on the hot side instead of a breaker or in addition to. My RV-type breaker box has two main inputs (shore and generator). The breakers are next to each other and there is a physical plate that when one breaker is turned to ON then the other breaker gets...

For the camper you pictured, although it is small compared to other RVs, it is still too big and has too much glass and probably not well enough insulated for a 1500btu ac. There is only one guy on this forum lately that has said he has ordered a 1500btu ac and he has not got it or installed it...

We use an alternating current cleaner on electronic devices at work, tvs mostly so the picture is always perfect. I havent tried it on RV stuff, but for items that are particular about the 120v current there are solutions that might fix the inconsistent current from old generators. I just...

The fuse block is likely rated for 25 or 30 amp fuses so that is plenty for what you are doing. looks fine. Skip the fancy chargers. Put in a DC outlet/ cig outlet, and then you can plug usb chargers into that, which cost $3 and up, not $20, and you have a useful DC outlet when needed. Then...

Good luck. Flex do have higher failure rates, glad you are not in that fail group, count yourself lucky. No comment

Many other discussions on DCDC charging suggest that the long wire run to the actual L batt makes a big enough voltage drop that you might not have to worry about too many amps going to that batt, which can harm the alternator. Alternator can be harmed when a battery ask for a big amp number...

A good DC compressor fridge should not pull 50 amps per day. Mine is a pretty big chest fridge/freezer and pulls 3.x amps running, but runs less than 30% of the time, so thats 1 amp per hour, I wake up and the fridge has puled down maybe 10 amps, 15 max since the sun went down. Do add solar...

Not undrstanding fully... Your gen starting battery is only for starting, it is not meant to power the "house". Do you have dedicated house batteries? Generators generate alternating current very well. Most only generate a little bit of DC current, meant to top off the starting battery, not...

I venture you have a 5000 btu window unit. In general you can count your AC to run about 1/3 of the time, not DrObbins, but anyone anywhere average except the blistering desert heat of July... So, it takes 3 hours at 300 watts running to total 300 watt hours used - that's 1/3 of 300 per hour...

Thanks for beeing a help

yours is orange! yes, prob exact same. Keep us posted.

panels break on the road about as often as your side windows break while driving, so dont sweat that, Id be more concerned about breaking bc it is a hatch door being lifted and slammed shut often that the road, even if you are mudding or aggressively off-roading like its your daddy's truck the...

Would it make more sense to build the solar array on the ground since it will be stationary? Vehicle mounted systems are for traveling. Seems you need it to just sit near your house and trailer.

Sadly, the leaves wont even blow off my roof around the panels, I have to blast it with a water hose to get it clean, even driving across the country is not enough of a wind situation to blow leaves off the roof. There are a lot of knee jerk comments that the sky is falling. Nobody suggest...

For the other guy reading with same issues... Also could be a bad diode on the panel allowing current to flow back into panel during the night, thus draining batt.

My old propane fridge that had no brain, only relied on turning a knob to control a manual gas valve, no DC needed, used 300 amp hours per day, and 17 watts!!! I feel your pain, but not your numbers.... upnorthandpersonal thanks, its easy to get off by a decimal when reading and thinking, lol...

You are not charging off your car battery, but the alternator. The alternator should have a ground wire, but it is bolted to the frame and might be the ground connection (to the frame), which the battery then gets its negative connection through the frame too, so going off the battery negative...

I use those "junk" breakers in different amp ratings. I use them mainly as a switch, and for that they work perfect. I have never tripped one. I have never tested one above its amp rating. Usually what happens for a breaker to trip is a short, and a short will be lots of amps and likely to...

When you say "packs" I was assuming you were building from individual cells, not buying batteries. Lets call them batteries. I would stick with 12 volt batteries, set at 12 volts, parallel, not in series making more volts. Is just easier on a vehicle and small systems. You will be charging...

Flex panels are bad. That said, sometimes u have to use them. I had a fiberglass TC and not enough room for glass so used the flex so it stayed aerodynamic. I used the plastic as u said, and under that plastic another layer of the plastic but there were strips that went diagonally slightly...

"self-tapper" is a catch all because they all self tap, whether they self drill or not has no significance at all other than you know the drill hole is the right size and that the person installing does not have to use a separate drill bit to install, which means your drill bit never goes dull n...

Agree... You can charge batteries with multiple chargers (controllers) and be fine. Double your same-as panels for 24 volts then charge battery. This give two sets of panels. Each set different as you say. This is no problem. For fridge it depends how much it runs, and how well insulated it...

My first camper build I had an inverter that powered the outlets. It was isolated from the roof Air cond and from the propane fridge. It worked on switches that allowed gen, shore or inverter power. For the inverter part I mounted the inverter under the bench, plugged a plug into it (made my...

your federal income tax goes to pay the interest on the debt we owe to private international bankers who use our printing presses to print money out of thin air and loan it to us at interest. dont go crazy this is available knowledge. When/if that system is eliminated then a huge huge portion...

From Sept to March, esp further North in America lower 48, could be better on a wall, more direct. In summer moths is better to lay flat given two choices of flat or vertical. Of course aiming directly is the best, but we are talking about flat or vertical. Simple. Any angle of the sun that...

Did you get it? I see Rigid now has higher BTU units in 12v, in the 2,000 to low 3,000 range, and same or similar amp numbers.

You have a fiberglass roof. Why worry about a rubber roof? I would strongly, STRONGLY STRONGLY advise do NOT screw into your roof. Hindsight says would be better to forgo the solar alltogether and just use a generator than to put holes in your perfect roof. Yes, VHB tape is THAT strong. Is...

interesting. Could you just put the bird blue wire on a switch instead of the battery? Ive lost why you need to charge the starting battery, does it sit for a long time? might be easier to just add its own trickle charger. Unless you left your lights on or unless it is an old useless...

65 is about my sq footage, lol. This is not some junk factory-built RV, so as stated, has very good insulation. Im not going to build panels on top of roof ac units, it still has to go down the road. thanks for sharing

Southeast. It is not the location or the temp so much, but that there is no ventilation under. Also, the panels will lose efficiency when they get this hot. I would not use the method of looking for burn spots to determine how hot the panel gets. It will get hot! Ventilate it!

Instead of lever nuts I would go lugs, copper lugs. Do not solder them, use a crimper or a hammer and a flat head screw driver. Put the cable in, pound with hammer some, use flathead to hammer a slot divit (do not cut) longways in the crimp. The idea is squeeze and make as much copper to...

Yes, that simple. 400 watts will be way overkill for your two batteries though. 100 watts will be plenty for ONLY maintaining charge. Very unclear of your intentions..... Keeping the batteries charged is the goal of EVERYONE!!! So, what are you doing with the batteries while camping? You...

Now you're dipping out info slowly.... I have solar on mine and have a DC-DC charger and have never used the DC-DC charger (it is on a breaker switch always turned off) while driving or ever, but it is there. I think it is 20amps, so that is not too much for the alternator, a higher amperage...

Thanks. Interesting. The burning question.... does it matter? I make ends all the time out of copper pipe, and do clean the inside. Hammer a flat spot, drill hold, cut pipe, insert wire, crimp it, tape it. I have not had issues with those, but really am not running significant current through...

dude prob doesnt wipe his backside either

No, my charger is not big enough for 70v. I got one just a little bigger than needed, so the 24v works fine. , now that I looked at the numbers below, I run two sets of 200 watts into it, 400 watts at 24 volts, so is half the max, and I never see 100% of what the panels are rated at, 400 watts...

Not very useful. On a 2 month trip I connected the alternator (just an on/off switch in camper) once for a few hrs drive to bring batts back up a little. I have way too much solar panels for summer, so just do not need the alternator boost. My battery bank is over-kill also so a week parked...

Yes, I understand why you dont understand why one thing is out... If my 9200 btu compressor runs 1 min out of 10, and the Rigid is greater than 1/10th power, (1/6th say) then if it runs 10 out of 10 minutes then will equal the same, but IDT it works like that in reality? I am afraid to lower...

I think he is talking about running power to the main positive on the fuse block, not an individual fuse slot. ( I have a friend who bought a used trailer and someone "fixed" the bad positive cable issue from battery by connecting the electric jack cable to the battery instead of using the main...

Not installed yet but I plugged in the inside unit. I wired up a DC plug to power it. It draws 1.5 amps on low, 7 or so on high fan speed - just the inside unit, not the compressor with its fan. So, 1.5 amps at 12v is the same as any clip fan you would use; the big amp draw will be the outside...

Yes. I have had two different solar panels/chargers feeding into one battery and also connected to the vehicle alternator all at the same time, and could have added AC charger into the same battery too. The issue will be in what the chargers will see. I had two MPPT charge controllers feeding...

I run two totally separate solar/MPPT systems into one battery. None of the smart parts care and the dumb part care even less. It all works. I could not figure out what this guy was doing. Sounds like he is a boat guy, shoulda posted on the boat section. Yes, he should just put the second...

People that get nervous about VHB tape obviously have never worked with it, so sorry, are invalid. VHB is very strong. You likely will be using more tape than is needed, but there is no harm in that either. With the curve you could have penels almost touching the ridge and let the air gap...

Im confused... Protection from UV rays is as simple as blocking the light from hitting your cable. If it blocks the light then it works. I currently use the split loom stuff but it breaks down in a year or two bc it is not a UV rated product and I have to replace it, but it protects the...

If you have an area that seems to stay moist and needs ventilation then just a fan blowing on it, no heat needed, just the fresh aire should be enough. Fan can be very low speed, maybe even a computer fan.

2-3 inches from leading edge will be fine as long as it sits low. I would go 3, and 4 if thats an option. No more than 1/2 inch gap under, and I would do less for a leading edge mount, maybe even 1/8 inch on the front and whatever on the back (1/2, 3/4) so the front cannot catch much air under...

First step is to do a survey of your own power needs: How much power do you need? How long will you park in one location, in the shade? How many watts of panels are you working with? How many amp hour of battery do you have? For me it has always been roof only. I like the idea of parking in...

You have to insulate it. If the plywood walls are already up and nothing behind them then take the plywood off and insulate it and put plywood back up - is the only way... Insulate the roof even more, double what the walls are. Beware that if you have metal framing and put the outside and...

What I have is about a foot on the front (short side of panel) and a 4 inch section on the back of the long side, and a 1 inch section across from that. The other panels not pictured are just a foot (or the width of the short side of panel) on each short side, nothing on the long side. My roof...

Say 60 amps at 12v and it cycles so compressor runs 1/3 of the time (lets pretend the circulation fan doesn't exist so we can be simpletons...). Then that is 20 amp per hour (1/3 of 60), so 20 amp hours per hour, so 5 hours depletes 100 amp hours of stored power. A 100 amp hr battery will not...

Yes, thanks for asking. I do know because these were all video reviews that showed everything inside their van, so yes, you can see how their van is built, you can see bare door frames exposed inside, can see acres of window glass too, can see their build technique that radiates heat through the...

Though Im not a fan of using a dorm fridge on an inverter off your RV battery, that would be better than powering a 2-way fridge off a battery. Get a dorm fridge if your plans need you to power a fridge while driving. Most people just drive with fridge off and it stays cold enough. The more...

Save the expensiviest of foods when house power goes out for too long. I put food in the RV DC compressor fridge, which runs off solar.

When you plug in to shore then the charger will come on, it will not come on if you are not plugged in, that is the easy one. This is pretty straight forward build. You have an AC unit on the roof? That will be an issue with shade given you will not be able to put panels away from the tall ac...

You got the answer that you asked. If you want specifics on your particular model and not the general reason why, then need to contact manufacturer or research the details further. Nope, this would be a bad myth and one I never heard. Controllers are more like a light switch here, they can...

No, most do not recommend wiring old batteries to new batteries, or any dissimilar batteries ,together in parallel. The bad one will draw from the good one and both will only be as good as the bad. However, you can do this if willing to accept the issues, I would not myself. In series is different.

10+ yrs ago I was involved with alternator sales.... They were set to peak at 1800rpm, so your 130 amp alternator will do 130 amps at 1800 rpm, but not at 1200 for example. You will be driving at closer to that 1800rpm number so nothing to worry about, just keep in mind at idle, 700 or 1100...

umm.... ok

They still like you having solar. That reduces demand which means the power generators they have are sufficient. It takes you off the grid. There is a point as customers/demand increases that they will need a new power plant or to expand what they have, and this is not what they want to do...

umm, Im curious about the math... 0.34kwh/day means how much? You did decimals then use "k" to move decimals and now Im lost.

So, what is the issue with hammering copper pipe flat? I put a copper pipe inside a copper pipe and hammered it flat where needed, drilled holes, and bolted to 3 batteries. The benefit, other than having the copper in a pile already, was that the pipe holds the three batteries together at the...

IDK why you would have a dioed and a solenoid. If you can get rid of dioed then get rid of it bc , yes, there is a voltage drop. How big is it? Yes, the first solenoid turns off when ignition/starter is going (same as your radio turns off when cranking) and connects both batts when the engine...

lol, I get it.. My brother had an extra marine battery he thought was a find and wanted to power his fridge off that and some solar, or maybe even just have a way to charge some phones. Yes, it is something. HE spent money on panels and controllers and yet has that battery. I tried get him...

shop for what you want. You have til summer to get what you want. Order the stuff or have them order it. Get aluminum unistrut too. Lighter, no rust. a 10 foot length will be way overkill, but will work.

My cat's breath smells like cat food! Umm, yea, solar panels tend to do that. Works like magic. Spare battery is the best way. Not going to be practical as long-range transport given how big the panels need to be to keep bike running all day. Where you going to go so far and how you going...

That is a lot of run-time. I just put mine in, in winter, so havent tested it yet. From research most people get 8-10 hours of ac cycling over night on a similar battery bank. Data? What temps, what temp difference from outside to inside you making?

The best part is the rod doubling as the lock. How many more amps do you get tilted than flat?

The tr16h tester meter... I just installed one. Very difficult to make sense of the instructions. As far as the light (background illumination) , what does it mean? As far as I can tell the blinking (on/off every second) means charge is going into the battery. Instructions use phrases like...

Dzzzt dzzzt dzzzt is about all it would do. Put a fuse on the positive wire and the fuse will blow on the first dzzt and that is it. Anderson plugs can come unplugged and will not short anything out. The solar panel stock plugs will not short out either. What are the chances you damage one...

what country you in where you money ?snagged $ this I now other countries use the dollar sign too. Curioust was just I #

"Does anyone have any ideas why/how I can't just hook up these panels in-the-meantime to keep the 3 house batteries charged?" Was that your question all along? This is exactly what solar panels on an RV are for. Is like asking if you can use a cup to drink out of.... The answer is, yes. To...

IDT 48 is needed for you in a van if you are barely using what u have now. There are all kinds of reasons to choose 12, 24 or 48. On a van it will be easier to stay 12 since that matches the alternator and all the van 12v systems, and a lot of RV systems. I like to run panels at 24v and let the...

OK, umm. explain. I have pure sine wave inv and I put a oscilloscope on it and see a perfect sine wave, better than household current from the grid. The heck u talking about extended runtime? The inverter puts out a sine wave, not an extended wave. I catn follow your post, needs more...

Avoid the flex panels, they would be disaster for moving on n off all the time, will break fast. Yes, 4 100w panels seems your best option. That is good price for 100w 12v panel. I have not researched this brand. Look up EPever on ebay for better prices if you want save a few bucks. I would...

It is either rubber (on top of plywood) or aluminum (thin textured, thinner than license plate) or fiberglass (either a thin sheet glued to something or, not in your case, a gel coat molded structure like a boat hull or Scamp camper). Very very rare to see a steel roof on a camper other than a...

Agree with the above. The controller runs off of battery power and should not turn off if solar is not present. Solar is not present every day, so there is no logic for it to turn off either. Agree, use "USER" and program in your own charging profile.

OK, thanks... Same question, but for aluminum or copper bus bars... Do I connect the pos and neg to the center of the bus bar or needs to be opposite ends with 3 parallel batteries? there are no cables, batt conn directly to bar.

Literally, just toggle between the two batteries. There will be no delay in power. The radio will have a capacitor so will have a moment it powers itself anyway. It is too instant to matter. Mine never did anything but play normally when switching batteries. You are still over-thinking it...

Do your batteries need 1600 watts or do they only need 800 at the time? The exactness of half of original suggest that half your panels are not working otherwise. Generally, no, it will not be your wiring.

l think "illegal" is a bit of a stretch for a bicycle.

Besides trying talk u outta these flex panels, You HAVE TO ventilate them underneath, do not place them directly onto the surface. it gets very hot under there, and did burn (severly discolor) my fiberglass roof. There are ways to vent them and have them still pretty flat and curved, but I hate...

Think of controller as a sink faucet. When your bucket is empty you fill at full faucet flow, when near full you adjust to slow faucet speed until it is full and then you turn off your faucet. lf your bucket has a very small hole in it then you might have the faucet flow or drip at a very slow...

Did you use mini-splits meant for houses or for vehicles? That would be key, do include mistakes that you made when generalizing based on experience as that is very important for the reader.

My fridge went out and so my camper two-zone chest fridge became a two compartment freezer to save hundreds of dollars of frozen meats etc... I have trailer set up solar, so in an emergency it can power some things in the house but Im not set up for running a full size fridge on top of other...

tough call. Is the food in the fridge a lot? lot of money in food? A few days I would leave it for sure, but some food will go bad in 3 weeks anyway. Danger is only if a fire breaks out from defective fridge, otherwise it should be fine leaving it on and running just the fridge. Keep the area...