DIY Solar Powered Lawn Care Trailer | Full Build & Wiring
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Full build of my DIY solar powered lawn care trailer. I show wiring, solar racking, mounting the inverter & battery, plus a sneak peak at what is on the horizon for SOLARPUNKs (you people).
Affiliate & Amazon Associate links below:
Amazon Solarpunk Trailer list (tools/equipment): amzn.to/3yR0ylU
Rich Solar 200W 24V Panels: richsolar.com/...
EG4 Server Rack Battery: signaturesolar...
EG4 3000 EHV-48V: signaturesolar...
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You are responsible for your own safety, this is intended as entertainment only, consult a qualified expert, or better yet don't do anything and stay inside and watch cat videos, that's safer...
While you wait for something awesome I'm working to bring you punks, grab your inverter and battery supplies from Signature Solar (affiliate link): signaturesolar.com/?ref=SOLARPUNK and then drop your email in the box on my new website solarpunkit.com/ Punk!
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SOON™
There was a guy who built a solar powered trailer in Ithaca NY *YEARS* ago to add range to his Tesla. He's still out there on RUclips somewhere I would imagine. #ambitionstrikes
you could of used flex seal for that roof just buy a gallon of it and use a paint roller problem fixed i just did that with a camper
Thank you so much for not playing any crappy montage music during your video. At least I'm 13 minutes and 42 seconds in and I haven't heard any obnoxiously loud music.
There’s 20 seconds of music towards the end at the “mowtage” haha. Fair warning.
Same, I don’t need to hear the bass drop for every instructional video. Lol
I don’t fit either group you spoke about at the end. I just love watching novel ideas created in front of me to watch and take in. Education never stops!
Your initial marker diagram is honestly the simplest and best clear explanation I have seen yet. Kudos for that
You did a very good job going over this topic.
Hey thank you! I tried my best to be clear, concise, and offer useful info. It’s hard to include everything you can think of but also not waste people’s time with rambling. Although it helps that this eg4 system is pretty simple.
This! same feedback here. thank you SolarPunkSteve
One of the best EG4 builds I have seen so far.
Thank you for the whiteboard explanations - that always seems to clear things up for me!
I have a solar panel on my work van. I have a small fridge/freezer in there like van life people do. It’s a game changer.
Being able to have a popsicle and cold drinks on a hot day and keep healthy food on hand.
What a great installation, lve done this a couple of times in the past with great results, please please make sure you secure this trailer as some will steal it in a minute, l lost my first one like this, also it easily would make a great weekender. Jeffrey Smart from UK.
We love A This Old Tony reference. Also good looking build.
That end mowntage was amazing
Hope it was mowtivating!
Hi internet expert here, your video is definitely on the internet.
Very nice layout to allow the use of battery operated equipment. Much better installation than many professional panel maker for industrial equipment control panels.
Well done, love to see a solar panel top on the mower..
Would be nice! Although unfortunately I don’t think it’s as simple as hooking one up, the battery system in the EGO mower is a little complicated given the six battery box thing.
Put an air conditioner in that trailer. You will thank me later
Haha that would be great and believe me I’ve thought about it! However it would require a lot of power and I need as much as I can get for the lawn care. Not to mention the doors are opened and closed all the time, plus it’s got some of the worst insulation haha. Anyway, maybe the next build!
@@solarpunkstevesince it’s a trailer, is there a way to generate electricity while your rolling the trailer, and side panels should help
A mini split dosen't take that much power. Ours consumes 250W in eco mode and then it still chills a 90 square meter house.
The 5000 btu from Walmart is 360watts. It’s like $160. Just saying…
Maybe a well insulated section for breaks with ac solves both . I guess you could just sit in the Tesla at that point though
2:03 GOD YES!!! Thank you! I'm such a visual person and the fact you used the actual stuff to represent things and not symbols made this so easy to follow.
This is exactly what I've been looking for! I also run an all electric lawn care business and I just got an enclosed trailer that I pull with an F150 Lightning. Right now I've just got a 12v/400ah battery bank with a Renogy 2000w Inverter built in to the trailer and a pass-through to plug into the bed of the truck. I'm planning solar right now and trying to figure out the best way to go. It can get kind of daunting
Daunting projects are exactly what we humans need to grow. When I'm up against something that is confusing, I just "stare" at one section at a time.
Stare at it long enough, and it begins to make sense. You got this!
Brother, take win
Looks great .
I like the electrical setup. One recommendation would be to use stranded wire instead of solid wire. I don't think it will ever be an issue here, but stranded handles vibration much better. Automotive wire like GXL would work well, but I'm sure SJOOW would work fine, too. Stranded THHN typically has a low stand count and wouldn't handle vibration as well as the others.
When applying sealant onto roofs ensure you're putting it under whatever you're sealing and not just around the edges. Quad9 or 100% silicon only. The actual part that seals is what is friction held, everything else will chip off due to weathering eventually.
Great job but I would suggest you buy some low profile metal roof remove all your solar panels and put that down first and then remount everything on it because of the way it's sagging in the middle. You're gonna have problems in the future from water sitting there by using roofing material. You could run it from side to side, making the water run right off down the sides never having a problem it would fix the low spot in the middle.
You did a great job, and I'm sure your next builds will only make even better improvements. Nice work!
Great job on the video Steve! Thanks for making it.
He's prepping to be California Compliant.
Put another 1 or 2 panels on the back as an overhang and you have sun shade that makes power.
Some advice from some who has installed thousands of panels a year. For anything over a thin roof like yours, space them up higher for an air gap. Less than 4 inches of air will hold a lot of heat. 6 inches plus can actually reduce you interior heat like parking under a car cover. Could lift the panels another 3 or 4 inches, put your fan back in (or ac unit) and have a cooler trailer.
Excellent points about the height. This was very much a prototype and I was unsure how it was going to work. Version 2.0 is much improved so I’m excited to share that hopefully soon. I can’t go too high as it makes it hard for it to be aerodynamic, not to mention trees and stuff in all the neighborhoods I service.
As for your idea for panels on the back, I like it but it would be impractical for my use case, however I think it would be perfect for a camper style setup.
Do people ever use heat sinks for moving heat from underneath a solar panel?
I like videos like this, let me join in learning, thank you and greetings from Indonesia
Awesome setup, such low maintenance. Also love the little point at the screw at 6:01, pro tip to remember where you drop screws
Haha yeah I do that every time I drop something, definitely helps.
Awesome video! I would love to do this to my 7x14 trailer mobile work shop. I would like the ability to run off of shore power/generator so i can run an AC unit.
Stay tuned! I've got some surprises coming that might interest you! If only I could get a few things finished first.. Stuff can be finicky.
Thanks for super ez get to know ur system design.
Maybe for the next build consider putting the battery centered over the axle of the trailer to distribute the load and reduce the risk of damage to your battery in the case of an accident as that’s the most protected area from side and rear impacts
I see your company growing into building small off grid RV systems 👍💪💪
This is awesome bro.
Haha you Americans and your funny electrical installs.
Anyway your explaination with the marker was spot on.
Greetings from Germany!
Why is it funny ? Ans why the backhanded comment. ? Where is your nice solar build ?
Hallo! Willkommen! So most of my electrical experience comes from working on ships built by Germans! So I know exactly what you mean! Having to come back to the US and figure out how to do things in single phase 120v 60hz is actually weird and foreign to me. Why can't the US just be normal like the rest of the world?
I’ll be honest with you I don’t like your system. Marine videos brought me to my option. If your charge controller goes bad. And they do and they’re expensive. It’s better to use a small charge controller per panel. Stranded boats far in sea started this. This way the small charge controller don’t make crazy heat. And they’re cheap. Keep a spare few. Run the out put to a bus bar. As close as you can get. From there use welding wire over size. To batteries don’t forget a fuse in case of issues. With my system it is the least resistance the charge controllers don’t get hot needing a fan that’s a drain. Also I found the inverters need sized to demand need. Again many baby inverter. Like a tv that 120 volts but uses 50 but spikes to 200 is use a 300 watt inverter. My fridge start up is 500 watt yet drops to 50 watts once cooled down so there I use a 2000 watt spike leave but easy at 1500 watt. I use it to vacuum and blender on my boat. Also 250 inverter for my CPap. If an inverter goes bad I switch out by demand. This system is on my house boat. Works flawless
Hope this message find you well I’m in the Naples Fl area just wondering if I could get some ideas or direction I’m planing to get my work trailer some solar panels and get a mini split in it please let me know thanks again and love the way you explain and the visual explanation the best
That was a well edited video. Enjoyed every joke and helpful tip.
You can condense and have a smaller set up (I assume space is valuable in your trailer) by doing solar straight to a large portable power station.
Very cool. I think if it were me I would have installed a small 240V subpanel and also installed provisions for charging the Tesla off the panels. I suppose you could still L1 charge occasionally with your setup though, and might as well if you have plenty of sun.
Yeah I would do it differently if I were to do it again but part of the challenge and fun was I didn’t see anyone else doing it, or at least the way I wanted to do it so I just gave it a go. As for charging the car I have solar on the house so that really takes care of the driving I do. Lawn care is fairly demanding on power consumption so it’s not like I get tons of excess unless the trailer is parked for a while, but I would like to add some fun features to the next one.
@@solarpunksteve Plus trying to charge a 60 to 100 kWh battery from 1200W would take days. Another thing to consider is the inefficiencies of L1 charging versus L2. I've seen reports of real life number crunching where 30% of the power is wasted when using L1 for some cars.
'This Old Tony' reference made me happy😂
Love all of your This Old Tony references. He's one of my favorite channels.
Mine too!
I watched a hundred videos about installing solar, and once you actually do one and use if for a while, it all becomes clear.
Great video.
Super awesome. I've been thinking about making my garage solar powered. It's not much bigger than your trailer. Super nice video
Hey Rich! You should give it a shot! I had a lot of fun building this, just be careful with electricity, as I'm sure you're aware. And I'll get back to your email as soon as I can!
@@solarpunksteve thanks!!!
I'd rather be in Florida... But up here in Oregon, I'm having a hard time deciding on batteries... With heaters, or make a heating pad and insulated box.... Ugh. Yeah, wish I was in Florida. ;-p
Cool idea having all electric lawn care. I’m sure there’s a niche market for this throughout the country.
It's required by law now in California.
The sale of small equipment engines is banned now you can't even buy a gas pressure washer now.
Niche? It will work virtually everywhere.
Yea I was like 🤔🤦🏾♂️@@twooey8232
@@ZoeyR86love how California keeps screwing themselves over. 😆
@@heyitsbroski I live here because my wife refuses to move away and my family is here. If I was single I'd run fast
Is it possible to hang a couple panels on the side of the trailer? Of course their output wouldn’t be huge, but their advertising effect might be greater than the big logo.
Anything is possible! I think from a practical standpoint that wouldn’t be the best option for a lawn care company. Too susceptible to damage driving around neighborhoods and all over the place. But as a camping setup that might work better. Idk, I’ve seen one or two examples on a trailer and not been excited about the look and I don’t know how well they would perform, but open to the idea still.
Great Video. The white board? Amazing!! I'm in the process of trying to build one right now. I'm for sure, out of my depth! However I got the EG4 Inverter, LifePower 4 batteries, and my load center installed watching Will Prowse. Solar panels arrived yesterday so now you're my guru on the rack and tying everything together. I'll have to rewatch the bonding part (Will's was in his shop so that wasn't discussed in detail, mine, like yours, is in a race car trailer). I'll grab some tools using your affiliate links and check out your website. I think you're on to something.
I just came across your video....wow, perfect timing. I use to landscape with my uncle in central TX and I lost a good paying job recently. I was thinking about starting up my own lawn service. I never thought about using DC powered lawn mower and equipment , what a great idea 💡! Thanks for that 👍. I have a military electronics background so this solar setup should be easy for me to do. I really like how you drew out your so called schematic 🤠. I went ahead and subscribed! I'll will be planning to build one just like yours with a twist 😉. I'll be looking for your next build. Oh, and by the way.... the name of your business is brilliant! Take care ....
Hey sorry to hear about the job, hope things swing in your favor soon! As for the lawn equipment, unfortunately it’s not dc-dc charging. This system is having to convert to ac and then the chargers take that and turn it into dc for the batteries. It’s annoying but best I could do without building super custom systems that likely will void all warranties.
As for your future trailer build, either make sure you drop your email in my website solarpunkit.com or send me an email at steve@solarpunklawn.com if you’re thinking about building something soon as I have some things on the horizon that might interest you.
Man, this video was PHENOMENAL. Incredibly clear visuals and explanations, great design and attention to detail on the system, and you speak and edit far better than most 1M+ subscriber channels. Thanks for the incredible work, looking forward to videos and site updates SOON(TM) to come!
Too kind! I'm doing what I can to get more stuff out soon™ but turns out things always take longer than planned. But fear not, what's coming will be worth the wait!
Funny enough I work as a dishwasher and had this video playing in the background.
Don’t you just hate it when one of the skippable ads comes on but your hands are too soapy and it just keeps playing forever‽ it drives me nuts haha.
It’s a sign bro
In vegas that this is gonna get taken by the cartel or the chop shops. THEY STOLE A HIGH SCHOOLS MARCHING BAND TRAILERS FULL OF INSTRUMENTS! LMAO
I've had this dream since they started making electric lawn equipment. You are proof it can be done thank you. 👍🏼👍🏼
Maybe dreams really do come true!
Have you looked into bifacial panels?
I've built a few systems similar to this one (although none in a trailer, yet). You did a fantastic job - very well conceptualized, explained, and executed. Great editing as well. My only concern is that you coiled up excess wire rather than trimming it in a couple spots. This probably won't cause issues, but any coil of wire will act as an inductor to some degree. Unwanted inductance will decrease efficiency and can theoretically have undesirable effects on nearby equipment such as the inverter.
I'm not a Internet expert but I have messed around with car electronics. They use flexible wiring for exactly the reason you stated. Vibrations. Plus car wiring is all over the place and using metal for that would be a pain.
Yeah I’m used to ships/marine which is always flexible wiring but there’s this weird middle ground trying to use stuff from Home Depot/Lowe’s and also have it function for mobile applications. It’s definitely more RV but idk, I ran into trouble trying to find the perfect solution for every scenario with this build.
@@solarpunksteve pretty interesting discussion here from you two. I'd expect in the trailer it doesn't move around much but if I were you I would put just some wire in a dummy outlet on a hard conduit and screw it into the wall, check back on it in a few years and see if it did do anything
@@solarpunksteve I'm pretty sure the main reason they don't use flexible wiring in more applications is cause it is more expensive. in homes that don't move and you are rarely adjusting the wire they don't need flexible wiring. cars have a ton of vibrations and it's common to have to adjust or fix the wiring. plus it makes it more DIY friendly. easier to splice into and what not.
But overall as long as the gauge is up to spec I don't think it matter which one you use.
Hard habit to break is parking the job trailer in the shade! I still forget with my solar golf cart and park it in the shade!
So I’m curious “punk” on how much you charge for your service ? Driving a Tesla for lawn service.
The build is great, but also PRO level editing. Well done!
"Nothing worse than shifty batteries."?
How about nuclear war?
Love your attention to detail. Great idea starting an all electric lawn service.
I'd love to see a cost breakdown of all the components that went into this. Looks like about $4500+ random odds and ends? Great work.
Great video! Maybe Will Prowse can weigh in. It certainly to be properly sorted.
I have 6x12 trailer i copy you ideal go solar
Great job... one big tip.... you ready... When you do a build like this... since it's mobile... think .... mobile as in... doo your build on a 4 x 8 sheet of plyboard two sheets if needed... do them outside of the enclosed trailer... in sections if you need to... then... assemble.. as in attach the panels aka custom eco gear setup charging / monitoring control center.. in your trailer on rails... 8020 or strut or whatever else you decide to use,, another words build your system so it can be easily removed t put in a new trailer later trailer .. if you upgrade .. ya feel me.. you'll have less holes in your trailer and it can be removed replaced pr repaired easily.. Think mobile !
A bell box and a weather proof cover but then you chose a non "weather resistant" GFCI receptacle?
Budget cuts 🤷♂️
@@solarpunksteveas long as you keep the cover closed in the rain it should be ok. I will say in my electrical career I’ve pulled out two or three standard GFCIs from outdoor installations that were completely melted in the back… could be water, could be loose connections… never seen it happen with a WP GFCI. Since the outlet is inside the trailer I wouldn’t worry about it
@@j2468dm I had an inspector demand gfci receptacles inside an electrical room because he said "I think someone might use an extension cord with this outlet so it needs to be gfci." AHJ can say made up things and we just said ok sir no problem.
Yeah my main concern was operating electrical equipment in a potentially wet environment and getting electrocuted. The outlets themselves don’t really see any water/moisture being inside the trailer.
Most of the systems I’ve worked with on ships are GFCI breakers and then just standard outlets around the exterior of the vessel with “watertight” covers over them. The good shipbuilders would put the outlets in a deck locker and also have a cover over them. But even just the exterior covered ones lasted pretty long that way and ironically the only trouble we ever did have with them was due to crew (deckhands) doing dumb stuff 😂.
Excellent video. You provide a lot of very useful information.
I love what you're doing here and might do something similar for construction work. Am an internet expert/EE - There are easier and cleaner ways to do your electrical, but your system is well built, clean and has redundant/extra safety measures. If you ever do this again, consider a Combination Service Entrance Device like the SO1020M100S. Why? All your breakers in one spot, and you have space for an off the shelf meter to track your energy usage/efficency, and those off the shelf meters are typically +/- 0.2% accuracy (your inverter may be +/- 2%). Don't care about the meter? Go with a NEMA 3R rated 8 or 10 space load center without a preinstalled main circuit breaker.
Yeah it's awesome.. I don't think I would have used those specific panels I probably if was going to do this would have gotten the KB Solar MODULE-KBS450-MONO x6 and then installed it. They are 41 Volts and 10 amps a panel. So six of them in Series would be like 246 Volts roughly and 10 amps for a max wattage of 2,460 watts. I also think I would have invested in a Shutter Exhaust Fan for the wall of the trailer Preferably somewhere toward the front to draw air one way through the trailer in hopes to bring the temps down while in the trailer especially with the inverter heat. Just a thought also if you want to go insane on the grounding for lightning protection you can have a portable ground rod for when your stopped and a ground reel like you would have for airplanes for refueling. Look up Motorola R56 Manual they have an insane diagram about grounding that will maybe spark some ideas. Great stuff keep up the good work!
Also does your big EGO batteries ever not charge if they’re hot or overheated? I use EGO and have a fast charger but if the battery level goes below 2 lights sometimes it just sits in the red and charges super slow on the fast charger…I can only narrow it down to hit being hot, needs to cool down and battery to low
Hmm, honestly I haven’t experienced that so far. I don’t use the rapid chargers in my trailer but rather 4 of the smaller chargers for my tools and then the big ego mower charger for my lawn mower which is trying to charge 6 batteries at once so the power is split between them keeping each at ~400W max. I noticed that the chargers are activating the internal fan to try and blow air through the battery as soon as you place it on the charger and I can see the power will ramp up and down for the first few minutes after throwing it on the charger so it might be doing exactly as you said, waiting for it to cool down a bit before ramping up the amperage. I’ve done a little testing recently and noticed even though it starts charging after being used it actually gets cooler sitting on the charger than it was when I pulled it off the tool. So those little fans in the chargers really do help. Also, I rarely ever use my battery past two or three bars. I don’t like to run out on a property and batteries hate being discharged to empty so it’s just easier for me to swap batteries often since I’m in and out of the trailer all the time.
@@solarpunksteve yeah I definitely agree and I’m tracking. On the rapid charger I do hear the fan but definitely think it’s because I’m running it down so low and it being 100+ degrees here in Texas the battery probably needs to cool down first. I run my lawn car side business out of my other car which is. VW so right now I’m just having to work with what I got until I find a truck. I have a 10 ah and a 6ah battery along with a 2 all ego so if I cut two yards I’m pretty much on one battery bar left if not dead but I get what you’re saying that probably does play a big part. Going to try to get 1 more big battery and I think that’ll help. Thanks for the feedback and responding! Love the channel and love all of the “E” everything. That’s the route I’m trying to go, I have solar panels on my roof and drive a Tesla and of course all the EGO PRODUCTS.
@@tonyssmarttechandtravel if you could also buy a battery like a ecoflow river to power a simple fan it can help cooler your battery while it is on the charger. More ego batteries will also help because then you can swap between them like SolarPunkSteve does.
@@uhjyuff2095 yeah, it’s a good idea but this is when I’m plugging into clients power outlets. The 700 W has a fan but I think the Texas sun is just too much
If not yet cmmented on: Never use solid wires in a moving environment - they and the connections will take harn through vibration over time ...
Wait a minute if this is electric. That means all of your lawn tools are electric.
What was the total cost of the project minus the chargers for your equipment
Love the idea but one concern. Normally, the trailer lights use the trailer frame for grounding and grounded to the car/truck and it's a 12v system. I'd be concerned of potential electrical issues. You're playing with some higher voltages.
True, and this is why the 48V system is not connected to the frame at all. Only the casing of the battery, solar panels, and inverter are bonded to the trailer frame in order to try and protect myself from becoming that bond in case of a fault. So hopefully I won't have any issues, but you're right, it is something to watch out for and maybe I'm still doing something wrong.
Bro, install a portabel AC/air conditioner
That would be so nice! Unfortunately then I wouldn’t have enough power to mow all my yards haha
One of my mowing crews runs all electric mowers, trimmers and blowers. It’s an up charge. Mostly old folk communities or daycares pay for it. We charge overnight in trailer and with a 10000 watt Honda generator while driving. Plan on buying more for next season.
That's awesome Tye! What mowers and equipment are you running? How does your crew like it? Is the maintenance for your electric equipment trailer indeed less than your gas trailers? I've heard of a few people doing it like that with a generator between jobs and honestly I think it's a great middle-ground even though it seems silly to charge the battery equipment with a gas/diesel generator. I think a lot of people are missing the point with the electric vs gas lawn care debate. Sure, the emissions from gas lawn care are really bad and I would love if we could solve that asap, but most homeowners aren't complaining about that fact, they just hate the noise of the gas stuff (namely blowers). But as a lawn care professional it's currently cost prohibitive and difficult to run all-electric in every scenario, so we have to find some solution that's feasible and cost effective. Thanks for sharing!
i suggest getting some 4ga cable wire both uni-strut to each other and attache it to the tongue jack if it has a steel foot. this is a path to discharge a lightning strike add a lightning arrester to the solar pv lines and tie it to the frame in a worse case this will protect all your gear inside and maybe even a few panels in a direct hit for most the USA the odds are very low but in the south east the odds are crazy high
It would be pretty neat if you could apply region breaking to the trailer axle to use for trailer brakes and more power.
That would be cool! But the car actually regens so technically it’s not lost (I hardly ever use my real brakes), just not used for recharging the trailer. I suppose if I had a F-150 Lightning or Cybertruck etc then I could use any recovered power in lawn care or driving!
"EG4 3000 EHV-48"
I don’t love it either, but honestly the ECO Flow Delta/Max/Pro/Ultra/River/2/Mini is a little hard to figure out in my opinion 😂
Like just give me the inverter rating and the battery wattage. That’s all I’m after.
I think i will use your idea in my mancave which is a long way from the house, but only uses 120v 1 circuit. Good job.
6:17 Best to keep them the same power cables. Having a service line is okay. But you keep the same resistance on both the positive and negative line equal both being the same length. Great job on the build. I subbed. I'm looking to do something like this.
great build! I also have a semi solar powered mowing trailer. solar panels on the ute canopy and battery\charging system in a trailer mounted toolbox. my ute and mower are still oil burners but the rest of my gear is Makita battery powered. unfortunately I don't make enough money to afford a battery mower and a battery powered trayback ute is non existent in my country.
You should invested in a New Trailer since all that money invested in a rusted bucket.
True, but it was either a new trailer OR solar, I couldn't afford both and I wanted to see if this would work before investing in a brand new trailer anyhow. I can of course move this system to a new trailer when the time comes fairly easily.
Honestly no disrespect, love the set up and I guess yeah can’t do both I understand your point of view.
This is the coolest video. My favorite part was when you got that dicor calk on your finger, you showed the tube in the video.
Was waiting for this one to drop! Thanks for posting this, the idea of a fully electric lawn company is so cool. I just picked up my own EGO push mower a month or so ago and it's been great so far.
This is rad! Nice video. You think you might add a second battery? Or is the 100ah 48v plenty?
So far it’s been enough for what I’ve needed to do. If it’s a cloudy day, I do have to recharge it back at the house to be ready for the next day. A second battery would definitely be helpful, especially if working with another person on the crew. Trouble is this trailer can’t take too much more weight, definitely need to upgrade to a tandem axle trailer for the next build!
Nice, clean work 🙂
Glad you like it!
My only concern is ventilation for the trailer. I’m sure it gets hot, and that’s not good for charging batteries. Are you going to add a vent to the side wall or something?
One thing that’s kinda cool (pun intended) about having solar on the roof is that they shade it pretty well. So I don’t get that huge radiant heat that you normally do in a metal box, but yes it definitely still gets hot in the trailer. I didn’t show in the video but I installed two side vents after building the system and also added a low-profile vent to the roof where the old one was. It works pretty well but I think for the next build I will install some sort of powered fan to help extract hot air. No matter what though it’s hot and humid in Florida so there’s no escaping that unless you install A/C! Haha, but that would consume all the solar power I produce, defeating the purpose.
This video is awesome! I’ve been researching electric lawn care for a few weeks now and can’t stop thinking about it. You’ve got the trailer build down pat!
Out of Curiosity, Had you thought of adding a charger for the Tesla to allow you to trickle charge it while you are working or is that not a good idea?
Well, the amount of solar you can fit on the roof just isn’t as much as you need to be able to charge the car all day. And unfortunately I need all the power I can get for the lawn equipment since that’s a pretty power hungry thing. But if it were parked for a long time and I didn’t need to mow, I could slowly charge the Tesla! It would be more efficient if I have 240v charging as the 120v to the Tesla is pretty inefficient.
wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy gas equipment?
Yes.
Why wire up everything before dealing with the roof, that should have been done first?
The roof wasn’t actively leaking that I could tell, I only really discovered the rust after pulling the ceiling panels down. That and I was actually using the trailer to mow lawns while I was building this system over a few weeks so I wanted to get the battery/inverter system installed asap so I could charge while I was out on clients properties. But I’m with you, in an ideal world the roof would have been fixed first or I would have just started with a new trailer without issues.
If you could add more Lifepower batteries for more power storage would you be able too with your setup?
I would! I'd have to re-arrange some things but the inverter can handle another battery no problem. Right now though I'm pretty limited on weight in my trailer, need a new rig soon! haha
Only thing i would do is add ground to the trailer frame. This makes that you have a universal earth.
So technically it’s bonded to the frame via the solar panel array bond. I probably could have shown that better but yeah, everything is bonded.
Technically burning wood which we've been doing since prehistoric times burn nature's solar panels: plants.
Yes, but that would have made my intro much longer haha. Not to mention oil is dead algae that’s been compressed over millions of years. Technically we are burning what the sun produced there too.
A tree branch deflector at the front of the trailer may be a good idea? kinda deflect any branches up and over.
It’s a good idea! The panels are pretty robust and the branches I have hit just slid over the top of the panels (makes a terrible noise) and so far haven’t left any damage. But would be good to at least have something to keep them from maybe getting stuck under the first panel.
Can't wait until the next build, so freaky cool
Me either! I think you’re going to like it, I’m super excited to share what I’ve been working on.
Great build! Any pros / cons of using an all in one system like a EcoFlow Delta Pro or Max?
Some cons: Inverter output capacity. Then you have cost of battery storage; $/wh is significantly higher although you usually get some benefits there: all-in one system, no additional wiring required etc. One other reason I could see them being not quite the right fit would be the solar array. I see they usually have a low voltage requirement on the solar arrays and in some cases have proprietary connectors or just generally not the best options for solar. Sure there’s probably something from one of them that will work just fine, but they weren’t a great option when I first started looking to build this and I also wanted to keep my costs super low initially since I had no idea if any of it would work out long term.
Pros are definitely ease of setup, mainly because there is none. No wiring, no shopping for fuses/breakers/etc. and of course depending on what you get you could pull it out of the trailer and take it with you/bring it into the house.
Those tape cable tie downs will definitely come loose. I see them all the time at work. It might be best to make or buy a tie bar
The ones on the wall are screwed in. I just didn’t show much of that in the video, but so far and to my surprise the ones on the metal are still holding on without anything helping them. But I know what you mean, the adhesive usually lets go after a while. We’ll see!
how's the bus going mate?
It’s still there! Haven’t had time to work on it unfortunately. Trying to push through a big project right now and then I might be able to start getting some work done. Thanks for asking!
Another awesome video! I sent you an email but not sure if you check your email regularly
Hey Jason! Yes I did get your email, been meaning to respond but been swamped. Should have some time soon!
First ever 69 + subs slip in that made me subscribe!! LOL
Nice.
I need your help installing one I live in St. Cloud Florida so not too far from you
Hey Steven, send me an email about what you're trying to do! Steve@solarpunklawn.com
Extremely informative and awesome video! (Also a complete novice here).
Would excessive heat potentially damage the electrical components when the trailer is closed during work? Any cooling considerations in the future for all the batteries and components?
Hey thanks for being curious! So, heat is definitely a problem for electronics of any kind really. The EGO and EG4 equipment have specifications on operating temperatures and during charging/discharging, so it's important to take this into account when installing somewhere. In my case, everything technically stays under the operating limits for temperatures, but it definitely gets hot inside the trailer! That's partly from the charging going on, but mostly just because it's parked outside in central Florida on top of hot asphalt. I do have some vents (on the sides and a small one on the roof) that help a little but I'm also opening the doors often to get in and out with equipment and such so it doesn't stay an oven the *entire* time. I would like to add a powered vent fan to the next one, I think that would help a lot.
@@solarpunksteve Thank you for taking the time to reply back to my question. Would love to see an instalation video on the fans using your wiring expertise!
Not a expert but you should probably ground it to the actual frame and cover all the wire with a metal cover so if you hit them with a tool or something they won't break also add a emergency stop buttons at the front and back of the trailer that cuts solar and battery. Fire extinguisher ball ○-○