LiFePo4 / Lithium Battery upgrade and solar modification:
I knew that the factory roof top solar and deep cycle battery would not be sufficient for off grid camping. The trailer has been upgraded to a 200ah LiFePO4 battery along with a new MPPT controller for the rooftop solar and a new MPPT controller for our portable panel setup. This upgrade provides four times the battery capacity. LiFePO4 batteries are the future. Well, today is the future I guess! The prices for these batteries has come down so much in recent years there really is no reason to not replace any AGM Deep Cycle battery you own with a LiFePO4 lithium battery.
The goal:
-
Upgrade to a 200ah Lithium battery
-
Upgrade the factory solar controller. We have 150 watts of solar on the roof
-
Add a 2nd controller for my portable solar panels (We have 400 watt and 200 watt portable panels. The panels get used between a variety of setups)
-
Add a 2000 Watt Inverter and some higher output USB C and A ports to the trailer. The 400 watt portable panel has been so impressive it makes sense to add a bit of 110 v capability to our system. Photos will be added when that install is complete. We can even use the inverter to give “Shore power” to the trailer. This allows us to run everything but the AC unit. Technically the AC can run but it will kill our 200ah battery in about 90 minutes.
The factory solar controller and deep cycle battery were removed.
Old factory controller. Thankfully Wago connectors were used. This made it easy to swap everything out.
Battery, shunt, and bus bars installed underneath one of the dinette seats. We lose a little bit of storage but gain easy access to everything.
Battery:
200ah LiFePO4 battery from Vatrer – $439.00
https://www.vatrerpower.com/…/12-volt-200ah-plus-battery
DIY battery tray with RollerCam straps securing the battery.
Renogy Stuff:
Rover 40 LI MPPT controller for portable solar panels. With BT-2 module
Rover 20 LI MPPT controller with BT-2 module for factory roof top solar.
Renogy 300 Shunt – To see battery usage/draw
Renogy One Core – Monitor screen
https://www.renogy.com/renogy-one-core/
Miscellaneous Parts:
Positive and Negative Bus Bars
SAE Port for portable solar panel
Power Outlets – These plug into the inverter
Lots of wire! 8 AWG wire from the battery to the controllers. 4 AWG will go from the battery to the factory connections. That is overkill as 8 would likely be sufficient but I wanted to match was is already there.
The controllers have been installed in the trailer “garage”. Everything else is mounted under one of the dinette seats for easy access. An SAE port was also hadd to the side of the trailer.
Inverter install along with BlueSea fuse block for 12 volt accessories
Sticking with Renogy products we added a 2000 watt inverter with remote switch, 2 single outlets and a USB A/C panel to charge our phones and tablets.
Everything installed. The BlueSea fuse block is overkill for now but the quality is worth it.
Just need to do a little cleanup work. The USB panel is installed in this same area. It has 3 ports 2 USB C and 1 USB A with an on/off button
Testing:
The fridge pulls anywhere from 4-6 amps while running and 40-80 watts. With 150 watts of solar on the trailer roof and 200 watts of portable solar the system recharges the battery by mid-day.
We have also tested with an older 100 watt portable panel. The system is saying it will take 6-8 hours to recharge. Bottomline, the more solar the better. It is a rare partly cloudy day in the Phoenix area so the solar input has be varying greatly. The sooner the battery recharges the more my solar can power everything.
Main Screen on the Renogy One Monitor
400 Watt Portable Panel Testing:
Trailer temperature is over 105 degrees. Fridge is at 40 degrees and working hard. The 400 watt panel along with the 150 we have on the roof is having zero issues with keeping the battery at 100%. A complete weekend test is forthcoming. This post will be edited with the results.
Renogy One Core Monitor:
We really like the Renogy One monitor. Adding a shunt really helps show what your actual power draw is. There is an optional cloud based app where if your system is connected to Wifi you can see everything from the web. It’s $2.99/month with a 30 day free trial. Very useful for testing purposes. Monitor the system from anywhere!
Renogy One Cloud Based Portal
Renogy One Monitor added to the trailer along with a channel cover to keep the wiring clean.
Shore power connected to the inverter via a heavy gauge extension cord.
Final Thoughts:
This setup has been great so far. Our large capacity 12 volt refrigerator in the trailer can run “forever” with this setup. The 200 ah battery is typically at 85% in the morning before solar kicks in again. Adding the inverter makes it easy to plug in our Verizon hotspot, a toaster, kettle, and a few other things without having to be connected to Shore power. We will rarely camp with hookups anywhere and needed to power and freedom to run things off grid. This has been a fun project to implement.
