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DIY YouTube Series: Upgrading my RV with LiFePO4, Solar Panels, Inverters, & More!

HighTechLab

AKA Dexter - CTO of Current Connected, LLC
Joined
Sep 23, 2019
Messages
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My best friend and I have been working on my Fifth-Wheel and we're planning to make videos showing how to install LiFePO4 batteries, inverters, solar panels, charge controllers, transfer switches, and more. I want to make this a step-by-step series in the real world so you can see exactly how I've done everything so you can follow along at home and do it yourself.

I was planning on adding around 1000 watts of solar on the roof coupled with some LiFePO4 batteries (Or possibly Winston LiFeYPO4 for better cold weather performance.) We have a sample pack of 4 CALB CA180s but I think since I live in North Idaho and have cold weather to combat, it would be a smart move to use a technology that has the best performance in the cold weather.

My goal here is to make this rig ready to go out to the desert or any remote area and be able to run without requiring noisy generators - at the same time allowing myself to enjoy the luxuries such as AC, TVs, Coffee makers, microwaves, and just about anything else you could imagine. It will be great for the trips we like to take out to the desert where there are no utility hook ups. The point however, is to make videos to teach you how to do these things on your own.

Quite a few of my videos I show off "What I built" as compared to "How I built it". I have seen countless comments come in from the community that indicate I need to show how I figured things out - This is what I would like to improve on moving forward.

So check out Part 1 of this series - I overview what I'm starting out with so you can follow along from start to finish. I will post the continuation of this series as replies to this thread as they develop.

 
oh FUN....I'm kind of being forced to start my upgrade in my rig so will definitely for to school on your work....my T-105's have pretty much become boat anchors with maybe 80Ah left between the two of them. Can't complain because I beat the heck out of them over the past 4.5yrs. It's just happening about 7-months too soon for my plans. Of course, right? Sigh, time for a new credit card or twelve....
 
I don't think one thread with all your videos in it would be such a good idea. Maybe one post per video might be a better idea, then people could discuss/debate the video. But then again, that's what YouTube comments are for. So horses for courses, I guess.
 
How many Ah of battery are you planning on? The only time I've absolutely, positively needed air conditioning was when I went to Moab at the end of July. I ran my on-board generator for that and it worked great. I don't know the specs on my air conditioner but I'm wondering how much solar input would be needed to run the air conditioner all day and still keep the batteries charged.

I bet the pin weight of the trailer goes down a few hundred pounds by switching from the lead acid batteries to a LiFePO4 battery.
 
How many Ah of battery are you planning on? The only time I've absolutely, positively needed air conditioning was when I went to Moab at the end of July. I ran my on-board generator for that and it worked great. I don't know the specs on my air conditioner but I'm wondering how much solar input would be needed to run the air conditioner all day and still keep the batteries charged.

I bet the pin weight of the trailer goes down a few hundred pounds by switching from the lead acid batteries to a LiFePO4 battery.
To start out with I'm going to install 180ah in a 4s configuration of CALB LiFePO4 cells, paired with a 2000 watt inverter. At a later date if I finally go with running an AC, I'm upgrading that to an 8s config and changing the inverter to 24 volt. It will also be great to show everyone how to plan their system down to a budget for getting started and then upgrading components later.
 
So I was hoping to make a video this last weekend. I have a sheet metal sample box built to house my batteries, however, I really wanted to make it something modular. I have Anderson Connectors on the way from BigBattery.com that I'm going to incorperate in my battery box as well as a 200A Daly BMS.

Additionally, I have an inverters on the way for this project! Stuff should be ramping up in the next couple of weeks.
 
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