Yet Another-Another M1102 trailer Build: Need help with power and water

[Mima_470]

I recently acquired a 2012 Schutt M1102. Just finished the raptor lining in the bed and rails. Need some assist with the 12v solar system that will power an Iceco fridge, 12v strip convenience lighting, and water pump for hot showers. Also trying to figure out how to mount a freshwater water tank either under the rig between the axle and bed (just a thought but not final). The way forward with power is AGM 200ah at a minimum....I just don't have the bandwidth to build a LiFePo4 battery or funds to acquire one right now. I have searched the forums and seen some solutions but for the life of my I cannot uncover them. If anyone has done either of these projects any help or lessons learned (especially with power) would be helpful.

 

[high-and-dry]

First I am a master electrician and I used to do a lot of power on sailboats so I am a pretty good idea of what works.

First I would save the money and go lifepo4, a 100 ah battery will have the same capacity as your 200 amp agm, and weight a 100 lbs less.

Next applies to what ever battery you want. install the battery and get a fuse block to run the + wire to, you dont want a melt down. Next run to a blue sea fuse block, they are simple and work very well. Then figure out where you want your switch bank, and run a wire from each fuse to the switches. Typically you will want a water pump switch, a master light switch, and a switch for power ports ( either lighter style of usb ). The run a ground and a wire from each switch to what it feeds. You will need a ground block to tie all the grounds to and then run a larger wire to the battery ground. Dont be afraid to look up marine wire on amazon, the 14 or 16 gauge 2 conductor cable is surprisingly cheap.

If your running and inverter take its positive wire to out side of the main fuse block. Remember inverters draw basically 10 times the amps on the 12 volt side as they do on the 120 volt side. Ie you want to run something that draws 5 amps at 120 it will draw 50 at 12 volts. to figure amps from watts divide the watts by the volts.

Btw a 200 amp agm will give you about 100 amps or so of usable power, that is a lot esp for a small trailer like that. your water pump will draw about 5 amps but only when running, lights if led will only draw 2 amps. your phone might take an amp

 

[high-and-dry]

now for solar, if your out in cloudy weather a lot, or plan on running your panels remote so you can keep them in the sun, get a mppt solar charger. Its then very simple to connect the solar charger to the battery with an appropriate sized fuse. The fridge your planning will be your largest load, look up the wattage of it and buy at least that much in solar if you can. So if you fridge draws 200 watt a day, figure on 4 hours of charging to get to that so 50 watt panel will do it. if it draws 400 watts you would need 100 watts of panels. that way you know at least your fridge is covered for usage as the rest is minimal like I said above.

Also you may want to consider a battery off switch, if you do put the solar charger on the battery side of it, so even when off you still get charging.

 

[Mima_470]

now for solar, if your out in cloudy weather a lot, or plan on running your panels remote so you can keep them in the sun, get a mppt solar charger. Its then very simple to connect the solar charger to the battery with an appropriate sized fuse. The fridge your planning will be your largest load, look up the wattage of it and buy at least that much in solar if you can. So if you fridge draws 200 watt a day, figure on 4 hours of charging to get to that so 50 watt panel will do it. if it draws 400 watts you would need 100 watts of panels. that way you know at least your fridge is covered for usage as the rest is minimal like I said above.

Also you may want to consider a battery off switch, if you do put the solar charger on the battery side of it, so even when off you still get charging.

Took you advice and went with the LiFePo4 battery. Picked up a 100ah renogy with internal BMS for $750 on craigslist...new in the box. Thanks for the inputs..I will consider all this once I start drawing things up.