Solar Show and Tell

[gregwall]

Originally Posted by GMFL

Mike,
My project is our 2020 30’ GT. I am a solar installer that is going outside of my normal Victron systems to experiment with some new products.
The install will consist of the following
1000 watts of Zamp Obsidian prototype high voltage panels. (25 volts each) (10)100watt panels ran in 5 pairs.
MasterVolt components, including
(2) MLI Ultra 12/5500 400Ah batteries (800Ah total)
MasterVolt 5000 watt 160A inverter/charger
MasterVolt Mac plus 50A DC/DC Charger
MasterVolt MPPT 60A Charger
(2) MasterVolt Easy View 5 monitors
All BlueSea Systems fuses, switches, and other toys

So basically it’s a 800Ah battery, 5000 watt Inverter, 1Kw Solar install. Pretty big system for an Airstream.....

How cool! Can't wait to hear how it goes!

[GMFL]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

Curious as to why you decided to go with a mastervolt stack? Looks like good stuff btw...

500A blue sea. Smart. I melted a 300A version running the air con for long durations in my system and then had to upgrade

I did some research and like the system.
High Frequency charger for no “HUM”
MasterBus network was easier to install.
Battery footprint much smaller. (800Ah in just 2 batteries)
Switching capabilities with the system was nice.
All in one monitor with up to six screens.

Plus I’m always trying to learn about new stuff

[rmkrum]

Ronnie, those pictures of your design are bordering on “engineering porn”. Beautiful work!

[Ultraclassic]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

ronnie, those pictures of your design are bordering on “engineering porn”. Beautiful work!

lol

[pdavitt]

Am interested in why you did not go to a 24 or 48 volt DC setup with such a high capacity system. I live in an offgrid solar house, and have an expedition vehicle both with 48V systems. On my EV I have a 48V to 12V converter to handle the 12V loads.
Pat

[Mike46032]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

Ronnie, those pictures of your design are bordering on “engineering porn”. Beautiful work!

I was gonna say solar porn.

[rodsterinfl]

Amazing systems on this thread. I have a very modest system as I have mentioned. I watch several family RV travel channels on youtube and see their solar and listen to all the tips, etc. I keep thinking about how I camp and what they are saying about system size, etc., and continue to head a different direction.

Recently, I purchased a solar generator. I do not have it yet, the Bluetti AC200. Supposedly it can supply up to 25amps of power with various other abilities and limitations but it is lithium and self contained and designed for lithium use. It also charges from multiple sources simultaneously and can be used and charged at the same time. I keep deciding the portable direction as opposed to changing out the trailer system. My thought is that I can use the base system for a good while then switch over to the other if needed. I like the options. Maybe it is crazy but the portable panels and now generator seem to be a great option.

[GMFL]

Originally Posted by pdavitt

Am interested in why you did not go to a 24 or 48 volt DC setup with such a high capacity system. I live in an offgrid solar house, and have an expedition vehicle both with 48V systems. On my EV I have a 48V to 12V converter to handle the 12V loads.
Pat

Well..... here is why...
With higher voltage systems in Airstreams you run into a few snags that I did not want to deal with.
Basically every thing in an Airstream is 12 volts and sterling voltage down creates an inefficiency in the system.
Finding a DC/DC converter large enough to support my DC loads was difficult.
Trailer brakes are 12 volt and with the emergency disconnect system you would rely on a DC/DC converter to power that system.
DC compressor fridge also would need a DC/DC system in place.
Roof size and layout does Not allow for large series arrays on the roof so getting and keeping solar voltage up for charging would be less than ideal.
Other than the ability to run smaller wire I did not feel it was worth it for me.

I know others opinions will vary but that’s why I stayed with a 12volt system.

[wulfraat]

2 15/13.5k btu ACs running at the same time for long periods of time. 50A AC Quattro inverter/charger. 1600-2000ah 48v DC backbone. My Next upgrade [emoji4]

Actually in real life 12v in North America is so convenient if you are not going to realistically push more than 250 DC amps continuously. And that basically comes down to running a single air conditioner.

800ah is a nice size storage bank. I have 600ah. We use about 150-200ah per day not running the AC. Allows us to basically have full residential power all the time without blinking an eye.

Traveling down the road, stop for lunch, we’ll run the AC for an hour or so which is awesome.

Boondocking - super hot outside and need the AC, we’ll use the tiny honda genset and supplement batts in hybrid mode all day long as needed, which is awesome too, but only happens 1-2 times per year based on our use of the trailer which is 30-50 nights (I still work full time dang it!)

[gator.bigfoot]

Have you ever thought of running 2 systems. A 48v one and a 12 v one one different chargers and batteries. I guess it's how much you want to spend and how big 8f a sys6you want. But with 200 watts you and maybe one lithium you'd have enough for a 12 volt setup. Anyway just a thought.

Originally Posted by GMFL

Well..... here is why...
With higher voltage systems in Airstreams you run into a few snags that I did not want to deal with.
Basically every thing in an Airstream is 12 volts and sterling voltage down creates an inefficiency in the system.
Finding a DC/DC converter large enough to support my DC loads was difficult.
Trailer brakes are 12 volt and with the emergency disconnect system you would rely on a DC/DC converter to power that system.
DC compressor fridge also would need a DC/DC system in place.
Roof size and layout does Not allow for large series arrays on the roof so getting and keeping solar voltage up for charging would be less than ideal.
Other than the ability to run smaller wire I did not feel it was worth it for me.

I know others opinions will vary but that’s why I stayed with a 12volt system.

[GMFL]

Originally Posted by gator.bigfoot

Have you ever thought of running 2 systems. A 48v one and a 12 v one one different chargers and batteries. I guess it's how much you want to spend and how big 8f a sys6you want. But with 200 watts you and maybe one lithium you'd have enough for a 12 volt setup. Anyway just a thought.

Space becomes an issue pretty quick in these trailers. I work very hard to minimize the impact of my installs on usable storage space. This process takes knowing the trailer and planning the system.
We have owned our 30’ GT since mid March and I am just now laying out our system. The reason being I wanted to live with it for awhile and learn how me were going to use it, so that I could better understand where I wanted to install my components.
Two systems would just take up more space.
I’m going to have 1Kw of solar and 800Ah of lithium pushing a 5000w inverter/Charger that can charge at 160A, Plus a 50A DC/DC Charger from the truck. Not sure what else I could do. We are not planning on running 2 AC at a time nor will I be baking a turkey in the microwave. Provided we don’t have a weeks worth of dark sky’s I think we will be fine and if we do I’ll just pull out the Genconnex Honda EU2200 and then...... we will be fine again.

[gator.bigfoot]

With 1kw of solar I can't imagine ever using a gen. I run on 300 watts and don't own a gen. Even after a 4 days of dark rainy weather I'm down to 85% with AGMs. So with lithium I can't even imagine being worried. But then I just modify my habits if it looks like I wouldn't get sunshine for a while. I guess it's all how manage what you've got. I know I don't have much so I'm more aware.

[farafield]

Originally Posted by gator.bigfoot

I guess it's all how manage what you've got

Ain't that the truth. The human conundrum.

[GMFL]

System installed. We will be camping with it next week and I’ll be able to report back on the MasterVolt product performance. Hoping to have the 1Kw of Zamp panels installed before we leave... crunch time!

[kpm]

I'm looking at the Renogy 100W Eclipse panels for my 2018 25' FB. I know people have fit 4 panels on this model. Does anyone know if 6 could fit? The panels measure 40.9 x 21.0 x 1.4 inches.

[daleyocum]

By chance I have your exact trailer and used the same panels you are considering. Five is the best I could do without some crazy stuff going over the top of vents.

The combiner is circled in red. I dropped 6ga wire straight down from there through the triangular chase where the vent pipe goes to the roof in the bathroom by the toilet.

[daleyocum]

It occured to me in looking at my roof that if you really wanted to get six panels you could get there by taking off the refrigerator vent, adding a screen, and then putting a panel over the top of it. You might also add something to stop rain being driven in there as you drive down the road. I didn't have that much courage but maybe you do.

I've had good success by using a folding 100w Renogy panel on the ground in addition to those roof panels, especially in shady campsites. I have mine go into it's own 100/30 Victron Smartsolar controller so I can see both panels on my phone and my Victron Venus can manage them both. For a while I had the ground panel in parallel with the roof panels but I get substantially energy out of it by it having its own controller.

[kpm]

Originally Posted by daleyocum

By chance I have your exact trailer and used the same panels you are considering. Five is the best I could do without some crazy stuff going over the top of vents.

The combiner is circled in red. I dropped 6ga wire straight down from there through the triangular chase where the vent pipe goes to the roof in the bathroom by the toilet.

Thanks a lot for your comment and install photo.

I think I may have found a way to fit a 6th 100W Eclipse panel on my 25 FB by shifting the panel a bit toward the middle of the roof. It would require super low-profile mounting hardware and the TV antenna shadows a few cells, but I think it would fit. Here is a photo using a 41 x 21 inch piece of cardboard.



What do you think?

[daleyocum]

Clever! I think that might run into the other panel closer the edge by my combiner box if you study the photo of mine.

I personally never watch live TV so I suppose one could just remove that flying saucer antenna. That would be better for shading anyway.

It's SO convenient to drop your 6ga wire down where my combiner box is I'd be reluctant to give that up.

[kpm]

My proposed location for the 6th panel is on the driver side, roughly between the refrigerator vent and the shower fan. On your trailer, it looks like you have a some kind of wire going down the refrigerator vent (cell booster antenna?) but I suspect there would still be room there. Your solar combiner box and feed through the roof is on the opposite (passenger) side, right?