Cargo Trailer Camping Converting

[UrbanElite]

Hello Everybody, I am new to the forum and the life of solar power from Alberta, Canada. I have just in the last year or so really dove into the solar idea and wanting to expand and bring it into my life. It started with a camping trip running a small folding solar panel with a USB battery bank to charge phones, gps, cameras, lights ect.. Now on with the project!

i have been using the search function on this fourm and others, but I do want my own topic where I can get most of my own questions answered for my own system with the parts and supply's I am using. My idea for a camping trailer is a waste ATM because I will be using it for camping/hauling my dirt bike and quad in with the gf, but also use the trailer for moving stuff around or hauling things, this is why I chose the inclosed cargo trailer instead of a holiday trailer for now. The trailer is a 16x7 I closed trailer, I plan on ordering my cabinets just for the front wall of the trailer soon, I have my solar panels I have bought on sale already, charge controller. I still need to buy a invertor, thinking 2 deep cycle battery's, some other little things for it. So on to the questions!

i plan on running some 12v led lights through out the trailer on the inside and one or 2 on the outside. Am I able to wire here and run them to seperate switches? Where would they at the end be wired to?

I have bought a mini fridge already that draws just under 1 amp, I will need an invertor that can run this fridge 24/7 while camping, as well as some other electronics maybe like phone chargers, or other 110v things if needed, the fridge specs are: It's rated voltage is 115v AC, rated current is 1.0A and power input is 65w. what size should I be looking for?

batterys. I'm looking to go for 2 since I will have a 200watt system miles well have somewhere for that power to go and not wasted, looking to pick up 2x 12volt deep cycle marine battery's, that should do the trick?

im going to wire the invertor straight to the battery's, with a inline fuse between the invertor and battery's. I will also put in a master switch as well. I know they have a load side to the solar charger but how much can you really wire into it? What would be my main use to run off that?

I will I'll add more questions once I get some of these answered, I hope to get good feedback and information from you guys, sorry about being a noob, I've been watching and reading none stop about this solar stuff, wish one day I could start on my house, for now it will be this trailer.

Here is my items I bought so far:
https://m.canadiantire.ca/products/p...rverName=ATLAS

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B01D8G...4XL&ref=plSrch

[Sunking]

You have already shot yourself in the foot.You bought something without planning. You must start knowing how many Watt Hours you need in a day. You just bought something and hope it works. Happens every day here.

Example your fridge uses 120 watts, and you want to run it 24 x 7. Your words right? Assuming 50% duty cycle will consume 1440 watt hours of power. With Panels on top of a trailer will require 500 watts of solar panels if you used a real 40-Amp MPPT charge controler which you are not using, and a nice 600 pound battery. What you have already bought and propose will not power the fridge, let alone anything on top of that. Those two batteries your thinking will be dead by morning running the fridge.

For what you want you are looking at more like 600 to 1000 watts of panels, a 60 to 80 Amp MPPT Charge Controler, and 800 to 1000 thousand pounds of batteries.

[Wrybread]

For what you want you are looking at more like 600 to 1000 watts of panels, a 60 to 80 Amp MPPT Charge Controler, and 800 to 1000 thousand pounds of batteries.

Please excuse Sunking, he's never owned an rv with solar and is trying to convince you that you need to buy a generator. It's a nervous tic.

Angway back on planet earth, I've got a sometime.neighbor with much the same needs and setup you're describing. He powers his fridge with two Trojan T105s (about 60 pounds each) and 240 watts of crappy 12-volt panels (two 120 watt panels). He uses a specific type of efficient fridge though, I just posted a link to it at the end of the Airstream tread in this same forum, let me know if you can't find it.

Persinally I'd install 4 of those batteries if you have the budget, and get a 40amp charge controller (my recommendations in that thread too, let me know if you can't find it).

And I'd give your current fridge a try before buying the other one, since you already have it, and you'll know pretty quickly whether you can power it with your batts. But careful not to let you batteries go too low (below 11.8 volts).

Cool project!

[UrbanElite]

Well bellow to you too... so first of all I bought the stuff because it was a good deal and if I don't use it for current project I will use it else where have a shed I want to do and other projects around the house. The panels were $350 for 2 and I read many forums and online sites with lots of people saying they are good panels and for that price you can't go wrong. Like I said I'm new to this whole solar thing, I come from background of engines, race cars and Harley, the opposite of solar in efficiency.....

You have already shot yourself in the foot.You bought something without planning. You must start knowing how many Watt Hours you need in a day. You just bought something and hope it works. Happens every day here.

Example your fridge uses 120 watts, and you want to run it 24 x 7. Your words right? Assuming 50% duty cycle will consume 1440 watt hours of power. With Panels on top of a trailer will require 500 watts of solar panels if you used a real 40-Amp MPPT charge controler which you are not using, and a nice 600 pound battery. What you have already bought and propose will not power the fridge, let alone anything on top of that. Those two batteries your thinking will be dead by morning running the fridge.

For what you want you are looking at more like 600 to 1000 watts of panels, a 60 to 80 Amp MPPT Charge Controler, and 800 to 1000 thousand pounds of batteries.

[UrbanElite]

Hello, thanks for the great reply!

So to start I have those 2x 100 watt panels, and I have that solar charger cause it was a good deal and recommend by others on forums to do the trick, if not I will use it else where.

my fridge I find is pretty good for this as I was comparing others when buying it. It's rated voltage is 115v AC, rated current is 1.0A and power input is 65w. Compared to other models I found this to be very good on the power side.

You talking these? http://www.wegosolar.com/products.ph...-Acid-Battery-

So those are 6v is that better or 12v? I'm looking to do this right. It also not break the bank right off the batt as im in Canada this is a lot more money.

so my solar charger will not work for this project? Too small? Could you link one or two that would work better?

Please excuse Sunking, he's never owned an rv with solar and is trying to sell you a generator.

Angway back on planet earth, I've got a sometime.neighbor with much the same needs and setup you're describing. He powers his fridgd with two Trojan T105s (about 60 pounds each) and 240 watts of crappy panels. He uses a specific type of efficient fridge though, I just posted a link to it at the end of the Airstream tread in this same forum, let me know if you can't find it.

Persinally I'd install 4 of those batteries if you have the budget, and get a 40amp charge controller (my recommendations in that thread too, let me know if you can't find it).

And I'd give your current fridge a try before buying the other one, since you already have it, and you'll know pretty quickly whether you can power it with your batts.

Cool project!

[Wrybread]

A 65 watt fridge should be totally doable. That's the same amount of power as the one I was recommending by the way, so who knows maybe it's even the same one. Got any deets on it? There's someone else on this forum currently looking to do the same thing you are, see the '67 Airstream thread.

And yes, those are the batteries. I've only ever used those, but I know there's knockoffs, I think Walmart has some? Maybe someone else can recommend something?

For the charge controller and my other gear recommendations, see my post here (scroll down a few from this link):

https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...e-advice/page2

And where will you be using your trailer? Is it one area specifically, or all over? I'm asking because of the temperatures.

[UrbanElite]

No this is a mini fridge from igloo, kinda like a bar fridge. I'll try to find a link and add it to my next post.

ok I'll take a look at those, what's the big difference from those being 6v and not 12v, which is a better battery system to go to?

Ok ok I'll take a look. Just camping all over the place really, where ever we go camping with friends and dirt biking.

so what about my lights, can I wire all those to different switches, with a fuse block, but where would that connect to? The load side of a solar charger or would you just hard wire that into the battery's at the end of the day?

how would you recommend me wiring my panels series or parel to start with these 2 panels?

[Wrybread]

In broad strokes, you put a fuse on your battery (see my recommendation here).

Your solar panels connect directly to your charge controller (see my wiring recommendations in that thread too). If you get an MPPT charge controller, you'll be wiring your panels in series. If you don't know what that means do a little research and let me know if you still can't figure it out.

Your charge controller connects to that fuse on your battery. You never disconnect it except for maintenance.

For your cabin lights, get a fusebox, which you connect to the fuse on your battery. I've had great experience with these for years (here's their smaller version). Since they have the grounding block attached it makes things a bit simpler. Or of course you can get a separate grounding block and use whatever DC fuse box you want.

And your inverter connects directly to your battery, as close as possible, not more than a couple of feet away. If you don't have one already I'd recommend the Xantrex 600 or 1000 watt, and get the remote on/off switch so you don't need physical access to it. Don't get a crazy powerful inverter (1500+ watts), they can't supply that kind of power anyway and it's a red flag that they claim to.

And remember to vent your batteries to the outside. Super super super important, since they gas when they're charging. Also make sure your inverter has good ventillation and room to breathe, since that fridge is a fairly big load and the inverter will heat up. The Xantrex has a fan and does a good job of keeping itself safe. Over the years I've had a couple of them die, but they die peacefully, as opposed to a flaming blaze of glory... Which is one of the reasons I recommend them so highly.

[LETitROLL]

You can wire your lights anyway you wish (single switch, separate switch to each, etc.) ,deep cycle 6v batteries are usually better, you just use multiples in series to come up with your system voltage (12v or 24v, etc.). Wiring most panels in series to a MPPT controller is usually best for maximum harvest, but each exact combination of panels and controller can vary a little depending. Going to be tough to run a A/C mini fridge off of 200w system, If you only go on full sun summer days, have a good MPPT controller, never park where the possibility of shading exist, and set your fridge to the warmest setting, it will still be borderline but may work short term. Conservation rules the day with small systems, an efficient DC fridge and/or having the fridge unplugged at times and warmer than ideal inside temps can make it possible to "get by" with a small system, but if the fridge is A/C only and going to run 24/7 as indicated in your opening post, it is probably not going to happen with 200w solar, without buying new batts very often.

[Wrybread]

Gar, I posted a response but it's held for moderation since it has a link. Anyway, says much of what LetitRoll says, except I'm a bit more optimistic for that fridge. I am however completely optimistic for the other fridge I posted, on the off chance the one you have doesn't work out. So one way or another I predict sun made ice cold beers in your future.

[UrbanElite]

From my research its it's a pretty low watt and efficient fridge. I'll have to try it and find out!

so panels I'm going to need more power then? Would another 200 watts those same panels do to make 400 watts in panels?

batterys. What if I got 4 maybe could do 6 of those T105s that should be enough juice I'm thinking with the right charge controller.

Gar, I posted a response but it's held for moderation since it has a link. Anyway, says much of what LetitRoll says, except I'm a bit more optimistic for that fridge. I am however completely optimistic for the other fridge I posted, on the off chance the one you have doesn't work out. So one way or another I predict sun made ice cold beers in your future.

[Wrybread]

I personally have had fantastic luck with 4 of those Trojan T105's and 500 to 600 watts of solar, which is enough solar to keep those batteries healthy. And depending on how much power your fridge pulls in real world use (duty cycles, actual power consumption), I think it'll be plenty, but to confirm, get a gizmo called a Kill-o-watt ($20 at most hardware stores) and measure the actual power consumption over the course of a few days and post it here and folks will chime in.

[UrbanElite]

Sounds good, I'll look into picking one of those up and running that fridge for at least a day or two inside my house to see what it actually runs.

what about these? Maybe return the 2 100 watt panels for these 320 watt panels, get 2 of them to have 640 watt give or take they are $225 each

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-electronics/edmonton/solar-panel-sale-320w/1267339081?utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_ios&utm_medium=social&utm_source=sms

how do you figure out what is the right solar charge controller size wise, what is my min of A I want to go with 10,20,30 or 40?

[littleharbor]

You may want to simulate some real world conditions. If you are starting from a warm fridge when you take your trailer camping do the same with your test. Load it with food and beer. Is your beer going to be warm when you load it? Use the fridge as if you would when camping opening it throughout the day to get drinks, make sandwiches etc. This will get the fridge cycling somewhat like if you were camping. If it just sits unused when you are metering it, it wont cycle anything like it's going to otherwise.

If you are going with 4-6 volt batteries that will give you 440 amp hours @12 volts. I would recommend a 40 amp controller as you would really like to be able to get something near that, (40 amps) to properly charge your batteries. That being said 400 watts of solar panels isn't going to get you to 40 amps of charging power. If you are just going for weekend trips and the trailer can catch up during the week you may be alright. If after a couple 3 day weekend trips you find You're working your batteries too hard and not able to recover you will need more panel output. Personally , considering you are just in the building stages, I'd buy a couple inexpensive 60 cell 265 watt panels and a decent MPPT charge controller.

[UrbanElite]

For sure, great idea, I was thinking the same to to get the compressor to kick in here and there to see what it would spike at ect... plan is to use it little as possible when camping but for sur Weill have to open it a few times throughout the day. I ordered a tester, so once it get here I'll plug the fridge in, fill it up and do my test for a day or 2

You may want to simulate some real world conditions. If you are starting from a warm fridge when you take your trailer camping do the same with your test. Load it with food and beer. Is your beer going to be warm when you load it? Use the fridge as if you would when camping opening it throughout the day to get drinks, make sandwiches etc. This will get the fridge cycling somewhat like if you were camping. If it just sits unused when you are metering it, it wont cycle anything like it's going to otherwise.