Solar Prep on 2022 Solitude

[thomasbuckleyjr]

Hi gang - I have a 2022 Solitude 2930 with the solar prep - currently it has the 1000 watt inverter for the refridgerator only. My question is - the solar prep and and all the wires in the front storage bay - can I add an additional inverter up front and will it power the rest of the rig? Currently all my battery will power is the fridge and lights I would like to upgrade the batteries to lithium and an inverter that will power the outlets and TV and microwave possibly. I am not trying to dry boondock extensivly but it would be nice to stop overnight someplace and be able to run everything until morning when we srtart traveling again. What is possible and what would it take in baby steps.

[Country Campers]

The inverter prep wire in the front storage only powers one or 2 breakers in the panel it does not power the whole panel. If you wish to power the microwave you would need a 3000 watt inverter and at least 3 100 ah batteries. There have been a few inverter installations recently, I just finished one not too long ago, maybe have a read through some of those for some ideas. Baby steps are good but have a final plan and work back from that, it's easier and cheaper as I can let you know.

Brian

[howson]

thomasbuckleyjr

Welcome to the forum. Please check out the letter to new members if you'd like to know more about us and how to get the most from your time here: https://gdrvowners.com/forum/main-fo...to-new-members

Brian's given you excellent advice. What you'll find is there will be a war between the "want to" and the budget. Three critical steps before buying anything IMHO:

1) have a clear requirements list ("what does this setup have to do")
2) Understand what you are buying and why. Fastest way to get going on this is to read Will Prowse's Mobile Power Made Easy! book: https://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Solar-.../dp/B09GCPB8Q8 For $6, it's well worth it.
3) Have a budget, and then prioritize the requirement against the money that can be spent.

I'm an unabashed Victron fanboy--do any searching on this forum and you'll see that over and over again. Not the cheapest, but the parts work together almost seamlessly. It's also just downright cool to tinker with.

Fire away with specific questions. There's a lot of folks here that have "been there, done that".

Howard

[thomasbuckleyjr]

thank you Country Campers I understand how big of an Inverter and how many amp hr batteries - the question you partly answer is what will the inverter run and is it plug and play (sort of) all the connections in the front bay? Can I replace the batteries and is adding another inverter going to just work - yes I know I need a few more items to make it work but in simple terms can I just wire it up and it works? How do I know what breakers it will power (what outlets and ect) howson thank you as well - as for budget I want to start small and be able to add on - yes Victron is probably some of the best but right now I cannot do anything except power the fridge and turn on lights - I want to add an inverter that will power up ye outlets and be able to run a coffee pot and watch the TV ect - nothing major right now. is it possible to add to the existing solar prep wiring an inverter and couple batteries to acomplish that? Grand Design solar package of 300 watt panels and a 2000 watt inverter would do that for me but the unit came with out so here I am.

[Country Campers]

thomasbuckleyjr

It is curious to me that you have the "R" package with the inverter factory installed to provide power to the fridge and I think you are saying that you have inverter prep in the front storage, interesting that you would have both, could you provide a picture of the wiring in the front storage?

Having the inverter prep you will notice in the power distribution panel at the bottom there will be 2 breakers labeled "inverter" or similar. One goes out to the inverter area and is connected to a transfer switch, the other is the return from the inverter to power the breaker panel, which I believe powers the whole panel now that I am thinking about it more, misspoke in my earlier post. So the answer would be "yes" if you have the inverter prep you could wire in another inverter to the inverter prep wires, along with an automatic transfer switch, and power the rest of the rig with this new inverter. The new inverter will also power the fridge so the factory 1000 watt inverter could be removed as it operates via a automatic transfer switch as well so when you power on the new inverter it will bypass the factory inverter.

Round about way of saying yes, plug and play and away you go.

Brian

[thomasbuckleyjr]

Country Campers so last night I did go out and poke around and after looking it appears I have solar prep meaning I am cabled for the panels on roof only - so what I feel I can do to just dip my toe is get 2 Battle Born 100 ah batteries and swap out the wet batteries that came with unit and also add a BMV-712 just so i can monitor the amp usage. Then down the road I will add victron 3000 inverter and more batteries and it will require wiring the new inverter to the breaker box. So I do not have any prep that will allow plug and play. There will require wiring to the breaker box. $2000 I can get a couple battle born and that will be a major step up from what I have and it will allow us to stop overnight at a boondaockers welcome or walmart and not kill the batteries.

[thomasbuckleyjr]

thank you for all the comments

[Country Campers]

Take a look at the SOK batteries, the reviews are pretty good. Paul & Deb uses these maybe he will give a report..

Brian

[howson]

Country Campers so last night I did go out and poke around and after looking it appears I have solar prep meaning I am cabled for the panels on roof only - so what I feel I can do to just dip my toe is get 2 Battle Born 100 ah batteries and swap out the wet batteries that came with unit and also add a BMV-712 just so i can monitor the amp usage. Then down the road I will add victron 3000 inverter and more batteries and it will require wiring the new inverter to the breaker box. So I do not have any prep that will allow plug and play. There will require wiring to the breaker box. $2000 I can get a couple battle born and that will be a major step up from what I have and it will allow us to stop overnight at a boondaockers welcome or walmart and not kill the batteries.

If the plan is to get a 3000VA inverter consider buying at least three batteries now. Why? Each 100aH battery can sustain a maximum output of 100 amps. When inverted, that equals 10 amps of 120vAC. A 3000VA inverter is capable of sustaining 25A of 120vAC. With two batteries the inverter is not leveraged to it's maximum sustained output since the two batteries will sustain "only" 200 amps. The surge capacity of the inverter is limited, too, due to "only" having two batteries. Buying a third battery in the future is possible, but buying them at the same time is recommended due to battery aging issues and only having to wire things up once.

The reasons stated above (plus the space I had to install them) is why I went with four 100aH batteries.

An alternative that I'd consider right now is Battle Born's Game Changer. Capable of 270 amps, 1 battery will work with a 3000VA inverter (since 270 amps of 12vDC = 27 amps of 120vAC). Connect two Game Changers in parallel to a 3000VA inverter and that would be a capable system.

The BMV-712 or SmartShunt is definitely a "yes"--to any system. Consider the Lynx Shunt in lieu of the BMV or SmartShunt if the final configuration will include a GX device AND a Lynx Distributor will be utilized to fuse the system. (The Lynx system is meant to work together, and the Lynx Shunt provides battery monitoring like the BMV-712.) Wire the batteries through the Distributor, connect the Lynx Shunt, and you'll be ready for the Cerbo GX device when the Multiplus (inverter) is added.

Remember I previously wrote that there is a LOT to learn. Do your research now and understanding the options will result in a better system and potentially save money (as you won't be buying stuff twice).

Food for thought...

Howard

[Jlawles2]

thomasbuckleyjr If you just want to sick the toe in, you can start with a cheap battery monitor like https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Yes it's probably one of the cheapest amp meters out there, but it will give you an idea of how deep down the rabbit hole you need to go. The Victron stuff is nice, but if you choose not to follow Alice down the rabbit hole, you are not into it for much with the cheap meter. I have one (recently installed) and plan to play a bit. I do not boondock (unless hunting) and probably never will for extended periods. Most of my boondocking had been overnight, generator in the AM to top off batteries from night of heat or gen at night for AC, hunt, Gen and AC for napping, then Hunt, back for night Gen for HW and AC (if needed).

[Paul & Deb]

Take a look at the SOK batteries, the reviews are pretty good. Paul & Deb uses these maybe he will give a report..

Brian

thomasbuckleyjr, as Brian pointed out, I did choose the SOK 206Ah Lithium's for this recent build. In my last 2 trailers I used 100Ah batteries but this time, with this much smaller trailer, I needed to keep my "battery footprint" down while increasing my Ah storage. For e the answer was SOK. I read lots of info online and watched a very positive video review by Will Prose. I'm happy with my decision and over the last 10 months and many weeks of dry camping, my SOKs have performed perfectly.

Good luck with your decision, you can't go wrong with most Lithium batteries these days.

[johnt]

thomasbuckleyjr, as Brian pointed out, I did choose the SOK 206Ah Lithium's for this recent build. In my last 2 trailers I used 100Ah batteries but this time, with this much smaller trailer, I needed to keep my "battery footprint" down while increasing my Ah storage. For e the answer was SOK. I read lots of info online and watched a very positive video review by Will Prose. I'm happy with my decision and over the last 10 months and many weeks of dry camping, my SOKs have performed perfectly.

Not wanting to side track this post but… what size and how many panels are you using on your system ?

[Paul & Deb]

Not wanting to side track this post but… what size and how many panels are you using on your system ?

Hi John, I have 4 - 200 watt RICH Solar panels for 800 total watts. I removed the factory provided 165w Furrion panel and their solar charge controller which I may setup to use as a carryout down the road. So far, in 1 year, I haven't needed it.