I have a Military Equipment Shelter and a low rail utility trailer that I want to use as a RedNeck "Hard Sided Tent" at an off grid location in Southern WV
near Ghent, as I'm getting tired of sleeping in the cab of my truck.
I'd convert a cargo Trailer but:
A) Decent Condition Used Cargo trailers are $$$
B) I already own the shelter and utility trailer
I may eventually build a tiny house there or park a traditional camper there as a three season weekender hangout spot once I'm sure i like the location which will take at least a year to decide.
Nearest power pole is 1/2mi away over a ridge so running grid power is OUT.
Natural Gas is produced in the area but NOT available anywhere near that site.
Propane is a haul your own deal the local providers won't come in there, and I'm too old to wrestle 100lb bottles anymore so thats OUT.
I tow with a Ford Powerboost F150 so I do not need a seperate genset, I have 7.2KW of pure sine wave inverter built into the truck
which I run my AC tools with as needed during the day, for the jobs the 18V Ryobi Battery Tools just don't do well enough
And I do usually carry 10 Gal spare gas in , enough for 70KWH of truck generator use at full output, more at part load.
Food Refrigeration at this time is a small 12vdc compressor unit from Bouge RV powered from truck cig outlet in transit and from a
Bluetti EB70S (800W inverter-1400W surge 716WH 200W max PV in at 12-28V LiFePo4 chemistry) when parked and truck gen mode is not possible.
It is nice to be able to pull out an ice cream bar on a hot day in the woods.
Lighting / Fans / Phone Charging / Computer Charging / 18v tool Battery Charging can all be done from the Bluetti for what little I use them there
or as a secondary load while I'm running the truck anyway for another reason.
I can Portable Ground Mount 200 Watts of ridgid 12v panel and directly recharge the Bluetti from that for now.
Cooking I've been using a small microwave or an AC Hot Pot plugged into the truck.
Recharging 40v tool batts I have to use AC chargers and either run the truck or run down the Bluetti.
I may want to cool/dehumidify the Shelter Box with a 5000btu window unit or possiblly a portable AC ?
Possiblly locate one of the fabled midea(sp?) window units with a reversing valve for heat?
Shelter is about 200 cubic feet total volume with about r8 of ureathane in the walls and roof so use maybe 2-2.5kwh per day if its really humid?
I cant really add to the insulation as no extra interior space as it is.
I do not wish to run the truck overnight for the AC and obviously the Bluetti is way to small for that use.
I have needed to cycle the truck on overnight to cool down when cab camping so I may need to cool the box.
Heating what little of it I'd need at this time, using a good sleeping bag would be a buddy heater running on 1lb mini's long enough to take the chill off then shut it down
Top of Shelter I'd use is 81 "L x 73 " W so 6x100w panels or possibly 2x 300ish W panels would fit on top without overhanging.
Sidewall of shelter has a wall area above trailer side frame of 43" h x 81" L so maybe another 300W of panels there on a secondary SCC?
PV Sun Hours at that location are 4-4.5 hrs / day in summer.
so 2-3 KWh generated per day depending on total Panel Wattage?
I'd only turn on the inverter when iI needed AC power since Mpp AIO reportedly still charge the batts while turned off which should reduce the standby losses.
While a Mpp 1012 AIO and at least a 100AH 12v Batt would replace the Bluetti for stationary use at this time,
I'd rather over build the AIO/Battery System for down the road so that I can park the RedNeck camper box next to a real camper or build a mini house and use it as a power shed adding additional Ground Mount panels and Rack Batts if needed.
So I'm considering using a Mpp 3048LV MK AIO and a SOK 100AH 48V Rack Battery instead , plus a Bzone 48V to 12V converter from Amazon for the 12v loads
those plus BOS/cables etc, plus panels, not including racking should come in around $3200 delivered ??
Watts24/7 as source for the Mpp AIO and SOK Batt
Panels/BOS from Amazon if 100w panels used bigger panels I'd have to track down a localish source
Am I off in my thinking? Or is this reasonable for what I wish to achieve?
Here's a picture of my uncles RedNeck Hard Sided Tent using a slightly smaller trailer and shelter than I plan to use. he has 4X100w on roof 2X100W on side wall 2X100W on front IIRC they are Harbor Freight Panels since he could check for damage before he left the parkig lot,
he recharges a EB70S from the front or side panels and a Jackery 1500 from the roof .
his wiring is a bit crudely done but other than him disconnecting mc4's hot to swap which arrays he's charging from, its safe.
and I dont think the panels are going to blow off with 6-8 z mounts on each small panel
near Ghent, as I'm getting tired of sleeping in the cab of my truck.
I'd convert a cargo Trailer but:
A) Decent Condition Used Cargo trailers are $$$
B) I already own the shelter and utility trailer
I may eventually build a tiny house there or park a traditional camper there as a three season weekender hangout spot once I'm sure i like the location which will take at least a year to decide.
Nearest power pole is 1/2mi away over a ridge so running grid power is OUT.
Natural Gas is produced in the area but NOT available anywhere near that site.
Propane is a haul your own deal the local providers won't come in there, and I'm too old to wrestle 100lb bottles anymore so thats OUT.
I tow with a Ford Powerboost F150 so I do not need a seperate genset, I have 7.2KW of pure sine wave inverter built into the truck
which I run my AC tools with as needed during the day, for the jobs the 18V Ryobi Battery Tools just don't do well enough
And I do usually carry 10 Gal spare gas in , enough for 70KWH of truck generator use at full output, more at part load.
Food Refrigeration at this time is a small 12vdc compressor unit from Bouge RV powered from truck cig outlet in transit and from a
Bluetti EB70S (800W inverter-1400W surge 716WH 200W max PV in at 12-28V LiFePo4 chemistry) when parked and truck gen mode is not possible.
It is nice to be able to pull out an ice cream bar on a hot day in the woods.
Lighting / Fans / Phone Charging / Computer Charging / 18v tool Battery Charging can all be done from the Bluetti for what little I use them there
or as a secondary load while I'm running the truck anyway for another reason.
I can Portable Ground Mount 200 Watts of ridgid 12v panel and directly recharge the Bluetti from that for now.
Cooking I've been using a small microwave or an AC Hot Pot plugged into the truck.
Recharging 40v tool batts I have to use AC chargers and either run the truck or run down the Bluetti.
I may want to cool/dehumidify the Shelter Box with a 5000btu window unit or possiblly a portable AC ?
Possiblly locate one of the fabled midea(sp?) window units with a reversing valve for heat?
Shelter is about 200 cubic feet total volume with about r8 of ureathane in the walls and roof so use maybe 2-2.5kwh per day if its really humid?
I cant really add to the insulation as no extra interior space as it is.
I do not wish to run the truck overnight for the AC and obviously the Bluetti is way to small for that use.
I have needed to cycle the truck on overnight to cool down when cab camping so I may need to cool the box.
Heating what little of it I'd need at this time, using a good sleeping bag would be a buddy heater running on 1lb mini's long enough to take the chill off then shut it down
Top of Shelter I'd use is 81 "L x 73 " W so 6x100w panels or possibly 2x 300ish W panels would fit on top without overhanging.
Sidewall of shelter has a wall area above trailer side frame of 43" h x 81" L so maybe another 300W of panels there on a secondary SCC?
PV Sun Hours at that location are 4-4.5 hrs / day in summer.
so 2-3 KWh generated per day depending on total Panel Wattage?
I'd only turn on the inverter when iI needed AC power since Mpp AIO reportedly still charge the batts while turned off which should reduce the standby losses.
While a Mpp 1012 AIO and at least a 100AH 12v Batt would replace the Bluetti for stationary use at this time,
I'd rather over build the AIO/Battery System for down the road so that I can park the RedNeck camper box next to a real camper or build a mini house and use it as a power shed adding additional Ground Mount panels and Rack Batts if needed.
So I'm considering using a Mpp 3048LV MK AIO and a SOK 100AH 48V Rack Battery instead , plus a Bzone 48V to 12V converter from Amazon for the 12v loads
those plus BOS/cables etc, plus panels, not including racking should come in around $3200 delivered ??
Watts24/7 as source for the Mpp AIO and SOK Batt
Panels/BOS from Amazon if 100w panels used bigger panels I'd have to track down a localish source
Am I off in my thinking? Or is this reasonable for what I wish to achieve?
Here's a picture of my uncles RedNeck Hard Sided Tent using a slightly smaller trailer and shelter than I plan to use. he has 4X100w on roof 2X100W on side wall 2X100W on front IIRC they are Harbor Freight Panels since he could check for damage before he left the parkig lot,
he recharges a EB70S from the front or side panels and a Jackery 1500 from the roof .
his wiring is a bit crudely done but other than him disconnecting mc4's hot to swap which arrays he's charging from, its safe.
and I dont think the panels are going to blow off with 6-8 z mounts on each small panel