Solar expert advice needed

[cgflyer]

Just purchased a 2017 Lance 650 truck camper. It was a very base model, no real solar, only a battery maintainer, no inverter. It has a DC and AC panel, but the battery is a basic marine deep cycle. The camper is designed for shore power with a converter. I have a generator but would prefer to run 400-600 watts of solar and about 200-300 amp hrs of batteries while maintaining the ability to hook up to shore power. Soooo…designing the system. Panels and solar charger/controller and inverter. Do I run my AC out to the AC panel leaving shore power wired as is? Or do I bring shore power into the AC inputs on the inverter and run AC out to the AC panel? I’m assuming I need to disconnect/bypass the converter and run DC power from my batteries to the DC fuse block? Does this setup lose AC shore power battery charging? What about a DC to DC battery charger to charge from my truck while driving?

I understand electrical connections pretty well, but get lost with transfer switches and how to keep shore power.

Thanks in advance for any help I get.

 

[K12]

Just purchased a 2017 Lance 650 truck camper. It was a very base model, no real solar, only a battery maintainer, no inverter. It has a DC and AC panel, but the battery is a basic marine deep cycle. The camper is designed for shore power with a converter. I have a generator but would prefer to run 400-600 watts of solar and about 200-300 amp hrs of batteries while maintaining the ability to hook up to shore power. Soooo…designing the system. Panels and solar charger/controller and inverter. Do I run my AC out to the AC panel leaving shore power wired as is? Or do I bring shore power into the AC inputs on the inverter and run AC out to the AC panel? I’m assuming I need to disconnect/bypass the converter and run DC power from my batteries to the DC fuse block? Does this setup lose AC shore power battery charging? What about a DC to DC battery charger to charge from my truck while driving?

I understand electrical connections pretty well, but get lost with transfer switches and how to keep shore power.

Thanks in advance for any help I get.

The way that mine is setup is shore power goes to a breaker box, which has a line to my inverter that can charge the batteries. the DC has its own break panel, and a line to the inverter to run 120v. If you want all your 120v to run off the inverter you will have to run a line to a sub box off the inverter with all of your 120v, this is because the main shore power box is powering the inverter which cause it to short.

Hopefully this makes sense... i cant do a diagram to save my life and not aure if my explanation is good lol

 

[cgflyer]

Just purchased a 2017 Lance 650 truck camper. It was a very base model, no real solar, only a battery maintainer, no inverter. It has a DC and AC panel, but the battery is a basic marine deep cycle. The camper is designed for shore power with a converter. I have a generator but would prefer to run 400-600 watts of solar and about 200-300 amp hrs of batteries while maintaining the ability to hook up to shore power. Soooo…designing the system. Panels and solar charger/controller and inverter. Do I run my AC out to the AC panel leaving shore power wired as is? Or do I bring shore power into the AC inputs on the inverter and run AC out to the AC panel? I’m assuming I need to disconnect/bypass the converter and run DC power from my batteries to the DC fuse block? Does this setup lose AC shore power battery charging? What about a DC to DC battery charger to charge from my truck while driving?

I understand electrical connections pretty well, but get lost with transfer switches and how to keep shore power.

Thanks in advance for any help I get.

The way that mine is setup is shore power goes to a breaker box, which has a line to my inverter that can charge the batteries. the DC has its own break panel, and a line to the inverter to run 120v. If you want all your 120v to run off the inverter you will have to run a line to a sub box off the inverter with all of your 120v, this is because the main shore power box is powering the inverter which cause it to short.

Hopefully this makes sense... i cant do a diagram to save my life and not aure if my explanation is good lol

But does your system have a converter? That is the part of my system that I think needs to go. I assume I can just turn off my inverter when plugged into shore power.

 

[K12]

what is it converting? my inverter goes from 12dc to 120v. but also from 120v to 12v dc to charge the batteries. If it is just converting from dc to ac this could be an easy swap to an inverter to make it easier.

 

[grubworm]

i have a tear-drop that is similar in set up. everything is 12vdc except for the air conditioner and a couple outlets to use when hooked up to shore power. i increased the solar panels and upped the battery storage. the battery runs off solar until i connect to shore power and the converter automatically switches to charge the battery with shore power. i left the converter wired as is and just bought a dc to ac inverter (2kw) and hooked it to the larger battery and plug into it when i dont have shore power. i dont try to run the air conditioner off the battery because it would zap it to nothing really quick. even 200-300ah of battery is no match for an ac unit.

there are several ways to set it up, but i liked leaving the converter as is and just adding the dc to ac inverter to the upgraded battery. if you are off grid, you have a LOT of power for 12vdc items and can use the inverter for quick 120v use...like the wife needing a hair dryer for 5 minutes or using a hotplate for short while.

the dc inverter will pull a lot of amps, so i keep it close to the supplying battery and just use an extension cord to reach where i need it since the inverted 120v is going to be a lot less amps.