I have a 30 foot holiday rambler with 30 kw under one bed and another 12 pack I plug in for back up but the 12 kw is normally running my small outbuilding workshop. I built my battery from 280k eve cells. A large battery bank is key to being off grid
@@TheJoslynJourney it all started as a small hobby a couple years ago when I was fighting stage 4 cancer and I quickly saw it as a way my wife could have electricity if I wasn't there to pay the electric bill. Soon as I realized how important it is for us to set up our family in a way the can survive without us I started getting more serious about the solar. It's took me an embarrassing amount of money and time but it's finally a system with replacement parts on standby that will power our home for the rest of our lives hopefully. I'm really glad to see others doing the same thing
Wow, what an amazing story! That's a lot of research, money, and TIME to do that. Seriously fantastic. Are you in a location where getting electricity would be difficult or was it the concern of constant increases in electrical bills - just curious. At some point we'll probably look for a barndominium and would prefer to be off-grid but we'll figure that out down the road. I see that in my future at some point.
@@TheJoslynJourney we actually moved I to my mother's house while I was dealing with cancer. Now my holiday rambler and my shop building are on her property. And I could have ran a cord to both very easy. My wife is kinda messed up from a stroke she had and she doesn't work but she don't get any disability either she basically just helps me with my truck driving stuff and I take care of her. She doesn't have any family really so when I was really sick my biggest worry was how was she gonna survive because what life insurance I have would only do her a couple years at most . Now that I'm in remission and working again we are wanting to but a small off grid property and buy a shed to house that's mostly finished out but I'll reuse my solar stuff and I'd probably set the camper up near the house and live in the camper on the property untill we are close to being done with the new place. We were looking this past week and west TN has some very reasonable places and the codes people have already let several sheds be built there and lived in in that area . Hopefully when we buy the property and building I'm wanting to get a local driving job where we can be home some. We are only home 3 days a month if we are lucky and travel is fun but it's getting old kinda. It's harder on Lizzy than it is on me but it's still just exhausting. Anyways good chat. Holler at me later if you got any questions
For those who are not wealthy or sponsored SOK, OR EG4 batteries are $1100. For 400 amp/hrs 10,000. Cycle life and 10 year warranty, as well as UL listed. So $3300 for your set up instead of $11,397. Yowzers Cell prices have fallen so much in the last year , and unfortunately now go up with the Chinese 25% tarrifs. So shop sooner than later folks
That's valid, but we also had a very limited amount of space. SOK looks like a good buy, but we'd be able to increase to maybe 3 of the 280Ah batteries. We were trying to maximize our Ah for our space. You do pay more for a more compact design. But definitely not necessary if price is your limiting factor.
My D.I. in Bootcamp said we weren’t workin unless he saw A$$’s n Ellbows! Great job you two. Just curious about the specs on your old battle borne batteries? ✌🏽
@@TheJoslynJourney So you’ve got 4 Battle Borne Batteries all together? I’m just learning about batteries, Solar and electrical usage, etc myself. Almost need to have a degree or in your case an engineering background/degree to figure it all out. Beautiful wiring and electrical work by the way. ✌🏽
It certainly helps to have some strong electrical background and to be handy. You don't want to let the magic smoke out of electrical components, ha! We do have some schematics on our website for this video - that would at least give an idea of the complexity. Obviously, there's a lot more to it than that, but maybe it will help: www.joslynjourney.com/e186/
Probably $450 for the std battey (1) and $500 for the heated (2). Will be posting on FB marketplace in 2 weeks after we get to NC. Though if you're in the Midwest or on the way to NC I'm open for a delivery 😎
There's a big difference in voltage drop between AC and DC over the same length and same gauge wire. and that 3ft distance Gary was working with had no voltage drop with DC current. So that work and expense was unnecessary. he might have saved a little doing it himself but part of that savings was used up by not having electrical engineering education.
@@TheJoslynJourney There's no voltage drop on DC circuits that only run 3 ft from one point to another. So you didn't need to go with heavier gauge more expensive cable. I'm an electrical eng. by trade, with a 37 ft 5th wheel with 700 watts of power, in case you were wondering if I know what I'm talking about.
We are actually using a cheaper option, but we would recommend a dc-dc charger instead. Our Victron Li-Ct Battery Combiner is a simple solution but won't ever be able to charge our batteries to 100%. We typically see around 40A - I would think a 40-60A dc-dc charger would be a good size.
@@TheJoslynJourney I think they want people to think once you get so many AH you need to get an additional Inverter. That is just nuts. I have 1120ah @48 volts which is 4480ah @ 12 volts. I do not have Victron inverters as I truly feel they are over priced. I use Growatt inverters and I have 2 5kus version inverters. No where have I every read anything about how much battery storage you can have max. I would ask Victron why they have that even in their Documents. Maybe its for their batteries in a daisy chain configuration like how you have the 3 hooked up now. I have each battery of mine to a busbar so each battery works the same and lowers the C rating.
I think it’s the converter you need to find out if it is lithium compatible. The inverter converts DC voltage to AC where as the converter is used to convert AC to charge DC batteries. You would have to get the Make/Model of the Converter and google it. There is either a switch or jumper or some kind of toggle to make it output 14.2v instead of 13. Best of luck
The Host Factory Inverter MAY or MAY NOT be Lithium compatible. The low-end version we had when we bought out 2018 Cascade had an inverter that was NOT compatible with Lithium. The GoPower ones that Host is providing now are compatible. You'll need to know what converter is installed - definitely don't assume - you can fry those expensive Lithium batteries very quickly!
That's a great question! It would make all of the cables much smaller and easier to install. I'd have to at LEAST get 4 batteries in there to make that work (and we couldn't figure out how to do that). That, and the added cost of having to add step-down converters for all of the appliances that use 12V (refrigerator, stove light, all lighting, fans, water pump, etc.) I'm not seeing the value. 24V/48Vis just not as common yet, but would be a consideration if I was starting from scratch!
hahaha! Gotta get somewhere where we won't have to use the heater first! But getting closer. So far, we've only been 10 days without hookups, but we're not using the AC right now....but OH it's coming! 🥵
![[TH] VALORANT Champions Seoul - Lower Bracket Final - LEV vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fyYkI80GG4o/mqdefault.jpg)
Don’t let Gary eat too many of those Jelly Bellies. He won’t fit in the morgue to hook up the batteries! LOL!
I can't get in between that man and Jelly Bellies or Albanese gummy bears - a true Danger Zone! 😁
I have a 30 foot holiday rambler with 30 kw under one bed and another 12 pack I plug in for back up but the 12 kw is normally running my small outbuilding workshop. I built my battery from 280k eve cells. A large battery bank is key to being off grid
I also run a 24 volt system which helped a little with charge and a little smaller wire size
You definitely have me beat! But would be necessary if you're running tools in a workshop off-grid. That's quite impressive!
@@TheJoslynJourney it all started as a small hobby a couple years ago when I was fighting stage 4 cancer and I quickly saw it as a way my wife could have electricity if I wasn't there to pay the electric bill. Soon as I realized how important it is for us to set up our family in a way the can survive without us I started getting more serious about the solar. It's took me an embarrassing amount of money and time but it's finally a system with replacement parts on standby that will power our home for the rest of our lives hopefully. I'm really glad to see others doing the same thing
Wow, what an amazing story! That's a lot of research, money, and TIME to do that. Seriously fantastic. Are you in a location where getting electricity would be difficult or was it the concern of constant increases in electrical bills - just curious. At some point we'll probably look for a barndominium and would prefer to be off-grid but we'll figure that out down the road. I see that in my future at some point.
@@TheJoslynJourney we actually moved I to my mother's house while I was dealing with cancer. Now my holiday rambler and my shop building are on her property. And I could have ran a cord to both very easy. My wife is kinda messed up from a stroke she had and she doesn't work but she don't get any disability either she basically just helps me with my truck driving stuff and I take care of her. She doesn't have any family really so when I was really sick my biggest worry was how was she gonna survive because what life insurance I have would only do her a couple years at most . Now that I'm in remission and working again we are wanting to but a small off grid property and buy a shed to house that's mostly finished out but I'll reuse my solar stuff and I'd probably set the camper up near the house and live in the camper on the property untill we are close to being done with the new place. We were looking this past week and west TN has some very reasonable places and the codes people have already let several sheds be built there and lived in in that area . Hopefully when we buy the property and building I'm wanting to get a local driving job where we can be home some. We are only home 3 days a month if we are lucky and travel is fun but it's getting old kinda. It's harder on Lizzy than it is on me but it's still just exhausting. Anyways good chat. Holler at me later if you got any questions
Great video on upgrading your system.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks
Anytime! And thanks for stopping by!
Nice upgrade! Say Hi to Dan, et all, for us.
It just didn't feel the same without you guys! :)
Pretty good guys, great upgrade...But based in what I saw, the morgue tray is not coming out anymore?
Yeah, I did a crappy job on that part of the video. We shortened the tray but it still slides. We couldn't get rid of such a cool feature!
For those who are not wealthy or sponsored SOK, OR EG4 batteries are $1100. For 400 amp/hrs 10,000. Cycle life and 10 year warranty, as well as UL listed. So $3300 for your set up instead of $11,397. Yowzers Cell prices have fallen so much in the last year , and unfortunately now go up with the Chinese 25% tarrifs. So shop sooner than later folks
That's valid, but we also had a very limited amount of space. SOK looks like a good buy, but we'd be able to increase to maybe 3 of the 280Ah batteries. We were trying to maximize our Ah for our space. You do pay more for a more compact design. But definitely not necessary if price is your limiting factor.
My D.I. in Bootcamp said we weren’t workin unless he saw A$$’s n Ellbows! Great job you two.
Just curious about the specs on your old battle borne batteries?
✌🏽
Gotta love the A&E! 😁 Our Battleborn batteries were all 100Ah. 2 were standard, 2 had the heaters built-in.
@@TheJoslynJourney So you’ve got 4 Battle Borne Batteries all together? I’m just learning about batteries, Solar and electrical usage, etc myself.
Almost need to have a degree or in your case an engineering background/degree to figure it all out. Beautiful wiring and electrical work by the way.
✌🏽
It certainly helps to have some strong electrical background and to be handy. You don't want to let the magic smoke out of electrical components, ha! We do have some schematics on our website for this video - that would at least give an idea of the complexity. Obviously, there's a lot more to it than that, but maybe it will help: www.joslynjourney.com/e186/
Excellent upgrade. I'm interested to see how much and how quickly your Battle Born batteries sell for.
Probably $450 for the std battey (1) and $500 for the heated (2). Will be posting on FB marketplace in 2 weeks after we get to NC. Though if you're in the Midwest or on the way to NC I'm open for a delivery 😎
@@TheJoslynJourney Sorry - not in the market for more BB batteries. But that's a reasonable price.
@Mark_Joslin I'm hoping someone will be. They'd make awesome batteries for a trolling motor. We will see ..
There's a big difference in voltage drop between AC and DC over the same length and same gauge wire. and that 3ft distance Gary was working with had no voltage drop with
DC current. So that work and expense was unnecessary. he might have saved a little doing it himself but part of that savings was used up by not having electrical engineering education.
What area are you referring to?
@@TheJoslynJourney There's no voltage drop on DC circuits that only run 3 ft from one point to another. So you didn't need to go with heavier gauge more expensive cable. I'm an electrical eng. by trade, with a 37 ft 5th wheel with 700 watts of power, in case you were wondering if I know what I'm talking about.
Great video! As full-timers, I think that upgrading your batteries was a wise idea. What size DC2DC charger are using?
We are actually using a cheaper option, but we would recommend a dc-dc charger instead. Our Victron Li-Ct Battery Combiner is a simple solution but won't ever be able to charge our batteries to 100%. We typically see around 40A - I would think a 40-60A dc-dc charger would be a good size.
More battery capacity will not ever harm an inverter. you could have went with the larger batteries.
Hmmm... Then why would Victron state a limit? I agree, I could've pushed it but I'd rather not go outside of Victron specs.
@@TheJoslynJourney I think they want people to think once you get so many AH you need to get an additional Inverter. That is just nuts. I have 1120ah @48 volts which is 4480ah @ 12 volts. I do not have Victron inverters as I truly feel they are over priced. I use Growatt inverters and I have 2 5kus version inverters. No where have I every read anything about how much battery storage you can have max. I would ask Victron why they have that even in their Documents. Maybe its for their batteries in a daisy chain configuration like how you have the 3 hooked up now. I have each battery of mine to a busbar so each battery works the same and lowers the C rating.
Great job again guys!! Is the factory inverter in the morgue, and how can I tell if it’s lithium compatible?
I think it’s the converter you need to find out if it is lithium compatible. The inverter converts DC voltage to AC where as the converter is used to convert AC to charge DC batteries. You would have to get the Make/Model of the Converter and google it. There is either a switch or jumper or some kind of toggle to make it output 14.2v instead of 13. Best of luck
The Host Factory Inverter MAY or MAY NOT be Lithium compatible. The low-end version we had when we bought out 2018 Cascade had an inverter that was NOT compatible with Lithium. The GoPower ones that Host is providing now are compatible. You'll need to know what converter is installed - definitely don't assume - you can fry those expensive Lithium batteries very quickly!
Yes, we agree with you @blairM363!
So in my Host Yukon it should be mounted in the morgue? Is that where yours was? Not in the fuse panel above the TV?
Did you consider converting to a 24 or 48volt system ?
That's a great question! It would make all of the cables much smaller and easier to install. I'd have to at LEAST get 4 batteries in there to make that work (and we couldn't figure out how to do that). That, and the added cost of having to add step-down converters for all of the appliances that use 12V (refrigerator, stove light, all lighting, fans, water pump, etc.) I'm not seeing the value. 24V/48Vis just not as common yet, but would be a consideration if I was starting from scratch!
Great video, we expect an in-depth review next week showing how long those batteries last you running the AC full time. 😊
hahaha! Gotta get somewhere where we won't have to use the heater first! But getting closer. So far, we've only been 10 days without hookups, but we're not using the AC right now....but OH it's coming! 🥵