Awesome!

Awesome! Good luck with it!

Solar does not tie to a 120v system as its part of the 12v system. The Solar panels’ only job is to charge the batteries. Panels go to the solar charge controller and from there go straight to the batteries

Oh there totally are! In fact, you could go with the Victron 2000 inverter and only two batteries. There are endless sizes and possibilities. You just have to figure out what you need for your particular camping style :)

You should upload a video of your setup. You say “huge deep cycle batteries”, could you share specs on those batteries?

I just wrote a reply about my simple 200 watt system to my wolf pup above. There are many videos on using eternabond tape and other tape adhesives on KZfaq without drilling holes in your roof ( just search installing solar panels without drilling). I also ran the solar wires parallel to the arm of the awning down to the compartment door ( so I didn't drill through the walls). There are two deep cycle batteries on the hitch and a simple PMW solar controller inside the TT. Whole system is about $400 and works well. His is incredible but also cost over $5000. I don't know what your power demands are but this system doesn't run the microwave or AC. As a backup in case of rain or if I need the microwave I have a small inverter generator

Not really, because each system is so customized. Just gotta do a lot of research.

Thank you! The 12V run from the front of the trailer to the panel was already existing and I believe it was a 10awg which is what I used to go from the battery bank to the small terminal under the trailer where the two connect.

It was around $4000 for the equipment

Nope

Great questions! 1) The SOOW cable is in ADDITION to the current runs on the trailer. One SOOW run goes from the shore power connector up to the front of the trailer into the inverter. The second SOOW run then comes out of the inverter down the trailer and then into the 120 side of the electrical panel. So, the 10AWG wire (12v) that runs from the electrical panel to the front of the trailer was existing and the only thing I added that was 10AWG was from the battery bank to the positive terminal stud underneath the trailer at the front. That was because the batteries were relocated to inside of the trailer. As for the physical run itself, the SOOW cables run along the same path that the existing factory wires run and I zip tied them to that wire bundle. 2) you are correct in that I’ve bypassed the stock converter/charger because Victron inverter does all that work now. And I don’t believe I explain that in the video so good catch. I do plan on having a couple more videos soon where a talk about the electrical system as a whole and that will be the first video that shows everything complete because right now I think I have two separate videos. I’ll do a better job explaining all that in the new one.

@@TheRVPastime Oh, right... the SOOW loop is only for the 120v... you still needed to power the existing 12v system. You did explain that perfectly actually. I would love to see how you bypassed the stock converter, but be sure and put a bunch of disclaimers about "this is for entertainment only, don't ever do this yourself". Knowing full well that everyone does anyway, right? :-) Also, if you haven't seen him before and need more inspiration... Ray from Love Your RV channel has done a bunch of tight-looking electrical mods.

That’s a good question. the voltage coming out of the seven way connector goes straight to a positive terminal underneath the trailer which supplies the power to the 12V system for charging. I’m not actually sure how many volts the trucks sending down that line nor do I know if that’s a setting that can be changed on the truck side.

A 50 amp service does not mean that you are taking in 50A. It just means that’s what that breaker is rated to max out at. The Victron MultiPlus inverter charger I have is set to limit the incoming current to 30A. So regardless of me being plugged into 30 or 50, it will only ever pull 30A. I use a 50 to 30A adapter for these occasions. Great question!

With my upgraded Setup, the Victron MultiPlus inverter is also a converter/charger so I bypassed the stock converter that’s in the electrical panel. That is the main job of your converter is to charge the battery when plugged into shore power but it will only charge it at a certain rate based off of how depleted the batteries are. When it says “lithium ion safe” it means that it’s capable of charging lithium batteries because they charge at a different voltage than the typical deep cycle batteries. However, I’m not sure how it knows to do that because there isn’t any sort of interface to define what sort of battery it is. If your batteries are already charged and you plug into shore power you would see very little voltage going to the batteries. Basically just keeping them topped off as a “float“ charge.

@@TheRVPastime thanks a lot for the quick reply. I accidentally left my stock battery on...so now that thing is toast and I have to buy my lithium batteries sooner than I thought 😖. I've been struggling finding this basic information! I'm an electrical engineer, but this stuff just doesn't fall into the category of stuff that I have learned! The converter may know how much voltage to charge the battery based on the load at the end of the wire, so it might not need an interface. I'm assuming that the load of a lead acid is a bit different than lithium ion. That's my guess. I'm just really hoping it's safe enough, I'm trying to save money. Don't really want to spend more than what I already am on the battery itself yet. The Battleborn batteries seem to be the bees knees, so hopefully they have some built in protection as well.

Ed, I have a WP 16FQ and we just love it!! Main difference between the FQ and Nick's is that we can walk around our front queen size bed and there is no outside kitchen.

Love it. Will eventually go bigger though

Basically the ability to be off grid longer and get the full potential use out of the batteries with 12v and 110v.

@@TheRVPastime While I don't currently have plans to go off the grid for a long period of time, I am looking for continued information on how to be able to understand what I need from a battery to be off the grid for a couple days without an AC running.

you probably don't "boondock" much. The whole goal is to be able to camp and not rely on any hookups. We can take out our class B RV and park it almost anywhere before we arrive to our destination. The solar system powers everything for the night ( lights, wifi, TV, computer, shower, refrigerator, fans). All free electricity from the sun.

Good question, I did all that after I made this video. What I ended up doing was actually running them through the wall just in front of the door. I made a new hole in the roof for the cable gland and it comes straight in to the ceiling right above the TV then into the wall, down the wall, and then out inside of the storage area

I’ll update the video description with a list in the coming week :)

Where are you located?

Will all over as a truck driver but live in Florida… but our trailer is in storage in Missouri…so we could fly you out

I sold it to a friend :)

@@TheRVPastime LOL. Did you take the cable that was attached to it and feed back into the camper and connect it directly to the battery bank?

I ran a new line from the + terminal stud under the trailer toward the front up and into the storage area to the new battery bank.

@@TheRVPastime Thanks!

I was able to get an hour or so out of it

Thanks

One more question Can I run my solar charge control directly to the DC inverter panel

Hello! They do now* have a Bluetooth smartshunt so you wouldn’t need the battery monitor like I had in this system. It’s the same information in the app presented to you. As for the ve.bus dongle, you would still need that to be able to control the inverter via the app.

@@TheRVPastime ok that makes perfect sense. Thank you for that information.

I had a typo in my comment. They DO have a Bluetooth smartshunt is what I meant to say

It was definitely not cheap but the batteries and that setup will last a long time. This setup allows for greater amounts of time off grid and the ability to charge batteries fast with expandable solar. Everything all together was probably north of $5k.

@@TheRVPastime very informative and excellent video. thanks for sharing

I have a MicroAir Easy Start on the AC which allows it. My system will run about an hour or so with the AC

Agreed, but it’s what I had already. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Yup. Depending on your solar setup and battery capacity you could go a while running the AC

Yeah, the 2awg is a bit overkill but it’s what I had. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@@TheRVPastime Hey, I just set up my RV for off grid mostly inspired by this video. Can I upload a walkthrough video for your professional opinion?

Absolutely 💪🏼