The Ultimate Contractor Camper

[Watts Happening]

Howdy everyone!

The project I’ve been working on lately is a multifunction trailer. Among my business ventures I do low voltage contracting. I’ve chosen to use a trailer rather than a van for many reasons. This trailer is a 12x7 plus a 2 foot v-nose, 8 foot interior height. Certainly not large, but very functional. We’re coming from a 43’ Jayco Pinnacle (info here:

) - part of the goal is to spend less time IN the trailer and more time enjoying where we are.

Within 15 minutes I can convert from “work mode” to “camping mode”. All tools roll out the back via a dolly, camping stuff comes in and I built a bed that drops down from the ceiling. Our 2 year old and dogs sleep in a very comfortable space under us, plenty of room, we do all of this with e-track.

Ceiling is R26, walls are R13, floor gets spray foam under when it warms up. I built it all out by hand from a bare trailer, there are tons of things I could explain but it would be too long.

Solar wise it’s got (4) 400w Q.Cells on the roof and originally had a Growatt AIO and single SOK. Heating and cooling is accomplished via a 9k BTU Pioneer mini split mounted on the tongue.

It’s a work in progress when I have time, but this week I’ve begun rewiring it with two Victron Multiplus-II inverters in split phase, no I don’t need 240 in the trailer but it’s set up to act as a generator for our house to power our mini splits/whatever else we need in a pinch. I also have additional panels on the roof of our panel giving us a total of 4kw of solar. We now have (3) SOK batteries.

I’m well aware 15kWh and the Victron gear is overkill for a 12 foot trailer and that it could be done cheaper, but I enjoy Victron gear. Everything is electric, we have an induction cooktop, ham radio, smart TV that swivels outside and are set up to charge our GEM car that we bring with us on adventures.

Wiring is ugly right now, plumbing will be done next week. Fully aware of water above electronics and everything will be handled safely.

Happy to answer any questions you may have.

 

[fatdaddy]

thats awesome. you got power for days in there! good job!

 

[Jennifer]

Howdy everyone!

The project I’ve been working on lately is a multifunction trailer. Among my business ventures I do low voltage contracting. I’ve chosen to use a trailer rather than a van for many reasons. This trailer is a 12x7 plus a 2 foot v-nose, 8 foot interior height. Certainly not large, but very functional. We’re coming from a 43’ Jayco Pinnacle (info here:

) - part of the goal is to spend less time IN the trailer and more time enjoying where we are.

Beautiful, I'll give you cudo's for having the balls to put inverters UNDER a sink/counter but it's your build, not mine... it's gorgeous.

 

[Watts Happening]

Beautiful, I'll give you cudo's for having the balls to put inverters UNDER a sink/counter but it's your build, not mine... it's gorgeous.

Thank you! It’s actually a very low water use area, sink is operated by a foot pump specifically to reduce water use. Counters are sealed and wouldn’t leak down to the inverters, same with the sink.

You’d probably have to step on the pump 40 times with the sink completely plugged to even begin overflowing. It draws from a 7 gallon water cube and drains to a 10 gallon tank mounted under the trailer.

When the cube is empty you know it’s time to drain, with a plenty big buffer left over.

Really though, the sink is just there to wash hands and the occasional rinse of a dish. If space weren’t at such a premium in this build, I’d certainly keep electronics as far from water as possible.

 

[Jennifer]

Thank you! It’s actually a very low water use area, sink is operated by a foot pump specifically to reduce water use. Counters are sealed and wouldn’t leak down to the inverters, same with the sink.

You’d probably have to step on the pump 40 times with the sink completely plugged to even begin overflowing. It draws from a 7 gallon water cube and drains to a 10 gallon tank mounted under the trailer.

Yea I was thinking more about an unattended leak (I've had them, they suck) than an over flow but if it's foot pedal not a pump pressurized system that makes a difference I guess, still braver than I am.. I'd spill a bowl full of cereal milk on the counter and it would be in those inverters day one, guaranteed.

 

[Watts Happening]

Yea I was thinking more about an unattended leak (I've had them, the suck) than an over flow but if it's foot pedal not a pump pressurized system that makes a difference I guess, still braver than I am.. I'd spill a bowl full of cereal milk on the counter and it would be in those inverters day one, guaranteed.

Oh I get it, I’ll be adding additional backups to the plan. I want them to get wet less than anyone lol

 

[n2aws]

This looks amazing. Any chance you put together a YT playlist for this build? I'd like to do similar. (Instead of it running a chargeverter, I think I'd use a UL1741 compliant inverter, so I can just do tradiitional AC coupling to the home system.