Camping Trailers (Moved from TrainOps 2024)

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

Very nice, So the end goal with all that battery / inverter power is to run your AC’s etc. off battery? Also, how many watts of solar do you have. I’m at 400 and don’t have room for more on the roof.

My solar / battery will handle lighting and the fridge for several days without sun, or many weeks if there is good sun. I decided to go with a propane generator to power the AC/Microwave when we don’t have hook-ups. Going to pick up the genny, a Predator 5000, tomorrow on-sale.

I’m putting my loud and heavy Wheel House 5000 watt up for sale. Don’t need two. The Predator can do storm power duty as well.

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

There’s one 390w panel on the roof, with room for 4 or 5 more, and there’s already a second wiring gland on the roof and wire run to the front bay. Plus I want to do a pair of 600w deployable panels. This will let us run the AC for a while. Im going to leave room for two more batteries. #overkill

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

Reading back through the thread, I never did show what we finally ended up with for a truck.

2022 Ram 3500 dually Limited, with the HO Cummins engine (420 HP and 1075 ft-lb of torque). This thing is a beast, definitely not a daily driver. It’s a trim level higher than we were looking at, but it was at the right price point. It has all the bells and whistles, more than we wanted. Only thing we’ve added is a locking bed cover and a step to access the bed.

Last week we found a 5th wheel hitch, barely used, for half of new. Worth the 2 hour drive.

[Rick_Marty]

An HO engine in a Large scale truck, interesting.

[Korm (Korm Kormsen)]

that would be the right truck for down here.
just add a substancial cow-catcher.

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

Wow, that’s pretty nice! Congratulations!

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

Mounted the touchscreen for the Cerbo. Cut some 6mm PVC and 3d printed some brackets. It fits in a space that we really didnt know what we were going to use it for. This, at least will take up some of it. Now to blank off the back of the touchscreen.

And the Cerbo itself. This is the ‘brain’ of a Victron system. It’s mounted in the passthrough, near the stairs. Just need to find a 12v source I can tap into.

[Rooster]

10 yrs from now ?

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

Ran power to the Cerbo, using a spare slot in the 12v power panel… I’ve ordered some Victron bus cabling, which wont be here until tomorrow, so the display doesn’t show any status yet. But it does power on.

And installed the WiFi thermostat.

[Rooster]

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

Cool. When I was buying my MPPT solar controller I looked at Victron. Since my plan was not for a full blown AC/DC system like yours, the Victron buss capability was not important. I went with LiTime because it has a front panel display, seems beefier (definitely bigger) and was a little less expensive.

Once it’s all hooked up and operating be sure to post a few shots of that panel in the various modes.

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

Got the solar controller and shunt talking to the Cerbo. The video shows the power going from the controller to the batteries (you can see the flow on the blue line at the bottom)

Solar Controller to Battery

Also drilled and mounted the jacks for the deployable solar arrays.

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

More progress. Removed the existing battery box, in preparation for the LiFePo4 batteries. I temporarily added one of the existing batteries back until I can get the subfloor in the compartment finished. You can also see the not-yet-tidied-up wiring for the solar disconnects.

Anyone want two group 24, 64ah batteries, less than six months old, and a Camco battery box to go with them?

Also replaced the under-island bright white LED strips with some warm white, 2700k strips. Much nicer.

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

I sold my Lead Acid Deep Cycle batteries on Marketplace in less than a week. You should easily be able to get $100 each. I’ll take the double group 24 battery box if you will split them up.

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

I’ll bring the box to the show.

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

It’s easier to tidy up wiring as you go, so I’ve spent some time getting some wiring in loom, and finishing up the solar disconnects.

This area is still a bit messy but there’s more work to do.

[rmccown-admin (Bob McCown (Admin))]

Speaking of tidying up, this is one solution instead of having a bunch of 4/0 wire running everywhere. They are essentially bus bars with spaces for fuses at each connection. Power from the batteries will come in on the left side, through the shunt in the middle (which measures the power flow) and out the right side to the inverter/chargers, and other 12v loads.

I’ll be getting these in place in the next week or so. There are other things to install before I get to all the 12v wiring.

[Rooster]

If I was you, I personally would purchase an “extra middle shunt” if possible. That will be the one to fail when needed as the rest is cut and dry. The fusible links on the bars to the right look just standard GM style and are made from ubtainium not un-ubtainium 10yrs from now when that mine closes down.
You should probably also put the toilet feeds lines closest to the 4/0 input wires for less dimming of the island light strips while flushing.

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

I’m going the generator route. Picked up this dual fuel Predator 5000 on sale a few weeks ago. Today I made ramps to roll into the carrier, figured out where everything goes and added a wood base to the carrier under the generator. I still need modify the left railing to accommodate the spare, secure the propane holder and add tie downs for both. The spare is on a bumper mount.

[Hines (Bill)]

I have been mesmerised by this thread. I keep thinking that kit bashing is certainly not limited to model trains.

How much weight do you folks think have been added or removed from your caravan with these tweaks?