I have 4 solar panels on the roof

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Al.
We brought her home 10 days ago.
I'd like to have 2 more batteries but not sure where to put them. Can they go in the next bay over?
I've read here to size your battery bank and solar evenly. It came to us pretty close to even.
This is our first rv in over 40 years and that was a pop up. Fortunately I read this forum a lot.
A Trimetic 2030 is in my future. Are they difficult to install?
Not sure want type of travelers we will be. Too soon...guessing 2-3 days per week off grid then campgrounds. This will be our home when we start the snowbird thing.
Thanks to you Al and all others for helping!

P.s. Bill Waugh has offered his help by phone. I hope to call him tomorrow. Maybe we just need to talk this out!
 
J_5th_wheel-is_home said:
Thank you for this post. I am about to move into my 2016 5th wheel that is wired for solar.  A bit down the road I plan on getting solar installed once life settles down a bit, get 5th wheel hitch installed in bed of pick up, get 5th wheel parked end of this month at RV resort I just put deposit down. 

    Jenny, If you plan on using multiple panels then in all likelihood your pre-wired system is ?inadequate? for a system of any size. ?Typicaly? they are ?pre-wired? for a panel of 50 watts or so.....which is only to maintain your batteries when the unit is ?not? in use.  Wire size (quite large wire) is critical for proper performance. The larger wire gives ?less? voltage drop from the panels to the controller. As the panels only produce a relatively small amount of power... you want to ?maximize? their performance!
 
Alpena Jeff said:
Al.
We brought her home 10 days ago.
I'd like to have 2 more batteries but not sure where to put them. Can they go in the next bay over?
I've read here to size your battery bank and solar evenly. It came to us pretty close to even.
This is our first rv in over 40 years and that was a pop up. Fortunately I read this forum a lot.
A Trimetic 2030 is in my future. Are they difficult to install?
Not sure want type of travelers we will be. Too soon...guessing 2-3 days per week off grid then campgrounds. This will be our home when we start the snowbird thing.
Thanks to you Al and all others for helping!


  Jeff, take a look at jackdanmayer.com! Their website can tell you more than you probably want to know about RV solar systems. A wealth of great, practical, easy to understand information!
P.s. Bill Waugh has offered his help by phone. I hope to call him tomorrow. Maybe we just need to talk this out!
 
Alpena Jeff said:
Al.
We brought her home 10 days ago.
I'd like to have 2 more batteries but not sure where to put them. Can they go in the next bay over?
I've read here to size your battery bank and solar evenly. It came to us pretty close to even.
This is our first rv in over 40 years and that was a pop up. Fortunately I read this forum a lot.
A Trimetic 2030 is in my future. Are they difficult to install?
Not sure want type of travelers we will be. Too soon...guessing 2-3 days per week off grid then campgrounds. This will be our home when we start the snowbird thing.
Thanks to you Al and all others for helping!

P.s. Bill Waugh has offered his help by phone. I hope to call him tomorrow. Maybe we just need to talk this out!
Adding 2 more batteries, one bay over means you will have a long cable run, 2-4 feet, to the new batteries while the original 4 have short cables.  That is not the best setup.  While it could work, it is not recommended. 

Before starting the process of installing 2 more batteries, you need to do an energy audit.  Find out just how many AH's you are using from your batteries.  An excellent way to do this is to install a battery monitor. 

To install the Trimetric you mount a shunt near the battery bank, 10-12 inches from the negative post the ground cables go to.  You will need to buy a short cable to go from the shunt to the negative battery post.  Go to Amazon and search for "RV battery cables".  You want a short 12-18 inch cable the same wire size as what is on the battery now.  There should be numbers on the existing cables showing the wire size.

Then any cables going from the RV to the negative battery post gets moved to the RV side of the shunt.  Next you run a small 4 wire cable (about the size of house telephone cable) from the Trimetric to the shunt.  Running this cable is sometimes the hardest part of the install. You want to mount the monitor inside the RV, in a place you can easily view it.  I like to install the monitor high on the wall above the entrance door or somewhere in the living area.  Go here for more details about the install:  http://www.bogartengineering.com/products/trimetrics/

Actually it is better to have more solar watts than AH of batteries. I would prefer 25% to 50% more solar than AH.  For 400AH of battery 500-600watts is better. You can never have too much solar. 

You mention that you only plan on 2-3 days dry camping before connecting to shore power.  Your setup should handle that quite well.  It is important to use a battery monitor to track the AH's used.  If solar isn't keeping up, run the generator for an hour or two in the morning get get a big chunk of the AH's put back in the batteries and then let the solar take over to top off the batteries. 

No need to get the batteries above 90% since you will be connected to shore power every 2-3 days to get the batteries to 100%.

If, in the future, you find you want to dry camp/boondock for 5-14 days, you need to revisit your setup and increase your solar and maybe batteries.
 
While unplugged yesterday for 16 hours I hit the batteries with my multimeter. They showed:
6.28, 6.27, 6.28, 6.27. Nothing running in coach for those 16 hours. By Gary's chart in the library I am somewhat short of full. I have been charging all night via shore power and my built in display shows full charge.
Should I equalize?
New to me coach so don't know when if ever this was done.
The batteries (4) are Interstate extremes amp hours each are 232.
It's a 2016 model year so assume batteries are original.
Direction please. I'll be putting the coach in storage plugged in around Dec 1 for 3 months.
Thx, Jeff
 
Here is some information about your Interstate batteries:

Note the 15.3 volt absorption charge rate.

 

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Good reading here:

https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/the-rv-battery-charging-puzzle-2/

Using the information Paul provided, along with the principals discussed in the link above, you need to make sure your charging system is delivering what is required by your battery bank to achieve a full charge. The link above has a lot to do with solar, but the charging principals are the same no matter what the charging source is.
 
Paul & Ann said:
Here is some information about your Interstate batteries:

Note the 15.3 volt absorption charge rate.
Ok so you're saying I need to adjust my charge values? What I know is my bulk charge is 15.1 volt. I am currently running down my batteries to see what the absortuion charge is once I plug back in.
This is so hard to do for me. My level of understanding is low. I might need to call someone local to walk me thru it.
I now pretty much what I need just don't understand what I need to get there.
This coach is perfect for us. We have spent multiple nights in it. I have a need to understand the workings beyond just pushing buttons!
Thx, Jeff
 
Looks like bulk charge rate should be 14.4 volts.  Absorption charge at 15.3 volts, and float at 13.4.  I am not sure how many of those parameters who can adjust on your charger.
 
I am currently running down my batteries to see what the absorption charge is once I plug back in.

You don't need to discharge them very much, certainly not below 50 percent.  Letting them go too low lessens their life.  That's why we use trickle charging to keep them up.

ArdraF
 
Buy a hydrometer and tell us what the gravity reads. Be careful, it's sulfuric acid.
This style is sufficient for your use.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/ez-red-battery-hydrometer-ezrs101/25980065-p?c3ch=PLA&c3nid=25980065-P&c3apidt=25612030074&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuaH19NKy1wIVFCQrCh3Z5QAREAQYAiABEgJgVfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
Alpena Jeff said:
Ok. Test it at rest? Let it come to full charge then rest for 24 hours?

Test it now or after charging.  Suck enough electrolyte into the hydrometer to get the pendulum to float. Hold the hydrometer straight up and down. It will probably have some marks on the housing so you can keep it level. You dont want it tilted a lot or the float may bind and not give an accurate reading. The float should look like it bounces a little and floats freely. Carefully squeeze all the electrolyte back into the cell after checking each one and rinse the hydrometer. Make note of what each cell reads.

If all the cells check about the same then we know that it probably doesn't have one bad cell which is like having one bad link in the chain. If they all check low we need to look closer at the charging. Do you have the remote monitor which allows manual equalization?



Also I'd say again that it's acid that will eat everything, clothes, rags and eyeballs. It's wise to wear goggles and even have some eyewash water on hand. Stuff happens.
 
Thanks to everyone trying to help.
QZ, I'll go pick up a new hydrometer once the sun comes up and report back.
Only got an inch of snow last night. Fortunate
Heading to deer camp in da U.P. tomorrow. We will find up to a foot there. Yea! ::)
 
Alpena Jeff said:
Thanks to everyone trying to help.
QZ, I'll go pick up a new hydrometer once the sun comes up and report back.
Only got an inch of snow last night. Fortunate
Heading to deer camp in da U.P. tomorrow. We will find up to a foot there. Yea! ::)
Be sure to compensate for the temperature when you take the specific gravity readings.  If you buy a battery hydrometer with markings for different temp's it will be easier. 
 
AStravelers said:
Be sure to compensate for the temperature when you take the specific gravity readings.  If you buy a battery hydrometer with markings for different temp's it will be easier.

EZ RED is temperature compensated so it's easy for new users. It's low profile and durable break proof construction are ideal for an RV'er.  If you want a good glass hydrometer with compensation markings the only one to buy is a Freas.  Freas is old school high quality but fragile and bulky at 12 inches long.  For RV users red/blue/green is more than  sufficient vs adding or subtracting .004 per 10 degrees.
 
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