271 Ah upgrade

I have 3x160w on my roof but live and camp in an area that is frequently overcast and mostly tree covered. Since I am close to the 49th Parallel, I also have limited daylight in the winter. This is probably the most adverse conditions for solar and count my actual collection close to half my rating. Once Summer hits and we head to clearer skies, generator use is limited to AC and cooking since I have not spent the money on an inverter large enough for either. I can charge through the truck, solar, generator or shore power but my battery bank comes to me used after five years of standby in a server room (however free of cost). They are less efficient and heavy, but I find even my limited power collection in Winter is enough to limit generator usage to cooking and it keeps up with my furnace fan draw.

First full day boondocking. Somehow during our drive the DC charger did not fully charge the battery. I think I have fixed the setting that let that happen. So we arrived yesterday at 75% charged. Then because it was late I offered to fire up the generator so we could reheat some food for dinner in the microwave. I had been meaning to test out the generator with the new battery and never got around to it. Tried to start the gen and lost all power, in the dark. Not fun.

I pulled out my volt meter and saw voltage coming into the DC distribution panel and was stumped. Apparently that was just residual voltage which soon dissipated. Two weeks ago when I removed the malfunctioning automatic resetting 40 amp circuit breaker I replaced it with a 40 amp fuse at the battery terminal. Well, I blew that fuse because I forgot about the power the gen requires for starting( a whopping 250AMPS!).

After I got all that sorted out and restored power we went to bed and in the morning we had about 60% battery. We moved to a flatter site and after I got everything set up we were at 55%. I figured no big deal, it's going to be cloudy but should clear up in the afternoon. I started monitoring the usage and even though I was getting solar coming in I was still eating up about 15 amps. It took me about a half hour of head scratching(and doing other things) before I noticed that my wife had put the fridge in DC mode before we moved campsites. D'oh!

I set it to LP and the sun came out. We topped out at 93% today and I'm using about 7 amps right now running a fan, radio, internet and charging a laptop.

I expect to be fully charged tomorrow.

mbloof wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:

mbloof wrote:


Everyones power needs is different. For me in the winter the furnace is the biggest draw and in the summer the fantastic fan is.

Currently I have a mere 136W of solar on the roof (actual ~100W output) and in the summer months my battery is full sometime between noon and 2PM.

Mark0.

How does eveything work in the winter when your running the furnace. I am trying to get an idea what these little camper furnaces draw in the winter. I am hoping to be aboe to get away with a 300watt pannel on the camper.

Steve

It is my understanding that the furnace draws ~4.8A while operating. How many AH it adds up to is dependent on outside temperature, thermostat setting and how long you have the furnace on.

Depending on where you live/camp solar is not very effective in the winter months.

My typical use pattern is leave for camping Friday afternoon and return noon-2pm on Sunday. While a single #27 FLA is good for overnight ether sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning the battery will be dangerously low. This is why I carry a EF1000is in the cab and run it for 1-2hrs on Saturday afternoon in the winter time to bring the battery back up.

With a 271AH battery I likely won't have to carry the generator anymore.

- Mark0.

I have taken my 5th wheel out in october/november. it has 480watts of solar and 470AH worth of lead acid 6V batteries and I have no issues for a weekend. with the camper I only had room for two 6V, so I think Ill gamble on a good 300ish watt pannel for it.

I am also going to put a 1" wrap of high density foam insulation around the bottom "box of the camper. I am hoping that makes the furnace a little more efficient in keeping it warm. has to be better than the 5/8" plywood anyways...

Steve

StirCrazy wrote:

mbloof wrote:


Everyones power needs is different. For me in the winter the furnace is the biggest draw and in the summer the fantastic fan is.

Currently I have a mere 136W of solar on the roof (actual ~100W output) and in the summer months my battery is full sometime between noon and 2PM.

Mark0.

How does eveything work in the winter when your running the furnace. I am trying to get an idea what these little camper furnaces draw in the winter. I am hoping to be aboe to get away with a 300watt pannel on the camper.

Steve

It is my understanding that the furnace draws ~4.8A while operating. How many AH it adds up to is dependent on outside temperature, thermostat setting and how long you have the furnace on.

Depending on where you live/camp solar is not very effective in the winter months.

My typical use pattern is leave for camping Friday afternoon and return noon-2pm on Sunday. While a single #27 FLA is good for overnight ether sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning the battery will be dangerously low. This is why I carry a EF1000is in the cab and run it for 1-2hrs on Saturday afternoon in the winter time to bring the battery back up.

With a 271AH battery I likely won't have to carry the generator anymore.

- Mark0.

The current draw from my camper furnace is huge. I chose to go with a Wave 3 heater and not use the built-in furnace. The Wave 3 heater works for me.

mbloof wrote:


Everyones power needs is different. For me in the winter the furnace is the biggest draw and in the summer the fantastic fan is.

Currently I have a mere 136W of solar on the roof (actual ~100W output) and in the summer months my battery is full sometime between noon and 2PM.

Mark0.

How does eveything work in the winter when your running the furnace. I am trying to get an idea what these little camper furnaces draw in the winter. I am hoping to be aboe to get away with a 300watt pannel on the camper.

Steve

srschang wrote:
For our use in the Northern U.S., 2-100 ah lithium batteries and 4-100 watt solar panels is a bit more than what we need. Spent a couple months traveling to Alaska and back last year, and didn't need to plug in the entire trip. We didn't have a generator. The batteries didn't charge from the truck either, as I have that wire disconnected. We did plug in a couple nights at campgrounds to run the a/c when it was too hot for us. Our typical daily power usage: - watch tv for 2-3 hours at night - lights - water pump for showers and stuff - electric compressor fridge - listen to music for an hour or so in the morning - 3 or 4 cups coffee Keurig on the inverter every morning - wife dries hair on the inverter every morning. Typically the batteries are at 60 - 70% in the morning before the solar starts charging them back up. If its sunny, the batteries are 100% by noon or 1PM. If it's cloudy, 5 or 6pm they are back to 100%

Everyones power needs is different. For me in the winter the furnace is the biggest draw and in the summer the fantastic fan is.

Currently I have a mere 136W of solar on the roof (actual ~100W output) and in the summer months my battery is full sometime between noon and 2PM.

For me it was time to replace the existing #27 FLA and instead of getting another FLA I went with a Battleborn battery. (greater AH, less weight and 3x the cycle life)

While the 100AH battery I currently have will fit my needs the DIY 271 project looks interesting and fun and so why not? (cause I can)

Maybe I won't have to carry the generator as a backup anymore?


- Mark0.

For our use in the Northern U.S., 2-100 ah lithium batteries and 4-100 watt solar panels is a bit more than what we need. Spent a couple months traveling to Alaska and back last year, and didn't need to plug in the entire trip. We didn't have a generator. The batteries didn't charge from the truck either, as I have that wire disconnected. We did plug in a couple nights at campgrounds to run the a/c when it was too hot for us. Our typical daily power usage: - watch tv for 2-3 hours at night - lights - water pump for showers and stuff - electric compressor fridge - listen to music for an hour or so in the morning - 3 or 4 cups coffee Keurig on the inverter every morning - wife dries hair on the inverter every morning. Typically the batteries are at 60 - 70% in the morning before the solar starts charging them back up. If its sunny, the batteries are 100% by noon or 1PM. If it's cloudy, 5 or 6pm they are back to 100%

StirCrazy wrote:
how are your solar pannels keeping up? I am having a hard time deciding what to do for solar.

Steve

I've only been out for two nights with the new panels(2x 150 watt) and that was with the old AGM batteries. We're packing the camper now and will leave in the morning for an extended trip so next week I will have a better idea of how well the solar keeps up.

Freep wrote:

Geewizard wrote:

Which BMS with bluetooth from Amazon are you talking about? And why that one?

I got an overkill solar BMS. This is an American reseller, is well known in the DIY solar community and provides great support.

wouldn't it be better to get a BMS with active ballancing built in.

I am looking to build somthing for my camperwhere i can move the battery pack inside so it is warm when I am camping in the winter. right now I have two 210 AH 6V batteries in an outside storage compartment. I am looking at the 280AH cells which will give me almost 3x the power capacity but how are your solar pannels keeping up? I am having a hard time deciding what to do for solar.

Steve