little camper BIG SOLAR

[@garryhammond3117]

Hey Nick! - LOTS of news and information! You need Will Prouse to answer all your solar questions! www.youtube.com/@WillProwse Cheers!

[@panospapadimitriou3498]

i was thinking of victron and power station in generator input when demand too big !! saw it last week on another channel and i loved that my idea wasnt stupid .. we ll see in the future.. keep up

[@dustinbetsinger8354]

Nice rig!

[@jimsteele7108]

Extremely nice rig!

[@WeCanExploreIt]

hey dude how are things going?!

[@junkerzn7312]

At 8:37... you just don't use the AC input on the growatt at all, simple as that. Have shore power go into a battery charger. Frankly, this is my preferred solution. So, for example, a Victron Blue Smart IP22 Charger (does 12V or 24V). There are 8A, 12A, and 16A models. In fact, you can gang as many battery chargers as you want, so you could get a 16A and also a 12A and put your shore power AC input on two breakers, one for each charger. Allowing you to select 12A, 16A or (12+16) 28A. There are lots of advantages to using something like a smrt charger instead of a transfer switch. Particularly the Victron. It's an incredibly versatile charger. * The chargers are directly wired to the battery bank, independent of the Growatt(s). * Bad shore power won't hurt anything, for one, because the RV is running off the inverter 100% of the time. It won't care if the charger is constantly dropping off. * Once the batteries are full the charger will still be around helping with load support if you want it to. The chargers will supply power as-needed once they are in float and if the RV is using a bit more than what the chargers can supply it will simply drain the battery a bit. Or (for example) also if the RV needs a power surge for A/C start or lifters etc... the batteries provide the oomph. * These chargers have a "power supply" mode that allow you to set the voltage at which they will provide load support. This means that you can program the chargers to provide load support only when the battery is low if you like, to give your solar priority. So you can run the charger in normal battery charger mode (multi-stage with indefinite float), or in power supply mode (permanent load support at or below a voltage). * The chargers also have a "4A" feature (I think, check documentation) if you just want to trickle-charge from the grid to help out. Though normally I just leave mine set to full power. * The battery bank itself can charge at whatever the BMS supports.... usually 100A so lets go with that. Well, 100A @ 25.6V = 2.56kW, so it can charge from your solar and from the shore at full power simultaneously. So... just tons of flexibility. And these units are fairly small and fanless. -Matt

[@WeCanExploreIt]

Thanks for the insight Matt! I will definitely check into this. So, in your setup, do you use shore power for the load at all, or always have shore going direct to the chargers?

[@junkerzn7312]

@@WeCanExploreIt I used to have a "shore only" plug in the kitchen along side the inverter-driven plug, but not any more. Now all the AC in the boat comes from two inverters. The main inverter and a "junk" inverter that just runs one plug in the kitchen area with a remote switch. That way I can pretty much run everything all at the same time without worrying about overloading anything. I think never having to worry about "dirty" power ever again, plus having solar, makes it a keeper. So shore power now just goes to the chargers and the chargers go to the DC battery bus. That current will, of course, help support the inverter loads by virtue of getting soaked up by the inverter. Any excess goes into the battery and any deficit pulls additional power from the battery. It is an elegant solution, I think. Batteries are so powerful these days, particularly at higher voltages, that they are no longer a bottleneck for dealing out serious peak power consumption. I will say that having solar really makes this sort of setup work well. Having shore power only go to the chargers means that any AC loads ultimately run from that energy go through two electrical conversions. Shore(AC) -> DC(charger) -> AC(inverter) -> device. That isn't very efficient. But once one adds significant amounts of solar into the fray those inefficiencies just stopped mattering. Most of the energy over the course of a year is coming from the solar system. -Matt

[@tomwest76]

What are your speeds at Sunshine Key? I know last year they were putting up a cell tower..

[@WeCanExploreIt]

Using Insty.Online, I was getting 300-600 down when I ran a test. Thanks!

[@kickgas7171]

These Growatt units are not UL-458 listed or cerified and for safety reason, should not be used in mobile applications. A much better and safer choice for your RV is a low frequency, transformer based, UL-458 listed inverter charger.

[@ProfFarns]

Brilliant, complain about the UL on the inverter-charger but not the 5-20kwh of homemade batteries 😂

[@kickgas7171]

Homemade LFP batteries are perfectly fine. In most cases they are even better than many of the commercially prepared LFP batteries that are coming out of China because they have better BMS systems, better cell interconnects and true grade A, impedance matched cells. @@ProfFarns

[@michaeld4502]

My 24v victron idle watts is 26-28 watts way more efficient

[@standingmannequin7911]

Maybe in ten years your efficiency will justify the outrageous cost you paid.

[@michaeld4502]

@@standingmannequin7911 I did it due to space of solar panels.... Needed to make sure the power generated was used by gear.... Tried to buy cheap but everything was over 50-100watts go figure 1200-2400 watts wasted I only have 700 watts so lots of production in idle current???? If you have space go for the cheap stuff and used panels

[@junkerzn7312]

There are other ways to get extreme efficiencies. One is to separate the inverter for big loads from the inverter for small loads. A smaller 24V inverter, like an 800W inverter for example (HF or LF, doesn't matter), will have an idle consumption of only 6W or so. So you just leave the small inverter turned on 24x7, sipping its 6W of overhead, and only turn the big inverter on when you need to run heavier loads.

[@michaeld4502]

​@@junkerzn7312Good point... I eliminated the inverter and use 12v lithium to run led lights and 12v fridge.... And only use charge controller to charge 12v or 24 volt and use victron to run AC loads when needed.... I also use a EB3A to run small stuff if watts are less than 600.....

[@standingmannequin7911]

I bet your victon setup and install cost more than the camper you cramp into.

[@michaeld4502]

I own a Cricket trailer..... If you look them up space is limited.... I bought my stuff from Battleborn at Thanksgiving 24v/3k/70amp,500amp shunt,lynx distribution for $1371.99 100/30 CC $139..... Roypow 24v/105 $900.... Plus 2 170w Merlin solar panels for boat type mounting.... On Thule rack bought 2 bifacial 180w to get my 700watts.... Tried all the cheap stuff to big and inefficient..... I even had electrodacus 100am BMS but no space for the battery that size.... I even have a 24v mpsolar all in one that just uses to much energy..... Don't use ground mount panels so this is what it is.... My trailer cost $26900. So about 10% of my cost but I use AC fridge hot plate kettle and air fryer and diesel heater so it works great for me.... Live full time in it for now so you keep paying rent or house payment and see how many victrons you have bought.... LOL have a blessed day