Going solar

[turf]

hmmm, i will consider water. thats not a normal situation for me for sure. the tire carrier compartment is enclosed, with weep holes. so it could flood. but water has never been an issue before with the lead acid setup.

from scratch, the batteries would have been inside. when the bus was built, fancy lithium batteries werent heard of. so there was no space built for them.

thats was the issue i was having looking at the victron line.... most of it duplicates what i already have somewhere else. to put it all inside would be a pretty major remodel. to add it on is just attaching a couple of wires.

i got out early this morning to see my little solar project. last night the battery started at 70% this morning it was down to 51% and charging. as the sun gets higher in the sky, i can see the volts and amps creeping up.

wow, i wish i had done solar a while ago.... pretty slick!

 

[turf]

Question for the pros here.....

how do i keep my vehicle batteries tippy top..... with 1000 watts of solar on the roof?

i have a parasitic drain and the bus goes dead in 2 or 3 weeks or so without running the motor. how can i trickle charge the separate bus starting battery?

i see this product clled orion, from victron... but it seems to be the opposite of what i want. it charges the house battery from the alternator/vehicle battery.
i want to charge the vehicle battery from solar.

it seems the obvious answer is to buy a little trickle charger and plug it in to an inverter when not in use. but seems redundant.

any ideas?

 

[Albatross]

Question for the pros here.....

how do i keep my vehicle batteries tippy top..... with 1000 watts of solar on the roof?

i have a parasitic drain and the bus goes dead in 2 or 3 weeks or so without running the motor. how can i trickle charge the separate bus starting battery?

i see this product clled orion, from victron... but it seems to be the opposite of what i want. it charges the house battery from the alternator/vehicle battery.
i want to charge the vehicle battery from solar.

it seems the obvious answer is to buy a little trickle charger and plug it in to an inverter when not in use. but seems redundant.

any ideas?

I used a smart battery-isolater by Cole-Hersee to do just that, but I also used AGM batteries from the same brand and line for both house and truck. The key here is that they're the same type of battery, and thus have the same charge-curve for both sets of batteries. And because of where and how they're both located, I was also able to just use a set of jumper-cables to do that before I hooked up the battery-isolater.



But since most people here on on the LiFePO4 or other Li-battery train for house batteries (and I might honestly do the same, eventually), I would simple figure out a way to build-in a trickle charger on a separate circuit, and possibly install a relay from either the ignition-accessory switch or a simple switch up on the dashboard so it could be turned off when you're getting ready to fire up the engine. I like the idea of using the accessory to turn it off, so that you'll never be using the house batteries when firing up the engine--but I also like the idea of being able to cross-connect them manually in case I ever want to us the house batteries to jump the engine.

 

[turf]

cool!

i think thats right but it hurts my brain thinking about it.....

so i need a normally closed relay, attached to a 12vswitched power, so when i key on, the relay cuts power to the trickle charger. key off and its trickling?

right?

i see this little thing at harbor frieght and it may even be 12v, im going to have to take a closer look. it be nice to cut the wall wart off and wire to the 12v bus bar.

https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-automatic-battery-maintainer-59000.html

 

[Albatross]

i see this little thing at harbor frieght and it may even be 12v, im going to have to take a closer look. it be nice to cut the wall wart off and wire to the 12v bus bar.

https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-automatic-battery-maintainer-59000.html

That is definitely a 10:1 xformer, I've got around half a dozen of those attached to various network equipment. Please check the underside of it to be sure, but I can almost guarantee that wall-wart is a 12VDC 1A-1.5A box.



It really shouldn't be much of anything to affix it permanently to a 12 VDC bus-bar--ran through an appropriate relay, of course.



Doing such a thing should give you the more-or-less permanent trickle-charge you're looking for to compensate for a minor leak on your bus-batteries. And **** is it cheap, I'd probably buy two just so I have a spare in a box somewhere on the bus.

 

[turf]

thanks!

now that i've been looking around for a few days a see a number of options and maybe my own ideas too.

there is the harbor frieght maintainer.
then i also see little solar panels for vehicle batteries from many people but especially renogy
https://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Solar-Battery-Maintainer-Trickle/dp/B07QBY7626?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

today i see a product from xantrax too
https://www.donrowe.com/xantrex-82-0123-01-digital-echo-charge-p/82-0123-01.htm

so my mind wanders......
probably my biggest need for solar charging for the bus battery is winter storage.

when i pull my lifepo batteries out and store them inside for the winter, i'llhave 3 or 4 solar panels not doing anything. ( i guess the bus would have power in the sunshine? idk)

i could wire in another set of charging cables to the bus batteries and switch between house and bus? either change the battery profile in the charge controller or get its own charge controller for lead acid.

not sure, but i think fully charged is the way to store lead acid.

if i needed a jump during rv season, i could flip over to the bus side for the panels and charge the battery in a day or so... right?

 

[Albatross]

For a trickle-charge, you could easily buy a "solar battery maintainer" kit sold in damn near any auto-parts store. I've actually got one on an egg-shaped hyundai right now for essentially the same reason you've got--some electrical leak somewhere that I don't feel like chasing down. They're usually $100 or less.


Actually, something else I think might work (based off what you mentioned) is if you got another (smaller) charge controller, and then installed a switch on something like one solar panel (or bank) so that you could flip the switch and have the panel switch from charging your house bank to your truck battery bank. That would be something that's kind of nice since you could use it whenever you're parked, or even if you're on a trip but going on a hike or a day-trip while you're out and know that your house batteries won't be getting used.



PbSO4 batteries should be stored topped-off, definitely.

 

[Rock-N-Ruth]

It's a great idea!

Here's my idea.

I'm going to design it from scratch. I've yet to see anyone do this yet.

But the back two panels will be built on top of the deck, and will be on rail slides like a drawer, so when I'm parked it can go out and still charge, but reveals a deck underneath the wife and I can chill on to see the views at nascar. Or mountain views, or tent camp on top of.

When we're ready to get back on the road, we hop off, and slide them back in and lock'em. No wasted space, and get best of both worlds.

I claim copyright, but you may use this as long as you acknowledge the idea came from me. :biggrin:

I have seen this done. A fellow with a big over-lander at skooliepalooza 2022 did this and it worked really well. I'll see if I can find the pictures I took of it.


Here is a video showing a build for this type of system: https://youtu.be/cM5s4F-7AOk?si=pfSQl-vigpoqKunJ

 

[turf]

i think i've collected 90% of the parts needed for my solar install.

now im just missing the bus. its about 3 hours south of me getting some new front suspension. so i wait.

the weather is taking a turn for the cold too. it sure been nice... funny how the weather turns bad right when you want to go work outside.
its possible i get the bus back tomorrow, but more likely it'll be another week.

maybe we get thru a cold snap and have a short indian summer so i can finish off the roof stuff.

so, when ever the bus comes back.
i'm going to remove tv antenna, patch holes. install starlink antenna. i have the roof measured and marked for the solar rails and brackets. hoping i can get that up square and fast. then im going to run electircal conduit along the the new roof rail with junction boxes where the solar panels will be.
install the battery box and wiring, breakers, charge controllers. install the solar panels and make the electrical connections.

easy? right

1 bite at a time.

 

[turf]

current plan:

https://lucid.app/publicSegments/view/ef2606e0-0aea-4c17-bb9d-28de18ecff4d/image.jpeg

the 12v house system on the bus has its original positive and negative bus bars, so that part of the diagram is old and existing on the bus.

the rest is just battery charging from the solar panels.

ive been watching a lot of youtube vids on the mini circuit breakers...

i see a nice cut off one for the battery. 2 pole 250A. and then i see plenty 30A MCBs for the solar panels. you tube says to install the solar panel cutoff breakers backwards. they have a polarity and if you want it to function as a breaker, the overload would come from the other panels back feeding a shorted panel. so the circuit protection is backwards from the normal flow.

 

[turf]

roof work commences!!

today, i got the tv antenna pulled off and patched the holes.

i assembled the solar rails and have the first one placed up on the roof.

hoping to have some solar working by the end of the weekend!!

 

[turf]

well, im old and slow.

the weekend came and went and the next one is upon us.

but im making progress.

the weather has been hit or miss, 50's and sun or 30's and wind. so i do what i can when i can.

today i got most of the conduit up. the roof is kind of finished. now i need to do some fancy bending and end up in the box underneath. i warmed up today bending the offsets for the boxes, tomorrow, i'll twist up more conduit into a puppy dog or something fancy and finish off the run.

we will see how it turns out.

 

[Kentucky Dreaming]

Wow, turf!! Your kitty looks a lot my late Levon. Found him and 3 littermates by the dumpster by my watering hole in 2012. Vet estimated his age and it worked out to close enough to April 12, 2012. The day Levon Helm died. He was a **** of a kitty. Damn near died from infected puncture wounds in his shoulder, but grew up to be the terror of the neighborhood.

One night when he was 6 years old, he didn't come home. I bet the coyote or whatever got him didn't go down without a fight.

Live on in paradise, both Levons

 

[Kentucky Dreaming]

Here is Levon helping me change oil in my outboard:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/157674864@N04/40159243224/in/album-72157664717163078

 

[turf]

aww, sure is a sweet looking cat! Conner here was showing off, walking on the roof, outside of the solar rails. he made a lap around the bus before i got to the safety of the scaffold railing to take a picture.

this morning i was all excited by my progress. yesterdays conduit bending had gone much better than i had imagined, so i was anxious to get started and finish up the conduit.

welp, i screwed the pooch right off the bat. i subtracted 6" when i should have added, and the first bend of the day ruined my work.

the bend should have been right above the taillights. 12" lower than it is now. ugggh

i took the rest of the day off to contemplate my life choices.

puff puff pass.

 

[kidharris]

aww, sure is a sweet looking cat! Conner here was showing off, walking on the roof, outside of the solar rails. he made a lap around the bus before i got to the safety of the scaffold railing to take a picture.

this morning i was all excited by my progress. yesterdays conduit bending had gone much better than i had imagined, so i was anxious to get started and finish up the conduit.

welp, i screwed the pooch right off the bat. i subtracted 6" when i should have added, and the first bend of the day ruined my work.

the bend should have been right above the taillights. 12" lower than it is now. ugggh

i took the rest of the day off to contemplate my life choices.

puff puff pass.

do what electricians do, either use the ruined piece/bends somewhere less less obvious or just cut, use 2 couplers and put in an extension. else just quit puffing until you are done for the day.

 

[kidharris]

aww, sure is a sweet looking cat! Conner here was showing off, walking on the roof, outside of the solar rails. he made a lap around the bus before i got to the safety of the scaffold railing to take a picture.

this morning i was all excited by my progress. yesterdays conduit bending had gone much better than i had imagined, so i was anxious to get started and finish up the conduit.

welp, i screwed the pooch right off the bat. i subtracted 6" when i should have added, and the first bend of the day ruined my work.

the bend should have been right above the taillights. 12" lower than it is now. ugggh

i took the rest of the day off to contemplate my life choices.

puff puff pass.

do what electricians do, either use the ruined piece/bends somewhere less less obvious or just cut, use 2 couplers and put in an extension. else just quit puffing and just pass until you are done for the day. call it a life choice if it makes you feel better.

 

[kidharris]

do what electricians do, either use the ruined piece/bends somewhere less less obvious or just cut, use 2 couplers and put in an extension. else just quit puffing and just pass until you are done for the day. call it a life choice if it makes you feel better.

don't know why 2 copies, I just edited and had connection problems

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

i learned and did pipe welding with puffing and no passing.
i didnt think i could still weld after quitting 20 years later when i decided to quit?
used to really dive into the weld puddle.
it was so mesmerizing when you understood it and really got into it and slow down to get the beads nice and tight.
anyway dont stop get back in it and try again.

 

[turf]

a couple of things.....

one life lesson i try and live by is when you find yourself in a hole.... stop digging. so i quit playing electrician for the day.
i wanted to figure out why it was wrong...before continuing.

i think i had the bender turned the wrong direction from my measurement. still not really sure. the math should be easy. the measurement was 54", the bender take back is 6" so i bent it at 48 and ...... to short.

the mistake was within the next stick back to the battery box, so i just started at the battery box and worked until i ran out of conduit.

the second thing i guess that showed through in my comment.... im tired. this solar rack, conduit, wiring stuff is for the young. ive climbed the ladders and scaffolding 150 times this last week and im done. to fix the conduit, means going back up on the roof and re-bending some of the offsets so it lays flat. thats as appealing as a hole in the head. i was happy to be on the ground for this last bit but to think about going up and doing overs.... bah humbug.

im at my daily ibuprofen limit.

puff puff

yesterday, i got the dc breakers and breaker box. now i have a place to land the conduit.
i've been playing with the electric layout in the battery box. i think the dc breakers will be on the side where the conduit enters, and the charge controllers will hang from the roof across the enclosure.
the negative bus bar and shunt are on the left side, the positive bus bar is on the right. hanging the charge controllers in between seems most convenient.


i need to affix the conduit to the bus, 100% sides and roof.
i need to make a hole in the battery box for the conduit to land.
i need to pull wires.
i need to wire the battery box, charge controllers, fuses
i need to mount/wire solar panels and close up jboxes.

right now im top balancing my 2 lifepo batteries. its going to be 12v, but when i get an inverter, it'll be an easy 24v conversion. everything is sized for 12v so i should be good.