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My wife… is the washer & I am the dryer… Everything else uses WAY more energy & water. 😎

Update on the batteries in my MotorHome. Today I did a useable capacity test and I am excited! I installed eight 272ah Lishen cells - (12v - 544Ah battery) about 1-3/4 years ago. I did not do individual cell capacity tests, but after I got the battery made and installed I did a useable...

Well I finished my 12v 50Ah LiFePo4 small portable battery. I will be using the battery in my Jeep and for camping. It has eight 25Ah Fortune cells from electriccarparts.com and an Overkill BMS. I started to play with the batteries with my Batrium BMS in this thread: BMS...

My solar production just NE of Little Rock AR. Kinda Cool!

Since right now you are running 2s2p - since you took out one panel from each string, you have the following choices… Go to 2s3p - you will get more power than 2s2p - yes it is not as efficient, but you will have more power. Get a different SCC - one that can handle the 3s - probably looking...

It is so the birds have someplace to rest above your panels so ALL their poop will land on the panels… LOL

Dont think of these cells as 270 or 280Ah - think useable capacity- probably around 250 Ah. Because we probably won’t set our chargers to 100% nor discharge to 0%. So it’s about 250 useable.

Put solar panels on the roof. That way there are always there charging- side benefit the direct sun is on the panels with an air gap underneath- instead of on the roof heating the place up too hot. Wire the roof panels to its own dedicated mppt. Then have another mppt for the ground panels. The...

As a full-time RVer in a 2000 Dymasty 36’ let me offer some perspective. We try to Boondock as much as possible. The best things is to follow 70 degrees. Baja in the winter and North in the summer (Alaska is great!). With that you will find you don’t need lots of A/C’s. If it’s so hot you need...

You asked about installing a large 500w panel on a Van/RV. A few weeks ago we were boondocking in BC. A van pulling a cargo trailer pulled in - both the Van and the Cargo trailer had a single very large solar panel on them. I was watching him go over the bumps and I could see both panels...

Build a fence using 6-1/2 tall bi-facial panels that way we can’t see your main array… but he gets to look at your solar fence every day.

One of the solar issues may be your SCC (solar charge controller) wants voltage between 20 and 80v. The parallel strings may not be providing enough voltage to start the SCC’s until later. The three 200w BiFacial in series may also be an issue- with a Voc of 28.1 *3 = Voc of 84.3v. I could not...

If you just need a little cold buffer - put a large amount of water (like a 55 gallon drum - filled to 50 gallons) in the basement near the batteries. Water takes a lot of energy to freeze - so the area will get to 32F - but you need to freeze the water before it drops too much colder. (This...

Yes you can buy a plain inverter, but these are usually cheaper items. One issue is they probably don’t have a transfer switch built in. Here is an example of why the inverter/charger Multiplus is so cool! With my Multiplus in my MotorHome, currently I am at an RV park that has pretty bad...

In 2019 on a trip back from Alaska, my parents 4 year old NeverCold leaked all the ammonia. My dad got the Amish replacement but decided to stay with propane. We put it in- was not a hard job - but 2 people needed. When we went full-time I didn’t want our 22 year old NeverCold dying at a bad...

The best way to connect is: You want to connect each battery up to a bus bar with equal length & size battery cables. (For example - all cables are 36” and 2 awg copper - - 5 red & 5 black). Use a very high quality bus bar. Look at the Victron PowerIn / BlueSea, etc. (make sure it is...

I figured I would give an update… The batteries have been working very well. Just charged them up (with solar), ran it down to about 50% (it has a residential fridge connected) by turning off the solar. Then back up. Happened to catch the batteries in the absorbing phase. The cell differences...

If you are making a 48v battery- you really should have a 48v battery and bms - not four 12v batteries in series. The four 12v’s cannot equalize their cells to other batteries. One thing I learned when running 6v GC2 lead batteries in my MotorHome (in 2s2p) is the batteries can and will get off...

Nope - the mppt algorithms will fight each other- at least that’s what I read here in a different thread.

Don’t discount wild land fires… Consider having the outside layers of your house all non-flammable. And a large firebreak. We are touring Alaska and I stopped by someone’s home for a windshield rockchip. He told me no problem bringing your Motorhome in. He had about 30’ all around his house...

Hello everyone, I have a 2000 Monaco MotorHome, I will be installing eight 272ah Lishen LiFePo4 cells making a 2p4s 12v 500Ah (useable) battery. My two largest loads are a Victron MultiPlus 12/3000 inverter/charger and the engine "Boost" if my chassis battery gets low. For the BMS I chose a...

The best bms is the one that fits your needs/goals the best. What is the criteria??? Here are some aspects: Price Communications Charging amps Discharging amps Quality Size Ability to run relays For example, about 3 years ago I was building two different batteries for my MotorHome. A small...

I would like to focus on the panels for a bit - to figure out if you have a wiring penalty going on. What we need to know is exactly what is connected to each SCC (solar charge controller). We need to know the following specs for each panel: Voc_______ Vmp_______ Imp_______ So if the 100w...

I do not but the YouTube Channel “Ambition Strikes” installed one (the electric one) run in on their system and like it. May want to look for their talking about it.

LiFePO4 is the only ones for me - when I am sleeping. I have several of the 3.7v cells and I never leave them charging at night. Probably safe… but…

Here is a tip I saw from the Jeeping world & figured I would pass it along. After you get everything exactly tight - take something like a fine Sharpie marker and put a straight line down over the nut, washers(if any) and onto the bus bar. Then you can see in a glance if the nut has started to...

On my MotorHome all the wires, air lines, etc are in split wire loom tubing. 23 years and counting and no issues with that.

My brother has had three EV’s - and loves them! The first two were Nisson Leaf’s. He got them cheap for his kids to have a car during teen years - no gas expense and the teenagers did not need massive ranges- they could go all over the area. Being used they were cheap! Think disposable for...

Here are my thoughts: The last thing you want is to lose a panel - if you think 6 is fine - use that or 8 use that. Us strangers on the internet can't see your roof. I would think it would be a good idea to put one of front and one on back - then use 3 on each side. Level does not matter -...

Correct me if I’m wrong- but both the Victron 450/100 and the EG4 500v-100a both output the same … it is charging a 48v battery at 100amps. The inputs can be a little different- but the max output is the same. Yes Victron is more expensive. I really like all my equipment being connected to the...

One other point for Victron that has not been mentioned yet. Since I started using a Victron shunt four years ago, I can think of four or five software updates (there may have been many more). Now most of those have been behind the scenes stuff or updates on stuff I don’t use. However, two...

The 290w max at 12v while correct - it is not the way to think and calculate it. The 100/20 will produce 20amps times 14.4v = 288w. So for your batteries with an absorption charge of 24v(?) you should get 20a * 24v = 480w. You believe something is lying to you (and I believe you) - both the...

I like Victron- I full time in my MotorHome and have an all Victron system (except batteries). I think it is worth the brand premium for tier1 equipment. The information it gives me is great. So if/when I build an off-grid home - that’s what I will go with. Don’t just accept the plan of the...

I full-time in a 50a Motorhome. After reading your messages this is where I would look - you may need to adjust a bit after doing the energy audits… Two Multiplus II 48/5000. These will run a house with no problems. Batteries- four rack mounted 48v 100ah batteries. Look at Current Connected -...

One trick I found - before I made my big 2p4s 540ah battery for my RV, I made a small portable 50ah battery. I needed a small battery for one job - but I have found several others really good jobs for it too. The experience of making one battery really helped me when making the bigger battery...

Hello everyone, I want to add one more solar panel to an array on my MotorHome. The problem is the panels I used have been discontinued and are no longer available. Currently I have two Hightec 210w panels in series: Vmp 22.4v Impp 9.3a Voc 24.9v Isc 9.85a The closest panel match I can find...

I really like the second page of the graphs - the History section- the bar chart over the last 30 days. I usually look over the last 3 to 5 days. I look at the min and max battery voltage. Is the max consistently reaching the absorption voltage? So the battery consistently is getting full. Or...

With that run length - it might be cheaper to look at a 250v mppt and go with a 5s2p (you would need one more panel). If your low temps aren’t very low (check the math carefully here!) maybe even a 6s2p - but that’s probably over the voltage line. Going with high voltage and lower amps for...

Anderson Power Pole connects have options for all sizes. The only one I have used is a massive one that connected an electric forklift battery. I just placed an order for some 30a ones that I will be using on a small home built lithium battery. (50ah @ 12v). If ordering from Amazon - make sure...

The fire is the key to keeping the moisture down. It takes a lot of “air” a moves it out the chimney - that takes the high moisture out as well. It also raises the temperature which lowers the humidity. Without a fire I would think you would need an ERV and a de-humidifier just to start.

The Batrium BMS will need to be operated at a lower voltage than your battery - somewhere between 12 and 48 volts (if I remember correctly). On my Batrium battery I used a contractor -Tyco EV200AAANA. It has worked well for me. Battery hookup has used ones for like $15. Online Components is...

Boy! I am not very good at doing updates... I have been using the batteries for about 6 months now. No problems (other than my own stupid mistakes that I will list below). A few other updates first - Heating. Because my motorhome batteries (starting & lithium) are basically outside, I built...

Also, if you are going with a Victron system - go all Victron- the data you get and history is AWESOME! That may become more important if you play with your string configurations in the future- because you can see what each mppt is producing or not producing. Edit:sunshine is totally...

My understanding based on my setup. I have the temp sensor on the Smartshunt- I did not put the temp sensor from the Multiplus on (too difficult for my RV). Through the “VE smart network” the Smartshunt will pass current, voltage, and temperature data to the mppt’s. I don’t know if it passed...

#10 wire is rated for 30amps #8 wire is rated for 40amps #6 wire is rated for 50amps At noon with 650watts of solar power your solar charge controller will produce: 650w / 14.2v = 45amps If you try shoving more amps down a wire rated for fewer amps - it heats up and resistance increases. The...

My Motor Home has this Boost feature built in, so if the chassis battery is too low to start the big diesel engine, there is a boost switch. It activates a solenoid that closes a links between two batteries. When I was getting the Victron BMV-712 I researched it. Victron's shunt is a 500a - 50...

Here is one thought - since you have the Victron mppt - think about a Victron inverter. Having all major stuff Victron- let’s you use a GX and give you lots of info in the same place. Look up a Cerbo (you could use that or roll your own with a Pi).

Identify your water source for the “dry” property… Ask neighbors and others about the wells - ask to taste the water - some well water tastes real bad. Also for your temp hauling water… figure out where to get it - how much it will cost you - both in $$$, time, and fuel. Also figure out the...

It you want lots of power go 48v. The size of battery depends on how much you will use in a day, (will you use as much the next day too?), how much solar you have, and how much you want to run the generator. It just a math question…

You are mixing up your 120v amps with your 12v amps. That little generator can generate 20amps at 120v. 20amps *120v = 2400 watts converted back to 12v… 2400w/ 12v = 200amps. Your little generator (mathematical) could completely charge your 400ah battery in 2hrs (which is too fast for those...

Nope. If running at the same time they fight each other. You could setup a switch to send power to one - then power to the other.

In my MotorHome I went with a diy 544ah 12v battery - with Victron gear. I have a Multiplus 12/3000 inverter- it can run one large item (microwave, hair dryer, A/C) and all the small items at once - computers, etc. or two medium items at once - toaster,etc. Keeping everything at 12v is nice...

My day job is an accountant. If an IRS employee visits your home and asks about your system - or is your case compelling enough that a judge will agree. if the following questions are all YES - I don’t think there would be an issue: Is it on all the time? So you are using solar power every...

Also, you could put four 12v lights in series too. That may or may not be cheaper.

Here is maybe a better idea: Leave your current water heater alone - that way your wife always has hot showers. Add a second water heater in front on your water heater and this one runs off the solar dump load. It will always be cold water - and will heat the water up before going into your...

Victron started in the Marine market - which is much closer to the RV market than… Most AIO’s started in the House market- which is further away from the RV market feature-wise. I full-time RV in a MotorHome with LOTS of Victron stuff. The two BEST features of Victron for RV’s are the low power...

I looked at the video - you really need an insulated box around the batteries. You can just get a 4x8’ sheet of 1” insulation foam board- make a base - make sides and a lid - fasten together with duck tape. That will allow the heaters to retain the heat. how cold are the batteries? Have you...

Here is my OPINION on the Blue Sea switches. When they are on or off - no issues. The problem will be in switching states from on to off or off to on. If your system will not turning on or be shutting off with much current flow, then there will not be a problem. But if you shut off with a...

I would have one class T fuse on each of your 15 batteries. That way if a battery goes haywire - the other ones don’t keep feeding it with massive amps. I like your idea of an overall shutoff (of some kind), for the entire battery array.

Here is another idea… Get a 12v heater (rv tank heater/ seed heater etc…) put it in the bottom of the insulated box under the batteries (with appropriate electrical insulation between them). Use a Victron BP-65 to cut power to the external heater if the batteries drop below ____v (you select...

Hello everyone, I figured I should finish posting about building the battery (about time... I have been using it for months now). Here is the photo of the eight cells. I used kevlar cord (from my rocket hobby). Its strong and doesn't stretch. This is so I can lift the cells when I need to...

If you will have a microwave on an inverter- go with 24v (or any other high load 120v items - hairdryers,etc). If no large inverter go with 12v. The difference between 6ga wire and 10ga will not be significant.

My guess is the input amp limit is too high - probably 50amp is the default- you need to drop that to 15amps (I would go to the minimum 7.5amps). You probably popped either the GFCI breaker or your circuit panel breaker.

What you need is a transfer switch. Because I love my Victron Multiplus I would HIGHLY recommend that - it has a built in transfer switch and charger. But you have said you don’t it. WFCO T30 30 Amp Transfer Switch https://a.co/d/iChe683 This is an automatic switch (there are others). It...

Yes you can but there will be a penalty. The way to figure it out is to remember that when you combine panels one factor adds and you use the lowest of the other one. (Use Vmp and Imp for these calculations). In series - voltage adds - amps use the lower one. In parallel- amps add - volts use...

Mine is the Gen2 so it points itself. I got a FlagPoleBuddy system and usually attach it to my ladder w/2 4’ poles (starts out at about 7’ - so it is about 15’ up there) - I have another 2 poles to get it much higher to help w/trees if needed. I have the base and have a 150’ cable- sometimes...

Nope! You will have a dead mppt. For the max voltage you look at the Voc (Voltage open circuit), With a Voc of 46.6 * 3 panels = 139.8v - you are already over the max range. Plus as solar panels get colder the Voc goes up. That number of 139.8v is at standard conditions 25C or 77F. As it gets...

Yes - it is a self- destruct button. ? it is NOT a Bussman 30a surface mount breaker. If you push the red button all the little electrons in the circuit suddenly quit doing the work we want them to and spontaneous self destruct - such horror! Luckily the ones in the battery don’t hear about...

In an RV (Schoolie), one of your biggest factors is your idle draw of the inverter. Because of limited solar you want as low of idle draw as possible - and best efficiency. One of the reasons I like Victron inverters. Good Luck

Lots of years ago, my first solar installation on my 5th wheel trailer. Hooked up the pwm controller to the battery, then hook up the solar panel- and smelled the magic smoke… I had flipped pos and neg when connecting the SCC, and the batteries burned it up (no fuses) the connection finally...

Get a Victron Smartshunt or BMV712 ASAP! Once that is installed you can see what is going in & out of the batteries. My guess is the same as above. Although with only 650w of solar you MAY not be getting the batteries recharged during the day- that is why a shunt based battery monitor is...

The copper(?) plate below that conducts the current looks rather small- at least compared to my Blue Sea ones.

There is a nice way to program the inverter through the Cerbo. You need a laptop and the Cerbo needs connected to the internet (WiFi or cable). In a nutshell… you got on VRM - download the file - modify it - upload it. Here are some instructions… With the battery connected to the Cerbo -...

Look at getting two Victron PowerIn’s. Then look at YouTube for a video to add fuses to it. It makes a really nice setup that looks good plus it has a fuse on every battery (just in case). Yes it is more expensive than other options…

They are totally lying… Want proof… https://signaturesolar.com/hyundai-390w-half-cell-monofacial-solar-panel-silver-hia-s390hi-full-pallet-27-pre-order/ There is a 390w panel. Only 39” x 79” Just a wee bit bigger…

Off grid is expensive, the larger the system the more costs rise. Conservation is vitally important! (Plan that in your build). There are three big factors- how many watts you will use in a day, and how many watts you will use at once and how much is needed to get you through the night - until...

Often on this website, we see someone saying, my Lithium battery is acting weird - it’s is shutting off early or the voltage is spiking. This are caused by cell inbalances. It can happen over time if the batteries don’t get enough time to balance. When this happens we often can just give...

There are places where the breakers are great. I have one installed between my solar panels and my solar charge controller. This way I can turn off the sun. That makes it easy to work on that section of the system and if I want to see battery voltage during the day - turn off the sun.

Go look at the spec sheet on the class T fuse you are thinking about. The one I used had the spec’s when it blew. Also, get a clamp meter and see what the generator really needs for startup power and surge. It may be less than 200 amps (just a guess).

Two things for your planning. Yes @Steve_S is right on. For your size of system (240v - full house) you will want 48v. Also, batteries should be the voltage size of the system - use 12v batteries for a 12 v system - use a 48v battery for a 48v system. While yes you can (with many...

Assuming 6 won’t fit… What may be easier is to hook four up to the all-in-one (maybe 2s2p?) then hook the fifth one up to its own SCC - something like a Victron 100/20 - connected directly to the batteries.

The problem is totally the way the panels are wired. You may (or may not) have blow out the diodes. Post the electrical specs and we can see if there is any way to connect the panels together in a reasonable manner - my guess is there is not. Probably the best thing is to connect the three...

They have 450 volt 250 volt 150 volt 100 volt And 75 volt. The 450v has two models 450/200 & 450/100

Yes the mppt should be as close as possible to the battery.

Don’t get it through Amazon. I get mine through https://www.continuousresources.com/ They are the closest to me - kinda local. I figure if I really need help I can drive my MotorHome to them. min the Victron site there is a dealer locator page.

A couple of items I think you need that are missing and some things to consider. A good shunt based battery monitor - Victron Smartshunt or BMV712. You need to know exactly the state of charge (SOC) in the battery. The issues with many of the ones in the bms is they don’t count small current...

As an accountant I read the Reddit article about the audit. This is my opinion based on working with the IRS for almost two decades. He had a corespondents audit - everything was done via mail - he never met his auditor. After he determined His auditor was giving him the run around. He could...

As for your idea of having batteries on on side - then have the terminal for all the loads and charging on the other side - while not ideal - it would work… Provided: The cables are large enough. A high quality terminal block is used.

Get your digital multimeter (DMM) out: Get basic readings on batteries, and on the mppt battery screws. Look over your wiring job to make sure you got everything back correctly.

I used an RV pad like that from Amazon under my diy battery. It has been working in my case. I use relays from my bms to send power to the pads when the battery is too cold. Here are a few things to consider and think about. Those RV pads are 12v. Your battery is 24v. One thing I didn’t...

The first (and most important) is to define EXACTLY what you want to accomplish, then figure out how many watts of power you need (both in a day and as surge). Only after you know those things does the what equipment and where to buy start to kick in. For example, an RV, Off-grid cabin, backup...

I have six 200watt (actually 4-200watt & 2-210w) panels on my MotorHome. Www. ContinuousResources. Com. They are hightec panels and they were shipped directly to me (no charge) from the manufacturer. I needed those due to the layout of my roof. I put two 250watt used panels from Suntan solar...

For Solar Chargers there are two voltages. The output voltage - which is to charge your batteries - a 12v battery/system. The other voltage that is critical (never exceed - or get close) is the input voltage. This is what SolarQueen was referring to as 150v or 250v. You get this by putting...

There are 2 different issues with alternators… 1. Low battery after camping and a long drive. In this case, you need enough excess capacity to charge the lithium batteries. Also running an alternator full out for a long time may create more heat than it can shed - thus burning up the...

Those two 395w panels will work great with the Victron mppt 100/50. You can go either series or parallel- Good Luck

As a full-time RVer (MotorHome). Here is my list of things to consider and why. The Multiplus is the most expensive part - go the whole way with Victron (except batteries). 1. Use a Cerbo or Cerbo-S. Having all the information together in one place is AWESOME! It has (on the touch) a nice...

I am assuming you have a main bus bar that the batteries, inverter and mppt cables attach onto. You want/need the following breakers and fuses. Each 100w solar panel I believe needs a fuse. (The general rule is if 3 or more panels in parallel- each needs a fuse). There are MC4 fuses if you...

You may want to research soft starts. I put a Micro-Air soft start on my RV air conditioner so my Victron Multiplus can start it up and run it… But my guess is you will need a massive inverter/battery/system to run all that.

Well my ship came in... that slow boat from China and my lithium battery cells arrived !!! The only problem is they are 5 hours away at my Father’s house (had them shipped there ‘cause he has all the cool tools - and my RV is there too). I have to wait until work slows down to go and visit and...