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Post by bryanfromcanada on Aug 22, 2011 15:06:00 GMT -5
Hey Guys,
So I went and installed a 30 W solar unit on my 55 shasta. It involved purchasing a solar kit from canadian tire, which included a portable 30w folding solar unit and a charge controller. I purchased a 12 v deep cycle marine battery, and a 300 w power inverter.
Currently the shasta is wired for 110v, and has 2 light sockets and 2 wall outlets. So I drilled a hole through the floor and ran an extension cord from the inverter, into the outside inlet (Rather than tear through the walls and rewire it to the inverter).
It works great so far!
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Post by universalexports on Aug 22, 2011 17:10:55 GMT -5
got any pics? I would like to do something like that in the future.
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Gone Kayaking
1K Post Member
long live the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum....we're gone but you are not forgotten!
Posts: 1,600
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Post by Gone Kayaking on Aug 22, 2011 22:35:22 GMT -5
ARe you just going to set the panel out once you are camped? I'm definitlely doing this to be able to trickle charge my batteries. Just got to restock the treasury!
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Post by bryanfromcanada on Sept 9, 2011 17:07:42 GMT -5
Sorry for the late reply! Yes, I rest the panel on the roof while I'm camped as a trickle charger. I thought about my options, regarding the mounting of the panels on the roof, or finding a permanent location for them. To be perfectly honest, I didn't feel comfortable enough drilling holes into the roof of my shasta for the mounting. Not only that, I live next to the mountains, where golf ball size hail is a common occurance and again it only reinforced my fears of creating more heart ache than simple convenience.
For the battery connection, I used the largest gauge battery cable I could get, 1 gauge. It's less than 3 feet long to prevent voltage loss. I then have it hooked directly to my inverter. From the inverter, I used a heavy duty contractors extension cord. 12 gauge. Again, you want to minimize voltage loss because once you have it plugged into your 110v line in the trailer, you will experience some voltage issues. From there I just used 1watt LED bulbs in the light sockets and I ran 9watt BLUE LED string lights around the back bed, and 9watt WHITE LED lights up under the cabinetry in the front end around the window. This plug directly into my 110v wall outlets. It looks soooooooooooooooooooooo awesome at night! I tested out at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada Desert last week and it held up really nice!
Some tips to avoid future heart ache. Get your self a voltmeter. I went through 3 different inverters thinking that I wasn't producing enough juice into the trailer before I found out I was having a connection loss at the trailer inlet because one of the wires connecting to the inlet had gotten loose from pulling on it too much.
After returning from the desert, the trailer is pretty darn dusty so once me and the wife have it all cleaned up I'll take some pictures of it at night. It's a real love shack.
On another note, I plan on removing the battery during the winter so I can use a plug in charger at my home to keep the battery topped up. This will make your solar panels last a lot longer, and also prevent anyone from stealing your $200 battery and $300 solar panel when you're not in your trailer or if it's in storage. Yes, I dislike getting burned THAT much.
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Gone Kayaking
1K Post Member
long live the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum....we're gone but you are not forgotten!
Posts: 1,600
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Post by Gone Kayaking on Sept 10, 2011 10:39:22 GMT -5
Yeah, have just realized that I need to deal with the batteries (I have two) over the winter to keep them lasting longer.
I have everything I need to do this except the solar kit. I currently charge up with 110 and then run off batteries, then need to recharge once I'm back. Would be better to use the solar to trickle charge and keep the batteries juiced all the time.
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cpylot
50 Post Member
Posts: 58
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Post by cpylot on Sept 13, 2011 6:19:26 GMT -5
My daughter bought me one of these for Christmas about a year and a half ago... www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200422042_200422042 we have used it to keep the batteries topped off in our pickup camper while boondock camping with the wifes horses, it works great, but couldn't keep up with the heavy use of the furnace blower fan once when it was down in the teens for a couple of nights in a row. We only had one deep cycle that we were using at the time, I think that if we would have had 2 panels and 1 more deep cycle battery it would have never been an issue. Have never tried it with the Shasta, but I love the portable inverter ect. idea. That with a couple of good deep cycles and low draw lights should hold for some very long weekends.
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