Rethinking GeoPro G19FD Solar - Please advise

[Moe Geo Pro G19FD]

Greetings,

We have enjoyed our first season with our Geo Pro G19FD and are looking to add solar panels to go with the prewiring. Currently we are looking to add a 150w panel to the roof. This will charge our batteries. We are not looking to upgrade to lithium batteries but we have updated our TT batteries already.

So the questions are:
1. Do we need to add more than 150w panel to the roof?
2. Do we need an inverter?
3. If we need an inverter, what size should we get?

Thank you for your help and guidance.

All Best,
Mike

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Moe Geo Pro G19FD

Greetings,

We have enjoyed our first season with our Geo Pro G19FD and are looking to add solar panels to go with the prewiring. Currently we are looking to add a 150w panel to the roof. This will charge our batteries. We are not looking to upgrade to lithium batteries but we have updated our TT batteries already.

So the questions are:
1. Do we need to add more than 150w panel to the roof?
2. Do we need an inverter?
3. If we need an inverter, what size should we get?

Thank you for your help and guidance.

All Best,
Mike

All you'll really need is a charge controller . if you want to run 120V off the batteries then yes you will need an inverter . more then 150w depends on what you think you will use ?

[Duckogram]

The answer to your question lies completely in the what you want to do. Adding a good pwm charge controller is a given. 150w panel will charge a good pair of batteries without any problem but that is assuming normal 12v daily usage. Want to run 120v? Now an inverter will draw a lot more power off your batts. You said you just replaced them but gave no specifics other than not lithium.

[Moe Geo Pro G19FD]

We upgraded our stock batteries to dual 6 volts.

We are looking for a panel setup, charge controller, and inverter that would allow us to dry camp for longer than a weekend.

Any feedback is welcome.

[babock]

With a 150W panel in full sun with full output will give 8.25A. With a 5 hour equivalent solar day, you may produce 41.25A. If that is all the power consume in a day and you want your solar panel to be able to produce that much, you wold be fine.

If you had 2 6V 220AH batteries and regularly discharged them to their 50% point of 110AH, that obviously won't be enough and you would need an addition 2 150W panels.

I personally just put up 700W of panels on my TT...4 175W panels. I have 2 lithium Battleborns for 200A of capacity. I am using an MPPT controller so I can theoretically get 50A of output. I made my array bigger than I really need since I won't be tilting mine.

[Moe Geo Pro G19FD]

This is great info. Thank you.

[babock]

As far as the inverter goes, what are you going to power with it? What is the wattage of the higest current appliance?

I wanted to be able to power the microwave oven so I bought a 2000W pure sine wave just to be sure I had enough power at startup. If you get a large inverter like that, you need it very close to the batteries with very large cable. I have 4/0 going to mine.

[joeuncool]

Solar was covered nicely above. As for the inverter, it depends on what you want to power. You only need an inverter if you want to power AC only appliances such as the microwave or TV. While possible, you won't be powering your air conditioner from an inverter. Depending on your battery bank, you would only get about an hour or so of air conditioning before your batteries are completely dead.

If you are happy dry camping/boondocking without the microwave or TV then you don't need an inverter. I did buy a small 300 watt inverter that plugs into the 12 volt socket below our TV. I can run the TV off this or a laptop. The key is that you will have to keep a close watch on your battery levels if you do this. The monitor that comes with the trailer (4 lights) isn't enough.

[babock]

Originally Posted by joeuncool

The monitor that comes with the trailer (4 lights) isn't enough.

Agreed. I purchased and installed a Victron BMV-712. It's awesome for keeping track of your battery level and gives you a readout of the draw any any moment so you can see what you are currently consuming. It was amazing to me how much the stereo uses in standby mode. It now has a toggle switch in front of it.

The BMV-712 uses bluetooth so we can be in the tow vehicle and see how much the trailer batteries are charging or discharging. I can sit at my desk in my house and see it as well.

[YBLee]

Originally Posted by joeuncool

Solar was covered nicely above. As for the inverter, it depends on what you want to power. You only need an inverter if you want to power AC only appliances such as the microwave or TV. While possible, you won't be powering your air conditioner from an inverter. Depending on your battery bank, you would only get about an hour or so of air conditioning before your batteries are completely dead.



If you are happy dry camping/boondocking without the microwave or TV then you don't need an inverter. I did buy a small 300 watt inverter that plugs into the 12 volt socket below our TV. I can run the TV off this or a laptop. The key is that you will have to keep a close watch on your battery levels if you do this. The monitor that comes with the trailer (4 lights) isn't enough.

We have a 2018 E-Pro E19FD and it came with a 12VDC TV.

[YBLee]

Love this discussion and all the excellent information. Thx a lot.

[nayther]

the OP needs to read this:
The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

[cherokeebill]

Originally Posted by nayther

the OP needs to read this:
The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

Excellent link. Here is our experience. We have a E-Pro 19fd. Ours has the optional 100 watt flexible solar panel with 30 amp PWM charge controller. We added another panel to give us a total of 185 watts. We also have two 6 volt deep cycle batteries. This is very similar to what we had in our Cardinal fifth wheel. We lived in it off grid for up to four months at a time. We ran all our systems except for air conditioning and microwave. But we were able to use our satelite TV with PVR as well as all other comforts of home. I think you should be fine with what you are proposing. However it is important to have a good charge controller. Previously we had a MPPT controller, this one is a PWM. We will see if it is adequate.



Solar is the way to go. We don't take our generator along anymore. This includes camping in the shoulder season when temps are low and we need to run the furnace. We do though take care in how we set up so that we can take advantage of the sun. That is at times the biggest problem, we need sunny spots and not treed in sites.



I look forward to hearing what you have decided and how it works. Please let us know.

[cherokeebill]

Sorry, I forgot to add that we had a 1000 watt xantrex inverter in our Cardianl. I installed it so that we had a dedicated 120 plug when not on shore power. Currently we do not have an inverter but I am thinking of installing one in our E-Pro.

[NJKris]

Just ordered a new '19 and was happy to hear the one I ordered comes with solar panel (mounted), charge controller, and 1000W inverter!

[cherokeebill]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Just ordered a new '19 and was happy to hear the one I ordered comes with solar panel (mounted), charge controller, and 1000W inverter!

Very nice. Do you know which inverter and charge controller come with your 19FD? As I mentioned I am interested in installing one in our 19FD. Thanks.

[MichaelE]

Originally Posted by cherokeebill

Very nice. Do you know which inverter and charge controller come with your 19FD? As I mentioned I am interested in installing one in our 19FD. Thanks.

Hello! 19FBS owner here...

I have a 2019.0 that came with the solar and uses the GoPower PWM-30 a wall mounted solar charge controller mounted above and to the right of the thermostat. This is directly under and in line of the ports on my roof. It also has the extra port up front that connects directly to the batteries, so if I where to plug in a briefcase panel on the ground it has to include it's own controller. If I added another on the roof, it would use the existing port and charge controller.

Because my '19 is not the refreshed model, it did not include the inverter, however others have posted it is the WFCO WF-5110R. It is a 1000w Pure Sign switched inverter. Being switched it acquires shore from the GFCI 15amp breaker then sends power to the first outlet in that chain. So it will either provide shore power to these outlets or inverter power (if turned on) In my trailer, that breaker goes to the fridge outlet then to the GFCI in the bathroom then the rest of the outlets. The inverter has a on/off button by the bed on the refreshed model.

I don't understand why they used this inverter instead of the switched inverter GoPower has as they could have integrated the solar charge controller to turn the inverter on and off, as it has a remote inverter power button already. Nevertheless I like the idea of a switched inverter and will be trying to integrated one myself at some point.

[NJKris]

Michael beat me to it. Bill, the charge controller in our units in on the wall behind the dinette as I saw it on display at the Hershey RV show. I'll try to find the thread another man posted photos of his inverter, it is in a different place than Michael's.

[NJKris]

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...142988-18.html

JPCarrol in post #175 posted pics. However, his assertion that all receptacles is different than Forest River's. Forest River says all but microwave and A/C.