Naive and DIY-ing Newb

[chichi]

I had a 1973 landyacht that i am renovating myself to live in with my dog. I need assistance choosing the wiring options, if anyone is generous enough to share their know-how.

I am thinking one of the Magnum pure sine series (not sure on size, 2000W, 2800, 3000?), flexible solar panels (how many/size), and batteries (eventually lithium). I really have no idea what specifics to choose though.

I plan to power an average house, computer, stereo, led lights, 1800W oven, 45W fridge, 1700W blender, etc. NO microwave, NO TV, and my hot water heater and cook top will be propane.

I appreciate any tips!

[sgschwend]

You can use the advance search function and read about other similar projects. That would be a good starting point. You can contact your local utility and they will have the annual solar hours for your area to help select the number of solar panels.

Sounds like you won't have an RV frig, which would run on propane.

You should tabulate your daily kWhr load and then double it; so you would have a design requirement for the system. It is a good idea to have a power monitor to protect your system from being overworked.

I think you will find folks that go off grid have big systems.

[xrvr]

you need a converter, also. I think.

[TheGreatleys]

No separate converter. The Magnum inverter is also a converter/charger.

Check out technomadia.com and gonewiththewynns.com for solar/inverter systems sized around what you're asking for.

You should be able to fit around 600w of flexible solar on your roof. If you need more than that, you'll probably need a ground deploy.

I would suggest installing a combiner box on the roof and the shortest possible run of Big Whopping Wires from the box to where you will be putting your solar charge controller and inverter. Then proceed with your renovation. If you don't already have a working converter, you might want to buy the Magnum and a small battery now so that you can run your 12v system.

Pre-wiring for solar now will make it easy to put whatever panels you need on the roof later. You can see how we did it on the blog in my signature. You'll be able to live with the coach connected to shore power for a while to observe your actual usage and determine how much power you really need. Otherwise you're going to end up over- or under-buying a bunch of really expensive stuff.

[chichi]

thank you so much! very helpful info. I will scour your blog, TheGreatleys! so much info!

[rvb]

When you work out your solar system, install primary wire from the panels down to the controller that is a couple of wire sizes larger than the tables say you need. The extra cost is not much and you will have minimal voltage drop plus if you want to add more panels later you have the capacity. I added more panels and it was a real PIA to pull larger wire after the fact.