24V battery bank with solar - pros and cons
Hmmm.... should I go with a 24V Battery bank? I am in the planning phase of a 800 to 1,000 Watt solar system for my 5th wheel. I am thinking maybe a Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 charge controller and 4 ...
Forum Discussion
OP here.
as usual, thanks for the great information and especially for the small debate which helps expose potential problems.
For my use case, I plan to be traveling for a few months at a time starting next year and want the option to visit non-electric camp sites for days or weeks at a time while providing my dear wife and I reliable basic electricity to (at a minimum) run the fridge (on propane), the water heater (on propane) and the LED lights on batteries. We have done this already with our previous Travel Trailer with a 140 Watt roof mount solar panel and 100 Watt portable solar panel so nothing new there. And when i am able to harvest lots of sunshine it would be nice to be able to run the microwave, watch more TV, use the vacuum cleaner, etc...
My new 5th wheel has an Onan 5.5KW on-board propane generator and my truck has an alternator so I have two emergency charging sources when needed. And I have a 100W portable folding solar panel in case I am parked in shade with abundant sunshine very close by.
It sounds like to me, converting to a 24V battery bank has mostly "pros" with the "cons" being limited to:
1. buying, installing and relying on a Buck converter to convert 24V to 12V (sized to handle my max current requirements)
2. buying and installing a 24V converter to charge the battery bank on shore power.
To mitigate these risks, I could leave the current 12V converter on board for emergency use , and hopefully I could wire a 24V battery bank in a way that lets me easily convert it to a 12V battery bank on the road if needed.
Did I miss anything for my use case?
Ed
as usual, thanks for the great information and especially for the small debate which helps expose potential problems.
For my use case, I plan to be traveling for a few months at a time starting next year and want the option to visit non-electric camp sites for days or weeks at a time while providing my dear wife and I reliable basic electricity to (at a minimum) run the fridge (on propane), the water heater (on propane) and the LED lights on batteries. We have done this already with our previous Travel Trailer with a 140 Watt roof mount solar panel and 100 Watt portable solar panel so nothing new there. And when i am able to harvest lots of sunshine it would be nice to be able to run the microwave, watch more TV, use the vacuum cleaner, etc...
My new 5th wheel has an Onan 5.5KW on-board propane generator and my truck has an alternator so I have two emergency charging sources when needed. And I have a 100W portable folding solar panel in case I am parked in shade with abundant sunshine very close by.
It sounds like to me, converting to a 24V battery bank has mostly "pros" with the "cons" being limited to:
1. buying, installing and relying on a Buck converter to convert 24V to 12V (sized to handle my max current requirements)
2. buying and installing a 24V converter to charge the battery bank on shore power.
To mitigate these risks, I could leave the current 12V converter on board for emergency use , and hopefully I could wire a 24V battery bank in a way that lets me easily convert it to a 12V battery bank on the road if needed.
Did I miss anything for my use case?
Ed
