diy solar

diy solar

Travel Trailer (1050w Solar, 3000w Inverter, 600ah LiFePO4)

This is seriously awesome. I'm always really impressed that people can put together such an organized and effective system! Also adding that monitor into the wall is such a classy touch. Love it.
 
Very nice job. Love the attention to detail. Especially the wire management and bus bar. Hope you have years of enjoyment.
 
I am a "pro", install pv, rainwater catchement, indoor vertical gardens, greenhouses and such for a living. I still learn from seeing what people do to arrange the systems. Constantly seeing new techniques and accessories make an improvement in my skill at integration of solar electric systems in homes, vehicles, a bucket whatever. (I have done this!)

Best way to learn new tricks is to see them. One glance is a book sometimes.

Nice system. A note on professional installs; rarely is a hired out install have what the hobbycrafter has. Detail, materials, time....... and care. This is expensive and is what i try to do for our clients. Budget is king however....
 
Is it quite safe to have the batteries under a bed inside ( I presume ) the RV ?
Space does become a problem since our caravans in ZA are much smaller than what you are used to.
 
Nice i was wondering why battleborn made 2 different 12v batteries, one of them was so you can use 1 bar to connect all the positives and another for the negatives.

I may need to copy your build hehehehe.
 
Is it quite safe to have the batteries under a bed inside ( I presume ) the RV ?
Space does become a problem since our caravans in ZA are much smaller than what you are used to.

Pierre - pretty low risk with LiFePO4. Of course, anything can happen, but most of us who've installed LiFePO4 inside the RV don't worry much about it.

I have passive and active ventilation (of heat) for my underbed installation and though not yet hooked up or really needed, active ventilation. I have a temperature sensor in the space that is monitored via my home automation system with alerts setup. I also run a smoke/CO detector in the space.
 
Nice i was wondering why battleborn made 2 different 12v batteries, one of them was so you can use 1 bar to connect all the positives and another for the negatives.

I may need to copy your build hehehehe.

I'm using their GC2 configuration battery. I believe GC2 is a group number originally for Golf Carts. The GC2 packes is generally narrower but taller than say a typical group 27 battery size. Their BB10012 is similar in size to a group 27 package.

As to why they make 2 different package configurations, I'd guess possibly for a couple reasons:
1. Appeal to Golf Cart owners as a drop-in replacement (similar form factor)
2. Mounting options

For me, mounting options for my very small space was the appeal. It was only after I selected them that I learned I could use bus bars to connect them.
 
Th
Pierre - pretty low risk with LiFePO4. Of course, anything can happen, but most of us who've installed LiFePO4 inside the RV don't worry much about it.

I have passive and active ventilation (of heat) for my underbed installation and though not yet hooked up or really needed, active ventilation. I have a temperature sensor in the space that is monitored via my home automation system with alerts setup. I also run a smoke/CO detector in the space.
Thanks J , sounds like you have all the bases covered.
 
I straight up wouldn't be able to sleep at night with a $6,000+ battery bank not directly protected by a low-voltage cutoff, lol. I would have nightmares. But in fairness, I've never worked with Battleborn, maybe it's fine
Battleborn Batteries have built in low temp/voltage cutoff and high temp/voltage cutoff built in to their internal BMS... You are good to go! Spec sheet here. Look at the first set of bullet points in the PDF document: https://battlebornbatteries.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/BBGC2-Cut-Sheet.pdf - You cannot go wrong with Battleborn!
 
Is that a shutoff in the pv combiner box to full shut off solar to the system?
How easy is that to reach?
 
Excellent design - I am just going to throw out one piece of free advice from where i sit as a person who literally only picked up solar in the last few months ...

For your PV combiner box - personally I would have skipped the fused combiner box on the roof and simply used a distribution type box instead -- basically taking the 6 panels and tying them together on the roof in one box with 2 buss bars - and running a single cable to a switched fuse - and then to the controller ... My reasoning is this - now you have a PV Combiner box on the roof with Fuses that you cannot readily check. You could easily blow a fuse for a variety of reasons and on the ground you would just think that the panels were not putting out as much or that the battery was getting full - etc etc ... I actually have the exact combiner box sitting here with me -- one of the contractors had asked why his batteries were just never fully charged -- he had right at 1000Watts on the roof and was running 600aH AGM batteries ... long story short - two of the circuit breakers on his PV box on the roof was bad and he never new it ... we took that down - gave him an empty PVC box with two buss bars in it ... and the next day his batteries hit 100% like at 1030 he said ...
 
personally I would have skipped the fused combiner box on the roof and simply used a distribution type box instead -- basically taking the 6 panels and tying them together on the roof in one box with 2 buss bars - and running a single cable to a switched fuse - and then to the controller ... My reasoning is this - now you have a PV Combiner box on the roof with Fuses that you cannot readily check.
That is a good point about accessibility, but the wire size changes up there and the NEC requires overcurrent protection devices to protect the wire. Does your suggestion eliminate those or did I miss something?
 
Excellent design - I am just going to throw out one piece of free advice from where i sit as a person who literally only picked up solar in the last few months ...

For your PV combiner box - personally I would have skipped the fused combiner box on the roof and simply used a distribution type box instead -- basically taking the 6 panels and tying them together on the roof in one box with 2 buss bars - and running a single cable to a switched fuse - and then to the controller ... My reasoning is this - now you have a PV Combiner box on the roof with Fuses that you cannot readily check. You could easily blow a fuse for a variety of reasons and on the ground you would just think that the panels were not putting out as much or that the battery was getting full - etc etc ... I actually have the exact combiner box sitting here with me -- one of the contractors had asked why his batteries were just never fully charged -- he had right at 1000Watts on the roof and was running 600aH AGM batteries ... long story short - two of the circuit breakers on his PV box on the roof was bad and he never new it ... we took that down - gave him an empty PVC box with two buss bars in it ... and the next day his batteries hit 100% like at 1030 he said ...
I agree with you to a certain extent in that you have fewer connections , components etc that can go bad but this layout lends itself to facilitate testing and isolation of faulty components , as well as protection of all the components. I would maybe run a thin multi core signal cable from the PV combiner box to the monitoring point , install a Raspberry Pi to monitor the health of the circuits in the combiner ;) . Not for everyone though but inspired by my previous involvement in SCADA systems.
Lovely build never the less and something to aspire to !
 
Wow, what a great looking system. I am currently building a RV system with 6 x 100 watt HQST mono crystalline solar panels. I was planning on wiring each two panels in series with Y connectors to get the voltage up to 24+ volts and then the three pairs through the roof to a Victron MPPT 150 / 60 -Tr Smart controller in order to reduce the wire size.
Bir after seeing this setup, I am wondering if I should spend the $170. for the Eco-worthy combiner box. It looks so much neater and safer. Your thoughts???
 
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