SmokeAKAscotty
New Member
Bear with me, I'm new here and to posting on forums in general.
1st off, I'm a complete noob. I've done alot of reading and research but I'm still not able to get a total grasp to make informed decisions. I'm trin to post all relevant pics. A note to remember while responding, I'm older and disabled on a fixed income, also this is my life, I bought land way out in the woods and off grid is my only option for power. I have a small 30 foot camper. The camper has a 30 amp plug that now only powers the 120 volt outlets, I've removed the converter completely from the RV and wired the 12 volt system directly to my batteries. Being on a fixed income, I've had to slowly (and will have to continue upgrading slowly) upgrade. The batteries I have are all at least 3 yrs old 2 are identical marine batteries and 1 car battery all wired in parallel. I also have a Ryobi generator and 3000 watt Power Drive 12 volt inverter. I run generator for 3 hrs in morning and 3 hrs at night b4 bed and i plug everything into 120 camper outlets when generator is running and when on batteries i unplug refrigerator from 120 camper outlets and plug into inverter thats wired to battery bank, I get 14.5 volts and 12.9 to 12.8 resting volts with nothing running, the the refrigerator kicks on I lose about 0.5 volts for the 10 minutes it runs for. The fan and TV I only use when generator is running because the batteries won't last.
Next I bought a 400 watt solar kit that came with 2 200 watt panels and 30 amp charge controller (its not the mppt controller but the other kind, like I said, I'm a noob here lol don't remember the other kind, pw or something???). So I made a adjustable stand and mounted panels and connected to battery bank. Now with this setup, I no longer need to run my generator in the morning as the panels do that. But I still have to top off the batteries every night because the sun goes down long b4 I goto bed. Now if it's really cloudy and I watch TV, this is definitely not enough to last all day. Charge controller readings I've noted are PV (by observing the read out,I think that means soalr panels) 6 amps is highest I've seen and 0.5 amps lowest (not including night time of course). volts I've noticed are 12.2 to 13.6
What I want,
1.I want to be able to watch TV 6 hours, run refrigerator 24/7, fan about 12 hours a day, and the occasional air fryer microwave and coffee maker for 10 to 15 minutes at most 2 times a day.
2. I want a expandable system that i can buy pieces for as i can afford them, because I definitely can not afford to buy a $5,000 to $10,000 upfront.
3. A system that can 100% run on solar and or 100% on battery and or 100% on generator all at same time or system switched (if possible)
4. Here's the one I really having trouble with, I want to charge my current and future system that is 12 volt or maybe 24 volt or 36 volt or 48 volt (I'd definitely like to goto at least 24 volt from the research I've done) but how do I charge anything other than a 12 volt system with my gas powered generator (as of now I just use a 12 volt car battery charger) and still have it connected to solar system (like a few days in row with heavy clouds) without have to unhook all the batteries in the higher volt systems that i assume i will wire in series and charge each 12 volt battery one at a time?
4A.The other issue I can't wrap my mind around is how do I charge a system while I'm using it, because right now, the only way to top off my batteries is to run everything off generator and charge batteries (with absolutely nothing pulling juice) with car charger.
Pics are
10 cubic fridge
2 12 volt marine batteries
1 12 volt car battery
Ryobi gas powered generator
Serenelife 400 watt solar kit (2 200 panels and 30amp controller)
12 volt car battery charger
32 inch TV
120 volt fan
12 volt LED lights have replaced all old incadescent bulbs in camper
1 last thing, if you could use the words instead off shorthand letters (like PV I deducted means solar panels). I get so lost having to Google so many acronyms.
1st off, I'm a complete noob. I've done alot of reading and research but I'm still not able to get a total grasp to make informed decisions. I'm trin to post all relevant pics. A note to remember while responding, I'm older and disabled on a fixed income, also this is my life, I bought land way out in the woods and off grid is my only option for power. I have a small 30 foot camper. The camper has a 30 amp plug that now only powers the 120 volt outlets, I've removed the converter completely from the RV and wired the 12 volt system directly to my batteries. Being on a fixed income, I've had to slowly (and will have to continue upgrading slowly) upgrade. The batteries I have are all at least 3 yrs old 2 are identical marine batteries and 1 car battery all wired in parallel. I also have a Ryobi generator and 3000 watt Power Drive 12 volt inverter. I run generator for 3 hrs in morning and 3 hrs at night b4 bed and i plug everything into 120 camper outlets when generator is running and when on batteries i unplug refrigerator from 120 camper outlets and plug into inverter thats wired to battery bank, I get 14.5 volts and 12.9 to 12.8 resting volts with nothing running, the the refrigerator kicks on I lose about 0.5 volts for the 10 minutes it runs for. The fan and TV I only use when generator is running because the batteries won't last.
Next I bought a 400 watt solar kit that came with 2 200 watt panels and 30 amp charge controller (its not the mppt controller but the other kind, like I said, I'm a noob here lol don't remember the other kind, pw or something???). So I made a adjustable stand and mounted panels and connected to battery bank. Now with this setup, I no longer need to run my generator in the morning as the panels do that. But I still have to top off the batteries every night because the sun goes down long b4 I goto bed. Now if it's really cloudy and I watch TV, this is definitely not enough to last all day. Charge controller readings I've noted are PV (by observing the read out,I think that means soalr panels) 6 amps is highest I've seen and 0.5 amps lowest (not including night time of course). volts I've noticed are 12.2 to 13.6
What I want,
1.I want to be able to watch TV 6 hours, run refrigerator 24/7, fan about 12 hours a day, and the occasional air fryer microwave and coffee maker for 10 to 15 minutes at most 2 times a day.
2. I want a expandable system that i can buy pieces for as i can afford them, because I definitely can not afford to buy a $5,000 to $10,000 upfront.
3. A system that can 100% run on solar and or 100% on battery and or 100% on generator all at same time or system switched (if possible)
4. Here's the one I really having trouble with, I want to charge my current and future system that is 12 volt or maybe 24 volt or 36 volt or 48 volt (I'd definitely like to goto at least 24 volt from the research I've done) but how do I charge anything other than a 12 volt system with my gas powered generator (as of now I just use a 12 volt car battery charger) and still have it connected to solar system (like a few days in row with heavy clouds) without have to unhook all the batteries in the higher volt systems that i assume i will wire in series and charge each 12 volt battery one at a time?
4A.The other issue I can't wrap my mind around is how do I charge a system while I'm using it, because right now, the only way to top off my batteries is to run everything off generator and charge batteries (with absolutely nothing pulling juice) with car charger.
Pics are
10 cubic fridge
2 12 volt marine batteries
1 12 volt car battery
Ryobi gas powered generator
Serenelife 400 watt solar kit (2 200 panels and 30amp controller)
12 volt car battery charger
32 inch TV
120 volt fan
12 volt LED lights have replaced all old incadescent bulbs in camper
1 last thing, if you could use the words instead off shorthand letters (like PV I deducted means solar panels). I get so lost having to Google so many acronyms.