This customer already had a single 200 watt solar panel that came from the manufacturer. They also had three batteries which included two 6 volt batteries and one 12 volt battery. The trailer already came with a cheap solar charge controller in between the two. They also had a 1,000 watt inverter to run their electric blanket. They also have a generator. The customer provided two 100 amp hour lithium batteries waiting to be installed.
Problems With Their Old Setup
They needed their electric blanket to keep them warm as they slept through the night. The problem was that their three batteries did not provide sufficient to power to run blanket the entire evening. Moreover, their single 200 watt solar panel was insufficient enough to recharge their battery bank during the day. They would need to run their generator to help recharge the batteries for the evening.
My Solution
I installed two 350 watt, residential grade, solar panels on the roof, and wired them into a Victron 100/50 MPPT solar charge controller. I removed their two 6 volt batteries and wired in the two 100 AH lithium batteries. I kept the third 12 volt battery and wired it in as a start battery for their on-board generator with a Cyrix battery combiner to keep it charged. I wired circuit breakers for the solar, and then installed Victron’s app into the customer’s cellphone. I upgraded the stock PWM charge controller to a programmable Victron 100/15 to charge the lithium batteries correctly.
The lithium batteries provide far more capacity to keep their electric blanket running all night long, while the two 350 watt solar panels provide plenty of power to keep their recharged each day. They no longer have to run their generator to recharge batteries, which saves them money on gasoline. The Victron MPPT solar charge controller does a superior job of keeping their batteries charged properly.