Power Modifications to your FF

[deezel85]

Not looking for any advice or help but I thought I'd start a thread outlining the power/boondocking mods I've done to my 08' Xt-245 Toy Hauler.

Pics to follow. This is almost an "ultimate" boondocking setup for an RV of this size.

-4x GEL 6V Golf Cart Batteries Relocated to front inside compartment in Series/Paralell to reach 12V
- 100A Circuit breaker and 20 Ft new 2 AWG wiring (removed factory 8 AWG with over 25ft run) from front of trailer to mid-span where power panel is
-WFCO 30A Power Panel, Removed 55A 8955 built in converter and replaced with Progressive Dynamics 9200 80A Deck mount converter with remote pendant
- Added new 20A breaker to put converter on its own circuit instead of shared with front part of trailer.. Also this converter can draw up to 16A current and not truly sufficient on a 15A breaker
- 2000W/4000W surge pure sine inverter in battery compartment.. run with 2 feet of 4/0 power cable to batteries
-20ft run of 12/3" SJOW cabtire wire from front where inverter installed back mid trailer at power panel connected to
- WFCO 30A automatic generator transfer switch- auto transfers between shore and inverter power
- AC from inverter distributes to entire trailer AC power feeds
- 20A Relay bypasses 120v power to converter when it senses AC power from the inverter (prevents batteries trying to "Recharge" themselves- creating endless loop and draining battery power)
- 2 x 150W Mono solar panels flat mounted to roof
- 20A MPPT Solar Charge Controller - EPSolar TrancerBN
- Exterior Solar quick connect port
- 100W flexible folding portable solar panel for exterior use
- 2800w/3000w surge inverter generator
- 30A twistlock 50 foot extension cord between trailer and gen.


Runs my microwave, toaster, coffee maker, AC fan(but not the AC compressor) DJ sound system and the rest of the trailer or any other 120v toys with this inverter right from the batteries. Made it 2 days without any solar or generator top ups on Easter weekend, No LED lights yet and stereo with amp/sub on almost entire time + running furnace fan and using microwave

NOTE: turn fridge from AUTO to GAS button when turning on inverter otherwise it thinks you are on shore power when boondocking and batteries dead in 1 day.. D'oh

[RipVan]

Not too sure that there are many of us (but yes, there are probably a few) that could actually advise or help you with this project! Your power mod project does not sound like one for amateurs. Doesn't sound inexpensive either. That being said, sounds like you've pretty much made "boondocking" livable. If I were to have similar mods done to our camper, the first thing that my wife would say is "why didn't you amp things up more so the A/C would work 'off the grid'?" If I need "off the grid" power, I think that I'll just be getting a portable generator !
RipVan

[deezel85]

Off Grid Solar Powered RV Air Conditioning - Is it Possible? - Gone With The Wynns

Watch this video regarding that. It's doable but the system has to be about double what mine is and you need an extreme amount of sun

[twinster2]

deezel85 - Sound like a great setup. Plenty of batteries and solar capacity to do a lot of things. One thing to be careful about is having the batteries inside the camper. Not sure about gel cells, but liquid cells can put off some toxic fumes when over charged, as well as hydrogen and oxygen.

[deezel85]

Yes this was the issue I faced. My last trailer had a generator compartment for optional gen that I installed the batteries in and was OK as it was sealed off from inside. The fun finder front compartment is not sealed off its just under the bed..

I live in a high crime area and had my batteries stolen off the hitch on my last trailer 1 week after moving in so they have to be out of sight.

When I added the flooded batteries to the FF I put in battery vent tube and taped off the lid to the batt boxes and it was still setting off the propane alarm when charging.

Gels are safe to use inside and do not require venting.

Luckily there was large batch of lightly used gel 6vs on Craigslist locally removed from a commercial back up system. I managed to get 4x of them for stupid cheap. $350 CND for 4. They sell for about $250 each new.

Sold off my old flooded ones for 250 and the upgrade only cost me $100.

Problem solved

[profdant139]

Wow! Well done! I can't compete with all that. I just have two group 31 batteries, an 800 watt inverter hooked to the battery, and a 120 watt portable solar panel. This setup gets us through a week of boondocking with power to spare. But we are very careful about our use of electricity.

With your rig, the sky is the limit. Wow.

[Michigantraveler]

You might be interested in this to use your AD.

https://youtu.be/soP0uZFd0nQ

[deezel85]

Originally Posted by Michigantraveler

You might be interested in this to use your AD.

https://youtu.be/soP0uZFd0nQ

Nice, didn't know the difference or anything about the "soft start" before this. I installed a $15 Hard start capacitor like in the video on my last trailer to help with starting with my 2800/3000w inverter gen and it did help.

I'm seeing prices around $280 USD though, too much for me to justify

Don't use the AC much up here unless camping out in the open.. Most camp sites up here in the Northwest all covered in trees and pretty shaded and cool plus we don't even get all that hot up here around Vancouver anyways so most people don't even use their AC units.

[Michigantraveler]

"Don't use the AC much up here unless camping out in the open.."
I thought about that. My kind of temperatures. But it would be nice for someone in hotter climates who didn't want to shell out a lot of money for another generator.