Think about solar...

[RooDude09]

After the last dry camping trip I’m starting to think about getting some solar on our trailer. I have two six volt batteries and after running the generator to make sure they’re charged up for about three hours before bed, the lp alarm goes off inthe morning. It would be nice to not have to worry about that and to not have to hear the generator running for hours. Any suggestions on brand? I’ve been looking at some videos on logistics of wiring. I do like the idea of an inverter on a transfer switch as well. One video I saw had a Gopower kit it looked pretty nice and it looks like they make inverters with the transfer switch and charger all included. Any other bends people like?

[Almot]

allen8106 wrote:

My experience:
We camped in the Arizona desert for two weeks.
We ran the furnace every night.
We ran what ever lights we needed when we needed them. (all non-LED)
My wife ran her CPAP machine all night, every night.
We ran the water pump as needed.
We ran the refrigerator on propane but it does draw a small amount of 12 volt power.
We watched television every night as long as we wanted.
The batteries were usually drawn down to around 70% full by morning.
By 2:00-2:30 pm batteries were back to 100% every day.

Same here, only across the border in Baja Norte and with catalytic heater instead of furnace.
LED lights. These days there isn't much excuse not to convert to LED when they are so cheap and come in all socket types, plug and play.
Battery bank 300AH @12V, a bit more than 2*6V. Bigger bank = shallower cycling.

Batteries were in upper 80-s or low 90-s by the morning (judging by the voltage and AH that they were able to take next day), and back to 100% by 11.30-12.30. It's been a little more than 2 weeks, and during that period I did have a couple of days when it was raining more than 50% of time - then batteries were down to 70-s by the morning and back to 100% by 1 pm.

In absence of furnace my bigger draw was propane fridge, ~12 AH over 24 hours.

Consider that it was winter. In summer the charging would've doubled, but I would not want to be there in summer without grid power.

[mikakuja]

I would start by having the batteries tested to ensure they are not done.
Second, as already mentioned, would be to sort out the charger and ensure it is doing its job correctly, and replace it if nessesary.
While going through the charging system check all of the wiring connections starting at the converter all the way to the batteries, including the junction box where all of the wiring ties into the trailer.
Our previous 2016 trailer was absolutely deplorable. The wiring was so bad that the brand new dual 6v batteries wouldn't charge enough to make it half way through the night. that included running the gen for as many hours as the sites would allow and also included about 4-5 hrs of sun on a 260w solar system. I'm really surprised that the trailer didn't burn to the ground the first week we used it.
As far as solar goes, 200 watts is a great start, and will at very least decrease the amount you have to run your gen... If you are a power miser and get alot of sun this might be enough to keep up with your power consumption.
We currently have 2 225 AH GC2 6v batteries, a GoPower solar system with a 200w mono panel, a 30A PWM controller, and a transfer switch with a modified sine 1500w inverter (it will be changed out for a pure sine in the near future).
This system works well for us but does not cover our power needs, so we do run the gen for a few hours every 3-4 days.
On our previous two trailers we also used 2 6v GC2 batteries with the EPsolar, EPever 20A MPPT controller's with remote displays and 260w of mono panels.. This was also a great system that gave us zero issues.
The difference between the two systems for us was not really very significant as we didn't use 24v panels to take full advantage of the MPPT.

[allen8106]

For what it's worth, my two cents.

My installation:
4 130 watt panels
Magnum MMS1012 PSW 1000 Watt Inverter
Magnum MM-RC50 Inverter Remote
Morningstar TS-45 Charge Controller
2 Crown CR-240 6 volts batteries
Bogart TM-2030-RV Battery Monitor
All installed myself.

My experience:
We camped in the Arizona desert for two weeks.
We ran the furnace every night.
We ran what ever lights we needed when we needed them. (all non-LED)
My wife ran her CPAP machine all night, every night.
We ran the water pump as needed.
We ran the refrigerator on propane but it does draw a small amount of 12 volt power.
We watched television every night as long as we wanted.
The batteries were usually drawn down to around 70% full by morning.
By 2:00-2:30 pm batteries were back to 100% every day.

[Almot]

RooDude09 wrote:
After the last dry camping trip I’m starting to think about getting some solar on our trailer. I have two six volt batteries and after running the generator to make sure they’re charged up for about three hours before bed, the lp alarm goes off inthe morning. It would be nice to not have to worry about that and to not have to hear the generator running for hours. Any suggestions on brand?

There are no real brands in solar panels now. Anything new or better is immediately cloned in Chinese factories, some are just a backyard shed.

5 (or 10?) years ago their government accomplished a Great Leap Forward in solar manufacturing, not unlike the one in times of the Chairman Mao. Billions in interest-free loans, thousands of new factories. Many went down later as a result of over-supply, but still there is no shortage of cloning capabilities.
Don't worry about brand, it's hard to screw up an item that simple. Just determine your daily energy needs, this will determine how many watts of solar you have to install.

Transfer switch is not needed for solar - it is always On, it doesn't interfere with other charging means. If solar won't cover your daily needs (or won't on some days), you run generator for an hour or two and let solar finish it off. When it's full, solar charger will drop the voltage to 13.6 maintenance mode. Though some cheap models won't drop, avoid those.

120W solar is "not" very common in offgrid camping. I would suggest at least 200-300W permanent on roof. You'll appreciate this on cloudy days.

3 hours on generator is not enough. Charging current drops as batteries are getting full-er, solar is perfect for this finishing stage. With enough panels your solar could do the initial stage as well, you won't have to start a generator.

[SoundGuy]

RooDude09 wrote:
I just contributed it to the sensor pro booster I put on pulling more juice

The Sensar Pro has a maximum rated draw of 500 ma but it goes into sleep mode after 3 minutes, reducing it's draw significantly. That said, it's still worthwhile to add a kill switch to not only the Sensar Pro but also one to the radio so you can eliminate draw by these devices completely when not using them.

[time2roll]

RooDude09 wrote:
I have two six volt batteries and after running the generator to make sure they’re charged up for about three hours before bed, the lp alarm goes off inthe morning. It would be nice to not have to worry about that and to not have to hear the generator running for hours. Any suggestions on brand?

Fix the generator charging first.

http://www.bestconverter.com/PD-9260C-148-60-Amp-RV-ConverterCharger

Post the existing converter for best suggestions.

[92GreenYJ]

My set up is all solar and I love it. I always hate the sound of generators so I set my redneck toyhauler up to be 100% self contained and solar powered. I exclusively boondock out in the desert. I converted every light fixture in the camper to LEDs. 2 6 volt deep cycle batteries and a second 12 volt deep cycle as a back up (which I have never had to switch to. We used it for a buddies Jeep for the weekend when his battery crapped out though) and a pair of 100 watt panels on the roof with a MPPT charge controller. If I want to I can add 2 more panels and the controller will support it. I run a 12 volt led tv, car stereo DVD player for movies and camp tunes for I’d say at least 6 hours a day, lights as needed at night, run my power inverter in the ,owning to power a small 4 cup coffee pot, use USB ports installed all over the camper to charge iPads and phones, and I have never had a power issue over a 4 to 5 day trip.

I went with this kit for my solar.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PHWXO8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[RooDude09]

Maybe I’ll have to bring the batteries to interstate and have them checked out. The first trip we had them we went all week and never had to run the generator but not this last time. I just contributed it to the sensor pro booster I put on pulling more juice

[Lwiddis]

“and after running the generator to make sure they’re charged up for about three hours before bed,”

Thus ruining my evenings...three hours?...you are now thinking about adding solar? Better late than never.

[pianotuna]

After the batteries reach 85% state of charge they will only accept 12.5 amps per 100 amp-hours of capacity. 3 hours is not nearly enough time to get them fully charged.

I expect the existing bank is sulfated and may require extraordinary efforts to get it back into tip top shape.

[westend]

What charger is used on the 6V batteries? Most RV converters don't push high enough voltage to do them justice.

[scrubjaysnest]

3 hours isn't long enough to fully charge a pair of 6 volt batteries.

We have 500 watts of solar and this is great when in 5 to 6 hours of full sun.
Do an energy audit; this will determine the battery bank size you need which will in turn tell you the size solar array you need.

[Ductape]

Solar is a great thing, however you have some problem in your batteries if two sixes won't last a single night. Batteries lost capacity, lots of load, or inadequate charger for instance.

[profdant139]

Have you done an audit of how much power you use each day? We have two group 31s and a 120 watt portable solar panel, and it keeps us fully topped off, every day, for as long as we want to camp (assuming it is sunny!).

But we are just two people, and we use power sparingly. The big hog is the furnace, which we use mostly during shower time. The water pump draws a lot of juice but is only intermittently used. Otherwise, it's just the LED lights and the fridge and the water heater. Those items draw very little power, by comparison.

So my point is that you may be able to get away without a permanent solar panel on the roof. Of course, a roof system has a big advantage -- you don't have to deploy it! But if the RV is in the shade, that is a problem. And the roof panel is flat -- a tilted portable panel is more efficient.