Hello erbody!
I have been following Will and Far Out Ride and all the van builders for a while and am jumping into the game. Love that this forum is here and am excited to help where I can and receive help. I am a general contractor by trade so I know enough to be less dangerous but not technical in electrical engineering. I am putting together a system in a van and am looking for the easy route to dip my toes in.
Desires are: alternator charging, 300w solar, shore power, 2000w alternator or more, aprox. 2,400Wh LiFePO or more.
I'm basing my design off of Will's 400w solar system blueprint.
I know Renogy has terrible service but is it reliable?
Their batteries are well priced. I like their 170ah battery but it looks like I will need two to run a 1800w induction cooktop due to discharge rate?
Also, is 50a enough from the Renogy DCC50S for this size system? I have a 2019 sprinter w/ aux. battery is it possible to draw more than 50a?
A lot of Q's to get off my chest, but any help is awesome. Thanks team!
So, I agree with Steve_S, slow down and start at the beginning, which is always CONSUMPTION.
For example, I have an induction cook top, 1,800 Watts.
Since it NEVER gets cranked up to full capacity (will boil a gallon of water in about 2.5-3 minutes, depending on pan type) it would be prudent to get an idea of how many amp hours the stuff you want to use will draw.
When it's a Van/Trailer being converted, people generally already have the stuff they want to use,
Simply set up a 'Camp' in the garage and use it with a Watt Hour meter on the extension cord line.
Do an actual day or two with the stuff you actually have as an experiment.
It's an eye opener!
A 'For Instance', ditching conventional and going DC for some things saves a LOT of power.
LED lights for incandescent, automotive or home, use MUCH less power at 12vdc or 110vac.
(DC wins every time, no rectifier to feed, and automotive sockets/fixtures are cheap)
Because a microwave is rated at 1,500 Watts, you won't run it an hour at a time.
Ours runs about 20 minutes a day, that's 500 Watts.
Get one with a mechanical crank timer and the standby timer/display doesn't suck Watts.
While they are harder to find, a plain fridge without the digital displays, ice through door, etc are more efficient.
All that stuff takes up space for insulation,
And there are the loads involved with supporting that stuff.
Also, vent the compressor to outside!
Close the vent in winter and it will help heat the space, but venting heat indoors in summer, then you run extra cooling to dispatch that heat...
Conservation, and common sense, will save you a TON of money over time, if you keep the cold where it's supposed to be, the warm where it's supposed to be (INSULATION!) You are WAY ahead of the game.
Watts you don't need are Watts you don't need to make & store.
Seal & insulate EVERYTHING. Vent what needs to be vented...
Coffee maker, 1,200 Watts/Hr, runs for 15 minutes then we put the coffee into insulated container,
400 Watts per pot, and it doesn't get overcooked and nasty.
Microwave, 1,500 Watts/Hr, 20 minutes a day, 500 Watts.
When we first started, and the system was really small & expensive to expand,
I made a power strip with mechanical crank knob timers for the phone, laptop, etc chargers.
Plug the transformer in and crank the knob, it shuts the transformer down, and you learn pretty quick what time to crank the timer to so the device is charged, the transformer doesn't suck Watts continuously.
Those things are real energy hogs...
The 'Smart Charger' are available now, but we have become so use to cranking the knob or now pushing the button we don't bother with them.
Since TVs suck 80% power when on 'Stand By' (they never actually turn 'Off' unless you unplug them) the TV is on a 2 hour timer.
Since we get everything through the internet, I don't have to do setup everytime, my pad plugs into TV and it's USB charger is in the same outlet.
Plug TV into pad, plug pad into USB charger, crank the knob and we are off to the races with a big screen.
Everything turns off in two hours, so when I fall asleep in front of the boobtube it doesn't suck Watts all night.
Conservation is a big deal when you want to keep the system size reasonable (and the cost down!).
Then consider the time of day you use a RV/camper...
Even night owls go on daytime schedule...
That alone reduces consumption...
Using power in daylight hours makes storage/batteries cost MUCH smaller.
A second charge controller that will throw full panel production at the system in daylight hours is MUCH cheaper than more high capacity batteries, and charge controllers don't have a built in expiration date like batteries do.
When the Load exceeds a single charge controller, anything the panels produce is left on the table, disposed of as heat.
When a second controller is added, it will dump it's capacity into the consumption.
I size panel output to what controllers can pass to the main inverter lines, once the batteries are charged the excess is put into consumption/load and saves on sucking on the batteries.
For instance, a 30 Watt charge controller will dump 30 Amps into the system once batteries are charged.
A second charge controller will dump another 30 Amps will come through the second charge controller to the Load, doubling the amount of panel production dumped directly into the consumption BEFORE you start sucking on the batteries.
Big batteries, big Amp controllers, big pass through to Load if you have the panels.
I hate wasting Watts, and I keep getting told it won't work, but it does anyway...
It also adds redundancy for a real reasonable price, the available power is reduced, but you are still up and running instead of screwed in the dark...
