MEGA Off-Grid ELECTRICAL Setup! DESIGN and DIMENSIONING of FULL ELECTRIC Overlander System, NO GAS!

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6 ай бұрын

In this video we will take you through our electrical system in our Unimog Expedition Truck, as many people wanted to know how we run our truck completely electric without gas. Lots of people especially are interested in how we can run our AC unit all night, just off of our battery. While it is a combination of big battery bank and efficient residential split system, we dimensioned our battery system for exactly that sort of case. Even if we run our AC all night we still only use about 25% of our total battery capacity! We want to take this opportunity to explain how to dimension an electrical system while you are in the design phase so you also can have your AC run all night.
While we have recommended lots of products like residential solar panels, solar inverter, appliances and a split system, we must add that installing these in a mobile application will most likely void any warranty on these products. While we have not had anything fail, it may happen and it could be a manufacturer will not allow a warranty claim due to the area of installation. If in doubt and you want to have a warranty, check with the manufacturer before installation.
We start with the basics, an off-grid application always has a battery at it's core, which can be charged by solar (or wind etc.) a DC-DC charger and a generator. We personally don't have any use for a generator and therefore don't carry one around.
If you are interested in our battery video check it out here:
• ULTIMATE DIY BATTERY B...
While we ordered our cells from Aliexpress, if you don't want to take that sort of risk you can get them in Australia at LiFePO4 OZ: lifepo4oz.com/
Our inverter is from Voltacon in the UK. It is a 5kVA unit and hooks up to 24V battery:
voltaconsolar.com/conversol-5...
Our DC-DC charger is from LiFePO4 OZ and can be found here:
lifepo4oz.com/collections/dc-...
In the second part of the video we describe how to dimension your system using a basic example of 3 appliances. If you want to do this you need to add all of your appliances and the times you plan on running them to get an accurate sizing for your battery bank. Remember you also need to be able to charge this up again with your solar setup or DC-DC charger.
We also go into the different voltages of systems as well as things like wire sizing and fusing. If you are not sure about any of these, we highly recommend seeing an electrician. While designing and building a system like this may be fun, it is also one of the main sources of fires in campers and off-grid setups. We always recommend enlisting the help of a trained professional to minimize this risk!
If you have any questions feel free to leave us a comment or send us an email (address below).
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❓ If you have any questions feel free to comment or contact us.
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Unimog Tour: • Mercedes-Benz Unimog U...
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Mog Conversion (the whole playlist): • Unimog Moggy - DIY Exp...
PS: If you wanna see pictures of Moggy as well as live-updates about our conversion, check out our Instagram Account (patandjele).
PPS: You can find this video in our blog post as well, at jpadventures19.com, where you can read all about our adventures, travelling through Australia, as well as the conversion of Moggy soon!
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Disclaimer:
Pat and Jele has made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided in this video. However the information is provided "as is" without guarantees of any kind. Pat and Jele do not accept responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality or reliability of the information contained in this video. Pat and Jele shall not be liable for any loss, damage or injury of whatever kind, which may arise as a result of your use of (or inability to use) the information provided in this video. Use this information at your own risk. Pat and Jele cannot guarantee against improper use or unauthorized modifications of the information in this video and recommends safe practices when working on vehicles or with tools seen in this video.
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Пікірлер: 31

@Hipporider 6 ай бұрын

Excellent stuff and thank you for not having background music 🇦🇺

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed!

@andyg9991 6 ай бұрын

Great job Patrick explaining what can be a very complicated issue , in a simple, easy to understand way. 24v for me and as you said, cable size difference is massive even going from 12 to 24v

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Thank you. Yes 24V is the way to go if you run a lot of AC appliances but still run a DC-DC off an alternator! Try bending a 150mm^2 cable :D

@Romeo-kp8tc 6 ай бұрын

I designed my own system 17yrs ago , while building my own van, I put a basic system in, 2/ 260 amp hr, Full River batteries wet cell, Lasted 12 yrs, Now have 2/ 270 amp hr AGM, batteries, Now over 5 yrs , So my system has a back-up 45 amp charger, 500 Watt panels, 1000 watt inverter, All power goes through marine DC, control panel, Never had a problem, Runs Fridge, lights , pump, TV, Dvd, etc, All day every day, Liked your way you explained everything, Correct wiring size is very important, All my main lines are battery cable, Thanks for explaining, Cheers Bevan 🤠🦘🦘🇦🇺

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Thank you! Wow 12 years off a flooded cell is pretty good 👍in the end it is great to be able to have everything you need/want like TV and lights and not have worry about it. Yes wire sizes are very important!! Glad you enjoyed :)

@cruisin_our_country 6 ай бұрын

Explained very well and very informative

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@napierroffey-mitchell6553 6 ай бұрын

Thanks, Pat. That was most interesting and taught me stuff I didn't know. I thoroughly enjoy your (and Jele's) travels. The Australian Government should pay you both for promoting this country. I suspect you've lured dozens of Europeans here because of your series. And Helgeth and Unimog should give you a brand new 535 as your next Expedition vehicle to promote their range.

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Thank you and glad you enjoy. Yes we hopefully can inspire people to also get out there and travel even if it isnt to the most remote places in Australia. That would be nice, maybe you can recommend that to them 😉

@GabrielGonzalez-rp5qb 6 ай бұрын

Legend Pat 👍🏼

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Thanks amigo 😉

@jonr473 6 ай бұрын

Thanks guys that was brilliant for me 👍

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Glad it makes sense! :)

@Werkar27 6 ай бұрын

Awesome work mate. Your Unimog is the only one I've seen with a 21kwh capacity and the I loved the build vid. You did great a great job of building the bank with prismatic cells. I love to see the vids where caravan sales people are showing off a van and claim power for days, when in realty it's just 5Kwh.😂😂 Also wouldn't it be great if everyone used Kwh instead of Ah. Cheers mate. We are all waiting for the all elusive room tour on your channel, I saw it on Ronny's🤣🤣

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Thank you! Yeah I don't understand how the caravan industry labels some of their stuff sometimes. I have seen caravans that have no inverter..... But correct they claim being monster systems with 5 or 6 kWh batteries and then people try to run 1.2 kW DC air-con units off them 😅 I hope so too, we've gotten too many "how many Ah do you have"..... ahhh yes that was just a quick run down, ours will be a bit more in depth 😉

@andrefischer5025 6 ай бұрын

Nice one! Explaining it all in simple terms can’t be easy when you know the depth of it

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Maybe that's all I know ;) It actually gives you a better understanding when you have to try and explain it in simple terms!

@overlandingomar 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for an excellent presentation of your electrical system. I’m in the process of installing a 48v system for the same reasons you’ve mentioned. Most of what you said made sense, except for the bit about the “class T fuses”. I have a zbeny 2 pole 500v, 250 amp circuit breaker to isolate my 4xDyness Lifepo batteries 50amp hour each, so 200amp hour @48 volts. Where in the system are you saying the T fuses need to be?

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Yes there are so many components out there for 48V it is pretty cool to work with! The class T fuse should be installed after your battery, pretty much where your circuit breaker is, as the circuit breaker may not be able to intterupt the required AIC (Ampere Intterupt Current). Simply put if your batteries fail internally they may output such a high current that it will arc over your circuit breaker and can cause fire. That is why Class T fuses are recommended for all LiFePo4 battery banks.

@muzzarobbo 6 ай бұрын

just a little nitpicking but ohms law is V=IR rather than W=VA

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Correct, but it is part of the Ohms Law theorems. Theoretically it is derived from the Joule Lenz law but I was trying to keep it simple.

@fujiwaratofushop 6 ай бұрын

Always thought AH was silly way of measuring battery capacity. I was watching your older video on the battery setup a few nights back and notice you are running a balancer on your pack, most videos I have watched say it causes more issues then solved, whats your experience? do you use the balancer or was it just for the initial top balance? Also do you have the 3d models for the busbar/class T fuse holder you showed off in the older video? Thanks!

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Yes it is and we always have a good laugh when people ask us about our capacity. Yes active balancers should only be used when charging at the very top end, ours comes on at 3.35V cell voltage. Leaving it on permanently will cause issues (usually the last cell will be out of balance). I do have the 3D models but have modified it a bit to allow for sleveing. But send us an email and I can send you the files :)

@fujiwaratofushop 6 ай бұрын

I read up on the DALY BMS and I now know why you run the balancer. Im sure I will get the same questions, I have similar size battery bank to you except I have 32 280ah cells, I couldnt resist seems they were so cheap now. @@PatandJele

@RolandOfGileadOnYT 6 ай бұрын

Nice video, one thing though: no such thing as "12v or 24v panels", you always need a solar charge controller and the panels need to output a higher voltage than the nominal voltage of the battery bank. So if you have a 24v battery bank (25,6v nominal for LiFePO4), and you use a panel that outputs say, 24v, you would still need to serialize at least 2 to get the solar charge controller to actually charge the battery, because if you don't the voltage won't be high enough. So don't get fooled by people selling "12v panels" or "24v panels", it's a useless description.

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

Thank you. I don't know too much about those panels but I believe they advertise them as 12 or 24V panels but they output a bit higher than nominal voltage. I wouldnt recommend not having a charge controller anyways even if it just a pwm. There are MPPTs with voltage boost function that can step up voltage, but it wouldnt we worth the effort and cost. As you said easier to wire in series and let the MPPT work. I would never recommend panels like that to anyone anyways, as the most efficient panels are usually the household/array generation ones.

@RolandOfGileadOnYT 6 ай бұрын

@@PatandJele Hi there - you really shouldn't have panels without solar charge controller connected to the battery, it will fry the battery. ;) Keep up the videos!

@KevIsOffGrid 6 ай бұрын

Your LiFePO4 DOD is wrong, they will work best in the flat area of the charge curve, that's about 8-98%. No issue going down to 10%, will still be above 3v/cell, but you should avoid long times above 3.4v/cell (~98%) and only go to 3.6v/cell to do the occasional balance. You are doing more damage to the cells at 99% than 12% for sure. That said in solar/off grid the only real factor is time, not cycles - even using 0-100 you'll get 10 years, 20 years 5-99% or 30 years at 15-95% - all assuming just 1 monthly balance to 100% rather than daily hitting 100% My system isnt too far off yours, 2kw solar, 12kwh battery, 5kw inverter - but here in the UK, with WAY less sun than you down there in Oz its mid winter here and I cant even get 1kwh/day whereas a good week in summer its 10kwh/day. My 2000kva Victron inverter idles at 17w, and my 3000w giandel 20w. I'd certainly advise 48v on larger systems, 12v for smaller systems and personally 24v is the worst of both, rather than a middle ground.

@PatandJele 6 ай бұрын

It's not wrong, just conservative. You can theoretically discharge LiFePo4 to 0% and if you do please let me know how long your cells last (I dont think it will be 10 years). I am trying to advise on building a durable system and limiting your DoD to 30% can add between 1000 to 2000 extra cycles before more serious degradation of your cells (pretty much as you point out the difference between 20 and 30 years). You are correct in the fact that spending too much time at the opposite end (100%) is equally detrimental. I didnt add this to the video as most of the time when travelling you dont charge back up to 100% (all cells at 3.65V) we typically run between 60 and 90%. The occasional top balance will be when we plug in every month or so. How do you supplement power in winter? Is this mobile or just a stationary off grid setup? They have little hydrogen shed systems in Germany that store excess power from summer for use in winter via electrolysis and fuel cell and are capable of storing something like 800kWh in the size of a little tool shed ;) Yeah even the Victron 5kVA units idle at 18W, and we wished we went that way when we built ours. I don't think 24 is the worst as you can still easily find DC components like lights, water pump, etc. (not as readily as 12V, but still better than buck converting it down from 48). I would be torn between 24 and 48 if I had to do it again though :)

@KevIsOffGrid 6 ай бұрын

@PatandJele I use 8-98% DOD. Bought in 2019 and full time in my 7.5T Merc. Plenty of off gridders also use all the capacity and it makes no odds on capacity loss above calendar ageing. Still say its worse being at 98-100 than it is 8-20 as 8 to 20 is still in the flat voltage curve. Below 6 or 8 and above 98 is where the "knee" is in the charge curve. Plenty of data and testing available on that.