jcussen

Even though my house bank is 12 volts, I do not combine with chassis batteries. When driving my chassis battery is charged by alternator. Solar does my house batteries, but when parked with no plug in, use a small inverter on my house batteries which powers a small 3 amp 3 stage charger, that keeps my chassis batteries charged. Not very efficient but do not use a combiner or trickle start because of the slight voltage differences.

Don't know, I have all Victron equipment. I can do it because my solar controllers have bluetooth remotes to adjust parameters. For me it is easier if all equipment is one brand. Call Magnum and tell them what you plan on setting up, sure they will advise on best parts to buy, and how to set up. I just noticed that Victron came out with a 250 volt 100 amp solar controller that should do the same as the PT-100 and you might be able to get by with your two 6 panel strings. https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2018/06/07/video-introduction-to-the-smartsolar-mppt-250-100/ Alan at Bay Marine and Supply is an expert on all things Victron and actually has lots of practical experience. {he is a boat guy] and they have the best prices on Victron. https://baymarinesupply.com/

Swap 6 volt 100 amp batteries for solar panels, same basic parallel series formula applies. Two 6 volt 100 amp batteries in series is 12 volts but still 100 amps. Two 6 volt batteries in parallel still 6 volt but now 200 amps. Four 6 volt batteries in series/parallel 12 volts 200 amps

Your limiting factor is the controller voltage and amperage . If you can find a controller that accepts 250 volts, you can run 6 in series for one string [6X40 volts=240 volts]. and combine/parallelI with the other string set up the same way. If you have a 150 volt controller you can run 3 in series, and you can then run another 3 panels in series [3X40 volts=120 volts], and parallel/combine the output of the 4 strings. This will keep your voltage below 150 volts. The Magnum PT-100 will take up to 190 volts, so you could run 4 panels in series [4X40 volts=160 volts] and have 3 strings of 4 in series panels, and then parallel/combine those 3 strings and send to controller. If you are running a 48 volt battery pack, should be able do it with the one controller. https://www.solar-electric.com/magnum-energy-pt-100-mppt-solar-charge-controller.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvdXpBRCoARIsAMJSKqJp The advantage of the bigger controller is the higher voltage which allows smaller wiring, and its ability to take that higher voltage and convert in down to your voltage. Lot more variables involved but that is the basics. Don't let the voltage thing scare you, some grid tie systems run panels in series up to 600 volts.

One other suggestion, I am running two strings with 2 solar controllers. one is series at about 120 volts and the other string in series at about 60 volts. Am using 10 gauge on each string down to controller. Shading on modern panels is not such a big deal anymore. I can have one of the three panels in the string shaded and still get at least 2/3 of the voltage and amps.But with that many panels, you will have to run series parallel or have many controllers and lots of wires.

Been buying panels off him for years. A straight shooter. His house/shop has, I believe, a 20000 watt grid tie system. Believe he installs them for a living.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws If you scroll down to US regs, appears that any electric bike with pedals, that has less than 750 watt motor and a top speed of less than 20 mph is classified as a bicycle. My rad mini is governed to 20 mph. I am sure without the governor it would go much faster.

https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radmini-electric-folding-fat-bike

I bought one for my series 60 from these guys, https://www.xtremediesel.com/semi-truck-big-rig-class-8

Appears from their website the Aims are $899, same price as I paid for the Battle Borns. Strange in their description, they state in bold letters," WE DO NOT ACCEPT RETURNS ON THIS PRODUCT" As stated in a previous post, BB will pay for your return shipping and send you a new one, wonder how that would work with Aims if you have a problem. Lion looks the better deal, $799 with a lifetime warranty, which is a little vague. They are 9 lbs lighter than all the other 100 a/h lithium-ions, so would suspect they use some different technologies. Dewillso has mentioned the problems with Renogy in a previous post. Curious to what you think the weasel words are in the BB warranty? From what I have read, BB bends over backward to replace any defective battery. With a BMS would be pretty easy to see if it was a defective battery, or misuse. BB also has hi/lo temp and voltage cutoffs built into the BMS, I left my coach unattended for a week with both vents running and when I came back the BMS had disconnected the batteries, so I know it works. If you find any negative posts on the Battle Born's, would appreciate you linking them .https://battlebornbatteries.com/terms-conditions/

That is a good price, Their website states a 5 year prorated warranty. Battleborn has a 10 year exchange policy and always answer the phone and can even tell you how to set up your charger to charge them correctly. To me it was worth the extra money. If BB has blems or have them on sale, you can get the 100 a/h model for $900 shipped with no tax. [If outside Nevada]

What are the three other companies? Are you sure all the batteries have the same cells and BMS? Battle Born says max voltage should not be over 14.5 volts.

Have had 6 of them for about a year, Not cheap, but probably the last house batteries I will ever buy and many advantages over Lead acid. Many inverters and converters can be programmed to charge them. Call Battle Born and they can tell you if you can use the charger you have. Biggest advantage is you can charge at 1C in bulk, till battery reaches 100% SOC, and of course can use the full capacity, so my six 100 amp/hr batteries at 180 lbs total, will more than equal the usable output of four 8d agm batteries at 640 lbs total, and take up less than half the space and charge 4 times faster. Only drawback is the second mortgage I had to take out to buy them

For me the very best feature of lithium ion, is the ability to charge at up to 1C to 100% SOC with no absorption stage. So if I have used 200 amp hours out of my battery bank, and I can get 80 amps from my panels, and 120 amps out of my inverter/charger, in 1 hour, I am fully charged. With my old agm batteries, that would have taken 6 or more hours. Of course, unlike Lead Acid batteries, lithium batteries never have to be charged to 100%.

x2 on the blackstone and it has a removable grease tray.

Considering running 2 ac's, water heater, converter/charger, microwave etc, think you wise to go at least 7 kw.

Wow. That is quite an encompassing statement. Pretty sure a couple of Newell owners might disagree, and probably some Foretravel and King Aire owners too.

If you have wifi in coach. https://ambientweather.net/

Kirk makes a good point. I have my coaches diesel genset, 960 watts solar and four 8d's and 3 Inverters. If genset fails and there is no sun, I also carry a 800 watt generator with a 40 amp battery charger, If that fails, time to head for the house. So little generator is not that critical, and not worth putting a lot of money into it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0IcEw7Mk6k But if I had to rely on only one generator for power, and I did a lot of boondocking, I would go for honda or yamaha.

Are you saying that Boliy parts are interchangeable with Honda parts?

Yes, things have changed. I had a 91 40 ft Elite DP, that basically came with manuals for the stove, heaters, etc. I was jealous of a buddy with a 90 Beaver Marquis that came with documentation the size of a phone book. [back in the day when phone books were 10 lbs] That Beaver was still one of the best looking coaches I have every seen.

That is just one, of many. All fuses, circuits, breakers etc are also shown in other diagrams. As for showing actual wiring routes through the rig, I suppose with a 15 ft travel trailer it might be possible and maybe even done, but with a 40 ft motorhome with multiple single and combined wiring bundles, and multiple systems, it would require way too many' diagrams. Mine does show the complete circuits, and often where the components are, but not the paths they take. Of course on the 110 diagram, it will show how the power comes in from the gen. or shore power or inverter etc and how it is switched, and then to the panels and breakers but not the receptacle they feed. I guess they figure that if it says "bathroom" on the breaker box, you will know where the other end of that circuit is. On the dc side, everything, [at least on my coaches] in the complete circuit is shown, just not the physical wiring location in between components. I am certainly not an electrician and will often spend way too much time finding an electrical problem, but having these schematics allow me to muddle through it.