Holy Toledo! that's a ton of PV on your trailer. Might you want more battery, too? Either way, yours is an impressive solar electric system. Thanks for showing us. Safe travels to you.
Haha, yeah we decided to go the route of being able to bring in more power vs having to store more power. Cheaper this way too. And we can always add more batteries easily if needed. Adding panels is quite a chore.
So far so good! They do catch some drag…evidence left by all the bug splatters on the front aluminum bar. But no change to gas mileage and no change to handling.
@@TinyHouseVentures I had 4 similar panels on my trailer and in a bad windstorm in KS I lost one middle panel. I have built another array and this time I have 80/20 aluminum between each panel with two bolts at each one. I found the frames on the panels are not very strong and without any middle support flexed considerably.
You could replace the manual switch with a relay. This will automate the process. I have sucssesfully done this with 240v system switching between shore and inverter to lock out some circuits that will not run from inverter so I know it works.
That is a great idea! I will look into doing that. We hardly ever have to switch it as we are only ever on solar. But, right now we are visiting family and so I do plug in every now and again and it’s a bit of a pain to have to remember to switch it.
Stephen, would/could that relay you're thinking of also be known as an "Automatic Transfer Switch"? For example, SAMLEX offers at least one; the one I'm using is a 30A (@120V "shore" power) ATS. My 12V system consists of 300Ah ADM lead acid, 1/0 stranded over 18" to a 1500W Samlex Pure Sine Wave inverter for 12.5 amps @ 120V in my trailer galley. It's a real simple setup to run one of two 1400 watt kitchen appliances at a time.
@@applesbighatranch6906 I guess an auto change-over switch will accomplish the same result. It would't work for me, my set-up is a bit different. I used an 8 pin double pole relay with shore power on one pole and inverter on the other pole. When inverter is switched on, it cut out the shore power pole but transferred some of the power outlets over to the inverter pole, but, only the outlets that are running low power appliances, the high amperage appliances are switched out (they can only be run from shore power)
Holy Toledo! that's a ton of PV on your trailer. Might you want more battery, too? Either way, yours is an impressive solar electric system. Thanks for showing us. Safe travels to you.
Haha, yeah we decided to go the route of being able to bring in more power vs having to store more power. Cheaper this way too. And we can always add more batteries easily if needed. Adding panels is quite a chore.
How have the panels faired with the overhang? Do they catch wind and if so any issues?
So far so good! They do catch some drag…evidence left by all the bug splatters on the front aluminum bar. But no change to gas mileage and no change to handling.
@@TinyHouseVentures I had 4 similar panels on my trailer and in a bad windstorm in KS I lost one middle panel. I have built another array and this time I have 80/20 aluminum between each panel with two bolts at each one. I found the frames on the panels are not very strong and without any middle support flexed considerably.
You could replace the manual switch with a relay. This will automate the process. I have sucssesfully done this with 240v system switching between shore and inverter to lock out some circuits that will not run from inverter so I know it works.
That is a great idea! I will look into doing that. We hardly ever have to switch it as we are only ever on solar. But, right now we are visiting family and so I do plug in every now and again and it’s a bit of a pain to have to remember to switch it.
Stephen, would/could that relay you're thinking of also be known as an "Automatic Transfer Switch"? For example, SAMLEX offers at least one; the one I'm using is a 30A (@120V "shore" power) ATS. My 12V system consists of 300Ah ADM lead acid, 1/0 stranded over 18" to a 1500W Samlex Pure Sine Wave inverter for 12.5 amps @ 120V in my trailer galley. It's a real simple setup to run one of two 1400 watt kitchen appliances at a time.
@@applesbighatranch6906 I guess an auto change-over switch will accomplish the same result. It would't work for me, my set-up is a bit different. I used an 8 pin double pole relay with shore power on one pole and inverter on the other pole. When inverter is switched on, it cut out the shore power pole but transferred some of the power outlets over to the inverter pole, but, only the outlets that are running low power appliances, the high amperage appliances are switched out (they can only be run from shore power)