12v Electrical Questions

[Jerkeejoe]

I'm building a small trailer right now for my RTT and to carry gear. I'm likely going to add a battery bank and solar panel so I can run an ARB reefer and some lights, charge phones, etc. I'm a complete noob to low voltage stuff, so I've been doing a lot of reading.

I think I want to end up with a couple deep cycle AGM batteries with parallel connection running to a master switch and then fuse box. I'll install a small outlet panel with a couple 12v outlets and a couple 110 outlet and then also install a small inverter for light duty phone charging and stuff like that. I have a small Honda 2000 generator that can be used for charge and want a solar panel as well that will ride on a pull out under my RTT.

I have a thousand bucks worth of Home Depot gift cards, so I've been looking around to see what they have that I can use. I'm currently considering the following:

2 of this battery: Battery
Solar Panel Kit: Solar

Any reasons I shouldn't go this route? Any input on the Home Depot components? For reference, here is a link to my trailer build thread: Trailer Build

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[FlipperFla]

Looking at the specs. Its a polycrystalline, a monocrystallines are more efficient. Seems over priced, you can buy a mono 175w around 9A on Ebay for $199. Not familiar with the controller, the one HD reviews wasnt impressed, I have had good results with morningstar. Batteries got good reviews. When you purchse your inverter make sure it is a pure sine wave and dont skimp on cable size to the inverter and the cables to parallel the batts. Blue Seas Systems website has the wire size chart, and I would highly recommend Blue Seas hardware, fuse and fuse blocks. I good site for inverters is DonRowe.com. Maybe buy some cool power tools with the HD cards! Also when configuring battery location remember not to go too far forward and have too much tongue weight.

 

[dreadlocks]

Ive had nothing but terrible experiences with AGM batteries, I'd suggest you buy 2 6v golf cart batteries for just a little more money.. you'll get alot more capacity and longevity out of em.

That solar setup would just barely be adequate for running an ARB fridge, I know because I had a 100aH AGM battery, a 100W solar panel w/MPPT charger, and an ARB Fridge.. it worked, but the battery only lasted 2 seasons.. If you have any other loads you plan on putting on like a heater/fan, etc you'll want the ability to add more capacity.. It takes a long time to fully charge lead/agm batteries, if you dont want to run your generator all day every day its a good idea to overbuild your solar setup, or at least plan for additional capacity down the line.

 

[Jerkeejoe]

After looking a bit more maybe I should get a couple mono panels and build myself a "briefcase" type solar panel setup that I can use for things other than just the trailer. Anyone done this?

 

[dreadlocks]

yeah thats what I was using when I was tenting out of my lil 4x6 trailer..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LXG4AXS/
https://www.amazon.com/Genasun-GV-10-Pb-12V-Volts-Charge-Controller/dp/B01MST881K/

Install the charge controller near the battery.. since I was tent camping I made my setup portable:


they worked for keeping the ARB fridge running, I had tried a flexible panel first but it quickly got damaged.. 100W was about bare minimum though, when I added an inverter and lighting it was just extending my runtime.. still could get through a weekend outing easy, but a week long or two week adventure.. I needed much more power, didnt get nearly enough direct sunlight in forests and pacific nortwest, I didnt have a generator or any way to charge but solar and jumper cables to my tow vehicle, you got the generator so that should help offset that need..
Just get a good battery charger and a low voltage disconnect to protect your battery bank and I think you'd be golden.. that was my lessons from this project, I think I'd of got more life out of it had I built those into it and had a generator to revive it.. but I've abused lead batteries far worse and still had em recover and perform, just with some capacity loss.. the AGM just gave up on life all together and would not hold any charge at all.. and that happened last year durring the eclipse, lost a bunch of food in yellowstone after I let it run too dry not paying attention to it.

 

[Alloy]

For our battery upgrade the choice was either FLA (flooded lead acid) or Lithium. Lithium would be idea but the payback and our low (0F) temp use had me sticking with FLA.. . . . sooner or later I'd screw up and charge the Lithoum before the (whole) battery was above 34F.

For portable solar we have 4 roof top panels that we set up on the ground. One or two panels would be enough for summer but for winter use more capacity (less sun and heater running) is needed.

The panels are connected to the controller with 4-50' hand made extension cords. With 2 cords connected (100ft) the wire is sized so the voltage loss from the panels is 1%-2%.