A trailer for solar power?

[rvwanderer1]

We are buying a smart car, one of those ittty bitty cars , gonna put it on a trailer to travel with us.
The front of the trailer will be a box to hold the carpet, chairs etc.....yes with 2 heavy locks.

On the each sides of the trailer will be 3 posts with a frame around them. 

These will be used to secure bikes etc. 
I thought about making a frame and mounting solar panels  on the trailer above the car. say 5 feet up. 
This would allow easy access to them,  I could point them in any direction I need. I dont have to drill into the coach roof. 

I could run 30 amp cable and plug it in to the back of the coach  etc.

Any thoughts, why its a good idea or why its a bad idea? 

 

 

[maddog348]

Quite a project.  Good Luck.

 

[solarman]

We are buying a smart car, one of those ittty bitty cars , gonna put it on a trailer to travel with us.
The front of the trailer will be a box to hold the carpet, chairs etc.....yes with 2 heavy locks.

On the each sides of the trailer will be 3 posts with a frame around them. 

These will be used to secure bikes etc. 
I thought about making a frame and mounting solar panels  on the trailer above the car. say 5 feet up. 
This would allow easy access to them,  I could point them in any direction I need. I dont have to drill into the coach roof. 

I could run 30 amp cable and plug it in to the back of the coach  etc.

Any thoughts, why its a good idea or why its a bad idea? 

no reason why you could not do this, apart from the cost..
I would also put the batteries, charge controller and inverter on the trailer too..

here's a suggestion for a simple setup..

size the trailer 8 feet wide and 10 feet long, construct a frame covering the entire trailer
and then mount four 345 watt panels on the "roof"
so now you have 1380 Watts from 4 panels, albeit oriented flat..

how about:

4 pieces of Canadian solar 345 Watt panels ( CS3U-345P )  ( $240 ea )
1 piece Victron 150/35 MPPT controller ( $324 ea )
8 pieces of 6 Volts golf cart battery ( FLA ) ( $90 ea )
1 piece Spartan SP-IC3348 3300 Watt inverter charger with transfer switch ( $930 )

Total approx: $2934

excluding cables, fuses and other stuff.. ! LOL

this would add about 750 Lbs to the trailer.

obviously a lot more design thought needs to be put into this, but it's certainly an interesting project..

 

[kdbgoat]

You need to check posts from Bill Waugh's old Stacker. Now that was a solar system.

 

[JDOnTheGo]

I would not say it is a bad idea. However; there are many questions.  Why are you installing solar? What are you planning to accomplish?

I live on solar and love it so I'm not saying it is bad or doesn't work, it's great and it does.  I'm just asking what YOU plan to do with it.

Transferring DC power over distance is always costly.  Assuming you already have a battery bank in your RV and that you plan to charge that bank from this solar, I would suggest using the 'higher' voltage panels (e.g. 50 volts DC) and run this all the way to near your battery bank. Locate the charge controller there (near the battery bank). Use the appropriate size cable/wire (depends on voltage, amps, and distance). In this way, you will lose minimal power due to distance/voltage drop.

 

[1930]

Horrible idea and you should be ostracized from the Rving community for even considering such a fruitless ambition!!!!


Kidding, someone was prob. gonna say something like it anyway eventually so I wanted to get it over with

Good luck

 

[Back2PA]

Horrible idea and you should be ostracized from the Rving community for even considering such a fruitless ambition!!!!
Kidding, someone was prob. gonna say something like it anyway eventually so I wanted to get it over with

LOL. For a new guy you catch on pretty quick  ;D

 

[Arch Hoagland]

I think it's a great idea. It'd be like towing your gas station behind you. 

I wonder, as time goes on and electric cars get more popular, if somebody will market a towable solar charger.

 

[Utclmjmpr]

  Same o  Same o,,get an RV to "get away from it all"  Then take it "all" with you,,,,,,,,,>>>D

 

[SargeW]

I think its great idea. And kudos to Solarman for providing intel.

 

[rvwanderer1]

  Someone asked, why solar. 
I spend more time boondocking than in parks. 
I dont want to run the generator if I dont have to. 

if not solar I can take the wind generator from the boat. Put it on the trailer and as I go down the road, the wind will also charge the batteries.
OK just kidding...... but itwould work when I was stopped and put it up.....  ( if the wind w as blowing)

 

[Arch Hoagland]

  Someone asked, why solar. 
I spend more time boondocking than in parks. 
I dont want to run the generator if I dont have to. 

if not solar I can take the wind generator from the boat. Put it on the trailer and as I go down the road, the wind will also charge the batteries.
OK just kidding...... but itwould work when I was stopped and put it up.....  ( if the wind w as blowing)

Actually I like that idea of towing the wind generator too.

 

[1930]

Actually I like that idea of towing the wind generator too.

+1

 

[Ernie n Tara]

Towing a wind generator is akin to burning money. The increase in drag (decrease in gas mileage) is at least 110% greater in cost than the electricity produced.

Ernie

 

[1930]

Towing a wind generator is akin to burning money. The increase in drag (decrease in gas mileage) is at least 110% greater in cost than the electricity produced.

Ernie

I emphatically told Mr Hoagland that but hes the stubborn sort

 

[John From Detroit]

There was an article on a RV that had wind generators and solar and I don't know what else. The Wind Generator increases drag and is at the best 90% efficient at converting rotational energy to electricity. Likely no more than half at converting wind to rotational. so you are spending a lot of gas when the generator would burn much less.

I mean Waxing my RV adds 1-2 MPG. so imagine what a wind generator would cost?

There is a Trailer someone designed that is rolled up solar panels. You pull in anchor one end of the roll and tow the trailer.. Laying solar panels as you go. till you run out of roll.  OF course that is impractical for any but say Quartsite and then only for a group cause you are gonna need a lot of sites to use it.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Why not start with an enclosed car trailer instead of adding posts, a roof, cargo boxes, etc. to a flatbed trailer?

You'll have a weatherproof room to hold all of your stuff out of sight instead of just hanging off the sides.  Everything will be kept out of the weather and protected from wind and road dust while you travel.  You can mount the panels on the roof of the trailer.

If you're towing it behind a motorhome, you could make the trailer full standup height without affecting the air resistance. When the car's not in the trailer you have a "bonus room" for hobbies, etc.

And, the smooth sides of an enclosed trailer may actually decrease overall wind drag compared to an open trailer with stuff hanging off of it.

 

[HueyPilotVN]

Why not start with an enclosed car trailer instead of adding posts, a roof, cargo boxes, etc. to a flatbed trailer?

You'll have a weatherproof room to hold all of your stuff out of sight instead of just hanging off the sides.  Everything will be kept out of the weather and protected from wind and road dust while you travel.  You can mount the panels on the roof of the trailer.

If you're towing it behind a motorhome, you could make the trailer full standup height without affecting the air resistance. When the car's not in the trailer you have a "bonus room" for hobbies, etc.

And, the smooth sides of an enclosed trailer may actually decrease overall wind drag compared to an open trailer with stuff hanging off of it.

It does not have to be this big.  A smaller trailer could still have this many panels by turning them sideways.  This is about 750 watts.

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,90672.msg890359.html#msg890359