RV Off Grid Set Up (Travel Trailer Install)
*WE NO LONGER OWN THIS TRAILER & THIS INFO IS FROM OLDER VIDEOS, I LEFT IT UP TO HELP OTHERS WHO MAY BE TRYING A SIMILAR SYSTEM* THANKS!!
Part One: The Roof
Let’s start on the roof and work our way down into the RV, then to the tongue where the battery bank lives.
Solar Panels:
**WE ORIGINALLY HAD 800 WATTS OF FLEXIBLE PANELS THAT FAILED!
FOR MORE INFO ON THAT PLEASE SEE THESE VIDEOS: Flexible Solar Panel Failure & Warranty Process
Playlist
Renogy 300 Watt 24 Volt Monocrystalline Solar Panel
Maximum Power (Pmax): 300 watts
Optimum Voltage (Vmp): 32.25 volts
Optimim Current (Imp): 9.33 amps
Open Circuit Voltage (Voc):39.82 volts
Short Circuit Current (Isc): 9.78 amps
Dimension: 1650 x 997 x 40 mm (64.96 x 39.25 x 1.57 inches)
Weight: 42.8 pounds
Why we choose this specific panel:
1: Our Flexible Ones Failed
2: Well Known & Trusted Brand
3: Dimensions For Area Available
This large glass panel is attached via brackets I made. The brackets are bolted onto a composite material board which is lagged into the RV’s roof.
Roof Wiring:
I purchased a pair of 50′ AWG 10 solar extension cables and MC4 connectors to made my own
connections. The wires go into the waterproof port below.
I cut a 10′ pair of 8 AWG cables in half, then ran them through the ports and down into the charge controllers.
Part Two: Inside The RV
Charge Controllers:
It was cheaper to buy two 40 amp charge controllers than it was to buy a 60 or 80 amp one. I did
a lot of reading and YouTube watching before I decided on the charge controllers we went with.
We chose to go with the EPEVER 40A MPPT Tracer 4210A because it is a remake of the well known
Renogy Tracer series, and has been verified (videos out there) that it is actually MPPT and not
PWN at MPPT prices. We went with the bundle as it was cheaper and we wanted the benefits of the
MT50 controller to alter the settings for our AGM batteries. When we swapped to the new 300w
panel, I kept the charge controllers and only used one of them. I plan to purchase more 100w
glass panels in the future which will run into the front charge controller.
EPEVER 40A MPPT Solar Charge Controller Tracer 4210A
I put a 40 amp inline circuit breaker fuse on the positive wire before and after the charge
controller.
Charge Controllers
From the charge controller to the battery bank is approximately 20 feet. Since it’s a 12 volt
system and a long ways, I decided to run 2 AWG size copper wire. I went with a nice heavy duty
EPDM paper separated wire. Along with a marine grade copper battery lugs.
Power Inverter:
Since most things need A/C and not D/C power we needed an inverter. Again after lots of
researching I decided to go with a 2000 watt pure sine inverter charger. Our factory battery
charger was not the best and I wanted to protect our batteries. This inverter charger can charge
the batteries when we are on shore power plus turn the 12v D/C power from our battery bank into
A/C when we are dry camping (boondocking). The remote switch makes it convenient as well. This
one has a remote generator start option but for now we are going to try and make it without a
generator.
To watch the install process of the inverter check out these videos: AIMS Inverter Install Playlist
AIMS Power 2000 Watt 12 VDC Pure Sine Inverter Charger w/ 6000W Surge
Due to the batteries being outside on the trailer tongue, and the inverter/charge controllers
being inside the RV, I purchased temperature sensors to protect the batteries. If not they would
of used the temperature of where they are located.
To monitor the overall battery system I decided to go with a Victron BMV-700 with the Bluetooth option. This way I can use a tablet, cell phone, or I can go look at the battery monitor in the hall. It is a very simple install and comes with the shunt and cables needed.
For More Info On The Victron Install, Watch This: Victron Battery Monitor Install Video
Victron Battery Monitor BMV-700
Mounted Battery Monitor & Inverter Remote Panel
Part Three: The Trailer Tongue
Battery Bank
We would love to have lithium batteries to reduce some weight but wow are they pricey! So, we
went with tested and true AGM batteries. They still give us the maintenance free perk and they
are way cheaper than lithium. To get as many amp hours as I could for the space we have on our
trailer tongue I did two things. First, we went with 6 volt batteries. We did that because they
are the same width as 12 volts but are taller and not as long. So basically we can fit more amps
into the battery box.
Amazon has several ordering options for these batteries and of course buying more means each
battery is cheaper overall. We purchased 6 total.
VMAX V6-225 6 Volt 225Ah Group GC2 AGM Deep Cycle Battery
The batteries are wired in series (to make 12v) and parallel for a grand total of 675 amp hours
at 12 volts.
I choose to use some nice American Made wires that were made to length and I found them on eBay: 4/0 battery cable
To be able to turn off the 12v power to the entire RV without having to disconnect the cables
every time I installed a disconnect switch in between the battery banks positive and the
positive bus bar.
To protect the battery bank and RV we choose to install a catastrophic fuse as a fail safe on
the positive terminal of the battery bank for about $30 total. Cheap extra insurance in my
opinion.
The second thing we did to get the most amp hours we could is buying a lockable battery box. After some research we went with a Tork Lift brand box. They came in several dimensions we went with the largest one which is 58 1/2″ long. This allowed us to carry more batteries, keep them locked away, and it looks nice on the front of the trailer.
Part Four: DC Wiring
Let’s start on the negative side first. So we can use our Victron Battery Monitor we had to install the shunt it came with. It is a super easy process and basically the shunt goes on the negative side in between the negative battery terminal and the load side. The shunt has a place for the monitor cable to plug in and for a small positive wire to connect to power the monitor, both of which are included. The small positive has it’s own fuse as well and basically it just needs to go to the positive terminal and plug into the shunt.
Since the negative wire attaches to the frame of the RV, we decided to fuse the positive and negative side of our system. Hopefully this will prevent any dangers to our system if the RV frame was to somehow have a hot wire touch it. The shunt feeds into the ANL fuse holder below which has a bus bar built in and holds 4 fuses. The shunt side and the ground side both have a 300 amp catastrophic fuse. The two solar negative wires have 40 amp fuses as well.
Here are the fuse holder and ANL fuses I used below:
Now lets talk about the positive side. As I mentioned above I used a Blue Sea Systems MRBF fuse on the positive battery terminal. That cable
runs to the disconnect switch and from there a cable goes to the
busbar which distributes the power. I mounted the busbar to a 2×4 and then mounted the 2×4 to
the frame of the RV. I did that help prevent a short due to the negative side being grounded to
the RV’s frame. All the positive wires are all fused independently.
The AIMS Power 2000 watt inverter charger is tied in the same way. The negative goes to the negative fuse holder which ultimately goes to the shunt. The positive side has a 300 amp ANL fuse in between the positive post of the inverter and positive contact on the bus bar.
Now just in case you got lost, here is a schematic of the entire DC side:
Part Five: AC Wiring
Now that all that is out of the way let’s get the inverter charger installed! Well the AC side 🙂 The DC side was mentioned in Part Four. Below is schematic but essentially since the RV is 50 amp with a 240v plug we had to wire the inverter into just one leg of the break panel. The inverter charger we choose is made for 120v and has a 30 amp transfer switch. I took one of the hot wires from the plug out of the original Main breaker and rerouted it to a sub panel with a 30 amp circuit breaker then used 8/2 Romex wire to connect the “AC IN” on the inverter charger. I again used the same wire from the “AC OUT” to go into the Main breaker. So basically it is simply diverting one wire to the sub panel and a circuit breaker then the to inverter charger and back to where it came from!