Quote:
Originally Posted by mikegascon1
I did see your post. Extremely helpful.
I have a 3124 and the battery is on the tongue. I plan to update to 2 6 volt golf cart batteries in the future.
It is new to me so, I am having a tough time estimating my needs.
Scenario 1 is the kids and I. I will need fans, or heat, television, recharge phones, interior and exterior lights. I would assume anywhere we go, I will look for hookups. It would be nice to have the option to boondocks though.
Scenario 2 is odd. Definitely no hookups. But less need for power also. I will be at fire camps that are 99% remote. In past years I only use my tent for sleep or maybe to sit for a short time after a shower to zone out. So, my power needs will be heat fan (and propane of course) and fans. Air conditioner would be awesome but not realistic. We usually work 16 hour days so not a lot of need for power consuming niceties.
If anyone has recommendations on low power consumption fans, that would be appreciated. One to move the air and one to blow on me at night. It is either hotter than heck or cold. No happy medium at camp. :-)
2007 3124
Vancouver, WA (close to Portland, OR)
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Let's focus on scenario two, with the first objective being a solar system which can recover your usage each day, if the sky isn't completely obliterated by smoke.
A 3124 has lots of surface area for panels, both front shell and back shell, but the lifting weight will be increased (by the weight of the panels). You could do a bunch of small 100w panels and wire them together, or you could go big, with just one (at most 2) residential-type panels.
As we speak, I'm discussing a new solar install with another TM owner up there in Washington State. He has a slightly smaller 2720, and can fit one of these residential-type panels on the rear shells. These are too large to be shipped from an Internet Seller, but many installers in USA are using them (including some in the Portland area) and some of those local home-installation companies will have some leftover panels from their "full-pallet" and larger truckloads purchases, which they can sell to you for a local pick-up.
Using newest PERC technology and built with a bit more durability, the Q-Peak DUO G10+ provides 385-400 nominal watts, but they're expensive. Efficiency ios the best in the business, at nearly 21%. These are widely used in residential roof installations, I have some of those on my own house (in Reno NV).
Using older technology, the 'REC Twinpeak 2' is only 18% efficient delivering 275-300 watts in a slightly larger area. But it has a much lower cost per watt. I've attached both of their data sheets, and the length of these panels does fit into TM trailer width.
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Keep in mind that "nominal watts" are maximum power under "standard test conditions", which are so bright (and with such cool temps) that you will never EVER come close to that figure. The biggest factor in reduced performance, for a panel mounted flat on a TM roof, is the horizontal mounting. Even on June 21, the sun is never directly overhead at 90 degrees (due to latitude), and a "flat" panel gets less irradiance than the standard rating conditions. For long fire stays, you could consider using an adjustable mount. But that adds the trouble of climbing up there and adjusting the mount, which would be 1-2 feet inwards from the "long side" edge of the horizontal to vertical transition. The mounting would be more complex, adding more weight, and you'd need a ladder to get at it.
Summary hint: the most I ever get from my own "490 watts" of panels is about 420 watts, on a perfect day June day at 1pm daylight time. But from that, we also need to downgrade your panel output rating for the sunlight versus smoke conditions at a fire camp. They can be severe, leaving you with effectively no power at all. But even when the camp seems excellent, the haze has a big effect. As a wild guess, let me toss out a minimum of "800 rated watts" as the minimum panel configuration you should install for this usage. That would be at least one panel on each shell, running them in parallel to the solar charge controller.
In really bad smoke conditions, you will need to rely on a generator, or use a fairly high powered DC->DC converter through a separate pair of big wires, running from the truck to charge your TM batteries. The input current of those devices is large, too much for both the bargeman cable "Trailer battery Charge" and "ground return" wires. You'd need to size those cables according to the input current, being approximately like long jumper cables (but probably using Anderson connectors at both ends, rather than mere clamps). It's good for up to 660 watts nominal (and with a decent truck, that's darn near actual as well, rain or shine or dead-of-night).
https://www.renogy.com/dcc50s-12v-50...ger-with-mppt/