diy solar

diy solar

Basic setup but no need for more ATM

RVLiFe

Solar Enthusiast
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Jun 14, 2021
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Just finished installing a basic system in my Grand Design 337RLS. I have basic needs and didn't need a $10,000 system with a bunch of Battle Born batteries.

My system consists of the following components for a 12V system.

1-206Ah 12V SOK Battery *
3-200 Watt Rich Solar 12V PV panels
1-Victron SmartShunt 500Amp
1-Victron MPPT SCC 100/50
1-Go Power 1500 Watt Inverter with hardwire and Transfer Switch
1-Onan 3500 Watt portable Generator
1-WFCO WF-9855LiS Controller/Charger (Not overly impressed with this but it works)

* (Just upgraded to 2-206Ah 12V SOK batteries on 3-3-22, will probably need more panels now)

Like I said, I have basic needs and I could already go 3 days on just the battery before I needed to charge it with the generator. But now that looks like I can go indefinitely with the new panels and SCC. Heck, I can even watch TV now for about 15-18 hours if I get bored and want to watch a Game of Thrones marathon some night (kidding of course). More than enough power.

Personally, I think a lot of people go overboard with their RV installs. Most critical thing is to really do an energy audit and really see what is absolutely necessary before you start dropping coin. Other than the generator, which I've had for a while, I don't believe I have much more than about $2k in this setup.

I'm sure I could have done it better but it's in and operational.

Thanks to everyone for all the great posts I've had to read to make myself a little more knowledgeable and a little less dangerous.
 

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Very nice equipment for a basic system :)
That 200Ah SOK is really enough?! I might want a second one but you know if it’s working for you.
Are your panels series or parallel? Unless I missed that. I’m guessing parallel.
 
Very nice equipment for a basic system :)
That 200Ah SOK is really enough?! I might want a second one but you know if it’s working for you.
Are your panels series or parallel? Unless I missed that. I’m guessing parallel.
The single battery will get me by but will be the first thing I address when the need arises. I’d definitely purchase a second one and parallel it. Panels are connected in series configuration. I have a lake property that I spend the summers on. No electricity on the site but I do have water and septic. The RV sits under shade trees all day so my PV panels are not mounted and I have 75’ of 10 AWG cable running. I wanted to keep the amps down and voltage up. Serial connection is better suited for this.
I’m getting about 90% of the total watt output from panels during the prime summer hours and can charge the battery easily in a few hours. That’s why there hasn’t been any real need for a second battery at the moment. Panels are cheaper than a battery.
 
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Serial connection is better suited for this.
I’m getting about 90% of the total watt output from panels during the prime summer hours
Exactly!
So that WFCO - does that do anything useful for you? Or it has the LiFePo profile so it’s how you put the generator power to the battery?

I’m not questioning you, btw. I’m just curious and interested.
 
Nice. I’m on a similar path. Does the genny charge through the WFCO WF-9855LiS Controller/Charger?

I’ve got a genny, but not sure how best to get the charge to the batteries.
 
Your exactly right. It has a LiFePo4 profile and because it is running thru the default RV shut off an has a long cable run, I’m only getting about 30Amp output instead of the 50Amp output that it claims. It’s better then the 10Amps I was getting from the old controller and I only need it on the cloudy rainy days. It’s more of a backup then anything now. I only need it to charge the battery from the generator.
 
Nice. I’m on a similar path. Does the genny charge through the WFCO WF-9855LiS Controller/Charger?

I’ve got a genny, but not sure how best to get the charge to the batteries.
My generator has a remote start and is wired to my shore power. Had to make a bonding plug for it since I also have a hard wired surge protector installed. If I need extra power to run the A/C or air fryer or something, I can just push a button from inside the RV and it takes about 30 seconds for the surge protector to power everything up. Since it’s powering the entire RV, the WFCO then charges the battery if I need it to, otherwise, I can just flip the breaker switch to shut it off or I could also turn the dealer supplied RV shut-off switch
 
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As you say, it's about how much power you use. I'm constantly amazed at how many people with vans talk about their electric hot water heaters, microwaves, induction cookers and so on and then try to figure out how to get 2kw of panels and 30 KWh of batteries packed in. I live in my van for 3 months a year most years, and until last year had 200 watts of panels and a 150 ah battery. Finally upgraded to 400 watts of panels and a 280 ah lithium, living large now! I've only ever run short of power a handful of times when I was camped at one site for a week and it was cloudy and rainy all week, not common in good places to spend the winter.
 
Just finished installing a basic system in my Grand Design 337RLS. I have basic needs and didn't need a $10,000 system with a bunch of Battle Born batteries.

My system consists of the following components for a 12V system.

1-206Ah 12V SOK Battery
3-200 Watt Rich Solar 12V PV panels
1-Victron SmartShunt 500Amp
1-Victron MPPT SCC 100/50
1-Go Power 1500 Watt Inverter with hardwire and Transfer Switch
1-Onan 3500 Watt portable Generator
1-WFCO WF-9855LiS Controller/Charger (Not overly impressed with this but it works)

Like I said, I have basic needs and I could already go 3 days on just the battery before I needed to charge it with the generator. But now that looks like I can go indefinitely with the new panels and SCC. Heck, I can even watch TV now for about 15-18 hours if I get bored and want to watch a Game of Thrones marathon some night (kidding of course). More than enough power.

Personally, I think a lot of people go overboard with their RV installs. Most critical thing is to really do an energy audit and really see what is absolutely necessary before you start dropping coin. Other than the generator, which I've had for a while, I don't believe I have much more than about $2k in this setup.

I'm sure I could have done it better but it's in and operational.

Thanks to everyone for all the great posts I've had to read to make myself a little more knowledgeable and a little less dangerous.
I too am starting a basic system and we have communicated, but just found this thread and appears I am looking to do nearly the exact setup, although I won't be in one place, at least in the near future. As previously communicated I have a cheapo monitor to start and probably upgrade at some point and use better equipment as I build, hoping there is quality manufacturers out there without premium price. Just as a baseline I have 2012 Cougar 50A 5th wheel, stock except for Progressive inline EMS. Have not completed audit yet, so just brainstorming at this point, but change out FLA with two 12v 100ah lithium, use panels portable at first (unknown size), nothing in WFCO 9800 documentation about lithium, AIO or separate components, have 2000w portable geny, and also thinking about 1500w inverter size.
 
I have since upgraded to a second 206Ah battery, now giving me a total of 5272Wh. It was a simple upgrade since I had already oversized my wires when I originally built the system. Even though my system is inside my RV, it was built on a board and could easily be removed and mounted somewhere else if needed. It will not be staying with the RV when I sell it.
I do remember communicating with you and I still highly recommend doing an energy audit. It’s interesting to see if how the audit lines up with what you think you need for equipment. Your WFCO 9800 will be OK for putting a charge in your batteries but it will never fully charge them to a higher voltage. Also, I would make sure you turn off the controller if you intend on leaving the batteries sit for an extended period of time. Personally, I just prefer to be able to simply shut everything off without a constant current always being applied to the battery. It’s as simple and turning off your breaker or as complicated as installing a shut off switch. You just have to decide how complicated you want to make it and what your budget allows. Your monitor will work just fine for what you need so no need to worry about that. You have to get your feet wet at some point so welcome to all the craziness and I hope that you can find all the help you need on this forum. I was extremely nervous when I started and didn’t have a clue what to do. Now I’m a little more wiser and see my mistakes but glad that I took the advise of others and those mistakes didn’t really cost me much in the long run. There is a reason why everyone says do an energy audit first. I’m not going to tell you the reason though so you’ll just have to find out for yourself ?
 
I just looked up the specs on the NAPA battery that came with my camper that we purchased last fall and it only has a 75ah rating, but it's actually just a general purpose marine battery. So it looks like I should upgrade and might as well jump to lithium and wonder if I should upgrade the oem non-lithium converter to the lithium model or something else? I know RVLiFe is not impressed with the WFCO 9855LiS and I would want the ability to fully charge the batteries. I have seen aftermarket replacements or should I get a separate unit? Your wiring is very neat and organized, but have a question about the two positive bus bars? Wouldn't my power still go the the camper panel 12v side and feed from there as it does now?
 
NAPA battery that came with my camper
FWIW the Napa batteries I think are East Penn? I can’t recall
What I do recall from 20+ years ago is that napa “marine” batteries of the group 29/31 size didn’t last well or perform all day after a few months of running a 42# trolling motor for walleye fishing. Same use with walmartha batteries and I’d get years out of them. Same for a couple of friends.

If the not-below-freezing charging issue does not apply to you there’s little reason to not go LiFePo. Lead acid batteries can work fine but for the space? A couple LiFePo batteries is 4 times the available Wh.
 
I just looked up the specs on the NAPA battery that came with my camper that we purchased last fall and it only has a 75ah rating, but it's actually just a general purpose marine battery. So it looks like I should upgrade and might as well jump to lithium and wonder if I should upgrade the oem non-lithium converter to the lithium model or something else? I know RVLiFe is not impressed with the WFCO 9855LiS and I would want the ability to fully charge the batteries. I have seen aftermarket replacements or should I get a separate unit? Your wiring is very neat and organized, but have a question about the two positive bus bars? Wouldn't my power still go the the camper panel 12v side and feed from there as it does now?
Let me explain why I’m not entirely happy with the WFCO.
Firstly, it will fully charge a lithium battery. It will charge at 14.6v for between one hour and three hours depending on the current going to the battery and your batteries voltage. It then drops to 13.6v to provide a float charge and to reduce and lower the long term voltage going to your 12v system. You would not want all your 12v appliances and lighting to stay at 14.6v so I’m fine with this. I prefer this method over all the other RV converters that I’ve seen. If your batteries are not fully charged after the three hours and the converter drops its voltage, simply turn off the converter breaker and turn it back on, this will recycle the converter and it will again repeat its charge cycle for anywhere between one and three hours. I don’t like this part of it. It should be smart enough to know your batteries Voltage and continue to charge if need be. But, it is better then nothing and it is reassuring to know that at some point, the converter will drop into its float mode without overcharging your battery so it does have its benefits.
Secondly, my 9855 is supposed to charge at 55Amps. I’m lucky to get 30Amps out of it. This is due to the location that the manufacturer put the original unit to the batter bank. I could move it closer to the battery but the wires are rated correctly and I should only see a 3% voltage drop which they do. But for some reason, they are unable to provide the additional 25Amps of current that I had hoped for.
Thirdly, I was hoping for a Constant voltage/Constant current type system. This is not it. It’s more of a constant voltage system and the current seems to fluctuate a lot. In the beginning of my charge cycle, I will get the 30 amps max that I can get from it(based on the distance from the battery I think) but within a short period of time, the current drops to about 20 amps and then to 10 amps. This means that it will take forever for it to charge my 412Ah bank. I have to use a secondary charger along with the WFCO unit just to maintain a good charge when using my generator. I also have to keep resetting the converter to get it to output 30amps. Again, if I moved the converter closer to the battery bank, this issue would probably go away I think.
Fourthly, There is no way to adjust the voltage output. I would prefer it if I could lower the voltage when in bulk mode to 14.1V instead of 14.6V. But, given the fact that I was able to purchase this converter for $180, I decided to keep it anyway and just use it for what it is and be satisfied. I’m not a fan of the Progressive Dynamic models because they provide 14.6v and don’t drop to a lower voltage, or they will maintain that voltage for longer then an hour even after the battery bank is fully charged and this would result in a battery being overcharged.

I have two positive bus bars, I have since relabeled one of them. The first one is the bus bar that provides all 12v to the system including the inverter and is rated for 250Amps. My SCC also feeds back into this. There is a wire from this bus bar going to the second one. The second bus bar is only used for the standard 12v system of the RV. That would have never been able to provide the current that the inverter needs. This one was relabeled as RV 12V DC positive bus bar. Not that I needed to remind myself of what it was but to help a technician looking at the wiring to help identify whats going on if the need arose.

It will be extremely easy for me to disconnect and remove my entire system when I sell my RV if I want. I only need to remove a few bolts, disconnect the wire going between the two positive bus bars and pull out the board that houses the inverter and SCC, reconnect a Lead Acid battery and put it back to stock. I did not mount solar panels to my roof for personal reasons. Instead, they are ground deployed so I can move them out of the shade that my RV sits in most of the time and I built a racking system in the ceiling of the bottom storage bay that they slide into when traveling keeping them out of the way.
Hope this helps you.
 
Very nice equipment for a basic system :)
That 200Ah SOK is really enough?! I might want a second one but you know if it’s working for you.
Are your panels series or parallel? Unless I missed that. I’m guessing parallel.
You were right! Just added a second one recently. I can now go 6 days between charges if being conservative with power and easily go two+ days under normal use. Normal use is coffee machine, toaster, microwave, Tv for a few hours, vacuum cleaner and all the lights I could want. I also have a 4500Watt Cummins Onan portable generator if needed so I think I’m ready for the grid to go down now. ?
 
because they provide 14.6v and don’t drop to a lower voltage, or they will maintain that voltage for longer then an hour even after the battery bank is fully charged and this would result in a battery being overcharged
As a thought: others more knowledgeable can correct me free of charge.

LiFePo charges to static top voltage. If your batteries need 14.6V they won’t overcharge at 14.6V input provided that the converter outputs a stable 14.6V.
The hour over the point at which the static independent voltage reaches 14.6 will A) merely complete the ‘absorption’ of the “full charge” and B) the BMS should be able to manage the extra time at 14.6V for whatever the battery may or may not require.

Having said that I’m not defending RV ’coinverters’ - I hate the things- just saying that while not an ideal charging device, your coinverter might be acceptable (as you indicated).
 
Having read that, not understanding much of it, I'm wondering about a charger alternative? I guess it would be when on shore or generator power, otherwise it would be the SCC. Wouldn't I need just one pos and one neg bus bar between the battery bank and the 12v RV fuse panel? Then would I run a cable from the inverter to the AC side of the RV breaker panel?
 
not understanding much of it, I'm wondering about a charger alternative
Maybe start a thread?
I don’t know your setup or needs but this seems to be another situation where it seems an aio would make sense. With an AIO you cover transfer, grid charging, solar charge controller and inverter All In One.
In an RV that gets wicked attractive.
 
In
Having read that, not understanding much of it, I'm wondering about a charger alternative? I guess it would be when on shore or generator power, otherwise it would be the SCC. Wouldn't I need just one pos and one neg bus bar between the battery bank and the 12v RV fuse panel? Then would I run a cable from the inverter to the AC side of the RV breaker panel?
In essence you are correct, you only need one positive and one negative bus bar. However, your RV probably already has a small positive one that connects your braking system, slides, leveling jacks, a couple lights and a few other things. From that positive bus bar it runs back to the main 12V RV fuse panel. So your going to be adding a second bus bar which will become your primary one(main distribution)and everything will be running off that new bus bar including your inverter. And no, it’s not quite as simple as running a new wire from the inverter back to the AC side of the breaker panel. Do you intend on running the entire RV off the inverter or just one or two circuits? You will probably need to install a transfer switch to switch between inverter power and shore power. An all in one might be a better solution for you and require less wiring. However, that’s one big point of failure in my opinion but many people do it so I’m sure I’m wrong.
 
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The AIO would be easy, but I would prefer separate components for the same failure reason, but it's a longer learning curve and want to understand how it all works together. I don't plan on running the entire RV of the inverter, so I'll need a transfer switch and reduce the number of circuits on the inverter side, not sure how to do that.
 
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