What Am I Missing

[rnpennington]

I have a Fleetwood Southwind 2005 (new to me) and plan on spending most time boondocking. We did this in Europe until Covid hit and had to come back to the states. There we had a 7 meter Class C with a single 150 watt solar panel and 2 100 amp AGM batteries and between driving and off/on camping, we didn't have any real power issues.
The RV has 4 220amp 6 volt batteries (just bought by previous owner), an Xantrex Prosine 2.0 Inverter/Charger and Onan generator. I want to build the system as we go, i.e. upgrading/replacing as needed.
My plan for now is to start with a 400 watt system (from Rich Solar https://richsolar.com/collections/solar-kits/products/400-watt-solar-kit-with-40a-mppt-controller). Based on their diagram, will this work and still give me my existing options of Shore/Generator/Driving via alternator? Is there a step I'm missing?
Our power needs are minimal, reefer runs off LP, we use laptops, lights and a TBD wireless internet setup.
For the future, the plan is, if necessary additional solar panels and possibly upgrade MPPT controller, then add Lithium LiPO4 batteries when replacement time comes and upgrade inverter/charger when it breaks or we see we need more.
Our traveling plans are. for now, just extended one or two month trips, return home for a short period, visit kids, etc. and then travel again.

TIA for the advice

 

[JeepDaddy]

I have a Fleetwood Southwind 2005 (new to me) and plan on spending most time boondocking. We did this in Europe until Covid hit and had to come back to the states. There we had a 7 meter Class C with a single 150 watt solar panel and 2 100 amp AGM batteries and between driving and off/on camping, we didn't have any real power issues.
The RV has 4 220amp 6 volt batteries (just bought by previous owner), an Xantrex Prosine 2.0 Inverter/Charger and Onan generator. I want to build the system as we go, i.e. upgrading/replacing as needed.
My plan for now is to start with a 400 watt system (from Rich Solar https://richsolar.com/collections/solar-kits/products/400-watt-solar-kit-with-40a-mppt-controller). Based on their diagram, will this work and still give me my existing options of Shore/Generator/Driving via alternator? Is there a step I'm missing?
Our power needs are minimal, reefer runs off LP, we use laptops, lights and a TBD wireless internet setup.
For the future, the plan is, if necessary additional solar panels and possibly upgrade MPPT controller, then add Lithium LiPO4 batteries when replacement time comes and upgrade inverter/charger when it breaks or we see we need more.
Our traveling plans are. for now, just extended one or two month trips, return home for a short period, visit kids, etc. and then travel again.

TIA for the advice

Sounds like a good plan. Adding solar will just add an additional charging source and not change any of the setup that you already have.

Run the FLA batteries until they start to fail unless you outgrow their capacity. The price of LFP should come down in a few years.

 

[MichaelK]

That kit is very overpriced for what you are getting. I would recommend you buy components separately. I also think that 400W of solar is too small for a battery of your size. How will the panels be positioned? If optimally pointed straight toward the sun, expect to get 85% of rated output. If laying flat on the roof, expect output to be lower, maybe 75%. You can determine this empiricly looking at the amps passing through the controller.

Here is what I would do instead. Buy a high-voltage MPPT controller like the Epever 60A Tracer. Different models start at a Voc limit of 150V, better than their budget controllers. Shop locally for grid-tie panels instead of buying 12V panels through the mail. Then you don't pay for shipping all that glass. Last summer I was buying panels off Craigslist for both myself and neighbors. Was getting 240-260W 30V panels for between 55 and 62$ each.

Let's assume you want to charge your batteries at 1/8C. Since you have two 12V strings the math works out to be...
220Ah X 2 strings X 0.125C X 13Vcharging X 1.17FF = 837W The value 1.17fudgefactor is the reciprical of 85% (0.85X). Laying flat, use 1.33FF (0.75X).

Let's say you bought three 260W panels like what I just bought for a neighbor. Wiring three in series, you'd get ~8.6A at ~90V. Feed that raw high-voltage solar into your controller, and the output at the battery would be...
(260W X 3 panels)/13V charging = 60A. Except at noon, expect not to get anywhere close to 60A. 60A X 0.75FF =45A in the real-world.

So, 245$ for the controller, 186$ for three grid-tie panels. That's 431$ for almost twice as much power.

 

[GSXR1000]

$650 for much much more... check local panels