Last year I purchased a 2021 Cherokee 274BRBBL travel trailer. I am in Maine and have seasonal off grid lot in a campground. Last year we struggled with keeping our 12vdc fridge going all week using 5 88 lead acid batteries and the factory installed 50w panel we found that we could turn off the camper disconnect and let just the fridge run it would make it through the week most of the time…. I had someone watching it for me and we finally started just turning it off so that I would not drain the batteries to low.
Looking for a way around this worry. So, I researched and came up with a plan.
First, I do not want to mount anything on the roof of my trailer. The camper will be used mostly on weekends from mid-May until mid-October. I will also be adding a 12-volt socket outlet for use of a CPAP machine.
My plan is to use 4 100-watt(20.4v 4.91a) Renogy compact panels. These will be wired with 10awg wire in series to a 15A MC4 inline fuse that is then connected to an MC4 to SAE adapter. The SAE adapter will be plugged in to an SAE plug wired to and Epever 50A controller (giving me the option to add 2 more panels in series later). From the controller using 6awg wire I will go to a 60amp circuit breaker with a 6awg wire in to 2 or 3 Chins 100Ah batteries in parallel.
The camper power supply is lithium ready, so I just need to switch it over. I plan to place the batteries and charge controller in the storage compartment under the master bed. During the first and last part of the season where the temps may dip below 32 at night I would disconnect the panels to prevent possibility of charging those batteries while the camper is not in use.
The reason for the SAE connection is so that I can just easily unhook the panels at the end of the season the connection would be placed inside a watertight case mounted on the inside of the frame of the camper underneath.
I will mount the panels on a ground rack so they can be tilted and angled for the best possible chance for sun.
Also, this camper came with the Juice Package with a Waree pwm charge controller and a 50watt panel on the roof. Anyone know If I can use this with those batteries or do I just disconnect this and abandon it while using the lithium batteries?
I hope I got all the information in here.
Thank you for your help.
Looking for a way around this worry. So, I researched and came up with a plan.
First, I do not want to mount anything on the roof of my trailer. The camper will be used mostly on weekends from mid-May until mid-October. I will also be adding a 12-volt socket outlet for use of a CPAP machine.
My plan is to use 4 100-watt(20.4v 4.91a) Renogy compact panels. These will be wired with 10awg wire in series to a 15A MC4 inline fuse that is then connected to an MC4 to SAE adapter. The SAE adapter will be plugged in to an SAE plug wired to and Epever 50A controller (giving me the option to add 2 more panels in series later). From the controller using 6awg wire I will go to a 60amp circuit breaker with a 6awg wire in to 2 or 3 Chins 100Ah batteries in parallel.
The camper power supply is lithium ready, so I just need to switch it over. I plan to place the batteries and charge controller in the storage compartment under the master bed. During the first and last part of the season where the temps may dip below 32 at night I would disconnect the panels to prevent possibility of charging those batteries while the camper is not in use.
The reason for the SAE connection is so that I can just easily unhook the panels at the end of the season the connection would be placed inside a watertight case mounted on the inside of the frame of the camper underneath.
I will mount the panels on a ground rack so they can be tilted and angled for the best possible chance for sun.
Also, this camper came with the Juice Package with a Waree pwm charge controller and a 50watt panel on the roof. Anyone know If I can use this with those batteries or do I just disconnect this and abandon it while using the lithium batteries?
I hope I got all the information in here.
Thank you for your help.
