2021 380fl solitude, high end inverter and batteries?

[Riekls]

I’ve been doing some research and there are just so many options so I was hoping I could work in reverse and state some of my goals and get help picking the right equipment? Don’t focus on cost in suggestions

I want to be able to run one ac for 8 hours on battery with the residential refrigerator.

I want to be able to charge from shore power, generator , or solar

I want wifi or Bluetooth monitoring options so I can do from my phone

I want good quality reliable compnents, ie right now I’m leaning towards a battle pen package but don’t think it can power even one ax with 3000 watt inverter the package includes?

Thank you in advance !

[BluRock]

Check out 'Changing Lanes' youtube. He's done quite a bit with the inverter upgrade.

[JKellerJr]

I’ve been doing some research and there are just so many options so I was hoping I could work in reverse and state some of my goals and get help picking the right equipment? Don’t focus on cost in suggestions

I want to be able to run one ac for 8 hours on battery with the residential refrigerator.

I want to be able to charge from shore power, generator , or solar

I want wifi or Bluetooth monitoring options so I can do from my phone

I want good quality reliable compnents, ie right now I’m leaning towards a battle pen package but don’t think it can power even one ax with 3000 watt inverter the package includes?

Thank you in advance !

I’ll let someone else chime in on solar. I know very little.

There are a lot of variables for sure but you’ll probably need at least 1000AH of lithium to run 1 AC and the fridge for that long. (Not including any solar or other assistance).

A 3000 watt inverter will run one ac and the fridge with power to spare without issue.

I run a victron multiplus II with the victron monitor and 400AH of battleborn batteries. I’ve run an ac, more as a test than anything, but they should hold for around 3 hours depending on temps and other loads. The multiplus can charge at a max of 120 amps so it would take another 8 hours+ to recharge 1000ah of batteries.

Not sure what your end goal for usage is, but IMO AC on batteries long term is not very realistic. Even turning the trailer into a rolling battery/solar farm, you’ll need a generator/shore power anyway fairly quickly to recharge.

[Second Chance]

Welcome to the forum! You can create a signature block with your RV and tow vehicle information (see mine below). That way you won't have to repeat that information whenever you post or ask a question - and others won't have to ask. You can create a signature by going to:

Forum Actions (on menu bar) -> Edit Profile -> Edit Signature (under My Settings on the left)
@SolarPoweredRV may see this thread and chime in - he has LOTS of experience in this area. There's also a Solar Systems and Generators sub-forum with lots of good information:

https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/foru...and-Generators

Happy camping!

Rob

[SolarPoweredRV]

I’ve been doing some research and there are just so many options so I was hoping I could work in reverse and state some of my goals and get help picking the right equipment? Don’t focus on cost in suggestions

I want to be able to run one ac for 8 hours on battery with the residential refrigerator.

I want to be able to charge from shore power, generator , or solar

I want wifi or Bluetooth monitoring options so I can do from my phone

I want good quality reliable compnents, ie right now I’m leaning towards a battle pen package but don’t think it can power even one ax with 3000 watt inverter the package includes?

Thank you in advance !

WOW, you definitely know how to think big.

My biggest concern with what you want is that you will exceed your GVWR of 16,800 lbs. With a UVW of 14,866 lbs. you only have a little over 1,900 lbs of cargo weight to play with and you have very large Fresh Water and Waste tanks. Even if you are using Lithium batteries you would need at least 1,000 ah of storage capacity to accomplish your stated goals and 10 Battle Born batteries will weigh 310 lbs by themselves (plus all the heavy cabling required to hook up your system).

Is it too late to order your coach with 8,000 lb axles?

Are you planning on having the Onboard Generator installed (if yes, that is another few hundred lbs lost)?

Keeping all of the above in mind, here are a few recommendations to accomplish what you want...

First, you need to consider higher capacity batteries than the 12v 100ah Battle Born batteries (or equivalent), you also need to find batteries that are more energy dense than the Battle Born batteries to reduce the weight as much as possible. Note: Battle Born has stated that it takes 100ah of batteries to operate an RV A/C for one hour.

With your stated desire to run your A/C for 8 hours, I would highly recommend you install a 24 volt battery bank instead of a 12v battery bank. You will have less energy loss in your cabling and the Inverter will operate more efficiently, I don't think you need to jump up to 48v, but 24v would be my recommended minimum voltage.

Hands down I would recommend installing Victron equipment for your Inverter(s)/Charger(s), Solar Charge Controllers, Monitors and DC-DC Converter.

Note: you can easily power your A/C with a 3,000 watt Inverter/Charger.

Solar system:

Here is where you can make a big difference in how your system operates.

I highly recommend using Residential Solar panels instead of whatever the RV Dealer has in stock, or any Renogy, GoPower, Furrion, etc. type panel.

Residential Solar panels are more efficient in converting the Sun's energy into electricity (near 20% efficient) and they have the latest technology in them, like Shade Tolerance. Additionally, they are much easier on the wallet based on a $ per Watt basis. Plus, you can get a lot more Solar Wattage installed on your roof than with the other Solar panels I mentioned.

In your case, I recommend getting as much Solar Wattage on the roof as possible because you need such a large battery bank.

Here are some considerations that might reduce/moderate the size of your needed system...

Reconsider your minimum A/C usage, 8 hours is a very long time to run your A/C on batteries alone. Will you be running the A/C during the day or only at night for sleeping? If you are only running the A/C on hot, sunny days, then with a large Solar system you could reduce your battery bank size by 50% because, the Solar system would be contributing to the operation of the A/C.

Consider using your Generator more whenever you need to run the A/C system, especially if you have an onboard generator.

You also need to consider if you are going to need to run your furnace while you are camping, because, the Furnace eats up a lot of electricity when it runs. For example: if you were camping in the Desert Southwest, it can get very hot during the day, however, it can also get very cold at night, further increasing your battery storage needs.

Another consideration is whether or not you want your Inverter/Charger to power only one leg of your 50 amp coach, or both legs (this will have bearing on your system design and inverter options).

Finally, stating your goals up front is not the backwards way to look at a Solar/Inverter system, it is the only way to design a system that will meet your needs without having to "Re-do" the system because it falls short of your expectations.

[Captcolour]

To help with the weight, can the batteries and other heavy items be kept in the truck bed in front of the hitch instead of in the RV?

[Second Chance]

To help with the weight, can the batteries and other heavy items be kept in the truck bed in front of the hitch instead of in the RV?

I think the gauge and length of the wire run (not advisable for DC) would not make this practical.

Rob

[RV Sailor]

Running an air conditioned on batteries is a real expensive proposition as it will cost you $8000 plus in batteries.
refrigerator is a different story

We have VictronConnect components ( 3000 multipluss 2, controller for solar, 712 battery monitor…all are top notch and all blue tooth

We carry 3-100 amp lithium batteries , 2-250 watt, 23% efficient Newpowa solar panels, Westinghouse 4500 dual fuel generator.

Without AC our solar can usually make us self sufficient. Generator on super cloudy days and air conditioner.