Twice the Power, Half the Cost: DIY vs OEM Solar Power on your RV/Travel Trailer/Caravan 

You can splice into your 30 amp trailer connection and put AC in the AC in on the inverter/charger and the AC out would then be the other end that goes to the panel. This way you don't have to do the weird cable around. The inverter should just be in bypass when plugged into shore power or generator as well as charge the batteries. Plus if you do it this way you can just keep the 12v side all set up as it already is with the 12v battery you already have. Like you said, inefficient but easy.

Sweet. That's the way to do it. We're old, retired FTers who designed and built our system ourselves, on a tight budget. It took us 5 years to gather the resources to complete it, doing all the work ourselves, but it was well worth it. We started by building a 620-watt liftable solar array on the side of our motorhome. It makes a nice bedroom window awning too, practically lifting itself with a couple gas struts, and it's easy to clean, standing safely on the ground. Next, we built a 12v, 560ah LiFePo-4 battery with 8, 280ah prismatic cells. We use a Heltec 330amp BMS with a 5a active balancer. It cost us less than $1,500 to build this 7.1 kwh battery, including the high amp BMS. We chose these cells rather than a pre-built battery because they fit perfectly under the steps of our MH where our old pair of golf cart batteries used to reside. We insulated the battery compartment, cut a small hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging due to low temperature - or their life reduced from getting too hot. Our 12v system uses an 80A Progressive Dynamics LFP converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy inverter, a 50a Epever MPPT charge controller and a Lnex battery monitor. We built this entire 12v phase of our system for under $3,500. By mounting the solar array on the side of our coach, we left the roof free to rack 8, 550w solar panels (4,400 watts) down the length of our 35ft Class A, 15" off our roof, above our AC, vents, etc. We built the rack out of 2" aluminum angle with the front 2 panels of ours sloping down at a shallower 9.5-degrees to meet the roof, gently easing airflow over the array. It covers our entire roof, providing some nice shade with plenty of cooling air underneath, increasing solar output and reducing the heat load on the air conditioners too, though our overall height is still just under 12 ft. We mounted our Sungold Power all-in-one 48V, 5,000W Inverter/100A charge controller/battery charger, breakers and a Lnex battery monitor on the wall in our bedroom, saving us space as well as money. We chose the Sungold Power unit for several reasons. First, it supports up to 500 volts from our 400 voc solar array, can work without batteries hooked up, and has a power saver mode that only uses 20-25 watts when idling. It's selling for $764 now - not bad for a 5,000-watt PSW inverter (with the same 95% efficiency as a high-end Victron unit) and 100amps of combined 48v battery charger/charge controller capacity. Our 48v battery uses 16, 320ah prismatic cells and a 200amp Heltec BMS to keep it safe. Together with our 560ah 12v bank, we have a total of 23.5 kwh of batteries onboard - kept charged by 5,020 watts of solar. This is the equivalent storage capacity as $16,650 worth of Battleborn batteries for under $3,400. We removed the rooftop A/C we had in the bedroom and replaced it with an EG4 28.5 seer-2, 12k btu mini-split heat pump on the upper rear of our motorhome. It's super quiet and cools as well as our 14.5k btu soft start equipped Furrion we installed up front. This second phase provides 24/7 off-grid air conditioning and heat from the heat pump. We can run both A/Cs, microwave and charge our batteries from solar at the same time, even in winter. We have a total of 6,000 watts of 120v inverted ac power, giving us off-grid electrical self-sufficiency for a total budget of around $11,500, including the $1,500 high-efficiency heat pump. This fit our budget and is only a fraction of what a similarly sized, professionally designed and built system would be. Take care, we hope to see you down the road one day.

Cpap is why I have been looking to build out a trailer... i didnt figure i was the only one

😮 excellent ❤❤❤❤

Great Vid! We are seriously looking at the Adventure. The 48V system seems the way to go and within my ability to do. I wish you had some vid of the solar panel install and maybe some more vid of the roof.

get a dc to dc charger and add lots of batteries

I have a similar system, except with two 48V Batteries. I am now working on getting the solar installed, and will also be going with flexible panels, as I do not like putting holes in the roof if at all possible. Curious how your solar panels are doing with battery charging. How long does it take to charge your battery, and does your cpap use heated tube, as this will make a difference in the power usage. TIA

Do you use a trimetric reader for your system.

Rockwood and Epro has a power package that is 600 watts of solar, 3000-watt inverter, and a 400ah battery. However, i agree it is way too expensive. I have already upgraded my solar to 600 watts plus 400 wats of solar that can be attacked to the side of my trailer and a 400ah lithium iron phosphate battery. I have a 3000-watt inverter that i will install later. And it is definitely a fraction of the price, but they are also charging you for labor and wiring which contributes to the price.

Why not just eliminate the batteries land all this hardware altogether and just use a big solar generating with extra battery packs. Every thing is already there and hook your panels up to it. You should get plenty of power that way to run everything including your ac on demand. And you can take it with you when you sell or upgrade your trailer