First post. Wanting to build solar generator for car camping in my tent

[Electricslave]

Hello all,
It all started with me looking at off the shelf solar generators because I like to tent car camp. Finding Will’s YouTube videos has me going down a deep rabbit hole. At first it started with looking at things like Jackerys. Then it changed to building my own solar generator with off the shelf batteries such as SOK. Now it’s progressed to building my own batteries too. Darn you Will….!!!! where is the bottom of this rabbit hole?!!!! LOL. I have a degree in electronics engineering and am a journeyman electrician too so this kind of stuff fascinates me and it wasn’t hard to get me obsessed. I was unfamiliar and didn’t know what was possible with todays technology. It is truly fascinating to me. So now my simple Jackery to run a fan and charge my cell phone has morphed into why not have a 5000btu AC in my tent running off a solar generator at night? It is doable and will be totally cool when its accomplished.

 

[Samsonite801]

I guess you could just go all the way, get it over with now (go with a 48v system), and build a big inverter cart project:

you tube build a portable cart inverter - Google Search

Maybe an LVX6048, EG4 or DIY batteries, bunch of solar panels... Then later you can put it in your house if you ever get burned out on camping, and if you get a parallel stackable inverter, it will be scalable and you can add more inverters to get more watts, without wasting as much money in the long run as we all did (since you could repurpose all the parts)...

 

[mysery]

I built my own solar generator to use with our travel trailer and emergency use around the house. The main parts consist of a 12 volt 300 ah lifePO4 battery, 2200 Giandel inverter, Renogy 50 amp dc to dc / mppt charger and 400 watts of solar panels. I have it so you can plug the 30 amp travel trailer shore power cable into the solar generator just like plugging into shore power. I know it is not the most efficient way to hook up but I want to make it simple so if I'm not around anybody could do it. It will run the 13.5k btu AC for a short time and microwave, not at the same time, plus my 12 volt frig. I plan on mounting my panels on the roof of the TT, getting too old to be moving them around. If I was to do it again I would probably step up to a 24 volt system and use a AIO unit instead of separate components.

 

[DThames]

Hello all,
It all started with me looking at off the shelf solar generators because I like to tent car camp. Finding Will’s YouTube videos has me going down a deep rabbit hole. At first it started with looking at things like Jackerys. Then it changed to building my own solar generator with off the shelf batteries such as SOK. Now it’s progressed to building my own batteries too. Darn you Will….!!!! where is the bottom of this rabbit hole?!!!! LOL. I have a degree in electronics engineering and am a journeyman electrician too so this kind of stuff fascinates me and it wasn’t hard to get me obsessed. I was unfamiliar and didn’t know what was possible with todays technology. It is truly fascinating to me. So now my simple Jackery to run a fan and charge my cell phone has morphed into why not have a 5000btu AC in my tent running off a solar generator at night? It is doable and will be totally cool when its accomplished.

Good for grid outage as well.

 

[kdiver58]

I built a system using a 24 volt Growatt 3000 watt all in one, 8) 100ah LiFePo4 cells and 8 used 230 watt Santan solar panels. <<< All Will's fault also. It battery and All in one weight less than 80 pounds all together and I made the battery and the all in one separate units that I plug together on site. When I have full sun I can run my RV A/C and it's a pig. My brother liked my system so well I put another together and installed it on his cabin.
For me the rabbit hole is already getting bigger. I sold my old unit and am , as we speak, top balancing my newest pack. A 24 volt 200ah pack. I liked the growatt so I bought another. I'm afraid our addiction may be uncurbable. I also have 16 - 250 watt used panels sitting at Santan waiting for me to pick up.