StirCrazy
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Re: DIY LiFePO4 build
ya, I camp in heavily wooded places but there is usually still sun for a couple hours at least from directly above, they also do put out in low light and shade, some better than other, at a reduced rate. so in lots of shade depending on your electrical usage you might be able to extend instead of being self reliant like me. so if you can normally go out for 3 days, now maybe 4 or 5 in shaded areas. I don't worry much about tree debris hitting the panels, they can handle large hail stones with ease. if its going to break the solar panel I would rather than as the same impact would damage your roof which is way more expensive. easy way to shed weight, trade the genny for panels 🤣 that actually would be my call if it was up here as Genny's are next to useless on a rv now with all the genny rules, our camping is a bit different, we can't really just drive out onto government land and camp, well we can, but any government land isn't really accessible by anything short of a 4x4. then you have to make sure it is government land, not leased out to a company, not native land, not private land and so on.. lets just say getting an RV to any real boon docking place, while it can and has been done, is not recommended in any way shape or form,. but to counter this we have a good network of provincial campground (like state campgrounds) and something called forestry sites. logging companies build small campsites for the Provence in nice places that are only accessible because they built longing roads. these are owned by the Provence, but managed by local logging companies or partnerships with first nations bands. I like them, most I couldn't take my 5th wheel in, well some I could but there are no reservations allowed, but the truck camper is perfect, and they range from free to 15 bucks a day. in both these system the genny rules are from 8am to 10am and from 5pm to 6pm, some places till 7 pm. any genny use outside of these times can have you removed from the park. some people hate the rule, I actually wish it was limited more as I find the older I get the more I just like the piece and quiet 🤔 so what I did was size my battery bank for my normal trip, so the truck camper the battery will let me go 9 days if the solar craps out. if the solar is working I get 100% charge ever day. if I have 2 or 3 bad solar days I have enough solar to recharge three days of use in one day. but your points are all valid, up here if its to hot and you think you need a ac, just go to a campground that's higher up, might be real hot during the day but by 10pm its around 40 degrees0Views0likes0CommentsRe: Water heater drain plug? Trailer about 21 years old.
no the plug he is talking about is like on my camper.. where you would expect to see the "anode" there is just a nylon plug as the tank inside is lined or coated so you don't need an anode to prevent corrosion. but I wonder if you could thread a valve in there, it would be big that's the only issue9Views0likes0CommentsMoving away from traditional
so, now that I have the truck camper upgrade done, I am starting to look at the 5th wheel. this is going to involve going to about 900-1200AH of LiFePO4 and probably between 1600-2000 watts of solar. so when you start getting into the weeds of the system, I am looking at two or three solar charge controllers, so two 250/100 at 850Cdn each for 1700 bucks just for the charge controllers. then I am going to have to spend a fortune on wire upgrades and so on to handle the larger amperage. now hear me out for a second, wheat if I take a page out of the residential solar school of thought and go with a quad micro inverter that will handle 2000 watts and up to 4 panels. so it would stay on the roof and all four panels would plug into it. then that is the point where your panel output is converted to AC, so the only wire I would need to run is a 12/3 from the micro inverter to a circuit breaker in the main power panel, Or if you have something like a multi plus you could set the input as a shore input and use battery sharing which might be a cool way to set it up as you could prioritize shore power, which means it would use everything the micro inverter could supply and if it is short in the morning and evening then draws from the batteries. best of all that microinverter is 500 Cdn, so for the price of two Victron large solar controllers I could buy this and have enough money left over to buy a multiplus. Ok, lets hear your thoughts on it...15Views0likes0CommentsRe: DIY LiFePO4 build
Nice job, I am looking at doing my dads motorhome for him if he decides it will be worth it for how much they use it lately. I won't build the batteries myself, for him I'll get store bought, because he likes to tinker with things for no reason so the less exposed stuff the better 😁 I have always run everything off battery, we rarely get plugin sites, unless we are traveling for a wedding or something where we are just using the 5th wheel to save money over a hotel, but camping it is a rare site for either the 5th or the camper to be plugged in. what made that possible wasn't necessarily the LiFePO4 batteries, but more the solar and having enough batteries just to do a long weekend with out solar. I would highly recommend solar, it is the cheapest part of your build if you plan it right and can install the panels yourself. I am in the middle of planning the solar upgrade for the 5th wheel as I want to run the outdoor kitchen fridge 24/7 and found out I lose 20% of my capacity a day when it is really hot and try run it. right now it has three 160watt panels, I am looking at three 450watt panels for the upgrade, maybe four. I am at the stage when I am on the roof with a chunk of cardboard the same size as the panels trying to pick a layout for laying them out. seriously though you can get those big panels for 250ish Cdn then its the controller and your installation and your done. I am toying with the idea of using a micro inverter on the panels instead of a traditional solar charge controller, but I am still hashing that one out.0Views0likes2Comments
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