Most of our activities are chosen and planned by Jess as we travel. I spend much of my time working and don’t always adventure with the family. Every once in awhile, I choose a place that I’m particularly interested in, and Jess and the kids are awesomely accommodating. My chosen adventure this time was a…
Our Airstream didn’t come with an inverter installed. There is one AC panel inside the Parallax power distribution center which distributes the 30 Amps from the street connection to all internal plugs, the refrigerator, the DC power converter, and the air conditioner. Adding an inverter complicates this setup considerably, for reasons I will now attempt…
Visiting the Everglades has been a travel goal for some time. Despite setting a goal to make it there, we had somehow managed to not spend much time researching our options. We planned to spend a few days there in our usual slow travel style. Our early research indicated that we should get good verizon…
In case anybody needs proof that I love my wife, I’ll tell you about the Inverter we installed in the Airstream. You see, my wife loves her Blendtec Blender, which checks in at 1800 watts of pure blending bliss. She found a lower-wattage hair dryer for use in the Airstream, but that Blender was going…
Jess and I just returned from a Carnival 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. My mother in law was kind enough to fly in from Utah and care for our kids while we were gone, leaving us with a blessed break from our normal life. Now, how could full-time travelers need a break? It might…
Thanks for posting this information — might be very helpful down the road. Quick question: on your diagrams, you show the line from your solar controller going to the DC bus, and then to the battery. Wouldn’t that line go to the battery first, then to the DC bus? Otherwise, you be powering your lights and fans directly from the solar panels. Thanks again.
This surprised me as well during the install: The existing converter (battery charger) was also just wired to the DC Bus. But really, it does make sense. The battery doesn’t have different charging terminals than usage terminals, so connecting at the bus is nearly the same as connecting at the battery terminals themselves. Running only one set of wires from battery to Bus is actually much simpler as well, with only one set of connections to deal with at the battery.
That DOES mean that incoming solar power powers the lights and fans before charging the battery, but that is actually the desired behavior anyway. There is a loss involved charging the battery vs using the power immediately, causing immediate use to be better. The presence of the battery in the circuit means that the fluctuating voltage of the solar panels is smoothed into normal 12V ranges.
The battery will charge if the voltage on the DC Bus is higher than its internal voltage, and discharge if the voltage on the DC Bus is lower than it’s internal voltage. The Solar Panels (and also the Converter) charge the battery by raising the voltage on the Bus.
Does that make sense?
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