Please help. I have the following to make the milk crate kit. Renogy Rover 20 amp, Drok 48 volt power supply, Bestek 1000 inverter, Wupp fuse block, Multi port usb charger and Weize 12 volt 100 amp battery and three jackery 100 watt folding solar panels. Will all of this work together if I wire it all up like Will did in his Milk crate 2.0 video? Thanks to anyone that can help.
Milk Crate build
- Thread starter gtwanger
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penrow
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- Jan 2, 2022
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Check your battery dimensions and see if it will fit is the first thing that I see that may be a problem, I fit a 100 amp/hr battery in mine but it measured 12" wide. The only 2 that I know of that are 12" is AO Lithium and one by Renogy but you could use a bigger crate
You should have asked that question before purchasing. I would suggest you lay stuff out on a table and one at a time, connect and make things work. For example, connect the inverter to the battery and make it work. Connect the AC (Drok) power supply (properly adjust it) and get it to charge your battery correctly. Set up your solar charger, get it working correctly. Then considered how you will package it all in a milk crate, tote, or whatever. Take your time and study each step.
Thanks for responding. I'm over 70 and need a little help. The battery does fit in a crate I have and the renogy and inverter. I hook up the battery this morning for a few seconds to see if everything works and i ran a fan from the inverter. I need to charge the battery and until I get the Drok power supply to help me charge from a wall socket i will try my solar panels. I just wanted to make sure that what i have is compatible and nothing is too over or under powered. Thanks again for your time and help.
Thanks for your suggestions.
penrow
New Member
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- Jan 2, 2022
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Everything is 12 volt plug and play and should work unless its broken, except the 48 volt power supply. I have no experience using those. I just use a Victron 12 volt battery charger for charging my crate.I started out same as you and then I tried simplifying my crate making it lighter and less busy. The first pic is of my first crate in a large 12x15 crate and 2nd is my current build in a 12x12 crate. I have a fuse at positive battery terminal and charge controller has an integrated 20 amp fuse. I have 2 Anderson connector plugs. 1 to connect solar panels and 1 to connect accessories or my battery charger. I have a female cigarette lighter plug with Anderson plug and my battery charger ( it had ring terminals, I cut them off and added Anderson connectors) I just learned I can still charge with AC and have a lot of options for hooking up various items without having a lot of stuff inside the crate. Those jackery panels are very expensive, you could have saved a lot there. Well good luck!
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48v supply, adjustable.....I have set up a couple of them, one for 12v and one for 36v. Carefully adjust it so that at the end of the battery being charged, the steady state voltage is less than your max "charge to" but a little bit, to avoid overcharging. Then put some soft glue (something you can remove later) to secure the knob so it will not be bumped and mess up your voltage setting. Check it regularly to avoid possible battery overcharging.
Thanks again. Lots of good stuff to take a look at. I did hook up a panel to my set up today and it looks like it was charging the battery ok. It was only a couple amps , but everything seems to work. I will study up on the power supply and get it into the mix. Got it, might as well use it. I take the panels and my Bluetti camping. Those panels work well for that application. That stuff is a couple of years old. I appreciate the help.
I have to study up on the installation and tweaking of the power supply. I may have some questions on it. Thanks for your time.
I did the milk crate 2.o but laid it out in a line in my van. I think it would be a challenge for first timers with a crate because so tight. I have a 100 amp hour but everything is the same (2 hundred watt panels). I have concerns about the Drok 48 volt power supply. A few reviews say that this is a bad, fried a system and a fire hazzard because gets so hot. I get about 13 volts to 14. Cant get exactly 14.4 but that should not matter right, only if over 14.4. I used 12 guage wire for the plug but would like to use 16 guage because more flexible. Is this a bad idea?
