Solar House Battery Set-Up

C

ctulip98

New member
Hey guys,

Found a lot of great info on these forums to help me along with my project. I'm currently converting a short bus into a bicycle hauler/camper. Anyways like a lot of people I have a question regarding creating a basic 'house' battery setup.

My power needs will be pretty basic for the house battery. I'm looking to provide power for a 1000w or so inverter for charging laptop etc, 4 or so 12v LED lights, and a Fan-tastic roof vent. No fridge or pumps etc. My bus is diesel and has two starter batteries that I would like to keep separate for the house system. I'm hoping develop a system that will charge off a solar panel, the alternator and also be able to plug into 120v power when available. I'm wondering how exactly I will tie in all these charging options most efficiently and easily? Like most I have a pretty basic understanding of this stuff. So I guess my questions are;

1. Do I connect to the alternator directly or tie into the starter batteries? Is this a smart idea or even necessary for my needs?

2. Are there solar chargers/controllers that allow for plugging into 'shore power' as well?

On average the bus will be driven daily but besides long travel days mostly shorter trips stop and go etc. I hope to be able to sustain via solar/alternator for atleast a few days in a row. Any suggestions or comments would be awesome. Again amazed by the knowledge on these forums! Thanks

Corbett
 
goodtimes

goodtimes

Expedition Poseur
Your solar charge controller and shore power "controller" (a simple battery charger) will be two separate items.

Connect the house battery directly to the starting batteries, with the load limiting & isolating devices of your choice.

I've found that a single fixed 100w solar panel with full exposure, and a single house battery will keep us running indefinitely. During the last Overland Expo, I didn't even hook the camper to the truck (electrically). I probably use more power than you - an ARB fridge, and a few intermittent use items like LED lights, water pump, cell phone chargers, etc. Given that, if I did it again, I wouldn't use a fancy set up between the truck and camper (currently using National Luna stuff). Since the solar keeps up, I'd run a much less expensive relay and manual switch.
 
W

wrcsixeight

Adventurer
Your laptop and the fantastik fan are likley the biggest battery draws you list.

Using a DC to DC car adapter for your laptop will use 20 to 50% less battery power than using an inverter to power the original power brick.

One should be able to take advantage of alternator charging, but if you are going solar, and do not increase the things you need to power, then you do not need to tie the house battery to the alternator.

Check out the 50$ dual battery set up thread.

Think of all charging sources as separate, and that solar is not directly powering anything. It recharges the battery which powers everything.

Solar can indeed power things directly, but better to wire them to a battery with an on/off switch.
 
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