Boondocking/working online/electrical system design help needed

I have never worked with these types of parts for solar/controller/charger/invertor/generator. I am completely lost.

I need to design an electrical system for fulltiming which will be 75% boondocking. My work is partially done online on and off all day every day. I have started making up a list of what I want to have and approximate usage in a day.

It will be for a used 25?-35? Class C with center bed in the back. I plan batteries under the bed. Definitely want remote monitoring of everything. I am also considering additional banks of batteries to the front as I will be building a desk and couch myself. It would be easy to design things around the batteries.

The electrical will probably cost more than the rig but the electric is something that I must always have at any time when I need it.

To start off with I want to do solar and possibly add in wind down the road. The batteries I have been looking at are 12v deep cycle 100ah. The size and weight(75lbs-86lbs) is something that I am comfortable handling. I would like to go with high output solar panels to get as much out of a small roof as I can. I am not opposed to having multiple systems.

The full blown desktop computer is currently at 650w but I am replacing the PSU with a 400w unit and removing the power hungry graphics card, using onboard graphics instead. I build my computers so it isn?t something that I would give up on easily. Everything I watch on TV is through my computer.
Not sure what sound bars draw but I typically listen to music on youtube up to 20 hours a day, usually through my computer but with a sound bar I can connect the phone to it with Bluetooth and not need to have the computer on for music.

I added in a small TV so that I won?t always have to use the big one. Both will be used for the computer. One or the other, not both at the same time.

I would prefer to get as much out of solar as I can while relying on a generator less often.

Desktop computer = 400w 6-8 hrs per day
48? Flat Screen = up to 100w 6-8 hrs per day
24? Flat Screen = up to 40w 2 hrs per day
PS4 = up to 150w 2-3 hours per day
Coffee = 1450w 90 seconds x 6 times per day
Sound bar

All of the interior lighting will be converted to 12v LED and down the road I plan on adding a bunch of decorative 5v & 12v LED & EL Wire but the loads for the decorative lighting can be on a later system as they are not essential.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Two folks to look up online are Jack Mayer and Handy Bob. There is a wealth of information between the two of them.
A word of warning-putting the batteries under may not be the best idea. They need to be in an area that is vented to the outside.

Thanks for the info. I am getting a lot from Handy Bob. I really like the way he tells it like it is.

That computer system is the real killer - between it and the big screen monitor you're looking at 4000 watt-hours per day.

Multiply the wattage by the number of hours each item is on each day to get the number of watt-hours it will use.

Divide that by 12 to determine how many amp-hours it will draw from a 12 volt battery.  Actually, divide by 10 to allow for inverter losses.

That's 400 amp-hours you'll have to store or generate every day just to run the computer.

The rest of your uses add another 1150 watt-hours, or 115 amp-hours to your total.  Interesting enough, the coffeemaker is the second smallest user since it's on for such a short period of time.

With 6-8 hours of average full solar insolation per day, you're looking at 650 - 800 watts of solar panels to replace your usage.

To store a full day's worth of power (in case of a cloudy day) you'll need (11) 100 amp-hour 12 volt batteries, since you can only draw a lead acid battery down by 50% (50 a-h per battery) without causing damage.  6 batteries will give you a half day's storage and is probably a good match given the solar input.

These are rough estimates, you can balance more solar vs. fewer batteries vs. supplementing with generator power if you want.

But I'd give serious thought about reducing your computer footprint since it's 4/5 of your total consumption.

You also need to think seriously about weight.  Class C's in that size range are notorious for having low capacity for added weight. Just the batteries could easily add 600 to 700 lb. I expect you should consider a larger class A (likely  diesel), rather than a C. Another alternate would be using a trailer, but that presents other problems.

Ernie

Batteries under the bed?  Is this safe? 

Be aware it is common for a class C to have the fresh water tank under the bed.

By putting on extra solar panels you can reduce the required battery capacity by using the excess solar to run your computer. You will probably have to make a rack that will allow you to put solar panels over some things on the roof. In a class C there isn't enough room to put the panels directly on the roof. have you actually measured the power used by the computer, although you have a 600 watt power supply, average consumption may be half of that. As mentioned, battery weight in a class C will be an issue, especially distribution of that weight. I think you would be better served with 6 volt golf cart batteries.

John Hilley said:

By putting on extra solar panels you can reduce the required battery capacity by using the excess solar to run your computer. You will probably have to make a rack that will allow you to put solar panels over some things on the roof. In a class C there isn't enough room to put the panels directly on the roof. have you actually measured the power used by the computer, although you have a 600 watt power supply, average consumption may be half of that. As mentioned, battery weight in a class C will be an issue, especially distribution of that weight. I think you would be better served with 6 volt golf cart batteries.

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A load meter will be the first thing I buy. Right now the PSU in the computer is 650w with a plan to take it down to a 400w PSU. After doing more thinking on it I can get it down even farther. I use 5 hard drives and can buy a high capacity drive to replace 4 of the old ones. The Solid State drive has to stay for my OS.

I have a huge full tower case with big fans and a lot of LED's. I can eliminate the biggest fans. This case was designed for hardcore gaming. I don't do anything like that so I don't need the huge fans or the lights.

I do overclock my CPU and it has a massive air cooler on it with a 120mm fan. There is another plain  140mm fan on the rear of the case so these two fans are all I need. I would be unhooking three 200mm fans.

Coming up with a mounting system flat or raised won't be an issue. I used to design and install special effect lighting systems for about 25 years. I can do some serious mounting. Like Overkill Bob, I'm Overkill Frank. Better to be safe than sorry.

Batteries in basement, 6ga straight down, controller close as possible to batteries. Battery meter. If under 600w PWM if over 600w MPPT to get the little boost early in charging. Fuses, fuses, fuses & disconnects. I have the perfect power distribution blocks for the combiner box on the roof.

Handy Bob has a lot of good info and it was very entertaining as well. I read most of it yesterday.

One one of the other forums I visit there was a linke to "Can you operate an air conditioner on Solar"

900 amp hours of LiON batteries, 3,000 watt inverter, 900 Plus watts of solar, Bright sunny day, Small A/C.. They did it.

Ah, HIstory: Show all history, Search (AIR) can be useful....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0rZY5uotKI

LiON batteries, as I recall are not as heavy per AH as Lead Acid.. Of course your wallet won't be as heavy after buying them either.

As suggested, a Class A coach will give you more roof space for the amount of solar you will require. It will also give you more cargo capacity, as well as more weight carrying capacity.

Frankedj said:

I typically listen to music on youtube up to 20 hours a day

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Frankedj said:

I plan batteries under the bed.

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It sounds to me like you could just remove the bed altogether; then you'll have room for LOTS of batteries 

The RV will be bought keeping the battery and solar panel locations in mind.

I'm an RV noob so I am learning it as I go. Been learning it for about a week now. Going with flooded so exhaust will be required. Either Trojan T-105 or T-125.

I have a general idea of the parts I need. I received my remote Kill A Watt yesterday to start taking actual power draw readings. The big TV was estimated at 100 watts. 67 watts is the actual draw. I am rounding it up to 70. I ordered a sound bar, coffee maker and 24" flat screen so I can get readings on the electronics I will be taking with me.

If I go over 600 watts I will use a MPPT controller. Under 600 watts I will use a PWM. 1 watt of solar per ah of battery. I won't get any controller that doesn't allow you to adjust the charging voltage.

The sound bar has bluetooth so I can have youtube playing on the phone with unlimited data and it will link to the sound bar. The sound bar manual states it has a 22 watt draw.

Music is a big part of my life. I was a nightclub DJ at 21 during the 80's. I am now 51. I spent decades designing, installing and programming special effect lighting and commercial sound systems. I am exchanging my home nightclub sound system for a sound bar in a RV. Currently 1,700 watts of sound vs sound bar with 60 watts. I also have the parts for a 3,600 watt system.

Frankedj said:

a 3,600 watt system.

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Um, wow. Let us know which state you'll be boondocking in so we can avoid it

Frankedj said:

Going with flooded so exhaust will be required. Either Trojan T-105 or T-125.

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I currently have 125s and am planning on adding more batteries in the bin. Have abandoned the idea of flooded. Requires sealed, acid-proof box with redundant fans pressurizing box which then vents overboard. Then there's the access issue for routine battery maintenance. You're going to be spending seriously money on this project. I would suggest spending a small amount more and going with AGMs.

Here is another possible thing to consider.

I went with a Blue Sky Controller system because it allows you to use thier IPN network to daisy chain controllers to add more capacity for up to a huge amount of solar.

I have 700 watts on the DP right now but can easily add more in increments of up to 40 amps each up to 7 controllers.  The master controller will manage the entire array and they have a monitor that tells you all the same information as the trimetric battery monitor.

You might want to read this post for more details.

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,90672.msg828797.html#msg828797

A few questions Frank... is your goal with solar to completely replenish the amps drawn fron your battery-bank, or to partially replenish them? If partially, how much? How big (in amp hours) do you envision your battery-bank being? In what part of the country do you plan on doing most of your boondocking?

Kev

HueyPilotVN said:

Here is another possible thing to consider.

I went with a Blue Sky Controller system because it allows you to use thier IPN network to daisy chain controllers to add more capacity for up to a huge amount of solar.

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I have looked at that brand. I am looking at the TriStar TS-MPPT-60 Charge Controller for a bigger system. Same one for PWM if I go smaller. They can be networked.

Kevin Means said:

A few questions Frank... is your goal with solar to completely replenish the amps drawn fron your battery-bank, or to partially replenish them? If partially, how much? How big (in amp hours) do you envision your battery-bank being? In what part of the country do you plan on doing most of your boondocking?

Kev

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I want the majority to be solar with a gen backup because the sun does not always shine. My first calcs for ah was 333. Discharging to 50% made it 666. Six T-105 would be 675ah. Once I get the other electronics I will be taking I can figure things up with the actual wattages.

I really won't know about the PV panels until I have an RV and can figure out how much I can fit on it. I have a long history of rigging tens of thousands of pounds of equipment from vibrating surfaces.

I will probably end up following the seasons while avoiding the cold. Find a temp I like and ride that. I do want to drive the edge of the country all the way around just because.

After taking power usage readings on some of the things I will be taking I have discovered that I don't need a big system. The wireless Kill A Watt is great. The computer has a 650 watt PSU but only uses 150 watts with an occasional 180 watt peak. It stays between 110 & 150.

I started out with the frame of mind that I need big, need more. It is what I am used to doing in my previous lines of work. Build it bigger, make it stronger, make it huge.

Things are now down to four T-105 batteries and under 600ah so I can go smaller. Less wattage in PV panels, smaller/cheaper solar controller. With the amount of money saved with the downscale of things I can move the money over to AGM batteries.

I have been lightly reading over flooded battery maintenance. Looks like the added expense of AGM will make it worth it. I still have much more reading to do on the subject.

I am still waiting to receive the coffee maker and a new small flat screen to get actual readings on them to have my final numbers.

I am currently at needing 392ah on 450ah of batteries.

Frankedj said:

Things are now down to four T-105 batteries and under 600ah so I can go smaller.  With the amount of money saved with the downscale of things I can move the money over to AGM batteries.

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Just as an FYI, Trojan has recalled their 105 AGMs and suspended production due to failures in the case; no date on when they'll be avail. I've heard good things about Fullriver Battery (http://www.fullriverbattery.com). I'm planning on adding 4 of their 6V AGMs to my battery bank