Yes Glenn, I will have two 250ah glass mat batteries for the coach and two 250ah for the engine this will give me the ability to use all the 12vdc system in the coach and still charge it with the engine, I will have to add a 120v battery charger for the house batteries, then take the remaining four 250ah glass mat batteries and put them series to make the 48vdc for the Growatt inverter charger. These batteries where new when I bought the coach and I will replace them with Lifepo4 but going to use them up first.
1999 45' with tag axle, #504 "Magnolia"
Gravette, Arkansas
Thanks Jack for the explanation. I like your plan a lot the 48v inverter set up makes a lot of sense. That will be the direction I am planning on when I pull the triger on the install. I was kinda hung up on taking care of the house 12vdc loads....got lost trying to estimate the size of DC to DC converter.
(08-30-2023, 04:44 AM)Jack Houpe Wrote: Morning Steve hope all is well in your area of Florida, prayers are with you.
Jack,
Thanks for asking about the storm here...all is well with us in the center of the state minor winds and 1" or rain.
Glad to hear it Steve! but our winter hideaway got 6+ feet of water in Cedar Key I doubt the campground can rebuild before January and even if they did I don't think the town will be ready for us snowbirds so we are looking elsewhere.
The hard part is done the rest will be easier I hope. If you do this I recommend renting a skyjack I was fortunate my son owned one, still being on your knees in the heat is not good so I could never be a roofer.
We've been looking at the sides of the panels and they don't look to bad but I was thinking of some type of molding like the new coaches have to hide the panels and give it a modern look. Maybe a upside down seamless gutter? Ideas anyone?
1999 45' with tag axle, #504 "Magnolia"
Gravette, Arkansas
(This post was last modified: 08-30-2023, 02:56 PM by Jack Houpe.)
Jack,
Seamless gutters may be able to nearly match the brown in your paint. Or at least from the ground they may be close enough of a match my old eyes couldn't tell any difference.
Hank & Natalie Bensley
2001 Double Slide #586.
2021 Cherokee Trailhawk Toad
We've been RV owners since 2002.
Port Orange, FL. Soon we will travel full time for "a while"
I used a 2400 watt (overkill) buck converter to drop 60v to 13.8 for all the 12v house. I kept the merge switch and solenoid which now separates two engine start batteries and two generator start batteries. I maintain a redundant fail safe for generator and engine. Two or all four will crank the engine if needed. Sure wakes up that old iron quickly on 4! Buck transformer is aluminium finned device in pic. Maintenance charging of 4 12v engine batteries is handled by Victron 120v auto charger which is powered by inverter/solar/48v battery or shore.
--Simon
1993 8v92TA #312
(This post was last modified: 08-30-2023, 11:38 PM by BusNit.)
I'm thinking about using a victron mppt solar charger, just tie into the 48 volt batteries and hook the output to coach batteries. Program your parameters and bingo it's done, plus it's Bluetooth. I bought 2 of them for the project might as well use them.
1999 45' with tag axle, #504 "Magnolia"
Gravette, Arkansas
(This post was last modified: 08-31-2023, 03:31 AM by Jack Houpe.)
We are getting close to firing off the system, today Kathleen and I pulled two 4 wire 6 gauge cables from the bay just behind the mid door to just behind the tag axle drivers side, I originally had planed to put the new inverter where the old inverter was located but with the big slide for cargo there I moved it up one bay. Pulling those wires WAS NOT EASY, after running a fish tape through both the 3" pieces of conduit and pulling rope through from where the old inverter was to just behind the drivers side tag axle we decided we need some help so Kathleen when to the grocery store and bought a big bottle of vegetable oil and a can of Crisco. I measure the length of the conduit and cut some 1/4 tubing 2 foot longer than the conduit drilled 6 small holes at different angles on the tubing and put a screw in the end of it then used my old fire extinguisher bottle to pressurize the corn oil then shoved the 1/4 tube down the 3" PVC and had her open the valve while I pulled the tubing out slow enough to coat the inside of the PVC with corn oil. After that was done she got between the tag axle and the drive axle and pulled the rope while I applied the Cisco to the cable and it went very smoothly. We destroyed our work clothes with all the road grime from brake dust that built up on top of the transmission cooler and the pressure tanks where both cables went.
Now the entire coach will be going though the inverter 100% of the time this eliminates the need for a surge protector as the inverter acts as a non interruptible power supply. When I was removing the old inverter I had a flash thought of doing what Newell did with a bypass so that in the case of a problem I can still run off shore power or generator. We will have two 50a 220 receptacles on the wall that the inverter is mounted, if we need we can unplug the inverter and put a jumper between the in and out of the inverter.
My connections to tie the inverter into the coach will be at the transfer switch after seeing the routing of the wires to the main electrical panel I will not be using the buddy plug wiring or hole and leave alone. The inverter alone weighs 148 lbs, the panel I mounted it to had plywood and thank God metal behind it so I used self tapping screws to secure it there.
The 500ah of 12vdc coach batteries has been isolated from the 250ah 48vdc inverter batteries, both still use the same cut off switches just one is identified as coach and the other inverter. I did noticed a big DC shunt in the battery compartment but not aware of a amp meter, any thoughts there? The 48vdc has a bluetooth DC shunt and the inverter is wifi so we can see what is going on system wise. All the battery connections cable have been wire brushed and cleaned.
I will have a bluetooth MPPT solar charger coming off the 48vdc system that is charged by the inverter and will supply the charge to the 12vdc coach system then will eventually add a 110vac 48vdc forklift charger just in case there is only 110vac. But thats on the back burner now.
1999 45' with tag axle, #504 "Magnolia"
Gravette, Arkansas
(This post was last modified: 09-04-2023, 02:58 PM by Jack Houpe.)
I had to pull 3 6-4 wires to the inverter bay that is right next to yours. I figured it would have been too hard to get at the generator wire as it was buried inside a rectangular steel tube from the generator to just in front of the drive axle. I am using the transfer switch in the inverter and took the original out.
