Camping / At Home Solar Setup at Home

[zorinena]

--Re-posting in the right channel, deleting from the previous one--

I am pretty much a newbie, or rather a reader of the forums here and am looking to do the following

Background
==========
I camp in Tents, and would like to use my lights while camping ( fans, small fridge, etc, no ac). Baseline, I need some power when I go camping, which is about 4-5 times a year, max 5-7 days. Power requirement is about 500-600wh during a typical camping day, so battery drops to 50 percent, but as I have two panels, its pretty much going on.. Most of the power usage during the day is for the fridge, which is pretty efficient..

I had built a 100AH 12V portable battery pack, which I power using 2 ECOflow 160W panels in series. 40v @10amps - https://www.ecoflow.com/us/160w-solar-panel


Purpose
=======
I would like to reuse this battery and possibly add another one in the future, reuse these panels at home. I have the following purpose

1. Run 1 / maybe 2 circuits from this setup. These circuits have the following
1.1 - A server running 24/7 ( unraid ), uses average of 800 wh / day ( about 55-70w load at a time )
1.2 - Networking equipment -24/7 about 1.2kw (100-120 watts constant )
1.3 - Occasionally power led lights in the basement - About 200-300 watts for about 20-30 minutes a day average

The run from Solar panels to charge controller would be about 70ft.

Question
========
Q1 - Should I be upgrading to a 24 battery setup, by buying an additional battery such as this - https://www.docanpower.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=107_226&product_id=493, stacking atop and getting bigger case

Q2. If I keep my current setup, what wire size should be going from Solar panels to charge controller. I do have a 100ft 12awg copper wire right at home, which I can use, but not sure if that would suffuce

Q3. Charge controller, I did get the Reneogy 100/40 this week, but am thinking should i get Victron 100/20, as I dont suppose I would be pushing more than 20amp at a time, given this is more of a portable setup, so open to options. I am going to be carrying most of this around for camping trips in my minivan

Q4. This one is always tricky, and have seen several discussions on this, but the Invertor, looking at Giandel 1200 Watt to start with ( 12v or 24 v one ), any other recommendations ?

Q5. In my current setup, i just have a compact battery box which is almost similar to this -

, any suggestions on how should I connect the inverter / charge controller, i am currentlly using the Andeson power poles for most of the connections, but I assume i will not be able to connect to an external 1200 Watt invertor with the current wires, the amps would just not justtify the 8 gauge wires which i am runnning to Anderson connectors. I think the charge controller would do just fine.. ( trying to also see if I can put this inside, or just change the box altogether )


Thanks,
J

 

[HRTKD]

I didn't very sophisticated with my Board Build. It's just on a board. I use it for camping and can also use it at home. I went with the Victron 100/20. I use a set of second hand Interstate lead acid batteries. I could go 12v or 24v with the Victron MPPT, but I'm set for 12v since I'm using a 12v Victron Phoenix inverter. Staying 12v gives me more options for what power source to use. I can easily connect this to the battery in any of my vehicles or even the side-by-side.

Wire size is dictated by three things: voltage, amperage and distance. I always use a wire gauge calculator for figuring that out.

Interactive Wire Size Calculator

Battery Chargers, Inverters, Solar Components, and Wiring Supplies for Boats, RVs, and Off-Grid Applications.

baymarinesupply.com

Whatever inverter you get should be programmable. The default Low Voltage Cutoff on many inverters is too low for LiFePO4.

 

[zorinena]

Thanks for the info, if I am reading the manuals correctly, 100/20 means, 100 V max from the panels and 20 amps in the battery, correct ?
Regarding the wiring, if I am reading this link correctly

40V is my Voc / 10 amps is the max as I have two of those in series / 90 Ft from my panels to my inverter ( 180ft round trip ) = 8 gauge wire, unless I move the inverter closer and then run 110v to my load, correct ?

I also am planning to add, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLCGZHJL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details in the circuit to make sure my electronics work if the battery runs out of power..

 

[HRTKD]

Thanks for the info, if I am reading the manuals correctly, 100/20 means, 100 V max from the panels and 20 amps in the battery, correct ?
Regarding the wiring, if I am reading this link correctly

Yes, that is correct.

40V is my Voc / 10 amps is the max as I have two of those in series / 90 Ft from my panels to my inverter ( 180ft round trip ) = 8 gauge wire, unless I move the inverter closer and then run 110v to my load, correct ?

Panels in series, add the volts. Panels in parallel, add the amps. 80 volts @ 10 amps for 180' = 10 gauge cable with 2.34% voltage drop.

I used your 10 amps, just to be safe, but I think you doubled the amps when you shouldn't have. Either way, 10 gauge is OK. At half the amps, you could get by with 14 gauge for 2.96% voltage drop. If it was me, I would stick with 10 gauge.