Randyretired

It is hard to tell what the problem is. If the voltage is adequate when operating the slides we could eliminate the converter as a problem. If the voltage drops to unacceptable levels then power is the problem. Can you check the voltage while operating the slides?

A quick check on 12v output with a volt meter while activating the slides would tell a lot.

I wasn't clear. Can the output be wired to a battery to charge it? I am trying to figure out if any outside voltage is prohibited on the output.

So the output doesn't include batteries?

DC does flow in one direction and like voltages can be wired in parallel to increase amps. However, some say not to parallel and I don't know why. I don't know anything about these. Do these allow the outputs to be wired to batteries?

I don't know why these units say not to parallel. Maybe because the units have ac or dirty dc output? If the output was clean dc you would think you could wire in parallel? Without knowing I don't know if a diode would work. Maybe someone has more information on why these can't be used in parallel.

I received a call like that some years back. The LEO said my gray truck left without paying for diesel. My truck used gas and was a couple hundred miles from there. After a quick conversation we ended the call.

I have waited a day or 2 to drive out of some NFS spots. Every year it seems some hunters get stranded in the high country. Our current place backs up to BLM. One night in the rain we watched from our porch as a car tried to drive on a 2 track trail. Then a young couple got out and tried to push to no avail. After a bit the back country rescue came. The next day a tow truck retrieved the car. However, I never seen mud that deep!

A fiberglass or boat repair shop can fix that relatively easily. I have seen where they rebuilt the whole side of a boat and it was as good as new.

I don't like the pump limits but I understand why they have them. A few years ago while we were in AZ the credit card company called to ask about charges on our card in Iowa. Seems someone built a credit card to match ours and was buying fuel in Iowa at the same time I was charging dinner in Arizona.

Designing wire to carry 125% of the load is standard NEC requirements and I don't consider that over engineering. While we can skate by without meeting NEC in our RV's there is no way I would spec that.

It is difficult to see on my phone but it appears you will use 2awg for the output of the 100 amp solar controller. I normally size wire at 125% of the load but since I had 2awg I also used that from my 100 amp controller and I am thinking about changing it. The welding wire doesn't get hot but warm. However, there is enough of a voltage loss at peak amps that the controller voltage and the battery voltage are about .2v difference until tha amps ramp down. That isn't a lot but for the cost difference I wished I went bigger.

Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are rated for 3000 to 5000 cycles and that is based on fully charged and discharged. With this size battery bank it should be enough to last 3 maybe 4 days without any input from the solar panels. In reality even during storms the panels put out some power. So realistically this should be enough battery for 4 or 5 days without conserving. This means the batteries will not typically see full discharge and I doubt cycles will be the limiting factor. Age will probably be the limiting factor and there are but few examples of how long that is. 20 years in theory and a few examples for 80% capacity. I am not sure how long these will last but at 80% this battery bank is still useful. The price of these batteries has been going up mostly due to shipping costs that have skyrocketed but I believe I can build this battery bank for around $7,000. I am reasonably confident these will last 15 years and I am hoping for 20 or more. I built a smaller 10kwh battery pack like this for our 5er but have only used this year. So far it has been good. The difference between these and lead acid is very noticeable. The solar panels are used but not very old and are near or at rated output. The panels were $60 a piece.. I have not decided on the inverters and such but I like the all in one packages like growatt. The payback with all things added in should be around 10 years or less at current prices. I believe price increases are likely. My time is not included and I already have the tools needed. There is another incentive to to do this. This is a fairly remote area and the electrical lines have been there for years but not used. If we were to purchase electrical service we will be the only ones on this line and I wonder how reliable that is. I would think a backup would be necessary and since we travel, solar with a backup battery or at least a good generator would make sense.

I don't want to run short even on a streak of short winter days. I already have 25- 285 watt panels and I plan to order 25 more. There is plenty of room. Short winter days worry me and I want to be able to use my welders and other tools. I am trying to figure out a 2 wire auto start generator if the batteries are low.

Here in Grand Junction where we are now many of the older homes were buried with just the roof sticking out. This was to keep the homes cool. Summers here see many consecutive days in the upper 90's and some days into the lower 100's in this valley. It would also be easy to heat in the winters. If we didn't have cooling of some kind I think that would work but be claustrophobic. I like lots of windows. The new place is higher and there is a pond and it is much cooler. This means lots of wildlife so more windows are on tap. I love to watch the deer, elk and occasional bears. Sometimes others including a stray moose, bobcat and mountain lion wonder by. There is saying that there are 300 plus days of sunshine here and though I think that is a slight exaggeration there are many sunshine days in the summer, fall, winter and spring. The low humidity and lack of clouds are ideal for solar. It is somewhat rare to have clouds and moisture more than just a couple of days in a row.

Glenn, I would think that the payback on solar heating where you are would almost never happen. I think you are right to use some propane and call it good. Cooling seems like it would be the major expense and the mini split is as efficient as anything I know unless you also buried the house.

Our current house that we built nearly 20 years ago has this type of heat but at a lower elevation. We like how it works. We also have a lot of south facing windows somewhat like a passive solar home. The windows and solar do a good job of heating but the windows heat the house more than we like on sunny winter days. Even though the temperatures are cool or even cold we have to open windows to keep the house from getting hot on bright sunny days. That intense sun all day also gets a little annoying. Overall it isn't bad and the low heating bills are a plus. Our current house is to big for us at 3,800 Sq ft but our annual propane bill for heating and hotwater runs around $200 for an entire year. For Colorado that is pretty cheap. Luckily our propane tank is full now as the prices have jumped this year. The new place will have more solar panels and less south facing windows. The floor plan is such that we will spend more time on the north side out of the direct sun and it is a lot smaller house. The garage is a bit bigger.

We will use 45,000wh of lithium iron phosphate batteries in our house. By diy cell build the cost is still expensive but doable. Our garage is conditioned space and the batteries will be in there. The electric company wanted $10,000 to put the power in so we decide to go solar. For just a bit more we will not have a monthly bill.

We have 2,000 watts of solar and that ran our mini split, residential refrigerator and our appliances all summer. I ran the generator about 1 hour on 1 day. The hotwater was on propane. We have about 10kw of lithium batteries. Not quite as good as the volta equipped rig but a lot less expensive.

The payback time is most important for me. With solar hotwater it is difficult to store the heat and operate at moderate temperatures to gain efficiency. The soils engineer specified 3' of structural fill under the concrete floor. I am using that as a heat sink by insulating the sides and bottom. Pex tubing is run through this fill and the concrete and is circulated through the hotwater panels when the panels are warmer than the floor and the thermostat is calling for heat. Heating this mass which weighs in the 7 figures is slow and will retain heat for days. Pex tubing and the hotwater panels are not expensive and the pumps are small maybe 100 watts to slowly circulate the water. Since the fill is already required I don't count it as part of the heating cost. As you might guess the cost of hauling and handling that much material is substantial. It is needed to remedy expansive soil. If it were for heat only it wouldn't pay. Some people use large water tanks to store hotwater heat but that is costly. If higher temperatures are used to make better use of the storage medium, solar panel efficiency drops quickly. With it heating the floor 80 degrees is usually more than enough for a well insulated house. Propane backup is also planned.

Just because it is the new way doesn't mean it makes economic sense. Efficiency only goes so far with me. If it doesn't pay for itself I'm not likely to use it. I will use a high efficiency propane hot water heater for hotwater and in-floor heat. There will also be solar hotwater that should shoulder most of the heating and hotwater load. I put a system like that in our present home and it works for us. It does require a lot of work and unless you already have equipment it is expensive.

Our present home has concrete in the basement and suspended concrete on the main floor. This is done for in-floor heat. We carpeted some of the areas to soften things but I don't like carpet. The insulation value of carpet also isn't helpful for in-floor heat. If we don't like all concrete we may add some carpet.

I have also seen a post building that had R30 fiberglass Batts stacked horizontal. The 2x's were all run horizontal. Drywall on the interior but paneling would also work. The insulation was slightly compressed around the 2x's. The owner loved it and said his bills were low for whatever that means. It was inexpensive for sure. I will be talking with a couple of insulation companies for our new place. On the house we have now it was actually cheaper to hire it out than diy.

I have heard good things about rockwool including how fire resistant it is. I have also heard good things about blown in insulation and spray insulation. Often times good ole fiberglass is cheaper. I think it just comes down to finances and which is the best bang for the buck. By that I mean will it save on energy enough to make it worthwhile. The vapor barrier can make or break any insulation. Actually the better insulation makes the vapor barrier more critical. Some are now saying air sealing is actually more important than insulation.

We used a mini split all of last summer so I can't comment on how long these last. There are some areas where the mini split is superior. For us boondocking it is how efficient these are. We ran ours with solar all summer. Mini splits are very quiet. Unless I am right next to the indoor unit I can't hear it at all. Even next to the indoor unit it is barely noticeable. With the TV at normal volume I can't hear the mini split at all. The biggest downside is the installation requires some engineering to adapt it to an RV. Installed in a house mini splits are expected to last many years. Comparable to central AC. Some argue that minis will not be affected by travel and some are convinced these will be subject to early failure. We will see. I should also add that mini splits also function as a heater. Above 40F ours works pretty good and is efficient below that the efficiency begins to decline.