Hi there seeking design help and to find the best outlets to buy components

[mytoolman]

Newcomer here hoping all of you are faring as well as possible during this bizarre time. I am attempting to post again I thought I just posted what was a lengthy post with a lot of detail, and 5 pictures, and really a plea to help me choose the correct components for my situation. I dont see that post I spent the better part of an hour writing. If it somehow shows up after I post this time here well, that is going to bore you all...
Basically I need help designing and finding the best places to get whatever are the necessary components I need.
I have a tool truck that is my mobile store for my floundering business. I have had so many startups and then long stops over the last 5 years that my once almost ready to fly business is in a very weak condition. I can NOT afford to make any mistakes here with the solar addition that appears to be mandatory if I am to actually run my business once this Covad-19 stop is no longer the way of life.

My very unique tool truck has a battery bank that consists of six 6volt lead acid golf cart batteries. These six batteries were new in March of 2016. As of last month I no longer house the truck in the building it has been stored in each night since January of 2016. That building where ETTT (Ethyl *THE* Tool Truck) was housed each night allowed me to plug into shore power so I could have the onboard battery charger/tender unit maintain the batteries that power the 12volt 800 watt modified sine inverter that works nicely to power the lights, computer and other electrical needs for the showroom/display area of my mobile tool store. Additionally there is two 14 year old large 12volt off the grid Sealed battery bank units that are tied into the system outside the box area on a tray that also houses an 8kw diesel generator that gives another source of 120 or 220volt power. I can not use the generator right now while the truck is parked in my neighborhood here in San Diego. The generator is just too noisy plus its not the most thrifty to use....I guess while fuel prices are low I could say the expense has dropped but really I need to go solar....Its a real shame I no longer have access to shore power that I had each night. I live in a condo here in San Diego and the HOA wont allow my truck in the complex and even if I break the rules and bring it onto the property there are only the two end parking spaces next to my home and extension cord are the only ones that it fits in. These two end spaces are almost never open...

My truck is very tall. The building it used to be stored in had a conventional roll up door that had a 15 foot opening. My truck only cleared that opening by less than 3 inches. Solar panels will need to be the flexible kind so that if I should find another building to house ETTT in she will actually fit under the door opening.

Since my batteries are already 4 years old and have not been exposed to the best circumstances...5 times now they have been run down low enough to have the low voltage alarm sound. I would like my solar system to be set up so I can replace the 12 volt system and go to a 24 volt system when I have to buy replacements. I also want to end up with LiFEPO4 batteries. When new these batteries allowed me to go without plugging into the shore power for three days....Now I think I have like a day and a half on only battery power.

Please advise on how many flexible solar panels Ill need, what amp battery controller I should get what brand model etc where I get good quality copper wire etc....I remodeled the interior of the showroom formerly owned by someone who appeared to be a chain smoker in doing so I replacing the fluorescent ceiling lights with attractive and nicely functional LED light fixtures and added an extensive switch control panel to tie in the added generator to the existing wiring that only functioned with the battery packs before so I have some skill here. I wouldnt say Im competent to choose what will make a system work though....so I need the brain trust here....

 

[Craig]

So is 800 Watts for the inverter the only load or do your lights use extra. And how many hours a day dies the showroom operate?

 

[mytoolman]

So is 800 Watts for the inverter the only load or do your lights use extra. And how many hours a day dies the showroom operate?

Thank you for responding Craig....the lights are on a circuit by themselves...they are operated even if the inverter is turned off. As for how many hours a day the showroom operates... typically I leave the printers and things like the cell phone I have as a hotspot and an extra telephone powered up and plugged in all the time so they are drawing through the inverter all the time. The truck can be on the route for 10 hours per day but really the 10 led ceiling lights etc are only on for maybe 5 to 6 hours. I only sometimes turn on the 4 under shelf 12volt fluorescent Lights. If someone is really digging into the shelves to see everything I will flip on that switch to get the shelf lights on...but really the ceiling lights light up the area very well by themselves.... I turn on the 10 ceiling lights at each stop and then turn them off after each stop I make and I may be in a stop for as little as 10 minutes or there for 90 minutes....it depends on how many techs decide to come on the truck to shop and buy stuff. I also of course can go into the work bays to bring the techs stuff to see so while the truck is out for 10 hours per day....its only used for a portion of that time for a draw on the batteries....its really interesting to actually think about how I use my truck etc I also have a fair amount of "windshield time" where Im driving the truck to get to the next location....no lights are on during windshield time....my 17 inch flat screen lcd monitor is probably the most thirsty of my components...Im not very good about turning it off it usually stays on pretty much the whole day...I turn it on when I start the day and turn it off at the last stop...it works off of the inverter...Can the Progressive Dynamics 80 Amp RV Converter/Charger (see the PDF AND my last picture in the prior post) act as a control charger with the solar panels?

 

[Craig]

Ok let's not deal with the batteries for now.

I would do 2 things.

1. Either use existing alternator or add an alternator to charge batteries during "windshield time" (have not heard that term in a while lol)
This may require a DC to DC converter.

2 get a cheap MPPT charge controller and add as many flexible panels to roof as you can.

The progressive unit needs AC to charge. Use it when you have shire power.

This will generate your power after this you can change batteries and inverters if necessary

 

[mytoolman]

Once again Craig I really appreciate your taking time to review my situation and giving answers. I respectfully will pass on the alternator suggestion....I am trying to keep under the hood true to how the truck was made back in 1955 from the back of the cab forward and for its drivetrain. I have taken a few liberties to add some modern technology that no one can see to make it reliable....it no longer has breaker points in the distributor in their place is a solid state electronic component that the screw holes that would secure those points now secure the electronic ignition piece...now Ill not have to mess with adjusting the points etc to keep this 65 year old engine purring....it would have been super silly not to do that...Also 1955 was the last year vehicles were sold with 6 volt systems. I have converted ETTT to 12 volt.unless you look under the battery lid at the vehicle battery positioned INSIDE THE CAB on the floor where the passenger sits you wouldnt know it isnt 6 volt....in addition Ford used to run POSITIVE Ground for the electrical system back then....I did the necessary steps to convert that to the industry standard of NEGATIVE ground of today...a simple reverse of the voltmeter wires in the speedo gauge cluster and grounding the voltage regulator to change polarity...also something you would have to really go searching to see. I have also cheated in a bigger and more sneaky way...there were NO alternators in 1955. There were belt driven generators. I could have removed the generator and fabbed a couple of brackets and fitted any regular vehicle alternator under the hood in place of the generator easily enough especially for the simple requirements this truck has. I instead decided to gut the original generator and utilize this guy who jams an alternator from a Toyota inside the 60 year old generator housing to give modest alternator performance which is about 10 times more effective than the original working engine mounted generator...so I have what looks like the original generator and I really have an alternator...I would have to have a VERY Large alternator to give enough power to charge my battery bank....The engine in this truck is the first "modern day" V8 engine made after the flat head V8 It is a whopping 256 CID in size...150 horsepower...to pull 16,000 pounds....it does that through gearing.....4 speed with a two speed rear end....... all this is probably more than you wanted to know.....I would have to have to put in a very large 250 amp alternator in to be effective...My previous truck was a very expensive 2006 Freightliner MT45 with a 275 horse Cummins 5.9 it used that $800 250 amp alternator. I mentioned the past 5 years has been a stop and startup roller coaster. it has been so primarily because that truck that was full of inventory was stolen Aug 21,2015 my insurance finally after 2 years of fighting with them paid me what my premiums provided me with which was $80K short of what I lost....my fault for not being smart enough to reassess my potential losses vs how much insurance I had. And for having advisors like my insurance agent who just took my payment at renewal time without the thought of possibly actually asking me what my current inventory was worth so I could pay a little bit more for the correct coverage for what I actually had...oh well Ive paid for my education in one way or another my whole life so now I have a doctorate in how to make sure you have good people to advise me and I now know to ask what it is I should be doing with things like insurance...Plus I now know that you need to fight when things go bad dont expect those who are supposed to work for you to actually work for you without force. Who would think people like my insurance company, the police and my former franchise would be advisories in a time when I needed them to come to my aide....So just shy of five years after the theft, I am still fighting for my business.....once this covad thing ends I have a good inventory amount, my truck is ready once I do the solar thing....Im well rested and have just enough of a chip on my shoulder to slay any of my competition that used to pretty much eat my lunch because I used to be too nice.....now Im nice but I will not let you just be if you mess with me...my recent fights have shown me that is what is needed......sorry I went there but I really want you to know how important you are to me..and without that history you cant really know ..I need this solar system to have my business operate. Im sure my windshield time will allow the solar panels to work.....they can produce power while Im stuck in gridlock on San Diego Freeways instead of using an alternator.... The usable flat stainless steel sheet that covers the roof area on the box of ETTT has 16 feet of usable... its actual 18 foot length long but there is a vent fan that uses up the back most edge. There is also about 9" of width to lay panels....so 16'X9'. I guess Ill have to research panels to see their physical size vs how many watts each panel has to determine how many I can fit on this roof space. How many watts do you think these panels will need to produce? I hope my story doesnt scare you off...there is no need to comment on all that personal experience/pain....I really am thankful people like you will offer help.

 

[Craig]

First off Great story. I appreciate leaving the engine as is. San Diego has plenty of sun so panels will work fine. Your inverter draws 800 Watts. I'm guessing the other stuff draws 200 Watts so you need about 1000 Watts per hour. Max and that should be able to keep batteries topped up. My desktop computer uses about 90Watts An hour. So you may only be drawing a few hundred watts from inverter. The thing is you can start with say 600 Watts and go from there. I Just did a quick EbY search seems there are panels for about 60 cents a watt so for 600 bucks you should be able to create plenty of power. I do not know what panels to recommend though.

 

[mytoolman]

Thanks again....regarding the story that was the SHORT version....I should write a book about what to expect if you have a theft like this....my experience with the San Diego Police Dept until I involved the Chief of Police was outrageous....This theft left a trail from here to at least Albuquerque....the tracking info on my computer remote login software showed that....anyway Ill get hot to find panels...be good....

 

[Craig]

Thanks again....regarding the story that was the SHORT version....I should write a book about what to expect if you have a theft like this....my experience with the San Diego Police Dept until I involved the Chief of Police was outrageous....This theft left a trail from here to at least Albuquerque....the tracking info on my computer remote login software showed that....anyway Ill get hot to find panels...be good....

I just saw some peel and stick panels on EBay look interesting but they are very long. I am not sure about the watts per square foot but worth a look. They are from a guy in Ventura maybe you can contact him direct for more info. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Uni-Solar-...ble-Solar-Panel-Grid-Tie-4-Wires/264526416302

 

[mytoolman]

I just saw some peel and stick panels on EBay look interesting but they are very long. I am not sure about the watts per square foot but worth a look. They are from a guy in Ventura maybe you can contact him direct for more info. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Uni-Solar-...ble-Solar-Panel-Grid-Tie-4-Wires/264526416302

good idea about contacting him...those ones you mentioned here are so close to the length.....that darn vent fan....I would have just enough roof for these...if that vent did not exist....ALSO those EBAY panels are 24 VOLT my batteries are six 6 volts lead acid floaters....they produce 12volts as currently set up