Thoughts on this trailer power system.

[Grassland]

We have a new trailer being built.
I have selected dual 6v lead acid batteries, and the single factory 190w solar panel flat mounted on the roof, well aware of the limits of a permanent flat mounted panel. Mostly it's there for charging while driving, which can be 8-16 hours in a day.

It also has a port to add a portable panel, which we haven't chosen the portable panel yet.

We would end up with the GP ISW1500 with the options we selected. The EMS/surge protector is the one in the bottom right

Are these controllers, converters, inverters any good?


The fridge is propane so main power draw is charging phones, running the max fan and bath fan, maybe the furnace for a bit, and the lights which are LED.

 

[Hilldweller]

I'm not familiar with those products but am curious about the batteries --- flooded?

 

[Buddha.]

I'm not familiar with those products but am curious about the batteries --- flooded?

Flooded lead acid, the standard type battery. As opposed to AGM(sealed).
The 6v FLA (golf cart batteries) are a good and economical upgrade for most travel trailers. You can buy 2 for about $180 USD. They are heavy duty.

 

[Buddha.]

We have a new trailer being built.
I have selected dual 6v lead acid batteries, and the single factory 190w solar panel flat mounted on the roof, well aware of the limits of a permanent flat mounted panel. Mostly it's there for charging while driving, which can be 8-16 hours in a day.

It also has a port to add a portable panel, which we haven't chosen the portable panel yet.

We would end up with the GP ISW1500 with the options we selected. The EMS/surge protector is the one in the bottom right

Are these controllers, converters, inverters any good?


The fridge is propane so main power draw is charging phones, running the max fan and bath fan, maybe the furnace for a bit, and the lights which are LED.

I’d make sure the converter(on board battery charger) has multi stage charging so it doesn’t cook your batteries when it’s plugged in for storage.
It’s nice to see lithium batteries are offered but I’d probably go with the 6v batteries.

 

[OllieChristopher]

Are these controllers, converters, inverters any good?

The choices you have made for your trailer are good ones. They are well thought out and best bang for the buck.


I would have no problem at all with GoPower products. The company has been around for 25 years. If you are living in Canada getting the lead acid over lithium will be a slight advantage in the cold months. I'm sure you know the disadvantage will be the total amp hours will be cut considerably due to having to be careful to not drain them down too far.

Also the Victron Orion DC/DC chargers are another solid choice . My only concern would be to make sure they install the correct one for your usage. Victron makes both Isolated and non isolated Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-Volt 30 amp 360-Watt DC-DC Chargers.

If both your starter (truck) and house (trailer) batteries share a negative return (either chassis ground or tied in together by buss bar) then you won't not need the isolated version.

If the ground path is separate (stand alone house ground) then you will need the isolated version.

I’d make sure the converter(on board battery charger) has multi stage charging so it doesn’t cook your batteries when it’s plugged in for storage.

He is covered there with the GP PWM charge controller. It has both over temp/overcurrent protection. And for the size of the solar panels and battery array the PWM is another good choice bang for the buck.

 

[Alloy]

WFCO converts ( converter is a power supply not battery charger) are cheap garbage. I've had/tested 2 of them. Too bad Escape it using these.

1500W inverter on 2-6V is a waste of $$. The battery pack is way too small. The standby (ghost load) on the Go Power is 1.8 amps

When you get the trailer you can pull the WFCO and install a Progessive Dynamics converter or install the PD as a stand alone battery charger. PD is much (bulk charges 14.4V vs. 13.4V) better than WFCO but is it still a converter/ power supply.

Power-Converters - Progressive Dynamics

The Mighty Mini Compact All-In-One System offers an AC/DC Power Distribution Panel and Inteli-Power Converter with Charge Wizard battery charging technology.

www.progressivedyn.com

A better solution would 4-6V or 2 -8d and a 1200W Victron Multiplus that will charge up to 50amps. It has a standby load of 0.8 amps and a battery temp sensor. Along with the Multi you can install a BMV-712 that will allow you monitor the batteries with the disply or your phone

Progressive EMS are a really good product. I have one. The remote switch allows the contractor to be closed when running off a generator that has an open ground.

edit....keep in mind adding equipment/batteries reduces the carrying capacity

 

[Hilldweller]

Flooded lead acid, the standard type battery. As opposed to AGM(sealed).
The 6v FLA (golf cart batteries) are a good and economical upgrade for most travel trailers. You can buy 2 for about $180 USD. They are heavy duty.

I'm shopping for power and am considering LiFePo4

 

[Buddha.]

WFCO converts ( converter is a power supply not battery charger) are cheap garbage. I've had/tested 2 of them. Too bad Escape it using these.

1500W inverter on 2-6V is a waste of $$. The battery pack is way too small. The standby (ghost load) on the Go Power is 1.8 amps

When you get the trailer you can pull the WFCO and install a Progessive Dynamics converter or install the PD as a stand alone battery charger. PD is much (bulk charges 14.4V vs. 13.4V) better than WFCO but is it still a converter/ power supply.

Power-Converters - Progressive Dynamics

The Mighty Mini Compact All-In-One System offers an AC/DC Power Distribution Panel and Inteli-Power Converter with Charge Wizard battery charging technology.

www.progressivedyn.com

A better solution would 4-6V or 2 -8d and a 1200W Victron Multiplus that will charge up to 50amps. It has a standby load of 0.8 amps and a battery temp sensor. Along with the Multi you can install a BMV-712 that will allow you monitor the batteries with the disply or your phone

Progressive EMS are a really good product. I have one. The remote switch allows the contractor to be closed when running off a generator that has an open ground.

edit....keep in mind adding equipment/batteries reduces the carrying capacity

I had to google 8d, now that’s a big battery.

 

[Grassland]

WFCO converts ( converter is a power supply not battery charger) are cheap garbage. I've had/tested 2 of them. Too bad Escape it using these.

1500W inverter on 2-6V is a waste of $$. The battery pack is way too small. The standby (ghost load) on the Go Power is 1.8 amps

When you get the trailer you can pull the WFCO and install a Progessive Dynamics converter or install the PD as a stand alone battery charger. PD is much (bulk charges 14.4V vs. 13.4V) better than WFCO but is it still a converter/ power supply.

Power-Converters - Progressive Dynamics

The Mighty Mini Compact All-In-One System offers an AC/DC Power Distribution Panel and Inteli-Power Converter with Charge Wizard battery charging technology.

www.progressivedyn.com

A better solution would 4-6V or 2 -8d and a 1200W Victron Multiplus that will charge up to 50amps. It has a standby load of 0.8 amps and a battery temp sensor. Along with the Multi you can install a BMV-712 that will allow you monitor the batteries with the disply or your phone

Progressive EMS are a really good product. I have one. The remote switch allows the contractor to be closed when running off a generator that has an open ground.

edit....keep in mind adding equipment/batteries reduces the carrying capacity

Good to know about the inverter. We don't think we will use it, it was a might as well check the box at this point kind of a selection. We can unwired it for now.
The dual 6 volt batteries offer twice the amp hours we have in our pop up trailer, AND they offer us several years of use in the hope lithium comes down in price.
A ghost load of 1.8 amps is nuts. Our current propane detector pisses me off with its .2 amp draw all the time.

Our current power demands are low, as we have been getting by with a single group 27 and a Coleman 90W portable. Will be adding a better quality portable to support the single flat roof mounted one.

My lock in date has passed so I can't change any of my selections now but if only one part is junk, then it could be worse.

 

[OllieChristopher]

1500W inverter on 2-6V is a waste of $$. The battery pack is way too small.

A 1500 watt inverter is only good for less than 400 amps of stored power. The battery array he is choosing has just over half of that at 225 amp hour. Of course he won't use all of it. But the inverter is the perfect size for future upgrades to lithium or adding another lead acid battery. That inverter is sized just right for his application. Downsizing to a smaller inverter is not going to save that much money.

FWIW the GP-ISW1500 is under 500 bucks so i would just leave it off the build and buy it on my own.

A better solution would 4-6V or 2 -8d and a 1200W Victron Multiplus that will charge up to 50amps.

Bang for the buck 1200 watt Victron is not a bad choice but pushing the size requirement. Running 450 amps of batteries (4-6V lead acid) and a 1200 watt inverter is right at the edge of overworking the inverter and would not be able to hold up to a future upgrade to lithium.

 

[Alloy]

Good to know about the inverter. We don't think we will use it, it was a might as well check the box at this point kind of a selection. We can unwired it for now.
The dual 6 volt batteries offer twice the amp hours we have in our pop up trailer, AND they offer us several years of use in the hope lithium comes down in price.
A ghost load of 1.8 amps is nuts. Our current propane detector pisses me off with its .2 amp draw all the time.

Our current power demands are low, as we have been getting by with a single group 27 and a Coleman 90W portable. Will be adding a better quality portable to support the single flat roof mounted one.

My lock in date has passed so I can't change any of my selections now but if only one part is junk, then it could be worse.

Hopefully they install the remote for the inverter so it can be turned on/off as needed. The Go Power also has a power saving mode that will sense when power is needed. In this mode the start up is not instantaneous though.

We have a 3000w Multiplus and 600w Xantrax PROwatt (0.6A standby & $150 on sale) inverter. The 600w is used 60+ hours/year while the 3000w inverter is used minutes/year.

The Multiplus is used to charge the batteries off the generator / shore power.

We have a 2000W generator could probably get away with 1000w. Ninety percent time the generator is idling while charging batteries in absorption and float modes.

 

[Alloy]

A 1500 watt inverter is only good for less than 400 amps of stored power. The battery array he is choosing has just over half of that at 225 amp hour. Of course he won't use all of it. But the inverter is the perfect size for future upgrades to lithium or adding another lead acid battery. That inverter is sized just right for his application. Downsizing to a smaller inverter is not going to save that much money.

FWIW the GP-ISW1500 is under 500 bucks so i would just leave it off the build and buy it on my own.

Bang for the buck 1200 watt Victron is not a bad choice but pushing the size requirement. Running 450 amps of batteries (4-6V lead acid) and a 1200 watt inverter is right at the edge of overworking the inverter and would not be able to hold up to a future upgrade to lithium.

Lithium is much better but FLA is worry free and stupid proof. I've proven to be stupid twice with my current set FLA.

I'm undecided as to installing Lithium with a protection system or sticking with FLA.

 

[OllieChristopher]

Lithium is much better but FLA is worry free and stupid proof. I've proven to be stupid twice with my current set FLA.

I'm undecided as to installing Lithium with a protection system or sticking with FLA.

And boy the price of lithium is through the roof for what you get.

 

[Hilldweller]

And boy the price of lithium is through the roof for what you get.

Watch the video in my other post.
I'm going to install a LiFePo4, chuck the stock WFCO, install a PD4045KA.

I'm shopping for power and am considering LiFePo4

 

[Grassland]

Since it's too late for me to cancel the inverter, I can wire an interrupt switch before it to turn it off entirely and remove the ghost load?
Or do I just have to remove it and put something better in later?
We've gone this far without needing an inverter and I'm hopeful another decade or three before I need a CPAP