12v 48v hybrid for coach

[Guentha]

here is my current setup.




yellow is high voltage 120/240
red is 12v
blue is my current victron 120x2 12v
gray is the current battery bank 17KW(usable) industrial AGM
green is my 7500 watt genset in the front.

I want to add solar but charge controlers are ridiculous at 12v. I am adding 5400 watts of panels. and I would need about $ 5,000 worth of controllers for that so I am on a mission to switch to 48v.

here is my thought:

I add an EG4 6000XP (orange) on a 50 amp receptacle. when not on shore power I will just plug the RV into that. the 6000CP can do 2 120v legs at 3000 each which gets me to my 50amp even when on batteries. it will feed through my 120x2 which will keep my 12v charged up.

In the center of the chassis, I plan on adding more batteries. I have a source for industrial AGMs at $50/each 210ah usable. I am thinking 16 in between the frame rails (plenty of space and great for weight distribution. That will give me almost 50KW of storage on the 48v side. this will be maintained completely from solar.

the main reason for keeping the Victron is how easy it is to grid limit and boost. I am often at a place with only a 15-amp circuit. with the Victron, I can limit input to 15 amps and boost with the batteries to keep my ACs running. I think the 6000XP can grid limit but the docs mentioned it only for battery charging so I don't know if its exactly what I need. It also can't boost, it either uses a grid or switches completely to the battery if the grid can't handle it. that is way less convenient.

If I swap the Victron out completely, I have other worries about the 6000XP. it has 2 legs 180 out of phase but in a coach, we never combine them so phase doesn't matter. there is nothing 240, just 2 legs that never connect. however, when I hook up a dogbone to a 30 amp circuit I am going to feed both inverters the same phase. Is it going to freak out? is it going to try and rotate a phase?

the reason I when this route is it's cheap.
5400 watt solar $3000
6000XP $1300
50KW batteries. ~$1000 with wiring
~$5000 and I should be good.

what am I missing? Should I look at different solutions?

 

[justinm001]

I want to add solar but charge controlers are ridiculous at 12v. I am adding 5400 watts of panels. and I would need about $ 5,000 worth of controllers for that so I am on a mission to switch to 48v.

I think you're off by a few grand A 150/100 vecan one is $516.80 and handles 1450w. 4 would handle 5800w all for like $2000 and since VEcan easy to daisy chain all 4 together with anything else vecan using ethernet cables. I have 1 of them.

And honestly getting reliable Victron gear AND the ability to see/control everything in 1 place is worth $2000. Plus separating out the solar on 4 separate MPPTs would get better performance.


OR get 1 of those MPPTs for $516.80 and 2 MP2 48/3000 (not 2x120) for $1200 each and for $3000 you have a full 48v system programmed as split phase, disable switch as group and you can still use 120v input.

And yes if you hook up a 30a dogbone that splits to both legs it'll freak out and idk what'll happen, with either system. Modify the dogbone or create your own or whatever to get rid of the split part so it powers just 1 leg. I wish someone would create this for ppl like us.

 

[Guentha]

And yes if you hook up a 30a dogbone that splits to both legs it'll freak out and idk what'll happen, with either system. Modify the dogbone or create your own or whatever to get rid of the split part so it powers just 1 leg. I wish someone would create this for ppl like us.

this is what I am trying to avoid. I want it as simple as possible. right now the 120x2 handles 120/240 correctly. I don't want to not be thinking one day and plug in only to have all the magic blue smoke escape. My proposed setup wont let me screw it up at the expense of having to remember to keep the RV plug in the outlet when not on shore power. Not married to my design at all. just wish victron would do a 6000w 48v 120x2. it make so much sence in a RV.

 

[justinm001]

this is what I am trying to avoid. I want it as simple as possible. right now the 120x2 handles 120/240 correctly. I don't want to not be thinking one day and plug in only to have all the magic blue smoke escape. My proposed setup wont let me screw it up at the expense of having to remember to keep the RV plug in the outlet when not on shore power. Not married to my design at all. just wish victron would do a 6000w 48v 120x2. it make so much sence in a RV.

Just build your own $50 dogbone and not have to worry about it. One time I plugged into 50a 240v and it was miswired so both hots were on same leg. I think my surge protector caught it and just provided 1 leg. Could be the Victron inverters caught it and rejected I can't remember.

 

[JasonHaws]

here is my current setup.


View attachment 197343

yellow is high voltage 120/240
red is 12v
blue is my current victron 120x2 12v
gray is the current battery bank 17KW(usable) industrial AGM
green is my 7500 watt genset in the front.

I want to add solar but charge controlers are ridiculous at 12v. I am adding 5400 watts of panels. and I would need about $ 5,000 worth of controllers for that so I am on a mission to switch to 48v.

here is my thought:
View attachment 197344
I add an EG4 6000XP (orange) on a 50 amp receptacle. when not on shore power I will just plug the RV into that. the 6000CP can do 2 120v legs at 3000 each which gets me to my 50amp even when on batteries. it will feed through my 120x2 which will keep my 12v charged up.

In the center of the chassis, I plan on adding more batteries. I have a source for industrial AGMs at $50/each 210ah usable. I am thinking 16 in between the frame rails (plenty of space and great for weight distribution. That will give me almost 50KW of storage on the 48v side. this will be maintained completely from solar.

the main reason for keeping the Victron is how easy it is to grid limit and boost. I am often at a place with only a 15-amp circuit. with the Victron, I can limit input to 15 amps and boost with the batteries to keep my ACs running. I think the 6000XP can grid limit but the docs mentioned it only for battery charging so I don't know if its exactly what I need. It also can't boost, it either uses a grid or switches completely to the battery if the grid can't handle it. that is way less convenient.

If I swap the Victron out completely, I have other worries about the 6000XP. it has 2 legs 180 out of phase but in a coach, we never combine them so phase doesn't matter. there is nothing 240, just 2 legs that never connect. however, when I hook up a dogbone to a 30 amp circuit I am going to feed both inverters the same phase. Is it going to freak out? is it going to try and rotate a phase?

the reason I when this route is it's cheap.
5400 watt solar $3000
6000XP $1300
50KW batteries. ~$1000 with wiring
~$5000 and I should be good.

what am I missing? Should I look at different solutions?

I interested in how it turns out for you. I'm doing something very similar by splicing in the 6000xp between shore power and the breaker box. I will then have a separate plug for 15-30 amp hookups that will just charge the batteries directly since the XP won't accept 120 single phase. I left the rest of the RV the same.