I live in very sunny Florida and am planning an off grid road trip up the east coast. I drive a regular cab 2012 Ram 1500 pickup truck v8 Hemi. The truck's 12 volt battery is larger than a regular cars battery, i think 90AH. Under the hood over my battery, i have a 1200 Watt inverter attached
The bed on the truck has a hard plastic toneau cover and under that that cover I have a four inch mattress and 600 Watt microwave that operates well when connected to the inverter while the truck is running. Yes it's tight and cozy, but I've slept there with no issues before. I have a 4 day cooler in the back and a low amp 12 volt Endless Breeze fan that can run for three 6 hour nights before the battery is depleted too far down. I've used ice and the cooler to run a crude swamp A/C to keep me cool on warm summer nights. The solution works well but the problem is I need ice.
I'm looking for a way to make ice with a small chest refrigerator (maybe 3.2 Cubic Feet) during the day using a single solar panel and my trucks existing battery. However, most configurations I see on youtube have two 12 volt batteries. Are two batteries necessary and why? Also, does my battery need to be deep cell? I've heard of people running deep cell as a car starting battery for years with no issues. If possible, I'm not looking to have more than one battery in the system.
FYI: Side note that my trucks generator will also feed my battery while driving at night and so also make ice, but do not want to factor that into my question or design.
My plan is to only turn on the inverter and charger while sitting in direct sunlight. The freezer will only operate during peak sun hours (about 8 hours) which I think should be enough to freeze 2 liter bottles of water to keep some perishables cold and provide ice for my simple swamp cooler A/C.
Can you offer any insight, suggeston or a simple designs for a single battery/panel configuration . Any considerations for protecting my battery and the system from the trucks alternator?
Thank You! truckbed.JPG
The bed on the truck has a hard plastic toneau cover and under that that cover I have a four inch mattress and 600 Watt microwave that operates well when connected to the inverter while the truck is running. Yes it's tight and cozy, but I've slept there with no issues before. I have a 4 day cooler in the back and a low amp 12 volt Endless Breeze fan that can run for three 6 hour nights before the battery is depleted too far down. I've used ice and the cooler to run a crude swamp A/C to keep me cool on warm summer nights. The solution works well but the problem is I need ice.
I'm looking for a way to make ice with a small chest refrigerator (maybe 3.2 Cubic Feet) during the day using a single solar panel and my trucks existing battery. However, most configurations I see on youtube have two 12 volt batteries. Are two batteries necessary and why? Also, does my battery need to be deep cell? I've heard of people running deep cell as a car starting battery for years with no issues. If possible, I'm not looking to have more than one battery in the system.
FYI: Side note that my trucks generator will also feed my battery while driving at night and so also make ice, but do not want to factor that into my question or design.
My plan is to only turn on the inverter and charger while sitting in direct sunlight. The freezer will only operate during peak sun hours (about 8 hours) which I think should be enough to freeze 2 liter bottles of water to keep some perishables cold and provide ice for my simple swamp cooler A/C.
Can you offer any insight, suggeston or a simple designs for a single battery/panel configuration . Any considerations for protecting my battery and the system from the trucks alternator?
Thank You! truckbed.JPG
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