Solar info
I'm intending to add solar to our rig when I get it figured out. Looking to do more than trickle charge my chassis battery. Looking to go off grid completely (and off generator too) for boondocking. A...
Forum Discussion
Hope this does not come out as a rant and it is a bit long-winded
We do have a solar autonomous rig put together by our son Cary Lane (Energy Concepts) as a family hobby just to see if it could be done. He was really excited about new concepts (lithium batteries etc. This was built onto our second Open Range Roamer 337RLS (first is still in a wrecking yard in Mexico, as younger son has said "Dad, you and Mom have been to Yucatan three times and returned twice!"
We have 1420 W of solar in two series of three panels each. This has advantage of high voltage but the real disadvantage that if one panel is in shade, then entire series gives no power. This means carefully finding location for at least half a day's insolation, if possible.
Electricity goes to controllers at 54 V
9.7 kW-hours of lithium ferrosphosphate batteries (Manzanita Micro)
Four battery packs of 4 x 3.1 V LFP batteries each (180 amp-hours at 12.4V)
These four battery packs are in series to provide a battery suite of
180 amp-hours at 54.6 V nominal - 762 amp-hours at 12 V = 9.7 kW-hours
The entire suite weighs about 160# (40 # per battery pack).
This is installed in front baggage compartment which is configured to carry
a 5.6 kW Onan and Open Range figures we could carry 400# there. We have less
than 250# total to include the below inverter/converter/controllers/battery
chargers
Power goes to 4.0 Magnum PSW inverter and converter to 12 V for 5th wheel system.
The 50 amp port remains usable but have tossed the 50 amp cable but kept a 25'
30 amp cable (and 30-50 amp fixture. All we ever plan to use in future is 15 to 20 amp extension cord and will probably toss the 30 amp cable as well.
Cary installed 1000 amp and 500 amp (110 V ac) battery chargers so that if we ever do use line power or our 1.0 kW Honda generator, the 110 goes to chargers, to batteries and then through inverter/converter.
We have run ac (normal 1.5 kW ac) for over 3.5 hours a number a times as combination of solar/battery drain (everything goes through battery suite)with less than 40% drain.
Elaine ran micro-wave for an hour defrosting a very large chicken for over an hour and there was no battery drain beyond a few hundred W-hours if that.
Wound up with 4" of snow for several days while dry camping at Bosque del Apache NWR ("Festival of the Cranes" - 14,000 Sandhill Cranes and 40,000 Ross and Snow Geese). Solar didn't do much but still were getting 50 W through the snow. Full overcast, rain/hail/sleet and then the snow. Temperature was down to 25 at hight and high of 35 in day. Ran the forced air heater quite a bit and voltage was down to 52.4 V with turn-off at 49.1 so we were down about 40% in four days of rotten weather. Had meant to install Olympic 8 (8000 BTU) propane catalytic converter but thought we would have left for Guatemala (flying down this year since it will still be a while before everything is worked out with Mexican insurance and customs aka, having the temporary important licenses legally cancelled for destroyed truck/5th wheel) before cold weather. This keeps the rig warm without electric power. We would have kept batteries at 100% had we done this.
We have gone completely LED except for basement lights which we have left as halogen in case we ever stay where we have shore power and want to keep basement heated from the lamps.
We have not hooked to shore power or to the generator since Cary put system together in June except for testing components.
Son was original licensed solar contractor in New Mexico (1991) and did six years of research work in alternative energy at New Mexico State University's alternative energy research labs before that. He just got a sub-contract(with a crew of 10, four of whom have degrees in ME, EE or physics) for the installation of solar panels and low voltage wiring for a 1.5 megawatt solar system for electric power company. They will do the high voltage work (Cary is licensed master electrician as well but not for high voltage). I just put this down to note that the work was done by an expert. Happily, he did all of the work from design through fabrication as family project and all of the solar equipment was at his contractor cost. I can do routine maintenance on rig but this would have been far above anything I would attempt.
There are several fabricators of lithium-iron-phosphate batteries that are willing to work with RVs at this time: Manazanita and Lithionics
Snowman is absolutely correct in making sure that the objects on the roof (ac cover etc) do not shade the panels. Cary was very careful in placing the panels (I was fetching tools while he and grandson did the work) so this would not happen) and I suggested just dumping some things we don't use such as the tv antenna. C
Cary has friends who are working at developing electric cars and they led him to Manzanita.
Our original rig was 400 W, 2.5 PSW inverter and 4 x 110 amp-hours glass mat batteries. This increased to 700 W when we went from a 28' TT to a 34' 5th wheel. We do think that 700 W was quite sufficient but it is amusing to find out what we can do with 1400 W - and we are about tapped out on the roof though Cary said "well maybe, we could wiggle 3 x 175 W panels on but that would take more controllers etc - and you don't really need it."
Need to look into the air conditioners mentioned on this thread and electric refrigerators mentioned on another. Propane works great and is cheap - but we easily run the 6.0 cf Norcold on the solar from about an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunset. Again, propane is so efficient that we probably just do it because we can. We (I) screwed up a few times in summer and forgot to transfer to propane at night and we were down -4500 W/hours by dawn - but it was fully charged by 1 pm.
OK, sorry about being so long winded.
Reed Cundiff
We do have a solar autonomous rig put together by our son Cary Lane (Energy Concepts) as a family hobby just to see if it could be done. He was really excited about new concepts (lithium batteries etc. This was built onto our second Open Range Roamer 337RLS (first is still in a wrecking yard in Mexico, as younger son has said "Dad, you and Mom have been to Yucatan three times and returned twice!"
We have 1420 W of solar in two series of three panels each. This has advantage of high voltage but the real disadvantage that if one panel is in shade, then entire series gives no power. This means carefully finding location for at least half a day's insolation, if possible.
Electricity goes to controllers at 54 V
9.7 kW-hours of lithium ferrosphosphate batteries (Manzanita Micro)
Four battery packs of 4 x 3.1 V LFP batteries each (180 amp-hours at 12.4V)
These four battery packs are in series to provide a battery suite of
180 amp-hours at 54.6 V nominal - 762 amp-hours at 12 V = 9.7 kW-hours
The entire suite weighs about 160# (40 # per battery pack).
This is installed in front baggage compartment which is configured to carry
a 5.6 kW Onan and Open Range figures we could carry 400# there. We have less
than 250# total to include the below inverter/converter/controllers/battery
chargers
Power goes to 4.0 Magnum PSW inverter and converter to 12 V for 5th wheel system.
The 50 amp port remains usable but have tossed the 50 amp cable but kept a 25'
30 amp cable (and 30-50 amp fixture. All we ever plan to use in future is 15 to 20 amp extension cord and will probably toss the 30 amp cable as well.
Cary installed 1000 amp and 500 amp (110 V ac) battery chargers so that if we ever do use line power or our 1.0 kW Honda generator, the 110 goes to chargers, to batteries and then through inverter/converter.
We have run ac (normal 1.5 kW ac) for over 3.5 hours a number a times as combination of solar/battery drain (everything goes through battery suite)with less than 40% drain.
Elaine ran micro-wave for an hour defrosting a very large chicken for over an hour and there was no battery drain beyond a few hundred W-hours if that.
Wound up with 4" of snow for several days while dry camping at Bosque del Apache NWR ("Festival of the Cranes" - 14,000 Sandhill Cranes and 40,000 Ross and Snow Geese). Solar didn't do much but still were getting 50 W through the snow. Full overcast, rain/hail/sleet and then the snow. Temperature was down to 25 at hight and high of 35 in day. Ran the forced air heater quite a bit and voltage was down to 52.4 V with turn-off at 49.1 so we were down about 40% in four days of rotten weather. Had meant to install Olympic 8 (8000 BTU) propane catalytic converter but thought we would have left for Guatemala (flying down this year since it will still be a while before everything is worked out with Mexican insurance and customs aka, having the temporary important licenses legally cancelled for destroyed truck/5th wheel) before cold weather. This keeps the rig warm without electric power. We would have kept batteries at 100% had we done this.
We have gone completely LED except for basement lights which we have left as halogen in case we ever stay where we have shore power and want to keep basement heated from the lamps.
We have not hooked to shore power or to the generator since Cary put system together in June except for testing components.
Son was original licensed solar contractor in New Mexico (1991) and did six years of research work in alternative energy at New Mexico State University's alternative energy research labs before that. He just got a sub-contract(with a crew of 10, four of whom have degrees in ME, EE or physics) for the installation of solar panels and low voltage wiring for a 1.5 megawatt solar system for electric power company. They will do the high voltage work (Cary is licensed master electrician as well but not for high voltage). I just put this down to note that the work was done by an expert. Happily, he did all of the work from design through fabrication as family project and all of the solar equipment was at his contractor cost. I can do routine maintenance on rig but this would have been far above anything I would attempt.
There are several fabricators of lithium-iron-phosphate batteries that are willing to work with RVs at this time: Manazanita and Lithionics
Snowman is absolutely correct in making sure that the objects on the roof (ac cover etc) do not shade the panels. Cary was very careful in placing the panels (I was fetching tools while he and grandson did the work) so this would not happen) and I suggested just dumping some things we don't use such as the tv antenna. C
Cary has friends who are working at developing electric cars and they led him to Manzanita.
Our original rig was 400 W, 2.5 PSW inverter and 4 x 110 amp-hours glass mat batteries. This increased to 700 W when we went from a 28' TT to a 34' 5th wheel. We do think that 700 W was quite sufficient but it is amusing to find out what we can do with 1400 W - and we are about tapped out on the roof though Cary said "well maybe, we could wiggle 3 x 175 W panels on but that would take more controllers etc - and you don't really need it."
Need to look into the air conditioners mentioned on this thread and electric refrigerators mentioned on another. Propane works great and is cheap - but we easily run the 6.0 cf Norcold on the solar from about an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunset. Again, propane is so efficient that we probably just do it because we can. We (I) screwed up a few times in summer and forgot to transfer to propane at night and we were down -4500 W/hours by dawn - but it was fully charged by 1 pm.
OK, sorry about being so long winded.
Reed Cundiff
