Green as can be. Have never worked with solar. But this has become something I wish to learn as I recover from a major accident and have nothing but time. I still have months of recovery time, getting back to walking, ect. and basically now retired. My plan in the future is to get a truck camper and just travel the USA. I have always been a hands on person choosing to learn it myself then pay anyone to do it. I.E. the house I live in I built entirely by myself. Nothing new scares me, I just need to learn it. NOW.
Looking at truck campers I see they are now including a small 12v system with maybe 400w of panels to only handle the limited 12 v systems on board. 4 corner jacks, lights, 12v frig, heater blower motor. They are leaving the AC to shore power. They are not using an inverter to power that and regardless, the 12V system with only 200ah of lithium batteries would be drained in a 4 hours using a converter.
I have watched as many video’s as I can find about RV and travel trailer systems and think I can find the room to install a like system. The battery bank being the biggest space eater.
Here is my plan and I welcome any and all input. First. From top to bottom. Go from 12v to 24v. Change out the two 12v, 200w panels and go with four, 24v 250w panels and put in series. From my calculations I can still run with the #10 wire from 12v system and not have to find routing to snake in a new run. Remove existing 12v inverter and 12v batteries. Remove existing transfer switch. Remove 12v charger. Keep all #10 wire. Now here is what propose. Cost not a concern.
Fused and switch, 1000w solar into a Victron SmartSolar Charge Controller (150V 45A Tr) (Everything will be Victron) > Setting up the rest of the system.
Victron Energy MultiPlus-II Inverter/Charger 3000VA 24V 70A. Energy lynx distributor and energy lynx shunt. M8.
Energy Cerbo GX MK2 and screen.
Two or three , 250ah lithium batteries.
Being I will still have to power 4 camper jacks rated at 25amp each, a fresh water pump rated at 5 amp, a 12v frig max rating at 10 amp, furnace blower rated at 4 amps max, and the rest of the 12 v lighting I am going I THINK (please correct me here if I am wrong as I could maybe be over building here based on max amp loads) need TWO Victron Energy Orion 24/12-V 70A DC-DC Converters. What I would like to also know concerning this 24v to12v system is wire size and fuse needed from the distributor to the converters. Wire size from shunt to batteries. Wire size from distributor to Energy MultiPlus-II Inverter/Charger 3000VA 24V 70A and fuse size.
I have this drawn out as a working schematic and have seen more then a few videos showing this system as being feasible on a stationary mount and RV but not seen in a truck camper. (size) My goal is to have a dependable system to run AC at 120v. Will be installing a newer AC that has a multistage compressor and a slow start of 4 to 4.5 amps and a max draw wide open of 1,330 watts and about 11.6 amps. (No 30 amp spike at start up) The new AC is for a large RV and not a limited space truck camper so will run much less.
I have dogs and if going on a 5 hour excursion or having an emergency of a hospital stay want to know I can keep the AC running for minimum of 2 days from fully charged battery power and daily charge. This is for only if shore power is not available. Staying overnight say at a pull off or dry camp for a couple days. Shore power still an option.
I look forward to peoples ideas and concerns on this proposed system. Nothing has been bought. Remember I am totally new to this.
Sounds like a fun project. Smart to do your homework up front before you buy. We went with a 24V Multiplus on our coach. Four residential 425W panels with a 75/15 for each, but that would require new wires for you.
For the 12V house system, we used a single Victron 70A set at 12.6V that feeds a small AGM buffer battery mainly to handle a heavy hydraulic pump load. I’ve considered changing ours to the newer Orion XS1400 50A for the efficiency and the monitoring capability. Not much on our 12V side, lights, fans, water pump, and control stuff.
For us a 120V A/C overnight wasn’t a viable option, 15KBTU Dometic. It would start up great, but pretty quickly drew down our 300Ah battery. A large A/C might just short cycle in a smaller space. The new DC air conditioners are pretty nice, we have a cheap 24V unit for our bedroom that we run all the time. Also a DC unit doesn’t compete with the microwave & coffee pot for inverter but it does compete with battery recharge. Inverters are lossy, don’t ignore that when you’re estimating run times. Minimum 2 days on A/C is going to require a lot of battery, think about recharge time at 70A cold & maybe 800W of solar for a few hours. We rarely see more than 1,200W out of 1,700W of panel, even when clean.
Love the Cerbo. The Victron screens are too small for my old eyes, a 10" Android tablet with the Victron app is what we have. Their VRM is great for keeping watch on your system while you’re away.
The newer soft start inverter furrion AC called the cube was designed for solar AC system in mind. 11k btu. The draw at start up hasn’t the spike in amps and has a multi stage compressor. So at night it is pulling a lot less when the need isn’t as great. This YouTuber has a good series of videos explaining his solar installation using all victron components. His choice of using the Furrion strictly on solar I had to watch a few times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cxdiqVTYNc&list=PLXL0DAEhCeezmQ3k_OOmDcIcEgkuXqfFa
I haven’t seen a 11K unit, but I have been waiting for something in the 15K range that has a heatpump.
I did watch his Chill Cube video. Impressive system. I’m wondering where that extra energy went. According to his data the solar produced 25% more than consumption but still lost 30% battery SOC.
I’ve watched this one a few times. The data setup appears to be a bit more rigorous, and he talks about power factor and reactive power. I’m not certain but it appears Victron measures real power, I think the battery has to supply both. That could be a large part of his discrepancy above?
If space allows, I’d fit a Quattro straight away.
That way, you’ll have the option of adding a generator later, or using another emergency power source while stationary, without first having to switch your system over manually (especially if you’re away for a longer period and may be able to make local use of a PV system, this could be useful).