Newb camping setup help

[Adjake]

This is what I’ll be working with. My goal is a small setup that I can grab throw it in the back of my Jeep and camp for a few days. Want to be able to charge computer/iPad/phone, run some small 12v fan or fans in summer, heated blanket in the winter, charge photography gear etc 12v dometic cfx345 refrigerator. I don’t plan on running anything big but I wanted to leave some room for expansion.
I have just about everything, just waiting on the 100 ah battery to show up.
looking for help wiring it all up, fuse/breaker location and size recommendations. What else am I going to need?
thanks
andrew

 

[MisterSandals]

My goal is a small setup that I can grab throw it in the back of my Jeep and camp for a few days.

You only need a couple of those items to make a small setup for camping. If you add the shunts, fuse box, inverter control... it will be too fragile and complicated to move.

Solar panels, all in series if possible to SCC, SCC to battery, battery to inverter (if you really need AC current for computer). For phone, 12v DC to 5v/USB converter. Do you need a fusebox for a 12v fan... an alligator clip would likely be sufficient.

 

[Boondock Saint]

You only need a couple of those items to make a small setup for camping.

SHHHHH . . . you need to upsell more Victron. He needs a Multiplus II in there, a Cerbo GX and the Touch 50 on the dash. Don't ask, it's a JEEP thing.

At least the mall crawler will get some fresh air.

I would primitve camp with a ton of recording equipment, NVR, 8 HD cameras, wifi router, numerous Flir, GoPro etc a laptop and more I would squeze an entire weekend out of 2 deep cell marine batteries.

I sold the Renogy panel and SCC because I just didn't need them.

 

[MisterSandals]

12v dometic cfx345 refrigerator.

I missed this on my first pass. And the heating blanket too.

Have you figured out how much power they use? 100ah at 12v will be very challenged by either one of these, especially if you are charging most of the other things when the sun is shining. How many watts of panels are you talking about? I see you have 4:1 parallel splitters pictured so maybe 4x tiny panels?

Your first step should be to do the math on how many watt hours your stuff uses, especially what is needed outside of charging hours. Then see how that stacks up against your solar production and storage (which has to cover all the power after charger hours).

 

[time2roll]

The battery and a 300 watt sine inverter is all you need to get out for a couple days. What is the rest for?
Recharge when you get home. Worst case bring your old flimsy boost cables to charge or run from the vehicle.

 

[Adjake]

I missed this on my first pass. And the heating blanket too.

Have you figured out how much power they use? 100ah at 12v will be very challenged by either one of these, especially if you are charging most of the other things when the sun is shining. How many watts of panels are you talking about? I see you have 4:1 parallel splitters pictured so maybe 4x tiny panels?

Your first step should be to do the math on how many watt hours your stuff uses, especially what is needed outside of charging hours. Then see how that stacks up against your solar production and storage (which has to cover all the power after charger hours).

Dometic is pretty efficient 8.2 amps. I usually plug it in to cool it down before I go anywhere. The small electric blanket cycles on and off at around 45 watts. It is a 100 w panel I got last year. I will upgrade that if necessary

 

[Adjake]

SHHHHH . . . you need to upsell more Victron. He needs a Multiplus II in there, a Cerbo GX and the Touch 50 on the dash. Don't ask, it's a JEEP thing.

At least the mall crawler will get some fresh air.

I would primitve camp with a ton of recording equipment, NVR, 8 HD cameras, wifi router, numerous Flir, GoPro etc a laptop and more I would squeze an entire weekend out of 2 deep cell marine batteries.

I sold the Renogy panel and SCC because I just didn't need them.

Why not buy the IMO best if you can. i most definitely do not own a pavement queen mall mudder

 

[Boondock Saint]

:D man Im just being an ahole, I'm sure you have a boss jeep. In Redmond / Bellevue / Seattle everyone has these really tricked out rigs that have no idea what mud looks like.

After having spent tons of money modding my jeep, my mantra is K.I.S.S. and save the money. If you have the extra cash and time and energy to burn then yeah, GO Victron. And more battery. You're not going to charge the battery(s) from your alternator while you're driving out to the woods?

 

[Adjake]

:D man Im just being an ahole, I'm sure you have a boss jeep. In Redmond / Bellevue / Seattle everyone has these really tricked out rigs that have no idea what mud looks like.

After having spent tons of money modding my jeep, my mantra is K.I.S.S. and save the money. If you have the extra cash and time and energy to burn then yeah, GO Victron. And more battery. You're not going to charge the battery(s) from your alternator while you're driving out to the woods?

No plans to run dc-dc. Most of my camping is one or two days.

 

[skijunkie]

I have a 100ah lithium battery dedicated to an engel fridge/freezer in my camper. Between the time the sun stops giving power in the evening to the time it starts giving power in the morning it can drain up to 25% from the battery. I have 345 watts of solar charging the battery. Normally no problem with that much solar but a couple of rainy cloudy days can pull the battery pretty low even with 345 watts. I don’t know that 100 watts will be enough to deal with bad weather.

 

[MisterSandals]

Dometic is pretty efficient 8.2 amps.

8.2a x 12.8v = 105w
105w x 24h = 2502wh

your panel
100w x 5h = 500wh (1/5 what your fridge uses)

your battery
100ah x 12.8v = 1280wh (will run your fridge for 12h)

The numbers say you run out quickly and cannot recharge fast enough.
Oh, and you're charging phones, running an inverter... which decreases charging main battery.
heating blanket? fuggetaboutit.

 

[Adjake]

8.2a x 12.8v = 105w
105w x 24h = 2502wh

your panel
100w x 5h = 500wh (1/5 what your fridge uses)

your battery
100ah x 12.8v = 1280wh (will run your fridge for 12h)

The numbers say you run out quickly and cannot recharge fast enough.
Oh, and you're charging phones, running an inverter... which decreases charging main battery.
heating blanket? fuggetaboutit.

I’m not really worried about capacity, I can always add to it if I need to.
The dometic is rated at 1.03ah at 90*f ambient 39* internal temp. Not sure what the 8.2 amp number is about (probably a max rating?). Once these refrigerators are at temp they cycle fairly infrequently I tend to camp in the mountains in the summer to get out of the heat(never 90*). Even a crap rockpals 300 will run it for almost a full day plugged in to ac. For shits and giggles I tested it on a 4.5 year old agm. That battery was rated at 64 ah when new. It ran the dometic for just shy of 2 days on battery alone. I also tend to be on the move when I camp and can plug stuff into the Jeep when I’m moving

 

[MisterSandals]

The dometic is rated at 1.03ah at 90*f ambient 39* internal temp. Not sure what the 8.2 amp number is about

I'm just doing the math with the numbers you provided.

If you're saying it runs at 1.03a (12watts) that is a mighty efficient refrigerator. (307wh per day!)

 

[Adjake]

 

[12VoltInstalls]

The battery and a 300 watt sine inverter is all you need to get out for a couple days. What is the rest for?
Recharge when you get home. Worst case bring your old flimsy boost cables to charge or run from the vehicle.

I concur. It’s funny you would say that.

I have a 300W Giandel pure sine. I got it for my 89 Jeep. I intended to bury it someplace in the dash and have an outlet for my cordless tool battery charger on a rear fender but so far I’ve only used it to run s soldering iron LOL

I regret no buying a 600W because that would run a 5-cup coffeemaker

 

[noenegdod]

You only need a couple of those items to make a small setup for camping. If you add the shunts, fuse box, inverter control... it will be too fragile and complicated to move.

Solar panels, all in series if possible to SCC, SCC to battery, battery to inverter (if you really need AC current for computer). For phone, 12v DC to 5v/USB converter. Do you need a fusebox for a 12v fan... an alligator clip would likely be sufficient.

My daughter tried plugging her laptop usb c into a usb charging port and it charges/powers her laptop. If she is using it to play a game the battery will still deplete but at a much slower rate, if it is just sitting there unused it will charge. You may not need an inverter to charge a computer.