12V 200Ah Lithium Iron LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Battery

[wjpatter]

this number is more often than not about 300 to 350 amps!

You have a system that will power 1/2 the west coast so continuous 80 watts of power lose isn't a big deal. What size inverter did you install? By chance, have you ever measure the parasitic load of the inverter with no load? In the back of my mind, I have that the no-load power drain is proportional to the size of the inverter. For my small system and occasion use, the power on, no-load overhead drain could be 10% of my nightly consumption. That maybe total fiction but is why I went with a 2000w inverter instead of 3000w. I have to go back to re-measure my load numbers. I think my cheap amp meter played tricks with what I was measuring.

Last question because I'm thinking about jumping into solar panels. What am I missing that I'm thinking the solar panel installation is going to be straight forward? The hardest part for me will be to punch a hole in a perfectly good roof for the the cables to the front cargo box. The Renogy DC-DC converter I installed to charge off the truck alternator has a solar input port so the regulator is ready to go. My roof is wood panels with good clearance so hitting the stringers isn't required. I do worry about things flying off the roof as I go down the street. Is the installation that straight forward or is there a major gotcha waiting for me?

[SolarPoweredRV]

You have a system that will power 1/2 the west coast so continuous 80 watts of power lose isn't a big deal. What size inverter did you install? By chance, have you ever measure the parasitic load of the inverter with no load? In the back of my mind, I have that the no-load power drain is proportional to the size of the inverter. For my small system and occasion use, the power on, no-load overhead drain could be 10% of my nightly consumption. That maybe total fiction but is why I went with a 2000w inverter instead of 3000w. I have to go back to re-measure my load numbers. I think my cheap amp meter played tricks with what I was measuring.

Last question because I'm thinking about jumping into solar panels. What am I missing that I'm thinking the solar panel installation is going to be straight forward? The hardest part for me will be to punch a hole in a perfectly good roof for the the cables to the front cargo box. The Renogy DC-DC converter I installed to charge off the truck alternator has a solar input port so the regulator is ready to go. My roof is wood panels with good clearance so hitting the stringers isn't required. I do worry about things flying off the roof as I go down the street. Is the installation that straight forward or is there a major gotcha waiting for me?

To answer your first question, All inverters have losses from both inefficiency and standby operation, that is why you don't leave them powered up all the time unless you have a large battery bank that can absorb the standby losses and not run you short for your essential needs. If you lookup the specifications for the Inverter/Charger you are interested in you can find what the standby losses are, for example: the 3000 Watt 12v Victron shows only 8 Watts (depending on your configuration) that is a lot less than 80 Watts. The good thing about the Victron is they can be turned on via Bluetooth from your phone.

As far as mounting your Solar Panels goes, the installation is pretty much straight forward, I chose to use 6 (Renogy) "Z" brackets per panel for extra holding power and only had an issue when I mounted one panel length wise across the curve of the roof, this caused me to add shims under both outboard brackets (because I had Z brackets in the middle of the panel) but that was no big deal. One thing I did was to place a strip of Eternabond tape under each bracket before I mounted the Z brackets yo protect the integrity of the original roof membrane. I also placed two strips of Butyl tape under each bracket before screwing them down. Afterwords, I covered the brackets and screws with self leveling roof sealant.

As far as routing the wires into the hold, check to see if your rig has pre-installed conduit for installation of a satellite dish. Mine did and routing the wires down into the hold was a simple matter of removing the cover plate on the roof and pushing them down into the conduit.

[rrlowen]

770-EZ 400A Continuous - https://baymarinesupply.com/bep-mari...ry-switch.html

Thanks, Gene. Exactly what I need.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

You have a system that will power 1/2 the west coast so continuous 80 watts of power lose isn't a big deal. What size inverter did you install? By chance, have you ever measure the parasitic load of the inverter with no load? In the back of my mind, I have that the no-load power drain is proportional to the size of the inverter. For my small system and occasion use, the power on, no-load overhead drain could be 10% of my nightly consumption. That maybe total fiction but is why I went with a 2000w inverter instead of 3000w. I have to go back to re-measure my load numbers. I think my cheap amp meter played tricks with what I was measuring.

Last question because I'm thinking about jumping into solar panels. What am I missing that I'm thinking the solar panel installation is going to be straight forward? The hardest part for me will be to punch a hole in a perfectly good roof for the the cables to the front cargo box. The Renogy DC-DC converter I installed to charge off the truck alternator has a solar input port so the regulator is ready to go. My roof is wood panels with good clearance so hitting the stringers isn't required. I do worry about things flying off the roof as I go down the street. Is the installation that straight forward or is there a major gotcha waiting for me?

We installed a 3,000 Watt Magnum Hybrid Inverter. There's never "no load" since there are several items that can't be turned off. That being said, it's almost nothing. When we're boondocking and about to leave for the day, the fridge is on gas, water pump, water heater, furnace, a/c, everything is turned off... but the inverter will still bounce between 0 and 1 amp being used so there's no need to ever turn the inverter off. I guess if you put it into storage and it wasn't going to generate any solar at all, then sure.

So even if you had a large inverter, say 3,000 watts or even 6,000 watts. I don't see how it could run even a standard factory lead acid battery down much at all, even over night. It definitely won't be affected during the day since even the smallest solar panel ever made would compensate for such a small loss. If you have several batteries, especially lithium batteries, it's really a non-issue so don't worry about it.

As far as mounting the panels goes, most of us used 3/4" to 1" screws to mount the solar panels and I doubt any of us ever hit the stringers so don't worry about it. Just take your time using self-leveling compound like Dicor to cover the screws and brackets completely then recheck them a couple times a year. I've never heard of any flying off anyone's roof.

You should also consider joining the Grand Design Solar group on Facebook.
Only GD owners are allowed in, we only discuss solar, and there's hundreds of examples of solar installs on GD trailers there.
We currently have over 2,000 members and it's growing rapidly.

Take care,

Ed Morris