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As someone that is involved in a small cattle ranch with a couple of hundred head of cattle, I can tell you the truth is much more nuanced than many of the people promoting the anti-cattle / anti-"cattle-factory" agenda would have you believe. The biggest problem is their purity standards for...

Depends on your max amp draw, most 100 AH batteries have a 100 amp max power draw, when you have 2 in parallel they can provide a max draw of 200 amps, which you may need if you have an 2000 watt inverter, by contrast many 200 AH batteries, hav a BMS with a max amp draw of 100-150 amps, though a...

AIC is the upper bound of what it will interrupt, it throw enough amps into a small blade fuse and it will melt, but will not extinguish the arc, like striking an arc welder through a fuse, once the arc is lit it keeps going.

If you have not bought the batteries yet, why not just buy ones with a BMS that has working low temperature cut off? More and more of even the low end models that have came on the market in the last 6 months seem to have them, and if you are building your own, just buy a BMS with this feature

There was a time with the Whopper tasted better, or maybe I was just younger and did not know better.

There are some very efficient DC powered RV refrigerators out there these days with certain models of Danfoss brand compressors See this example only 78 watts while running https://www.toolots.com/mr-frozen-home-refrigerator-bcd-198.html

I just installed a Renogy 50 amp DC-DC charger with MPPT (note it was on sale for $230 for much of November on Amazon), overall I think it works well, but has a couple of limitation, also if you get one I strongly suggest you get the BT-2 bluetooth dongle, as it adds a lot of functionality. The...

Note you can't just mix and match solar panels like that without taking potentially major performance hits, see https://solarpanelsvenue.com/mixing-solar-panels/ and https://footprinthero.com/solar-panel-series-and-parallel-calculator

You might want to double check those numbers, some of them don't seem to pass the sanity check (the max amp draw numbers) for a 12V system which you mention using in your initial post, and which I would assume from talking about wiring in parallel, as a rule of thumb you can expect about a 100...

When it comes to the choice of DIY vs OTS one needs to factor in the value of your time, is this a hobby project, or is there an actual practical goal.

Ah the good old days, I recall helping my high school guidance counselor set up an Apple II (maybe an Apple II+)at her house, she lived on the same street, I grew up on, was friends with my parents, etc. She had been assigned to evaluate the educational potential of the Apple II for the local...

Don't forget to keep track of how much all this stuff weighs, and keep your gross vehicle weight rating in mind. Years ago I had a friend that rebuilt an old TransVan camper van with all new cabinet work, got done and realized it was too heavy to drive, had to tear it all out and start over...

That is true, but if you have the BT-2 bluetooth dongle you can set a custom bulk, float, and equalize voltage

That would work going the other way, my problem is the hole in the cable lugs is bigger than the screw threads.

It sounds like you have a plan, I too would likely downsize the inverter in your situations, but would probably drop down to a 2,000 or 2,500 watt high quality model

To halfway get back on topic, the ones that get me are the incorrect terms thrown around regarding generator and inverter: Solar Generator, Inverter, Inverter Generator, etc: Inverter - A device that electrconically converts DC to AC, and can be a part of a combination unit that also includes a...

I too think an air dam at the front to raise the airflow over the panels is a better solution, remember air flow under the panels will tend to cause lift, which might pull the panels free of their mounting or break the glass.

There is an ebay seller with 300A Class T Mersen A3T300 fuses and a fuse holder for $30 at the moment that shows hundreds have been sold, I bought one last month, it was a overall good, no box and perhaps some shelf wear, single stud on each side fuse holders, but I can't complain for the price...

This really depends on the environment, spacing, insulation around the battery, air flow, etc.

I think the HQST battery is the same as the older non smart Renogy battery (HQST is owned by Renogy) This may be the same battery

My motorhome turns 20 years old in a couple of weeks, so I thought it would be nice to buy it something special for its birthday. I have decided to upgrade the current battery system and solar charging system, budgeted $2,000 for this project, and so far I am on track to come in under budget at...

Solar panel voltage does not need to match battery pack voltage thanks to MPPT solar charge controllers

I just bought a pair of (irregular, mis-made, etc. ReBel 200AH batteries for $688,plus tax and $30 shipping) which has low temp cut off (short version the batch was built with a non-waterproof switch, and a 100AH, not a 150AH BMS), so they were discounted by about $170

An MPPT only doing 700 watts max output with 800 watts worth of panels is not typically an issue in van / RV applications with flat mounted panels as due to lack of tilt the number of hours per day that they achieve rated output is much lower, in other words those 800 watt panels are likely only...

You tell us what you are wanting to do, but very little about the RV itself, and how you plan to use it. You say right now your current 12V loads are a constant 50-60 amps, I have to wonder why? I have a 28 ft Class A motorhome, (which I suspect is smaller than your RV as you say you have 3...

The instructions call for fuses between the alternator and DC-DC charger as well as from the solar panels. Note is you use 2AWG cable you will need to trim back the plastic on the covers for the wire to fit through (I had to do that on mine when I ran 2AWG to the alternator)

I did some testing of the Renogy 50 amp unit today using a pair of power supplies, at 50 amp 13.6V unit, and a CV/CC 3 amp variable output bench supply. What I found was that the alternator input drops to 25 amps when the solar panel input goes above 12.0 V or drops below 16.4V there is no...

I will try to take a screen shot of my settings next time I am at the RV, which is in storage at the moment.

Looks nice, one thing I would consider changing is mounting the acrylic spacer below the aluminum L channel instead of on top, that way if it should ever fall it can't short out the battery terminals. Just thinking of a situation like dropping the entire battery, or if the van were in an...

Personally I think it is a waste to use a nice Victron MPPT controller that sells for $80 on a job where a $10 generic PWM controller would achieve much the same thing. It is all about the right tool for the job.