Upgrading the electrical this winter......

[Minozzy3]

So I'm looking at putting some decent solar/batts/inverter/charger. I've been doing alot of research and finding most reviews and or comparisons are sponcor driven.

1.Solar: looking at 2 X 320w panels with 60w MPPT charger. (Q-Cell panels)
2. Batteries: Looking at 6vdc AGM. not even looking at flooded. I need to install behind the wall in the crawl space. So if anyone can tell me about the good bad experiences they have had about 6VDC batteries. I sure would appreciate it.
3.Inverter/Charger: I think I have nailed it down to the Xantrex 3000W (SW3000 I believe). But if you have any advice on maybe a different model that is better. Let me know, lol I've got months of snow before I can camp again.

 

[jmnsn57]

I am investigating same but in portable that could transfer to my home also in the event of a longer term power outage. I am leaning toward LI ion batteries. Expensive but have much longer life and are much better producing power.

 

[Minozzy3]

Can someone confirm something for me?

If i run 6vdc 200 ah batteries in series. I get 12v but ah does not double?
As in the 200 ah stays the same? so 6vdc 200ah batt in series with a second battery comes out at 12vdc but ah stays the same. I understand the theory that a 12v pull will draw the batteries the same. But why does everyone got to 6v batteries?

What is the advantage of running 6vdc in series to running 4 12dc 100ah in parallel? Or will I be getting the exact same thing?

 

[jmnsn57]

I agree with you that there is not any power difference. But I think storage capacity might be. And you will get true 12V from li-ion far deeper into a charge cycle. I also believe there is a shorter charge recovery with a 6v pair in series on a 12V charger as opposed to the 12v pair in parallel. There is also the potential issue of a failed cell in one battery in each scenario. One failed cell in a two 6V system is not so problematic while a failed cell in the 12v is in terms of output.

To my earlier post re: Li ion provides 12 V down to about 20% discharged, Flooded and AGM go below 12V after about 80% discharged. Huge power gains and charge cycles when investing $1000 per battery vs. $150.

 

[Minozzy3]

I've looked at the Li-ion batteries and my wife basically mention something divorce blah....blah...blah. over the 1300.00 per battery in canada. lol

I'm already spending close to 3500.00 on solar and inverter. I'm probably going AGM batteries this time and will wait till price drops in 3-5 years...

Note: never let your wife stand close by when shopping online for things to add to camper!

 

[Minozzy3]

So here is the update. I switched up to planning on victron install with battleborn lithium. Main concern was getting something my wife could understand if something went wrong.

Problems have risen and now not even sure.....
1. CDN dollar has tanked and battleborn are no longer even a option.
2. getting anyone to reply for a quote during this COVID-19 issue.lol
3. due to dolloar dropping the overall cost looks like 15-20,000.00.

I had great plans. I included a list of just the electrical main components.
I haven't even got into connectors and wire costs.

Anyone know the lotto numbers. I could really use them.....

 

[Minozzy3]

So I have been upgrading the electrical, and finally done the 1st stage. Sort of...
I have installed the following:
1. Victron 12//3000/50 multiplus inverter charger
2. Victron BVM-712 battery monitor
3. Victron MPPT 100/60
4. 2 x 310w Hanwha panels.

I ordered the Victron Cerbo GX and the touch screen. Here is where the sort happens. Factory is now shutdown and expected delivery into Canada is 16 weeks from today.
I contacted the retail guys and they are sending me a Venus GX to allow me to use until mine comes in August. (At no charge), except for shipping. I can at least monitor the system through a Ipad/Android device.

The solar panel install was terrible. The brackets that come in the cheap kits. Well I wouldn't trust them to hold the salt/pepper mills. I scrapped them and used 2 x 2 x 1/8 angle aluminum. Drilled directly in to the side of the frames. I would never tilt panels, or be on roof anymore than I ever have to. I also put a drop box 4 inches away from sewer stack. (which gave me a straight shot to the crawl space). I ran 2 sets of wire to roof incase I ever want to add more solar.

I changed the planned layout of inverter 1/2 a dozen times to maximize space. Also made it easy to remove and reinstall original setup if needed. I left the original converted in panel. Just disconnected wires and tucked them away.

Programmed everything and just running the 200ah AGM batteries at the moment. Still researching the lithium options. Now I'm looking at batteries by lithiumbatterysolution.c*m. They are a offshoot of the company I bought the rest of the system from.

 

[Aceallenk]

Wow, i see what you mean, and i'm also from Canada !! I installed a 400W system I mostly ordered before Christmas and caught a couple blackfriday specials so just went and compared my invoices with my Amazon purchases. Example my 4x100W Renogy panels were $109 ea plus tax, and today are $240 ea plus tax. I never kept a running list of costs but needed a few more tools that I never owned for the garage to assist with my enjoyment. I'm sure it was around $3000 I also went way overkill on cable to allow for adding extra panels in the future also. Basic setup is 4 panels, made my own 6AWG MC4 cables, 60A MPPT Renogy Rover, made my own 2/0 gauge battery cables crimped and soldered and heat shrink color coded, 3000/6000W Giandel Pure Sine inverter, 10/3 cable to the Go-Power TS-30 transfer switch tied into the breaker box and have a seperat fuse added into the transfer switch to separately power the converter/charger so it only works when on shore power/inverter generator and not work while the Giandel inverter is turned on (in other words the shore power plugin has priority over the Giandel inverter). Added 3 new group 31 batteries for a start. Installing the solar system was a fun fun project and it works flawlessly so far in the yard, (lockdown sort of thing) and probably took 3 weeks to get everything installed and hidden and out of sight. Plus remember you can never get behind a factory wall without finding something to clean and something they should have made better. I think it took 2 big days making battery cables tracking back and forth on nice days with snow on the ground, between batteries, fuses,kill switches, battery monitor, inverter kind of thing, lol. But when you got the time you can take the extra time to make it as perfect as you can. Certainly don't have to worry about the batteries going dead if were gone a few days while fridge is on, while boondocking.

 

[taskswap]

No kidding about the "behind a factory wall" comment. I was working today on installing my solar charge controller so I had my DC converter out of the wall. The area behind it is a hot mess. And who's bright idea was running the plumbing for the outside shower in the electrical cabinet with 12/120V all over as well?

 

[Aceallenk]

Good rule of thumb, when planning a little project on the trailer you think might be a couple hours, usually exceeds 6 hours so to be safe start early and hope to get done before supper, lol...

 

[Minozzy3]

All done till I get the proper head unit. I temp installed an android tablet and can monitor system. Now just have to figure out how to convert the tank sensors to resistance based.

 

[Minozzy3]

Well I've installed the 2X275ah Lithium batteries and had to upgrade to a larger MPPT to get a remote on/off control for the BMS. And since I had to upgrade it I am adding another 2X310w panel to roof this weekend. (I'll post pics and details after all is done) If I can keep ahead of the repairs to the RV.

So far this year....
-both grey/black tanks leak at the top connection when full.
-bathroom faucet leaked into crawl space.
-water pump replaced with aquajet...I need to tie plumbing cause it all vibrates
and definitely not quiet!
-large kitchen slide motor just coded out as shorted...(schwintek)
-And one last thing...all slide rollers are pushing the floor and I need to remove both main room slides and have to redesign and repair.

But hey camping is fun right?

 

[Minozzy3]

So I had to make some changes to everything once I got the lithium batteries.
-I added the 2nd set of panels. Same as first, running series parallel. So 76vdc and charging at 70-80 amps.
-Upgraded to a Victron 150/100 MPPT. Original on was not big enough or controllable by BMS.
-Added the 2X275ah Lithium Batteries (made by Lithium Battery Solutions)
-Added smart battery protect by Victron Energy.
-Added TBS 500 amp electronic disconnect.

I still need to replace 3 battery cables and clean up the right side of compartment. But here are the latest pics.

btw sorry for panoramic pics. Only way I could get it in. And I had already started putting everything back in front compartment when I though of pics

 

[tomkatb]

Nice system!

Too bad about the issues with water. RV's are a lot of work.

I went cheap on my rv. 4 Costoco wet cells and a Honda 2200 generator.

We have to run the generator every other day. The wife would do that anyway to run the washer/dryer. She has a thing for taking home dirty clothes and laundromats.