Boondock Saint
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2021
- Messages
- 661
This has been a l o n g hard year. As I've tooled around the US in my RV, I've tried to do a major installation with very little help available to me. Trying to do this work while up to my neck in parts and supplies has been a real PITA.
Working full-time and trying to make progress in the evenings and on the weekends hasn't been so productive due to sickness, weather and personal stuff. Plus my $#@! Onan generator died so I bought another brand and re-engineered the mounting, now using a slide out basket. I had to make a custom harness for a 3rd party board and relays in order to control from my Victron system. whew.
A year ago I started with making decision on the size and scope of what would be possible in a Class C RV. I settled on a 48v system and began to narrow down the HW required. I purchased 32 of the EVE cells from Michael B Caro. This was a great experience for me, first class and I want to thank him publicly for his assistance.
For the system as a whole, The_Colorist engineered everything end to end. He created the schematic, ordered the parts and shipped them to a location. I will always be indebted to him for the sheer amount of support provided and his willingness to provide all of this at near cost. This guy is a wold class engineer and PV genius, a SME on many solar product lines and the interoperability and industry as a whole. He gets mad props from me.
The two most sophisticated mobile rigs built were by Lt. Dan and Cinergi. I appreciate their ongoing email support and advice. My Victron system is based on the one by Cinergi and quite similar. He was there for me when I needed answers and a real standup guy. Thank you Lt. Dan and Cinergi for all your time and efforts.
Just John - a real asset who GAVE to me test equipment and email support, never snarky or condescending, has really sound advice from personal experience. He serves the whole forum providing that wealth of knowledge without extracting remorse from the users. He's very fair in his dealings and selling components etc. It's great to get a straight answer and not have to jump through hoops and mental masturbation. Thanks again!
HRTKD - Tirelessly answers questions all hours of the day and night and leaves no stone left un-turned in finding solutions for people. He's helped me out plenty, if not for his google-foo, to consider things I might have overlooked or not yet considered. Many thanks.
Thanks also to Diysolar123 for answering questions and giving proper instruction, reassurances etc. Always great to benefit from his input.
Gazoo gave me some great feedback and generally helpful all throughout my participation, much appreciated.
Thanks to everyone else who contributed in some way to my journey and progress. At this point I'll probably be needing from support from this solar enthusiast forum.
I'm still not complete and up and running. I got the 5 beastly Trina's on the roof and 8g cable ran.
I have the 32 cells in a 2x16 config, in 2 trays I built. Each tray is 200lbs and they are ratcheted together under compression and bolted to the floor.
I have 3 Victron SCC on a board and ready to go. I have a control board with an Orion BMS, HelTec Active Balancer, CerboGX, HDMI Touchscreen and din rail for all the connections. This is HDPE and sits on top of the battery bank.
I have a Quattro 5kva single phase inverter under the bed. I have a master power switching board with fuses and contactor between the batteries and the Quattro. All on 2/0 cable I made myself.
I have another board with 2 hefty DC-DC converters from Daygreen. One is Step up to 48v from alternator, the other is step down to 13.5v for house DC.
I still need to tie all these together and have many stopping / pain points, especially with regard to the Victron and Orion systems. I'm stuck ATM and can't figure out or find the resources I need
Apologies if I forgot to mention anyone in particular, please don't feel slighted. Thanks again and thanks in advance for sharing!
Working full-time and trying to make progress in the evenings and on the weekends hasn't been so productive due to sickness, weather and personal stuff. Plus my $#@! Onan generator died so I bought another brand and re-engineered the mounting, now using a slide out basket. I had to make a custom harness for a 3rd party board and relays in order to control from my Victron system. whew.
A year ago I started with making decision on the size and scope of what would be possible in a Class C RV. I settled on a 48v system and began to narrow down the HW required. I purchased 32 of the EVE cells from Michael B Caro. This was a great experience for me, first class and I want to thank him publicly for his assistance.
For the system as a whole, The_Colorist engineered everything end to end. He created the schematic, ordered the parts and shipped them to a location. I will always be indebted to him for the sheer amount of support provided and his willingness to provide all of this at near cost. This guy is a wold class engineer and PV genius, a SME on many solar product lines and the interoperability and industry as a whole. He gets mad props from me.
The two most sophisticated mobile rigs built were by Lt. Dan and Cinergi. I appreciate their ongoing email support and advice. My Victron system is based on the one by Cinergi and quite similar. He was there for me when I needed answers and a real standup guy. Thank you Lt. Dan and Cinergi for all your time and efforts.
Just John - a real asset who GAVE to me test equipment and email support, never snarky or condescending, has really sound advice from personal experience. He serves the whole forum providing that wealth of knowledge without extracting remorse from the users. He's very fair in his dealings and selling components etc. It's great to get a straight answer and not have to jump through hoops and mental masturbation. Thanks again!
HRTKD - Tirelessly answers questions all hours of the day and night and leaves no stone left un-turned in finding solutions for people. He's helped me out plenty, if not for his google-foo, to consider things I might have overlooked or not yet considered. Many thanks.
Thanks also to Diysolar123 for answering questions and giving proper instruction, reassurances etc. Always great to benefit from his input.
Gazoo gave me some great feedback and generally helpful all throughout my participation, much appreciated.
Thanks to everyone else who contributed in some way to my journey and progress. At this point I'll probably be needing from support from this solar enthusiast forum.
I'm still not complete and up and running. I got the 5 beastly Trina's on the roof and 8g cable ran.
I have the 32 cells in a 2x16 config, in 2 trays I built. Each tray is 200lbs and they are ratcheted together under compression and bolted to the floor.
I have 3 Victron SCC on a board and ready to go. I have a control board with an Orion BMS, HelTec Active Balancer, CerboGX, HDMI Touchscreen and din rail for all the connections. This is HDPE and sits on top of the battery bank.
I have a Quattro 5kva single phase inverter under the bed. I have a master power switching board with fuses and contactor between the batteries and the Quattro. All on 2/0 cable I made myself.
I have another board with 2 hefty DC-DC converters from Daygreen. One is Step up to 48v from alternator, the other is step down to 13.5v for house DC.
I still need to tie all these together and have many stopping / pain points, especially with regard to the Victron and Orion systems. I'm stuck ATM and can't figure out or find the resources I need
Apologies if I forgot to mention anyone in particular, please don't feel slighted. Thanks again and thanks in advance for sharing!
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