Rv project for a new guy..

[TwilightZone]

Hello all. I wish I'd have joined up months ago, but things have been nuts. Long story short. Our only son just bought 5 acres way out west, and we were burglarized repeatedly. It occurred to us that we already owned a decent camper, and if we sold our home we could travel a bit and see if we wanted to land near the boy. As for the solar, its a hodge podge of what I got good deals on, not ideal. I have 6 100w Hanergy/global solar flexible panels, 3x 100ah battle borns otw, a renogy 2000w inverter/charger, and a renogy battery monitor. I bought 2/0 epdm copper for the battery side, and ring terminals with solder slugs. I have yet to pick a charge controller, though I'm thinking higher end mppt. And I have to decide how to mount the panels. They're rated for direct adhesion to the epdm roof, I'm just leary of the heat transfer, and "permanently" mounting anything. The biggest issue I believe is my 5th wheel has a fairly low cargo limit, so everything must be done with an eye toward weight reduction. Changing rvs isn't out of the question, but we do like this one alot. I'd love to hear any suggestions, and will try to keep an open mind to criticism. I'm an electrician by trade, for nearly 20 years. But I was a mechanic, and factory maint. for years before that. As well as growing up on a farm doing all our own fab and repair. I also participated in a reasonably large solar project through work, that I still help maintain. We did the electrical side, while a solar company did the panel/optimizer install. There are 7 20kw 3 phase solaredge grid ties there. I'm no dummy, but solar isn't in my normal scope. Please pile on as you see fit...

 

[TwilightZone]

BTW, the "goal" is a system that would allow us to travel, for a few days at a time unplugged. Lights, electronics, water pump. We have 1 eu2000, and I'm considering a dc/dc charger for the truck. But I like redundancy. We have no illusions about running the a/c night and day from 300ah. If we sell our home we very well may travel from our family in TX to my boys place up by Yellowstone and explore in between. With a possibility of some blm boondocking as well.. So essentials when parked overnights along the road. Other than that we can supplement with the generator, or rent a campsite to recharge if needed.

 

[MisterSandals]

I have 6 100w Hanergy/global solar flexible panels

Did you choose these for weight considerations? Flexible panels have a bad reputation for not producing what they are advertised to produce. And the longevity of flexible panels is far lower than real solar panels (maybe just a year or two depending on how much sun/weather they are exposed to).

Otherwise it sounds like you have it pretty well covered. You did not mention how much energy you expect to need and produce. If you do an energy audit you will see if your system meets your needs and expectations BEFORE installing it and buying your final pieces (SCC).

There are a few current threads with folks buying stuff and then finding its not very well suited for their needs and other equipment.

 

[TwilightZone]

Yes, weight, and price. They're light. And I have all of $350 in 600w. If I can't use, or resell anything, I plan to just ship it out to my boy so he can get a project started as well. I'm a big believer in dipping your toes in. Screwing up teaches fantastic lessons, if you can afford it. ?

 

[TwilightZone]

Of course that doesn't preclude taking advice to minimize money spent. I'm definitely not made of money. I will admit I've not done an audit. I know I should, but math and minutia isn't my strong suit. I saw that as one of the benefits of lithium, that I could ad capacity after the fact. You know " if 3 won't do it, throw 3 more in there". ? I just saw that my inverter recommended 200ah minimum, and ordered 300ah, just for good luck. ? And the only reason I went with the 2kw inverter, was to get the extra charging capacity over the 1kw. When this started, I was under a serious deadline, so I was just grabbing what I could. Things have slowed down a bit now, so I can be a bit more careful, and sensible.

 

[TwilightZone]

Looking at the victron 150/60...

 

[MisterSandals]

Looking at the victron 150/60...

Those are terrific. Make sure it has Bluetooth. The app automatically checks for firmware updates and uploads it with a button press or two. Super nice.

I have the 100/30 and its been flawless.

6 100w Hanergy/global solar flexible panels,

Do you know how you will wire these up in terms of series and/or parallel?
What is the Voc of the panels?

 

[TwilightZone]

Hanergy FG-2Btn-100, voc 23.3
Not sure how im going to wire them.

 

[TwilightZone]

6 x 23.3= 139v under the 150v max..

 

[MisterSandals]

6 x 23.3= 139v under the 150v max..

Thats at 25 deg C (77F i think). So if the temp drops to 40 or 50 (don't make me do the math!) the voltage will increase to over 150v and let the magic smoke out of your SCC.

Looks like you'd have to do 3S2P.

 

[chrisski]

For renting a campsite to restore, the charge controller I have in my RV only charges at 15 ah, so that could take a while with 258 ah I can discharge. There's other converters out there to buy to speed that up.

The build I have in my signature is very similar to what you're asking for. 600 watts of roof mounted panels and a 2000 watt inverter. I upplement that with four 100 watt ground panels.

Here's some draws on my 12 volt system to start doing a power audit:

Amp Hour ratings for a 12 volt system
AMPS	DEVICE
55	K Cup Maker 500 watts
1.6	12 volt bathroom fan
0.45	12 Volt LED Puck Light
0.15	2' LED strip
0.5	6' LED Strip
1.4	Interior LED Lighting
0.5	RV Stereo Idle Draw
8	Propane Heater Blower Fan
5.5	RV Water Pump
0.3	Propane Fridge
28	Electric Fridge
0.2	Cargo Lights
0.3	Outside Blue LED Strip
1	Awning Lights
0.9	Cell phone / Ipad Charging
10	Charging Laptop
0.2	LED Light type 921
0.35	Table light
1.4	Stove light

My biggest usage, a surprise to me, is the propane heater motor on the cold nights its blowing all night long.

If I were to live full time in this, I'd just need to hit a dump spot when the 75 gallons of tanks are full.

 

[TwilightZone]

Or parallel half, series half?

 

[TwilightZone]

This is so intricate compared to my normal day to day. Unlimited power is hard to give up. What i mean is, as an electrician we don't worry about the small stuff, you can stack all sorts of things on a 20a breaker.

 

[MisterSandals]

Or parallel half, series half?

3S2P (3 in series first, 2 of those in parallel)
Put 3 panels in series to make one string. Do that again for 2nd string. Put the 2 strings in parallel and call it a day with a simple Y connector that matches your panels.
You end up with 3x Voc and 2x Imp.

 

[TwilightZone]

Sorry, didn't catch the abbreviation. Thought it was a model number. ?

 

[TwilightZone]

That will work out wonderfully, these are looong panels, and ill have to line 3 up down each side. So 3 series up each side, the parallel the 2 sides. Easy. Thanks.

 

[MisterSandals]

This is so intricate compared to my normal day to day. Unlimited power is hard to give up. What i mean is, as an electrician we don't worry about the small stuff, you can stack all sorts of things on a 20a breaker.

You only have to add up your usage once. This allow you to buy your equipment just once.

Pro tip: this is a LOT cheaper.

 

[TwilightZone]

do you have an opinion on directly bonding these to the roof?

 

[MisterSandals]

do you have an opinion on directly bonding these to the roof?

Flexible panels? No, never tired it.

It would be worthy of a new thread with a title like "Help mounting flexible panels to RV". If you mentioned your specific panels, their size and what your roof is made of, you'd get some good advice.

 

[TwilightZone]

You only have to add up your usage once. This allow you to buy your equipment just once.

Pro tip: this is a LOT cheaper.

Perhaps I'm wrong headed. But I see it as modular and fluid, since I'm not sure what I need now, or even if we'll stay in this rv. So I'd like to err to the side of overkill, hoping to move up and on..