Building first auxilary power system

[Mass_Mopar]

Love the details guys! I just picked up a 45qt Whynter and I have a 40W panel kicking around, thinking about building out a full aux kit to keep the fridge running for a weekend in the woods. Where's the best place to shop for marine/deep cycle batteries? Locally or online?

 

[calicamper]

Thanks! I think it was around $500 for the solar set and all I've put into the battery box.

Just for reference I have about half that tied up in a 18ah battery, 50cal ammo box and $27 street lamp solar charger, and soon to be 20watt two 10watt panel renogy set up. Very very light use needed just a couple of LED lights 3 amps worth and basic small item charging station.

 

[crusaderJK]

I updated my battery box.

Things I did:

-Wire the loads/power outlets to the charge controller instead of directly to the battery. That way I can get an SOC reading of the battery and I can view the current draw.
-Add an Anderson connector for a faster connection to the solar panel.
-Add a dual USB socket.
-Made the single USB socket switchable to just leave the LED light in there and switch it on and off.


Battery box with the additions. Display mode: SOC


Charge controller display modes:
A - Voltage
B - Amps from solar panel
C - Amps to battery
D - Amps currently drawn
E - Total Ah gained
F - Total Ah used