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depends on the alloy, but generally aluminum is stronger than a similar weight of steel... but since the aluminum unistrut is much lighter (steel is denser than aluminum and the cross sectional area of the strut channels is the same, ergo the aluminum is lighter), it's not as strong. designing...

I find that I don't get ears if the wire fully fills the terminal. try different brands and sizes. I do like the hex crimps but a single punch crimper seems to work well enough and is a lot quicker.

If you have enough $$$ there is aluminum unistrut available. also fiberglass and even stainless. look at mcmaster-carr for examples. I will have to try the cone nuts, the springs sometimes try my patience.

I've got to trim under there! The box has some convenient holes on the bottom, so I bolted it to the telestrut base. The uprights are held by unistrut brackets and some whopping 1/2" bolts. The strut channel below the panels provides the sliding action so the angle can be adjusted. I think...

https://www.zoro.com/search?fqv%3Avariants.variant.attributes.Strut_Channel_Material=Aluminum&sort=asc%7Cprice&q=strut%20channel Not genuine Unistrut I think, but I've never had problems with superstrut, etc. Then again I blow my nose on facial tissue, never saw the need for Kleenex. free...

That would make sense, it's not like Big Battery is going to order the extra-leaky cells. Their design might benefit from a few tweaks (what design doesn't?) but I think it's more likely a battery supplier problem. I would worry more about any particular battery company being around to service...

Looks like they buffed up K9 for the Tom Baker season remakes ?

I think you mean 2000 Wh, not 2000W. I'd be impressed if you're drawing 2000w constantly in your van ;) I assume your 2500w inverter is 12V, right? The Renogy 50A dc-dc charger/MPPT all-in-one unit might work- it has a voltage sensitive relay built in to disconnect from your vehicle power...

Hey all, I bought a 30AH, 48V littlokala battery for my Lectric XP 2.0 bike for around $200. I am planning on wiring it in parallel with the stock battery and manually switching by turning off the key (disconnecting the factory 10AH battery) and plug in the Littokala. Not entirely foolproof...

That's a very nice tilting install! Almost makes me wish I skipped the factory rails. Do you have a picture of how it's supported on the side opposite the hinges; how do you adjust the angle and how do you keep it in place while driving?

Yeah, if you're running 4x350W panels something like Victron might be in order and the quality is top notch. I would definitely do a thoughtful analysis of how much power you need first, all of your other choices will proceed from that. I honestly don't need solar on my van, since I don't sit...

If your main goal is to save money, plugging into the grid is hard to beat (especially if you already have power wired to your house, remote mountain top cabins are a different animal...) What are you trying to achieve? maybe you can use what you have on hand to reduce your grid usage. It...

if you've got it on a trailer, take it with you ? if you're just fooling around, you can learn everything while building a small setup for a lot less dough

I made a rack to hold 3x 200W panels made out of Unistrut, Telestrut, and some aluminum rectangle tube. It's all held down by 400AH of lead batteries in a Jobox that also holds the charge controller and inverter. It is adjustable from ~14-44 degrees and I made the legs long enough so I can...

got some pictures? ?

It does stink, if it's only a few cells here and there then fine... but enough cells go bad and the vendors could possibly disappear and never take care of the problem, leaving BB holding the bag (of untrustworthy cells)

Like that all black setup! I don't think it's going to fall off. Thanks for the pics :)

temco sells hydraulic tools of reasonable quality and price. I have their hole punch set as well as their hydraulic terminal crimper. I've done a bunch of 1/0 terminals, works great so long as you use the matching die, conductor, and terminal. search Amazon for temco crimper.

Well shut my mouth... it seems that aluminum unistrut is actually cheaper than steel these days! Stainless is about double vs zinc plated steel, aluminum and fiberglass are about 80% of steel. At least at McMaster-carr. if you need large quantities it's probably not the cheapest supplier. Yet...

@rmaddy veering off topic but do you have a floor plan for your trailer?

maybe they're thinking $899 for a 100Ah battery that doesn't leak isn't so bad after all? That's what I'm thinking... I had been trying to get BigBattery on the phone to order one of their systems, but considering I can't get through to sales (and no answer to my emails) I'm imaging that...

Hmmm... i have a renogy regular model (2kw) but the standby current is a little high. Victron inverters have very low standby (1-3 watts) and are very high quality, but fairly expensive. I just tested a generic 2kw chinese inverter, it draws 1.4A at standby which is... a lot. @SolarShed, what...

If you need reliability and good power saving, Victron is a good choice. My renogy is holding up so far but I haven't really stressed it much

Victron and probably others make dc-dc converters that will charge a 24V system from the 12V alternator. The Victrons don't have a multistage charge, but you can set them at a reasonable float value and let your solar system keep things topped off. This would make your inverter and battery...