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Old 07-16-2018, 05:30 PM   #1
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4.5KWatt/hour Solar per Day

I spent 4 days boon docking at the Golden State Star Party. It was hot and I ran the air conditioning a lot. I would run it with and without the generator. I was averaging 4.5 kilowatt/hours per day of solar generation. I have 805 watts of panels on the Artic Fox 22G roof plus another 180 watts on my Leer truck cap connected to the trailer power system using a 4 AWG 30 foot power cable. I am happy with the solar power available. My roof is only 20 foot long so space was at a premium.

I can run my air conditioner for multiple hours using my 400 amp-hour LiFePO4 battery bank when the solar output is high. Eventually I fire up the Honda EU2200 to make up the power deficit and recharge the batteries. I typically would run the air conditioning on low in the early afternoon when the batteries were at a 100% and turn on the generator a few hours later to help top off the batteries while the air conditioning was still running.

The GSSP is lower than where I would normally camp so the daytime temps where in the high 90s. Most places at higher elevation would require less use of the air conditioning.

My trailer roof is maxed out until I wanted to remove the TV antenna. The extra 180 watt panel on the truck's shell was a nice boast to the total wattage available.

My LiFePO4 batteries have no problem running the air conditioner with the Spartan Power 2200 watt inverter that can surge to 6600 watts. The batteries also recharge very quickly all the way to 100%.

The last evening of the trip I took a nap with the air condition on and the generator ran out of gas. i ran my batteries down to about 35% when I was napping. I had plenty of power in the morning to run the microwave in the toaster. The solar system recharged the batteries to 100% without any help from the generator.
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Old 07-16-2018, 07:23 PM   #2
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Congrats on the system. Lifepo4 are pretty sweet with the short recharge time and if they don't fully charge no problem, able to power high draw item even at low SoC.
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Old 07-17-2018, 04:31 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astrocamper View Post
I spent 4 days boon docking at the Golden State Star Party. It was hot and I ran the air conditioning a lot. I would run it with and without the generator. I was averaging 4.5 kilowatt/hours per day of solar generation. I have 805 watts of panels on the Artic Fox 22G roof plus another 180 watts on my Leer truck cap connected to the trailer power system using a 4 AWG 30 foot power cable. I am happy with the solar power available. My roof is only 20 foot long so space was at a premium.

I can run my air conditioner for multiple hours using my 400 amp-hour LiFePO4 battery bank when the solar output is high. Eventually I fire up the Honda EU2200 to make up the power deficit and recharge the batteries. I typically would run the air conditioning on low in the early afternoon when the batteries were at a 100% and turn on the generator a few hours later to help top off the batteries while the air conditioning was still running.

The GSSP is lower than where I would normally camp so the daytime temps where in the high 90s. Most places at higher elevation would require less use of the air conditioning.

My trailer roof is maxed out until I wanted to remove the TV antenna. The extra 180 watt panel on the truck's shell was a nice boast to the total wattage available.

My LiFePO4 batteries have no problem running the air conditioner with the Spartan Power 2200 watt inverter that can surge to 6600 watts. The batteries also recharge very quickly all the way to 100%.

The last evening of the trip I took a nap with the air condition on and the generator ran out of gas. i ran my batteries down to about 35% when I was napping. I had plenty of power in the morning to run the microwave in the toaster. The solar system recharged the batteries to 100% without any help from the generator.
Very nice Astro. I have 200ah LifeBlue lithium myself and seriously considering upgrading to 400. What size air conditioner are you running and do you have a soft start kit of any sort Installed?
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Old 07-17-2018, 05:29 AM   #4
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Very nice! Well done!
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Old 07-17-2018, 08:45 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Csclark5253 View Post
Very nice Astro. I have 200ah LifeBlue lithium myself and seriously considering upgrading to 400. What size air conditioner are you running and do you have a soft start kit of any sort Installed?
Same question from me. What size is the A/C unit to be able to run on a 2200 W inverter.
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Old 07-17-2018, 10:05 AM   #6
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It's a 13.5K unit. I do have the Micro Air EasyStart added. It took about an hour to install. My inverter surges to 6600 watts for up to 20 seconds which is plenty of time to deal with locked rotor amps. If I didn't have the EasyStart added I would have needed the 3300 watt inverter that could surge to 9900 watts. I was going to buy the 3300 watt inverter but the wait time is long because they are sending them to Puerto Rico by the pallet load because of the failed power grid after the hurricane. Spartan Power is local to Reno and I went to the owner and discussed the options before buying. He said with the EasyStart I would be fine with the smaller inverter. I make a point of not running my toaster or microwave when the air conditioner is on.

I used 2/0 wires from each of the 4 batteries to a pair of 650 amp bus bars. I used 4/0 wire from the bus bars to the 500 amp DC shunt on the negative and the 600 amp disconnect switch and 400 amp fuse on the positive. I kept the wire lengths short as possible to the inverter which is installed in the pass through storage area. I open both storage doors for ventilation when putting long run time high loads on the inverter. If the outside air is still I also run a fan to push fresh air into the pass through storage area. The site last weekend had strong hot afternoon winds typical of the mountain/valley combinations so there was plenty of air blowing through the storage area.

I sized the battery bank to handle the large surge current from the inverter and added amp-hour capacity to allow me to leave the generator at home in the colder months when air conditioning isn't needed but the furnace will be when the days are short and possibly cloudy. My inverter can surge to pull 550 amps but probably won't with the EasyStart on the air conditioner.

With the generator running and a pair of Lithium chargers plus max solar output I can put about 145 amps into my batteries. I currently have a 60 amp and 30 amp Lithium chargers. I am thinking about buying the 45 amp unit and removing the 30 amp unit so I can use it at my house for my portable pair of 50 amp-hour LiFePO4 batteries that I use for astronomy. The 105 amps of 14.6 volts from the combined Lithium Charger output would pull 1750 watts from my Honda EU2200 which would be close to the maximum sustained generator output. This would give me a total of 160 amps of charging capability under full sun.
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Old 07-18-2018, 08:34 AM   #7
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Jeff,

Thanks for the great write up.
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Old 07-18-2018, 01:36 PM   #8
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My title should have been 4.5KWatt/day not hour.
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Old 07-18-2018, 04:32 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astrocamper View Post
My title should have been 4.5KWatt/day not hour.
Technically your original is correct...
Harvest Total – total amount of energy in kilowatt hours (shown as KWH) delivered to the batteries.


If you posted before I forgot, what are you using for charging voltages/ stages? Bulk, absorb, float?
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Old 07-19-2018, 06:46 AM   #10
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Thanks Jeff, answers my questions and future mod. Love hearing things that work as planned.
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Old 07-19-2018, 10:26 AM   #11
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I have 3 Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT controllers. The bulk/absorb is set to 14.4 volts. The float isn't used for the LiFePO4 batteries so it is set for 13.6 which is below that acceptable charging voltage for the battery BMS.

One controller is connected to a 265 watt 24 volt panel, the 2nd is connected to a parallel pair of 180 watt 12 volt panels, the 3rd is in my truck cap connected to a 180 watt 12 volt panel on the cap roof.

There is also a ZAMP 10 amp PWM controller that was included with the trailer prewire going to an SAE port on the roof plus a 20 watt panel on the air conditioner. I added a 160 watt 12 volt panel to that charge controller. I used the AGM battery setting which is 14.4 charging and 13.6 float.
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Old 07-19-2018, 08:14 PM   #12
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Thanks Astrocamper always interested in what other Lifepo4 users are using for charging parameters.
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