D
Deleted member 41904
Guest
A bit of background:
I am converting my 1998 Astro van and I've spent every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the last 3 months building the inside.
I found Will Prowse's "DIY 400 Watt 12 volt Solar Power System Beginner Tutorial: Great for RV's and Vans! *Part 1*" and Part 2 on Youtube. Links for Part 1 and 2 below:
Part 1:
Part 2:
This is a perfect setup for me, my van's roof can hold 4, 100 watt solar panels maximum. I plan on living in this van for the next few years using appliances such as a heater, laptop, cell phone, blender, pressure cooker crock pot, portable fridge and others. Biggest draws will be from heater and crock pot having 1500 watts per hour draw each. The fridge is a max 45 watts per hour while cooling so the same as a laptop. It also has eco mode when not needing to cool, (5 watts per hour I think). I'd only use the crock pot for a max of 35 mins a day while the heater would only be used in winter. Of course, the crock pot puts out heat and with such a tiny living space anyways, I imagine it would warm up the area enough during winter and I wouldn't need to run the heater 100% of the time due to the small living space. I also insulated the van to keep heat out during the summer and keep heat in during the winter.
Area of living is Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada kind of area. So lots of sun!
Set up Idea:
A) 4, 100 watt solar panels in parallel (I don't plan on being 100% in the sun all the time, I will be camping under trees and such often so I want them to still work if one panel is in the shade while the other three aren't).
B) 2, 100 Ah 12 Volt batteries. Set up in series. I'm thinking of pre-ordering two SOK 100 Ah batteries. They restock on Dec. 15.
C) Everything else as outlined in the video such as MPPT, Circuit Breaker, and 2000 watt Pure Wave Sign Inverter. I have a question about the fuse block, see below.
Now to my questions:
1. In the video he uses a fuse block for DC appliances. I will only have AC appliances (everything has the two or three prong plug in and I plan on plugging in a power surge protector to the inverter). Do I still need the fuse block? If not this would save me $50+ bucks. If I don't need it why install it kind of thinking.
2. Is it okay to plug a surge protector into an inverter running multiple appliances (up to the watt capacity of the inverter of course) at the same time?!?!
3. I'm hoping to have a job in Utah but the thing with this job is the work schedule. I would be working 9.5 days straight in the wilderness with troubled youth with 11.5 days off. During those 9.5 days in the wilderness, the temperatures can vary depending on the season. Going from around the 30 degrees mark in winter to the 90 degrees area in summer. Question: Is it okay to keep my lithium batteries in this temp while not in use? During my 11.5 days off they of course would be used but the temp of the van would be more regulated in the winter. During the summer I won't have any AC. For the last two years in my apartment the temp was over 100 degrees so I personally don't need/want AC. The batteries would still be in 90 degree or more temps though. Is this okay for the longevity of the battery?
Even if I don't get the job, I still plan on moving into the van while I look for work. So this is a good thing to know anyways.
These are the main questions I have for the moment.
I am converting my 1998 Astro van and I've spent every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the last 3 months building the inside.
I found Will Prowse's "DIY 400 Watt 12 volt Solar Power System Beginner Tutorial: Great for RV's and Vans! *Part 1*" and Part 2 on Youtube. Links for Part 1 and 2 below:
Part 1:
Part 2:
This is a perfect setup for me, my van's roof can hold 4, 100 watt solar panels maximum. I plan on living in this van for the next few years using appliances such as a heater, laptop, cell phone, blender, pressure cooker crock pot, portable fridge and others. Biggest draws will be from heater and crock pot having 1500 watts per hour draw each. The fridge is a max 45 watts per hour while cooling so the same as a laptop. It also has eco mode when not needing to cool, (5 watts per hour I think). I'd only use the crock pot for a max of 35 mins a day while the heater would only be used in winter. Of course, the crock pot puts out heat and with such a tiny living space anyways, I imagine it would warm up the area enough during winter and I wouldn't need to run the heater 100% of the time due to the small living space. I also insulated the van to keep heat out during the summer and keep heat in during the winter.
Area of living is Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada kind of area. So lots of sun!
Set up Idea:
A) 4, 100 watt solar panels in parallel (I don't plan on being 100% in the sun all the time, I will be camping under trees and such often so I want them to still work if one panel is in the shade while the other three aren't).
B) 2, 100 Ah 12 Volt batteries. Set up in series. I'm thinking of pre-ordering two SOK 100 Ah batteries. They restock on Dec. 15.
C) Everything else as outlined in the video such as MPPT, Circuit Breaker, and 2000 watt Pure Wave Sign Inverter. I have a question about the fuse block, see below.
Now to my questions:
1. In the video he uses a fuse block for DC appliances. I will only have AC appliances (everything has the two or three prong plug in and I plan on plugging in a power surge protector to the inverter). Do I still need the fuse block? If not this would save me $50+ bucks. If I don't need it why install it kind of thinking.
2. Is it okay to plug a surge protector into an inverter running multiple appliances (up to the watt capacity of the inverter of course) at the same time?!?!
3. I'm hoping to have a job in Utah but the thing with this job is the work schedule. I would be working 9.5 days straight in the wilderness with troubled youth with 11.5 days off. During those 9.5 days in the wilderness, the temperatures can vary depending on the season. Going from around the 30 degrees mark in winter to the 90 degrees area in summer. Question: Is it okay to keep my lithium batteries in this temp while not in use? During my 11.5 days off they of course would be used but the temp of the van would be more regulated in the winter. During the summer I won't have any AC. For the last two years in my apartment the temp was over 100 degrees so I personally don't need/want AC. The batteries would still be in 90 degree or more temps though. Is this okay for the longevity of the battery?
Even if I don't get the job, I still plan on moving into the van while I look for work. So this is a good thing to know anyways.
These are the main questions I have for the moment.