RV SOLAR PART 1 WILL IT RUN OUR AC?
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- part 1 of our RV solar upgrade! basically we just prepare the area in the front compartment of our RV to start receiving equipment and get our 6 150ah eco worthy lifepo4 lithium batteries in. Getting things prepared for the inverter install.
It's good you sealed those holes up in the battery compartment because they would be the perfect place for rodents to enter and chew up your wiring, possibly even causing a fire. As FTers who boondock most of the time we can tell you that battling rodents, from cute little chip monks and squirrels to bigger vermin is a persistent problem in the boonies.
We're retired FTers who discovered we love boondocking, so designed and built our off-grid electrical system ourselves, on a limited budget. It took us 5 years to gather the resources to finally complete the project. We're living this lifestyle off of a limited retirement income so had to take the low budget route, foregoing name brand components like Victron and Battleborn for more affordable options.
We started by building a 620-watt liftable solar array on the side of our 1999 National Tropical MH. Our side array makes a nice bedroom window awning too, practically lifting itself with a couple gas struts, and it's easy to clean, standing safely on the ground. Next, we built a 12v, 560ah LiFePo-4 battery using 8, 280ah prismatic cells and a Heltec 330amp (1,200a surge) BMS with a 5a active balancer. These cells fit perfectly under the steps of our MH where our old pair of golf cart batteries used to reside. We insulated the battery compartment, cut a small hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging due to low temperature - or their life reduced from getting too hot. Our 12v system uses an 80A LFP converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy inverter, a 50a Epever MPPT charge controller and a Lnex battery monitor. All this cost us under $3,500 and meets all our off-grid electrical needs except for our air conditioning, heat and microwave.
By mounting the solar array on the side of our coach, we left the roof free to rack 8, 550w Sungold Power solar panels down the length of our 35ft Class A, 15" off the roof, above our AC, vents, etc. It shades our entire roof, allowing plenty of cooling air underneath, increasing solar output and reducing the heat load on the air conditioners. Our 4,400w array can run both our A/Cs, our household appliances and charge our batteries from solar at the same time, even in winter. We mounted a Sungold Power all-in-one 48V, 5,000W Inverter/100A charge controller/battery charger, breakers and another Lnex battery monitor on the wall in our bedroom, saving us space as well as money compared to a system built with individual components. This all-in-one unit has the same 99% charging and 95% inverter efficiency as the Victron unit, though it lacks some unnecessary bells and whistles, saving us some serious money at only $764 for a full 5,000 watts of PSW inverter power (10,000va surge) and 100 amps of 48v charging. We chose this particular unit because it supports up to 500 volts of solar power which was needed to accommodate our 400voc solar array.
This high voltage system performs very well in low light conditions. A few days ago, it rained all day, but our high voltage array was still producing over 1,500 watts or around 35% of its rated capacity even in the rain to keep our battery topped up. Our 48v battery uses 16, 320ah prismatic cells and a 200amp Heltec BMS to keep it safe. Together with our 560ah 12v bank, we have a total of 23.5 kwh of batteries onboard - kept charged by 5,020 watts of solar. We removed our old rooftop bedroom A/C and replaced it with an EG4 28.5 seer-2, 12k btu mini-split heat pump on the upper rear of our motorhome. It's super quiet and cools as well as our 14.5k btu soft start equipped Furrion we have up front, but only draws about 1/3rd the power. This second phase provides 24/7 off-grid air conditioning and heat from the heat pump. Our total budget for both 12v and 48v systems was around $11,500, including the $1,500 high-efficiency heat pump. We have no need to hook-up to power pedestals anymore, as we run everything in our MH without it.
We travel around the country a lot, visiting National Parks, and doing the tourist thing, mostly boondock out west. We spent last winter boondocking in Yuma, AZ, but we're visiting our son in NC now where boondocking places are pretty rare. We found an RV park that is letting us camp in a spacious site without hook-ups for only $100/mo., saving us $500/mo. off their FHU rates.
Take care. We hope to see you down the road one day.
Exactly my thought on the rodents as well as moisture. That sounds like an amazing setup! Our goal is to live in ours as well in the future during the Canadian winters
Nice setup. Greetings from Jamaica.
Thank you