Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
Hey Y'all, I figure about time to start posting updates on my solar build. As a couple of you may know, I live full time in an RV with my wife, 2 kids (a 2 y/o and a 3 y/o) and an old Pitbull. The RV is a 2020 Grand Design Momentum 381M, we nick named it "The Meg" short for The Megaladon, because of its shear size lol. We named it something aquatic because our other trucks, like my Black 96 F350 is named Shamu, and our white 2018 F350 is named Moby lol.
We originally moved into it to save some money, and pay off some debt. We also own a Polaris RZR turbo and frequent several offroading places on the west coast and even some further inland, so having our home on wheels to take with us on trips/vacation was a win/win for us. The trailer is almost 45' long, and weighs over 22,000lbs with the RZR and everything loaded up, or roughly 30,000lbs combined. We currently live with some relatives on their horse property, with our own electric meter, gas, water, and septic tank. Now that we have been living in it for around 6 months and "settled in", im ready to start digging into it for an inverter/solar setup.
I have ordered 16x CATL cells from Michael and the group thread for this build, as well as a Smart Daly 200amp BMS. I do plan on another set of 16 in the near future.
I also got an MPP LV6548 from Ian at watts247.com, which it showed up in almost 2 days. Super happy with the build quality so far, and Ian has been awesome to work with on any questions.
Then I ordered 24x 250watt Snail Trail Panels from San Tan solar and 12x 240watt Sunpower panels from them as well. Which those showed up today.
The 12x 240watt panels I will be mounting on the roof of the trailer, and the 24x 250 watt Snail Trails I will be mounting on a metal building that we park next to on the property. These will most likely be getting mounted/wired up this coming weekend, or maybe next, we'll see.
I did last weekend mount the inverter in the generator compartment, which worked out super awesome.
This is the 100% factory compartment/wiring except the 2x BattleBorns i have currently. On the left you can see the coiled up white wire is the factory solar wiring from the roof. I have installed 6x Rivet Nuts in place in preparation for the mounting plate I made for the LV6548.
Then the mounting plate bolted on. I manage a laser/cnc shop, so i designed/fabricated this braket just for this. I will be utilizing our laser/ cnc press brake to make a lot of parts for this build coming up, including a fixture/ battery box for the cells, solar panel mounting brackets, etc. (Excuse the corrosion/ stain on the plate, it was just some scrap i happened to find that was perfect size)
Then bolted the LV unit to it with more rivet nuts. Made for an easy 15 minute install. I also just laid down some HD VHB double sided tape and mounted an Aims PV disconnect and wired it all together. The inputs run into the propane compartment, then out the bottom to connect to the 2x 6s2p solar arrays mounted on the building I mentioned earlier.
I have also already wired the AC side of the inverter with a 63a 4 pole Rotary Changeover switch, so I can dictate if I want the single phase output on the inverter to power both legs of the breaker panel, or the 50a Split Phase shore power to feed the breaker panel and bypass the inverter. This allows me to still power the trailer with the grid if something happens to my system, or I have to disconnect it for some reason. But I didn't get any pics of that all wired in yet.
Right now the inverter is on and running, just bypassing power into the trailer, waiting for the batteries to show up.
Now I just need to install the solar panels on everything and wait for the cells to arrive (patiently lol).
I have so much more planned for this. But this is enough information for now lol.
We originally moved into it to save some money, and pay off some debt. We also own a Polaris RZR turbo and frequent several offroading places on the west coast and even some further inland, so having our home on wheels to take with us on trips/vacation was a win/win for us. The trailer is almost 45' long, and weighs over 22,000lbs with the RZR and everything loaded up, or roughly 30,000lbs combined. We currently live with some relatives on their horse property, with our own electric meter, gas, water, and septic tank. Now that we have been living in it for around 6 months and "settled in", im ready to start digging into it for an inverter/solar setup.
I have ordered 16x CATL cells from Michael and the group thread for this build, as well as a Smart Daly 200amp BMS. I do plan on another set of 16 in the near future.
I also got an MPP LV6548 from Ian at watts247.com, which it showed up in almost 2 days. Super happy with the build quality so far, and Ian has been awesome to work with on any questions.
Then I ordered 24x 250watt Snail Trail Panels from San Tan solar and 12x 240watt Sunpower panels from them as well. Which those showed up today.
The 12x 240watt panels I will be mounting on the roof of the trailer, and the 24x 250 watt Snail Trails I will be mounting on a metal building that we park next to on the property. These will most likely be getting mounted/wired up this coming weekend, or maybe next, we'll see.
I did last weekend mount the inverter in the generator compartment, which worked out super awesome.
This is the 100% factory compartment/wiring except the 2x BattleBorns i have currently. On the left you can see the coiled up white wire is the factory solar wiring from the roof. I have installed 6x Rivet Nuts in place in preparation for the mounting plate I made for the LV6548.
Then the mounting plate bolted on. I manage a laser/cnc shop, so i designed/fabricated this braket just for this. I will be utilizing our laser/ cnc press brake to make a lot of parts for this build coming up, including a fixture/ battery box for the cells, solar panel mounting brackets, etc. (Excuse the corrosion/ stain on the plate, it was just some scrap i happened to find that was perfect size)
Then bolted the LV unit to it with more rivet nuts. Made for an easy 15 minute install. I also just laid down some HD VHB double sided tape and mounted an Aims PV disconnect and wired it all together. The inputs run into the propane compartment, then out the bottom to connect to the 2x 6s2p solar arrays mounted on the building I mentioned earlier.
I have also already wired the AC side of the inverter with a 63a 4 pole Rotary Changeover switch, so I can dictate if I want the single phase output on the inverter to power both legs of the breaker panel, or the 50a Split Phase shore power to feed the breaker panel and bypass the inverter. This allows me to still power the trailer with the grid if something happens to my system, or I have to disconnect it for some reason. But I didn't get any pics of that all wired in yet.
Right now the inverter is on and running, just bypassing power into the trailer, waiting for the batteries to show up.
Now I just need to install the solar panels on everything and wait for the cells to arrive (patiently lol).
I have so much more planned for this. But this is enough information for now lol.
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