I have built maybe a dozen solar, battery powered trailers over the past 10 years. My plan is to make this the most powerful and advanced one I have built.
I started with a new to me 2010 Heartland Road Warrior. It is a 305 RW toy hauler. It has a 5500 watt Cummins Onan gas generator. I will be installing solar panels and a lithium battery salvaged from a Tesla.
The battery is one module from a Tesla, which has been modified to make it 48 volts. Normally a module is 24 volts but there is a guy in Texas who has figured out how to cut the pack in half and reconfigure it to 48V.
I started with a new to me 2010 Heartland Road Warrior. It is a 305 RW toy hauler. It has a 5500 watt Cummins Onan gas generator. I will be installing solar panels and a lithium battery salvaged from a Tesla.
The battery is one module from a Tesla, which has been modified to make it 48 volts. Normally a module is 24 volts but there is a guy in Texas who has figured out how to cut the pack in half and reconfigure it to 48V.
I have done all the high power wiring between the battery, inverter and new breaker panel.
This is between the battery and the inverter. I used 00 welding cable as recommended in the manual. Seems like overkill. There is a 200 amp fuse on the positive (top) post of the tesla battery. You cant really see it but its there. Next is an on/off switch, then there is a contactor under the yellow cap. It is part of the battery management system (BMS) It will cut off charging when the battery is full and disconnect it if the voltage falls too low. Below that, on the negative wire, are two shunts. The first one is for the Victron battery monitor and the second one is for the BMS. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of putting two shunts in line but I had little choice. They are different millivolt values and I didnt want to start muking around trying to make the inverter work with the BMS shunt, or the other way around. I dont like the extra connections, ill just have to keep an eye on them and occasionally check them for tightness
After looking at the picture, I can see that I put red heat shrink on the negative instead of black! D'oh! I better fix that
This is between the battery and the inverter. I used 00 welding cable as recommended in the manual. Seems like overkill. There is a 200 amp fuse on the positive (top) post of the tesla battery. You cant really see it but its there. Next is an on/off switch, then there is a contactor under the yellow cap. It is part of the battery management system (BMS) It will cut off charging when the battery is full and disconnect it if the voltage falls too low. Below that, on the negative wire, are two shunts. The first one is for the Victron battery monitor and the second one is for the BMS. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of putting two shunts in line but I had little choice. They are different millivolt values and I didnt want to start muking around trying to make the inverter work with the BMS shunt, or the other way around. I dont like the extra connections, ill just have to keep an eye on them and occasionally check them for tightness
After looking at the picture, I can see that I put red heat shrink on the negative instead of black! D'oh! I better fix that
Im back working on the trailer. We go to Florida over Christmas and then I leave the trailer down south. We then go back for March Break and bring it back with us.
I dont like the noisy converter that came with the trailer so I replaced it with an Iota 55 amp charger with an IQ4 smart charge controller. This will give the house battery a proper charge so it will last a long time
out with the old
in with the new
I mounted the IQ4 module just inside the opening that gives you access to the converter plug
I dont like the noisy converter that came with the trailer so I replaced it with an Iota 55 amp charger with an IQ4 smart charge controller. This will give the house battery a proper charge so it will last a long time
out with the old
in with the new
I mounted the IQ4 module just inside the opening that gives you access to the converter plug
jayw900 wrote:John & Angela wrote:
Interesting thread and I will continue to follow it. You mentioned the pack is a 17 KW. Coincidentally our battery pack in our smart car is around 18 KW. It is however liquid cooled.
Enjoy your project. I am a little jealous.
Not to derail the thread too much but how do you like your electric smart?
Quite honestly the best car we have ever owned. Very fun to drive, all kinds of power, nice refined drive, dead quiet, simple and effective. Ours is a Cabrio so lots of fun in the sun. We will probably drive it till it drops but the electric experience has also probably convinced us to change out our last oil burner sooner than later. Probably 2018. Hard to go back. ๐ Also way fun dropping a mustang in the dust off a stop light. ๐
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