Recent content by Isaac-1

Seriously look at the economics of drop in batteries, vs building your own, we live in a world where import 100AH LiFePo4 batteries commonly sell for $190 or less online, even ones with bluetooth BMS are only a few dollars more. With 280-300AH batteries selling online for around $550 - $600

Weight considerations are an important factor in any such van build

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 add the last post it helps to understand that wire sizing is somewhat exponential as amps go up. Meaning a tiny little 18 gauge wire will handle about 6 amps of DC power, but to carry 60 amps requires a fairly large 4 gauge wire (this is the size seen for battery cables on small cars), and...

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...

True, but in the US the NEC requires an 80% derate of capacity, limiting appliances to about 1,500 watts maximum actual power draw. This is usually seen as a max amp rating of 12.5 amps for appliances, and some slight variation on wattage depending on line voltage ie 115, 120 or 125 VAC

Here are my thoughts on a 1,000 vs 2,000 watt inverter, (assuming quality inverter, not a cheap one that fails to deliver its claimed performance) with a 1,000 watt inverter you will always be asking yourself, will the inverter power this or that, for some stuff like a modern TV, notebook...

It depends on what you want to power, also be aware a lot of cheap inverters seem to have rating specifications written by the marketing department which are "aspirational in nature". Just be aware a single 200 watt panel will take a long time to fully charge a pair of depleted 100 ah...

I guess we just differ a bit in design choices, personally in a RV situation, I prefer to have native 12V deep cycle batteries, preferably at least 2 of them for redundancy, that way in case of a failed battery / failed BMS things will still work, and such a component failure would not ruin a...

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...

With all due respect here, I can see your point on larger RV's but we are talking about what appears to be a Sprinter van based on avatar photo, so roof area will be limited to about 4x15 feet (roof rails on most sprinters are about 51 inches apart). Realistically you are not fitting over 1,000...

I admit pulling 3KW from 12V using 4/0 is a limitation, however in most setups that is only running from the battery to an inverter located perhaps 36 inches or less away, in other words not that big of deal either in weight or cost penalty, such a pair of 3 ft cables will weigh in at around 4...

I tend to feel you are right on the cusp of either one being a practical choice, therefore I would lean 12V dues to easier parts availability, etc. My rule of thumb is that 48V make sense at over 800 to 1,000 watts of solar panels, or over 3,000 watt combined total discharge rate.

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.

True, but some go to 14.8VDC which is more of an issue