Quote:
Originally Posted by Garnet
Well Done! Working on my B17 now and contemplation the solar install. Interested in any input.
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I'm working on my '96 B17 also and talking to Bob. He says he is mixing us up. It seems like he is guiding a lot of people all at once.
What sort of set-up are you doing? The meat and potatoes of mine are as follows:
198 AmpHr AGM Battery (it was free) which required me to remove the
fiberglass cowling on the front and put a plastic box on.
300W solar (3x100W renogy panels)
Trimetric SC-2030 and TM-2030
Morningstar suresine 300 inverter (to run coffee grinder (primary need/want as I saw sick of handgrinding) and charge laptops, maybe run a hand blender and charge cordless powertool batteries, bike
lights, headlamp batteries (I might get one of those universal DC chargers for some of these duties).
I want to be able to run the
furnace, use the
lights, and the vent fan without worrying about having enough capacity. These are basic needs, we're not trying to create at home comfort but comfort being on the road for weeks at a time including in the
fall when night time temps drop below zero with a baby and toddler. We don't need AC or TVs or anything like that. I feel like our set-up will be sufficient but time will tell. Going to do fixed flat mount panels and tie in some kind of portable panel if it seems like we're not getting enough charge. That way I can place it in the sun if we're camped in the shade (which we will be in the pacific northwest).
It's actually almost done excepting the final stage of drilling through the roof, my anxiety has caused me to leave this until last. After much deliberation I have decided to use 1/4" metal screws. I'll me mounting the panels on bracket fashioned on angle aluminum. I plan to make a small cavity under the food for each screw and fill it with West Systems fiber feinforced epoxy. I'll use 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive under the brackets and cover the top with RV roof sealand of some kind.
I have yet to decide on what to use as a combined box, but I intend to drill a hold on the edge of the roof over the front corner of the bathroom since there is an empty triangular caivty there. The plumbing vent runs up the aft cavity a the same dimension. This will also minimize the length of wire needed as it is right beside the dinette cavity in which all the
electrical is located.