Solar on the travel trailer

[Janderso]

I’m just beginning the research on adding solar panels with storage capacity that will serve our 20 foot Lance.
It’s a 2016 model.
There is nothing worse than turning on the heater when it’s 30 degrees outside with no result.
This happened to us this last spring.
Running the generator isn’t always the best option.

If you have installed a system, what route did you choose?

 

[Just for fun]

Hi Jeff,

I don't know much about it myself but I have a friend that just installed a system on his travel trailer and sends to really know what he is talking about. Had helped several members on a Ford truck forum. If you would like I can get you in touch. He's a really nice guy and I'm sure more then willing to help.

Tim

 

[samstu]

My wife and I spend at least 100 nights camping every year.

I put 200 watts on roof of my roadtrek a couple years ago when I switched from 3 way to all electric refrigerator. I use this van for travelling and off grid camping in the western us. Not hard, used some simple z brackets to glue and screw to roof of my van. All purchased as a kit from windynation on Amazon. I added a couple MC4 extension cable to complete setup. This uses a simple 30 amp controller, not an MPPT unit as I figured I over-sized wattage needed to run my van when camping. Switching to an MPPT gives 20 percent or more output from same size solar panels which left me with an easy upgrade if I needed more amp-hours. My van has 2 coach (and 1 independent chassis battery) so I have a reasonable amount of storage for my needs.

I have an airstream with factory solar with a very similar sized setup and 2 agm batteries. But a 28 foot airstream in a paved campground isn't really camping.....

You should do some calculations about how much power you use in a day to size your system. Certainly, using a propane refrigerator, propane heat and led lights leads to very little power use. Fans, TVs, Satellite systems, etc add up quickly. 120 volt inverters suck power like crazy. A system will need reasonably matched for storage vs solar capacity. Switching to Lithium can be considered, but due to it's higher charging voltage is not a direct drop in. Lithium also pulls more amps as it charges and depending on trailer setup, can draw too much power when connected to tow vehicle. You mention heat. Winter camping is complicated by low sun, clouds, and short days requiring more solar capacity than a system designed for summer camping.

A "lithium generator" or similar lithium power pack can be purchased with or without solar panels. This give the added flexibility to use with other campers and other projects rather than dedicating to a single camper. These get cheaper by the day and work at all altitudes.

I also have a Lance truck camper, and I simply run its onboard propane generator for 45 minutes or so to charge a single battery as I have LED lights and rarely used heat unless it's very well below freezing. The fuel generator doesn't due well at high altitude and subfreezing temperatures as the propane won't boil off fast enough.

I've spent many weeks camping with a 12 volt electric blanket.

 

[mickri]

I installed solar on my sailboat. It was pretty easy to do. Lived aboard away from a dock for 9 years with only solar for electricity for the last 6 years. I have four 65 watt panels that feed to four 6 volt golf cart batteries. Two batteries are connected in series to get 12 volts. Then they are connected in parallel to supply power to the boat.

You have to realize that you won't be able to use electricity like you do in your house. The first step is to determine how much battery capacity you need. This is done in amps, not watts. Add up all of the amps you will need for one day and multiply this by 4. For example I was using 80 to 100 amps per day. Mostly to run the refrigerator. Four 6 volt batteries hold a total of 400 amps. I was very conservative with the amount of power I used. Most boats had 6 or 8 six volt batteries. 600 to 800 amp hours.

I could go 2 1/2 days without sun. After this I would have to turn off the frig to prevent further discharge of the batteries. Deeply discharging batteries dramatically shortens their life. Batteries require routine maintenance. Especially lead acid batteries. With proper maintenance all batteries whether lead acid, AGM or gel have around the same life span. 6 to 7 years. On my boat the first set of batteries lasted 6 years. 3 years using a generator to charge the batteries and 3 years on solar. The second set lasted 9 years but I was not living aboard the last 6 years. So very light use those last 6 years. About a week per month.

One thing I discovered was that when I was under power with the boat engine's alternator also supplying power to the batteries the power generated by the solar panels would over whelm the alternator and the alternator would shut down. Not good. After I discovered this I would always shut off the solar power whenever the engine was running.

One other thing that I learned was if you are having corrosion on the positive terminals your are over charging your batteries. If the corrosion is on the negative terminals you are under charging your batteries. Corrosion on both terminals mean you are cycling between under and over charging the batteries.

Living off the grid on solar power is a unique experience. Not everyone can adapt to it.

 

[tq60]

Lots of data over on another forum.

iRv2.com

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[matthewsx]

I've done a few but won't go into details here, there's too many details that go into a good installation....

But, I'd recommend using a high quality charge controller at a minimum. You can fry your batteries if the controller isn't doing it's job well. I use these guys but I do have a commercial account with them. Not sure if they do consumer sales but their salespeople were extremely knowledgeable and helpful to me.

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Cheers,

John