So I'm reasonably familiar with solar, used a couple of old house solar panels with Renology 40a MPPT and some SLA previously, with breakers/etc and everything was great. Now I have a small travel trailer! I'm going to do a ground-mount telescoping frame for flexible solar panels, 2x100W or 4x100W depending on how long I'm out, if I'm going to be charging my e-bike, etc. I'm planning on a 100Ah 12v LiFePO4 from Battleborn.
Primary loads will be general lighting (will convert to 12v), small set of speakers (BT battery powered, maybe 10W while charging via USB), charge some phones now and then, and 12v fan for an evap cooler (maybe 1-2a when on). The big load will be when I upgrade to a Dometic 12v compressor fridge (up to ~3-5+a (call it ~60-70W peak during operation, depending on size/model) and I camp in some hot areas sometimes, so it'll be on a considerable amount of the time, sometimes. When I'm charging my e-bike, it'll be probably be another, call it, 150-200W for only an hour or two at a time during the day.
So I think my general idea of 200 or 400W will be just fine, and I'm basing my solar output at 50% of rated power just to be sure I'll have plenty.
Less important, at least for now, is a inverter-charger for shore power when I'm somewhere with grid-power. Lots of options out there it seems, although I'd like something that integrates/talks to the solar MPPT and power meter/etc.
In terms of charge controller/solar charger/etc, the part that I'm having a hard time finding, or finding the right terms to search, is DC-DC coming in over the 7-pin from the car while towing. If I want to go without that at all, in some cases it'll be tight if I'm driving 8-10 hours with the fridge running, then when stopping it'll be dark and there's only so much I can get in the morning for a few hours if I'm driving again right away. I have seen this Renology DC-DC, but is that actually what I want? Will it work fine for my use? And surprisingly says I can do solar input as well? Or found this Victron Orion Smart DC-DC. I'm somewhat attracted to the Victron system, since it seems all of their stuff can integrate really nicely together into one system that talks to each other to keep track of things.
The other challenge is it's a smaller trailer, so only 1 real good spot which has some venting/top clearance to install the Solar MPPT, DC-DC charger, and future possible inverter-charger (less important for now). So what sort of item do I need for the charging from the AUX (30a) from my car while towing?
Primary loads will be general lighting (will convert to 12v), small set of speakers (BT battery powered, maybe 10W while charging via USB), charge some phones now and then, and 12v fan for an evap cooler (maybe 1-2a when on). The big load will be when I upgrade to a Dometic 12v compressor fridge (up to ~3-5+a (call it ~60-70W peak during operation, depending on size/model) and I camp in some hot areas sometimes, so it'll be on a considerable amount of the time, sometimes. When I'm charging my e-bike, it'll be probably be another, call it, 150-200W for only an hour or two at a time during the day.
So I think my general idea of 200 or 400W will be just fine, and I'm basing my solar output at 50% of rated power just to be sure I'll have plenty.
Less important, at least for now, is a inverter-charger for shore power when I'm somewhere with grid-power. Lots of options out there it seems, although I'd like something that integrates/talks to the solar MPPT and power meter/etc.
In terms of charge controller/solar charger/etc, the part that I'm having a hard time finding, or finding the right terms to search, is DC-DC coming in over the 7-pin from the car while towing. If I want to go without that at all, in some cases it'll be tight if I'm driving 8-10 hours with the fridge running, then when stopping it'll be dark and there's only so much I can get in the morning for a few hours if I'm driving again right away. I have seen this Renology DC-DC, but is that actually what I want? Will it work fine for my use? And surprisingly says I can do solar input as well? Or found this Victron Orion Smart DC-DC. I'm somewhat attracted to the Victron system, since it seems all of their stuff can integrate really nicely together into one system that talks to each other to keep track of things.
The other challenge is it's a smaller trailer, so only 1 real good spot which has some venting/top clearance to install the Solar MPPT, DC-DC charger, and future possible inverter-charger (less important for now). So what sort of item do I need for the charging from the AUX (30a) from my car while towing?
