after 2 years of dependable use my lead acids have died. can i do better ?

If you go LiFePO4 try to get one with Bluetooth. This way you can fully monitor it from your phone.

roaming ram said:

i am good with spending 500 again, but would rather not spend a grand or more unless i am educated enough to make a better decision.

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$500/2 years. 560ah LFP for $800 and they last 10 years. And you dont have to watch water levels, dont have to worry about sulfation, dont have to check SG.... FLA shouldn't even be an option your considering.

I called renogy. My options are a second suitcase of 200 watt panels giving me 2kwh per day total or a single 320 watt panel increasing my output to 2.6kwh per day. I was thinking about going with the chin 300ah heated with bms. I have to look at the chin specs again but wanted to see what those of you with more knowledge and experience think of this possible solution. Thank you

be aware that the voltage is about double on the 320 and you'll need a separate charge controller for it
there's no problem running 2 controllers which if I'm correct you'd have either way
isn't there a pwm controller built into the 200w suitcase?
basically run the wires from the 2 controllers to a busbar then a single set of wires to the battery
do the same for the negative leads

a 4 post busbar would do,
each controller on a post (2)
a lead to the battery on a post (1)
a lead to the inverter on post (1)

Will (site owner) did a review of a different chin's model and was overall positive

realistically I doubt the total production estimates
that's basically saying you'll get full production out of the panels with 5 hours of ideal conditions.
I'd say 70/80% of that is more likely on a good day

Regardless, what you suggest seems sound to me for your use
if 300ah hours got you thru a 3 day trip before you should be fine with the extra panel production
any capacity not recharged during the trip can easily be done at home before the start of a new outing

wiseacre said:

be aware that the voltage is about double on the 320 and you'll need a separate charge controller for it
there's no problem running 2 controllers which if I'm correct you'd have either way
isn't there a pwm controller built into the 200w suitcase?
basically run the wires from the 2 controllers to a busbar then a single set of wires to the battery
do the same for the negative leads

a 4 post busbar would do,
each controller on a post (2)
a lead to the battery on a post (1)
a lead to the inverter on post (1)

Will (site owner) did a review of a different chin's model and was overall positive

realistically I doubt the total production estimates
that's basically saying you'll get full production out of the panels with 5 hours of ideal conditions.
I'd say 70/80% of that is more likely on a good day

Regardless, what you suggest seems sound to me for your use
if 300ah hours got you thru a 3 day trip before you should be fine with the extra panel production
any capacity not recharged during the trip can easily be done at home before the start of a new outing

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I forgot to mention if I get the second suitcase I would get the 30amp mppt and wire the panels in parallel. If I get the 320 watt panel I will get the 40amp mppt and wire in series. both will have Bluetooth and renogy sells the y adapters so i will be able to monitor much more info and have a better understanding of my supply and demand.

roaming ram said:

I called renogy. My options are a second suitcase of 200 watt panels giving me 2kwh per day total or a single 320 watt panel increasing my output to 2.6kwh per day. I was thinking about going with the chin 300ah heated with bms. I have to look at the chin specs again but wanted to see what those of you with more knowledge and experience think of this possible solution. Thank you

Click to expand...

I replaced my 4 6v in my RV with a single 300ah Chins. Well worth it.

until I got my 48v setup I was running my off grid tiny home with the Chins for Months.

Jack Rabbit Off Grid said:

I replaced my 4 6v in my RV with a single 300ah Chins. Well worth it.

until I got my 48v setup I was running my off grid tiny home with the Chins for Months.

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just ordered the chin 300ah with bluetooth and bms today. tomorrow i call renogy for the rest. i think it will really help me understand the system better once i see how everything works. thanks !

roaming ram said:

just ordered the chin 300ah with bluetooth and bms today. tomorrow i call renogy for the rest. i think it will really help me understand the system better once i see how everything works. thanks !

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You won’t be disappointed with Chins.The Chins I own is a older model with no Bluetooth or heaters. I just mounted mine in the under bed storage to keep it warm in the winter.

What is the weight of the 140ah battery from Amazon? I think the first problem is falsely advertised capacity. A lot of batteries i see online are like this. A 140ah agm has to weigh at least 34kg. I bought a couple of supposed 170ah batteries once and they turned out to be 110ah and weighing only 27kg.

roaming ram said:

i get it. just dont know how reliable any lithium variety will be where you get winter conditions 6 months a year. that is why i am leaning in the 6 volt direction

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I can not speak for premade packs, but I can say that my DIY pack handles -18°c (0°f) with zero issues here at fuji. elevation is 1200 m so about 4k ft and the wood burning season runs from later October to mid April so the Oct-Nov is generally 0~1°c through the night, then in mid Nov. through Mar it drops as low as -18°c and then slowly ramps up.

At first i ran the whole heating pad with buck converter(48vdc-12 VDC) and 12 volt controllers. when the buck converter burned up I rewired the pads all in series and the overall heat output dropped but I found I no longer needed the temp controller. just on 24-7 and shut off in spring. during the coldest months is pretty much held the pack about 70f through the day and maybe 60f at night.

if you can build a battery box out of the 4" blue foam and seal all the corners with spray foam or tape, you will find that a little power goes a long ways with zero issues.

Caveat, my system is 48 volts, with 7.6k of panels 6k aimed due south and 1.6 aimed due west to lengthen out the solar day. so I have power to spare.

as far as the premade server batteries with a metal case, a two or three of the heating pads on the outside of the case and the above mentioned blue foam box around it would be even better i think as the built in internal heating circuits will only kick in if needed....

just some food for thought.

Jack Rabbit Off Grid said:

Technically you have a generator. It’s not very efficient but would work in a pinch since you run a 12v system. Jumper cables and a Dodge.

Back in the day when I built my very first system in a 1973 Dodge class C. I used a 8d battery I got for free out of a friends boat. Mounted some real cheap solar panels on the roof and some cheap controller. I found my self in the same spot. The panels couldn’t keep up. Being I was a Diesel technician at the time. I replaced the factory Dodge alternator with a 160 amp one out of a KW T600 tractor. Couldn’t afford any fancy generator back then. In the morning if the battery was dead just fire up the gas guzzler 440 and let it idle. I even had the for thought to over drive the alternator so it would put out full power at idle.

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try taking a hydraulic pump and four hydraulic motors plumbed in series... these then are hard coupled to turn four 180 amp Gm one wire alternators. I hid that under the body of a van for a demo competition audio car back in the day. a simple by pass allowed us to drive the van around normally and then when sitting at a trade show it was close the hydraulic valve and let the 4 spare dyno's spin. presto change-o 720 amps plus the stock alternator which was like maybe 100 amps.