/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1766924
>is there not a big sheet metal box

There isn’t til you learn how to weld and make one if you’re that anal. Personally I use superstrut from the hardware store to put my panels up on my travel trailer and it works a-okay. If you’re paying more than 100 or so bucks for a big 5x3 commercial sized panel you’re doing it wrong so I don’t worry too much about damage. It’s probably just as likely if not more to be damaged while stationary unless you’re literally in the middle of the desert with no tree branches around. So don’t worry about it and just make sure they’re up there good and you’ve sealed any mounting holes with lap sealant and then replace em if they get fucked.

>>1766924
Also
>I want panels I can just hook up directly to my battery pack

No. You don’t. Get a charge controller and do it right.

>>1766934
i dont want something that elaborate

>>1766950

Then, honestly, you may as well not even have solar panels. Hooking up a panel to a battery is so radically inefficient in all but the absolute perfect set of circumstances (which won't stick around for long, even if you happen upon them), you'd probably be better off with a small generator instead. There aren't any panels made to hook up directly to a battery because it's pants-on-head retarded. Even the $10, ghetto, over-specced, non-MPPT, Shenzhen Special charge controllers are better than nothing.

I'm in the same boat as OP. Is this everything I need? I already have the trailer.

3 BougeRV 170 Watts Solar Panels
3 Mounting Z Bracket Mounts Kits
3 Connector Y Branch Parallel Adapter Cable Wire Plug Tool Kits
2 Renogy 12V 200Ah Rechargeable Deep Cycle Pure Gel Batteries
KRIËGER 1100 Watt 12V Power Inverter Dual 110V AC Outlet
Renogy Adventurer 30A 12V/24V Negative Ground PWM Flush Mount Charge Controller

Am I missing anything? I was going to just drill a hole through the roof and seal it with calk.

Also sorry if this hijacks your thread OP, but I didn't want to clog up the board.

>>1766950
Enjoy your fire then.

>>1766955
So is this good or no?

>>1766955
>>1766996
I wouldn't drill through the roof, I would drill it through the side of the house and caulk that. Drilling through the roof is just asking for rot 5 years down the road when the caulk inevitably fails. Side of the house is much more protected from direct water leaks

>>1766955
>>1767043
Sorry just re-read your comment. Drill through the side of the trailer, not the roof

>>1767043
Standard maintenance practice in RVing is to get up on the roof every year and check all sealant. If it’s brittle, replace it.

>>1766950
I was going to reply to the op until i read this post.
You are a fool, you want to build a box to keep your panels in but dont want to buy even a pwm charge controller?
What a waste if time

>>1767058
>>1767043

Also there’s already a ton of shit up on the roof for which holes have been drilled and sealed: tv antenna, ac, skylight, plumbing air intakes (sorry plumbingbros know the real term because my plumbing skills extend to crimping pex) So basically It’s not like you’re drilling into a virgin sealed roof. If you do it right you barely increase your existing probability of leaks. The bigger concern is weight if you plan to put more than one or two panels up there, but OP sounds retarded and probably doesn’t intend this. If you do you should build columns down into the ibeams in the trailer frame to support your scaffolding on the front/rear a/o sides of the rig and

>>1766924
bend yourself a frame out if aluminium sheet then put something like pic related inside , maybe attach a motor or at best a handcrank mechanism something out of an old bicycle could help depending on what pic related you build or utilize
didnt find the right pic but the ones i meant to post are horizontal and are running in two rails on each side tension is build with a sping and wire or they get pushed shut when they are made out of seperate slats like fine garage doors or roller blinds or roller gates

>>1767080
forgot pic

>>1767058
>>1767077
Or, hear me out, weld a small u joint pipe on the roof and run the electrical wire through it. You'll never have to check on it, because water can never get through. Pic related (took me over 1,000 hrs in MS Paint)

>>1767077
>>1767058
>>1767043
>>1767088
Thanks guys, wasn't actually expecting a response.

The welding sounds like a good idea but I'll need to find someone who can actually weld it. I'd be scared to use only one pipe though. Assuming I can't find anyone to weld it (or they ask for a ridiculous amount of money), what do you think the best way to attach the solar panels from the side would be? Maybe drill into pipe, have the pipe bent over the side and drill that into the sides?

>>1767088
Bugs will get in

>>1766950
Charge controllers are pretty easy to hook up and pretty indispensable. Without one you're risking all kinds of stuff, from your batteries discharging to fires.

>>1767099
Run your wire, then shove a bunch of caulk in the pipe so nothing can crawl in. When the caulk inevitably wears down to the point where water could get through (if it was flat on the roof being used as the primary sealant), it will still be wide enough in the pipe where bugs can't get in. Pipe is the way to go.

>>1767088
This is called a weatherhead. They are several sizes and qualities available.

Make a rack out of some lightweight 1" square tubing. One rail down each side with plates front, middle, and back bolted to the side of the trailer. Then cross bars to support the panels crossing side to side. Then if you do it right and drill holes into the square tubing that runs down the sides before welding on your cross supports you can run your wiring from each panel through the square tubing using it like a conduit. All the wires would come out at one point, into a junction box of sorts and then combine to a single pair of wires at a convenient location to enter the trailer on the side instead of the roof.

Cut a hole and then put this over the hole and run the cables off your solar panels through it. Secure it the roof with self tappers with a layer of butyl tape underneath. Then lap sealant all over the base or just generic silicone if you're cheap. Leave a loop in the wires before they go through the gland too.

search 'solar entry gland' on your ecommerce site of choice

>>1766955

>500 watts of solar
>400 amp hours of battery

how did you decide you need all of this?

>>1767244
this
aka service head. make sure you loop the wires down before they go in so water cant run along the wire inside

I might as well ask here instead of making my own thread.

I am currently on the process of building my first backup emergency power supply.

I've got a:
Recogy 12v 100 Ah Deep Cycle Gel Battery
Giandel Power Inverter Pure Sine Wave 1200Watt 12V
Adpow 12v 5A charger / trickle charger

If I'm understanding this right, running a 1200W single unit electric grill would draw 10 A from the inverter, which would in turn draw 120A from the battery. Is this correct?

That'd mean I could run such a cooker for at most 50 minutes, but ideally nomore than 25 minutes, to avoid reducing the life of the battery.

The inverter supplies its own cords, should I use those, or should I look for heavier duty ones?

What size bolt-on fuse should I get, or is the 30 A internal fuse in the inverter enough?

>>1767353
>400 amp hours is a lot
>what is depth of discharge.

I've got 16 ~100ah 12v batteries in my bank and I could easily use more headroom.

>>1766950
Two wires coming in, two out.
>elaborate
Youre not engineering your own charge controller, you dufus. Youre plugging it in like Lego's. Programming is about as hard as setting an alarm on your phone.

>>1768849
>I am currently on the process of building my first backup emergency power supply.
Y?

>>1766950
PFFFFFFT!