Solar on my truck camper

[russ]

Maybe a trailer is required - maybe an 18 wheeler?

[Wy_White_Wolf]

...The battery needs to run a fan for the furnace for a whole day, (I do not know the draw of this heater for sure, but 12 amps is what google is telling me), a couple of lights which I plan to change out for LED lights, and possibly a 3-way refrigerator (11.2 amps is a number I came across for the fridge running on DC) if there is enough battery capacity....

Just some quick numbers

12A * 24 hours = 288AH
11.2A * 24 hours = 268.8AH

556.8Ah not figuring in the lights yet so lets go with 600AH daily load

Batteries shouldn't be discharged more than 20% in a day.

600AH * 5 = 3000AH battery bank

Looks like you'll need a few more batteries

3000AH / 120AH = 25 batteries needed (better beef up the suppension under your truck)

I'd suggest you find a different battery as that many in parrallel won't work.

Now for the solar panel or do yo want me to quit? I can already say the roof of your camper is too small to hold that many panels.

WWW

[Naptown]

Magnum or Xantrex for charger inverters look in marine, RV suppliers
Morningstar for the charge controller
The tristar mppt 45 is sufficient.

[thepartyhound]

Can you recommend a charge controller and inverter/charger?

[Naptown]

Probably that price is based on buying 4 at a time
That should fit on top
The issue is going to be how you park the camper to keep some kind of orientation to the panel.
Perhaps fabricate a mount that will tilt up as laying flat particularly at this time of year will give you little output
That panel will require an mppt controller as it is above the voltage of what a pwm controller can use efficiently
Perhaps a 30a charge controller.
That will support a 12v 250AH battery bank. I suggest 2 6v golf cart batteries in series
Certainly install a battery isolated and connect it to the alternator of the tow vehicle.
You can run multiple charging units into the battery
Look also into inverter chargers which will have the dual purpose of a 3 stage charger and inverter in one unit and will bypass the 110v away from the inverter when plugged into shore power. These are commonly available for the marine market. The smallest one you can find is best

[thepartyhound]

I'm planning on using only one of those panels, assuming it will fit the roof of my camper. Not sure why, but that page defaults with 4 in the cart...

[Naptown]

In the screen shot you had 4 in the cart.
How many are you going to use or more important will fit

[thepartyhound]

I've just recently picked up a pop-up truck camper. It is currently designed to run off the truck battery, but I do not like that idea. I have bought a battery (120 A/h deep cycle) and plan to get another one of these to double the capacity. The battery needs to run a fan for the furnace for a whole day, (I do not know the draw of this heater for sure, but 12 amps is what google is telling me), a couple of lights which I plan to change out for LED lights, and possibly a 3-way refrigerator (11.2 amps is a number I came across for the fridge running on DC) if there is enough battery capacity. Perhaps a couple other small incidental things like a car stereo on occasion and a cell phone charger at night would also be used.

I need to take some measurements to see if it will fit, but I've got my eye on a solar world 260w 60 cell panels this panel to charge the batteries. I'm open to what charge controller to use. I also plan to install a 600 watt inverter, although I don't anticipate using it for much...mostly just want to have it there if I need it. I want to keep costs as minimal as possible. Please, help me out here. Am I on the right track? If not, please get me there!

Also, another thought that came up... I have already wired in a connector into my trailer wiring to allow my truck to charge the battery while I'm driving. Currently, this is connected directly to my battery in the camper. Once I get a solar panel and charge controller installed, will I want this connection to run through the charge controller or leave it connected directly to the battery? Also, I have thought about wiring in a 3 stage battery charger to the AC system so that when I'm plugged into AC it will charge the battery without having to open up the battery box. I'm assuming this would connect directly to the battery?

Sorry, lots of questions packed all into one post. Let me list them out to make answering them easier...

1. Will the solar panel that I have listed keep up with my DC power demands? I live in Montana...that may equate into the sunlight availability.
2. Will the batteries provide sufficient capacity? I believe they are SLA (they say "maintenance free" on them...I assume this means they are sealed?)
3. Recommend a charge controller.
4. How does everything that I have listed need to be connected together (Circuit from trucks charging system, charge controller, 3 stage AC battery charger, and solar panels)?



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