Truck camper solar upgrade

[dborden]

I have an older truck camper that I mostly dry camp with. I mostly just use electricity for lights and my CPAP, charging phones, etc... But much of a heavy load. I have a 100 watt portable panel with pwm charger that works ok. I have 2 100 watt panels I want to permanently install. Currently I have a group 27 flooded deep cycle battery, but have purchased a 100ah lithium to replace it. The camper has a Magnetek 6345 converter. Progressive dynamics makes a lithium capable replacement Pd4645V. Since I rarely use shore power, I was thinking about just leaving the old converter as I can charge the battery when home before leaving, and I don't think it will be problematic with the lithium battery other than not doing a good job of charging, but I'm not positive on this. I was thinking the cheapest, and simplest thing to do would just buy a victron smartsolar mppt 75 15 solar charger, which would give me Bluetooth monitoring and more efficient charging. The downside being that I'm limited in my upgrade path if I want to add more panels in the future.

I've also considered building a box in the camper that I can put 2 lithium batteries in. This would give me more flexibility with swapping out the converter and maybe putting in an inverter.

Is my first plan bad other than the lack of an upgrade path? Any recommendations otherwise?

 

[Rednecktek]

So just a couple thoughts...

Up to about 300w of panel, the benefits of MPPT over PWM aren't all that drastic if you're just using 12v based panels. When you get higher voltage panels or want to start running strings then the MPPT becomes important.

Are you completely sold on Victron? There are many, many brands that will get you 100-150v input and 40a out for half the price and give you room to grow. 40a on a 12v system gets you about 500w of panel capacity.

200w of panel to 100ah of battery would be the least I could recommend.

Just off the top of the head.

 

[dborden]

I'm completely open to suggestions on other brands/models. I do like the idea of being able to monitor the battery with Bluetooth, so that would be a plus.

 

[Rednecktek]

Rich Solar 40a for $170
Renogy 40a for $152
HQST 40a for $130
Sunwhale 40a for $130


Or if you want to step it up a bit...

HQST 60a for $280
Rich Solar 60a for $290
Gsit 60a + BT module for $208

Just a few options...

 

[dborden]

Thank you! As small as my camper is, 40 amps seems plenty. I'm not sure I could get more than a few more panels on top.

What are your thoughts on the existing converter? Is it safe to leave as is? I would prefer to spend the money on more panels/battery rather than the converter.

 

[Rednecktek]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. My understanding is that if you charge a LFP battery with an AGM charger, you only get 98% out of it... which is still a LOT better than the 50% you get out of lead.

But I'm not a wealth of data on every variety of converter panel out there.

 

[RgSolar]

I have a truck camper like you, with 225 watts of solar (2 panels in parallel) and a Victron 75/15 MPPT. I travel for several months in the summer. Since installing the 2nd panel and upgrading from two FLA to a single 100Ah LiFePo4 2 years ago, I have NEVER charged my battery with anything but solar, while on the road. I camp mostly in USFS CGs and boondocking spots and don't "plug in" even when available at an RV spot. I don't have any high current devices, like a coffee maker, etc. Safe travels!

 

[Zack R]

I'm brand new to the forum but saw your question specific to your truck camper. Last spring I installed solar on my camper and it worked great for a month long trip in the summer, didn't plug into grid power once. In fact I never really plug into grid power anymore.

I went with the following on my 97' Bigfoot 2500 9.6B

400w PV (100w x4 Newpowa panels), AM solar mounts, wired in series into a Victron 100/30 charge controller (~80VDC input)
Victron battery monitor
Victron smart shunt 500A
Victron 1200VA inverter with bluetooth added
Stock group 24 AGM batteries (2), in parallel (only 80Ah each, but on my list to upgrade)

The nice thing about this setup is that all of the Victron equipment is setup to communicate to each other via bluetooth to optimize charging. Once that network is setup all you have to do is look at the app on your phone to see how things are going. Next on my list is a Victron 30A DC to DC charger so I can use the truck engine as a "generator" when needed.

 

[HRTKD]

My experience is fairly close to what RgSolar posted above. I do mostly boondocking. While I have an onboard generator, it is rarely used. The 640 watts of PV on the roof of the trailer satisfies most of my needs. If I need more, I break out the 640 watts of PV that can be deployed on the ground.

With regard to the converter, I chose to replace mine with one that has a charge profile that is specific to LiFePO4. Most of the traditional converters that say they are for LiFePO4, don't produce an optimal charge profile for those of us that boondock. If you need to charge the batteries with a generator, those converters will require you to run the generator longer than if you were using some other charging means. Otherwise, the charge profile of a traditional LiFePO4-capable converter is "safe".

When I installed my LiFePO4 battery bank I replaced the converter (lead acid charge profile) with a converter that has a charge profile that is specific to LiFePO4. I knew that I wasn't going to be using the converter much, but for those infrequent trips where I was at a campground, I wanted a safe charge profile.

I now have a Victron Multiplus that charges my batteries in the very rare case where the PV isn't enough. It is programmable so I can set the charge profile to one that is recommended here on the forum. The converter that I installed two years ago when my LiFePO4 batteries were built has been removed altogether from the trailer.

 

[Camp20144]

I'm brand new to the forum but saw your question specific to your truck camper. Last spring I installed solar on my camper and it worked great for a month long trip in the summer, didn't plug into grid power once. In fact I never really plug into grid power anymore.

I went with the following on my 97' Bigfoot 2500 9.6B

400w PV (100w x4 Newpowa panels), AM solar mounts, wired in series into a Victron 100/30 charge controller (~80VDC input)
Victron battery monitor
Victron smart shunt 500A
Victron 1200VA inverter with bluetooth added
Stock group 24 AGM batteries (2), in parallel (only 80Ah each, but on my list to upgrade)

The nice thing about this setup is that all of the Victron equipment is setup to communicate to each other via bluetooth to optimize charging. Once that network is setup all you have to do is look at the app on your phone to see how things are going. Next on my list is a Victron 30A DC to DC charger so I can use the truck engine as a "generator" when needed.

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