Enthusiast III
Thought the solar setup actually deserved it's own post so it's split out here. We've got a 100W flexible panel mounted on the galley hatch, a 120W portable panel that we can toss on the tongue box, and 2-100W panels that can be set up to 30ft away to be sure they are in the sun. As I mentioned in the previous post, VHB is unforgiving. It's a little crooked but not too bad, and nobody will notice on the highway. The wiring has been cleaned up quite a when it finally got connected.
The core of the power system is a DIY lithium iron phosphate battery pack (testing out at about 260AH). The process of building this thing was really simple, the hassle of importing cells and BMS from China less easy. Ended up with two of the cells being slightly damaged - thus the 260AH instead of the target 280AH. The shore power connects to a Victron charger and two 120v outlets - one in the galley and one in the cabin. We're not planning to run an inverter, but do carry a Bluetti pack that has an inverter in it if we really need one when boon docking. The solar panels connect to dual Epever charge controllers through a cutoff switch for each controller. The trailer panel and a split in parallel to the portable panel that sits on the tongue box connect to a 20amp controller. The side solar input connects to a 40amp controller for the two remote panels in series. This controller could support two more pairs of panels in parallel with the first providing up to 800 watts. The sizing of the system with the current panels should allow us to have power indefinitely if we get a solid day of sun every three days.
The core of the power system is a DIY lithium iron phosphate battery pack (testing out at about 260AH). The process of building this thing was really simple, the hassle of importing cells and BMS from China less easy. Ended up with two of the cells being slightly damaged - thus the 260AH instead of the target 280AH. The shore power connects to a Victron charger and two 120v outlets - one in the galley and one in the cabin. We're not planning to run an inverter, but do carry a Bluetti pack that has an inverter in it if we really need one when boon docking. The solar panels connect to dual Epever charge controllers through a cutoff switch for each controller. The trailer panel and a split in parallel to the portable panel that sits on the tongue box connect to a 20amp controller. The side solar input connects to a 40amp controller for the two remote panels in series. This controller could support two more pairs of panels in parallel with the first providing up to 800 watts. The sizing of the system with the current panels should allow us to have power indefinitely if we get a solid day of sun every three days.
