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Solar/LFP Roadtrek


reed and elaine

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Our son Cary finished fabricating the solar/LFP array on our 2002 Roadtrek 190. There are two panels: 315 W and 100 W. Since they have different voltages, he had to utilize two chargers. The cabling is run though the a/c housing and down the corner of the left rear door. The battery suite is two x 180 amp (12 V nominal) Manzanita Micro (each is 4 x CALB LFP cells). The batteries are under the bed. Each battery has an internal blower to keep the batteries cool. Son Cary then installed a high efficiency blow that exhausts air to the outside. This will cool the batteries, inverter (2.5 kW PSWI) and other electronics. It will remove four volumes of air from the "electronics compartment". We knew that the installation of the batteries, inverter etc pretty much used up the rear storage so we purchased a StowAway box that we installed on the rear of the vehicle.

Son trialed the system and it works well. He ran the a/c on battery alone for over an hour.
He had one of his technicians install plumbing for an Olympic Wave 3 on the clothing closet. An Olympic Wave 3 should be sufficient to heat the vehicle for any conditions we plan to face. The forced air heater should be able to take up the slack beyond that.
Will be in Fort Collins, CO for three more days and then work our way to Labador/Newfoundland then down the east of US and Canada since Elaine has always wanted to see the changing of the Maples in the Fall.
Reed and Elaine
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Will be in Fort Collins, CO for three more days and then work our way to Labador/Newfoundland then down the east of US and Canada since Elaine has always wanted to see the changing of the Maples in the Fall.

 

When we drove down the east coast we managed to go slowly enough to stay in peak color for a long time. It was wonderful! If you are interested in details of our trip the blog entries about it start here: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/2010/09/the-kanc-3/

 

Linda Sand

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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  • 4 months later...

Back in Fort Collins for three weeks with son and family. Will be leaving for Yucatan around 1 December. Only hooked into line power while we were in Rapid City, SD for several days and it was about 103 F. Ran the generator once a month for 30 minutes or so as recommended by manual.

 

Spent 9 weeks in Labrador and Newfoundland. This was possibly the best trip we have had in 9 years of full time RVing/boondocking. The provincial law permits 48 hours or less camping on all crown and common lands, unless otherwise marked (National Parks are different - and they cost way to much)

 

The electricity in Mexico can be chancy. We blew a microwave on older systems in Baja and Yucatan. Son installed a 1 kW battery charger (and it does not care if voltage wanders all over the place). So if we do hook up to line power for a/c (and it can get hot in Yucatan at January), the power goes through the battery charger to battery and through 2.5 kW PSWI - and then to a/c, which is only about 1,2 kW

 

Sandy Lind - we spent 8 days seeing the changing foliage for 8 days in Main, New Hampshire (White Mountains), Vermont (Green Mountains) and the Adirondacks.

 

Reed and Elaine

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