July 29, 2018 Solar Power Installed on the 5th Wheel

We purchased a used 5th wheel to put into use as our winter home when we go south in the fall.  We prefer to "boon-dock" when we travel which means we camp out in the "wild" without electric, water and sewer hookups rather than use campgrounds that charge a nightly fee.

As a result we tend to modify our rigs to be pretty much self-sufficient.  They have water storage, propane for cooking, the furnace and for powering the refrigerator and water heater.  The generator is powered off the propane bottles and wired directly into the wiring system.  It has both 12 volt DC and 120 volt AC systems installed.

One of the most important changes we make is to install solar panels for charging the batteries (and we increased the number of batteries from one to three), which power the 12 volt DC system and also power an inverter to supply 120 volt AC current when we are not running the generator.

In this instance we installed two 160 watt solar panels on the roof of the RV.

One of the first things I do is take a photo of the specification plate on the back of the solar panel(s).  In this case both panels are identical units rated at 160 watts each (320 total).  This should supply far more power than we need even on cloudy days.

I purchased eight "Z" brackets to mount the panels to the roof.  Four for each panel.  You can use more if you desire but four has been adequate in the past and we've weathered some pretty strong winds.

The mounting holes from the factory are larger than needed and placed too far inboard for my tastes.  So, I move the edge of the bracket to the edge of the panel and mark where the new holes need to be drilled. 

NOTE: Do not make the holes so close to the inside edge that you cannot install the bolt that holds the bracket to the panel.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: put some kind of stop spacer on the drill bit to keep it from going so deep that it contacts the solar panel surface.  When the drill bites through the aluminum frame it will bind and try to drive itself through and into the solar panel below.  Obviously you don't want that to happen!  I used a 1/4 inch drive deep socket as a drill stop.  They make special tools just for this purpose (I even have one!) but in my experience this works just as well and it's faster.

First bracket installed!  Seven more to go!

Once I have the brackets bolted to the panels I need to install them on top of the 5th wheel.  (Actually, you should have done some measuring first just to be sure that you have room.)  You want to have the panels clear of any tall objects like the AC unit and/or antennas.  Any amount of shade will decrease the charge rate on a solar panel.  Be sure that the panels can get the maximum amount of sunlight every day.

You can use strip caulk purchased at any hardware or auto parts store for the first layer of leak protection.  I had a vent installation kit with a roll of caulk left from a previous project and elected to use it.

Tear off a section about the size of the "foot" on the "Z" bracket then put it under the bracket.

Now drill hole down through the bracket and install a screw or lag bolt. When you torque it down it will squeeze out some of the caulk.  Trim the excess caulk away before the next step.

I used a caulking gun and sealer to thoroughly cover the bracket and bolt.  Be sure it seals tightly to both the roof and bracket.

One of the biggest challenges can be finding a way to get the solar panel wiring down to the charge controller and batteries.  In this instance I'm utilizing the holding tank vent.  This pipe goes down through the storage compartment which is also where the batteries are.

I ran the cables through the pipe then reinstalled the vent cap.  I'm using a MPPT charge controller so the panels are hooked up in series.  

If I was using a PWM controller I would have to hook the panel wiring up in a parallel circuit using another cable for splicing the two panels together.  The splices are available at any solar power supplier. 

For really big systems you may have to use both parallel and series wiring to get an acceptable combination of voltage and amperage.

The panels and wiring installed on the roof.

This is the vent line from the holding tank.  It's 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe.  I just cut a section out, ran the wires through and measured them, then ran them through the "T" and glued the "T" back into the vent pipe. There should not be anything except the odors from the tank in the line.  I drilled a couple of holes barely larger than the electric cable through the plug.  Ran the wires through the plug then glued it in place.

Next I used sealer to completely seal off the vent and wires.

Next I ran the wires from the batteries to the charge controller.  You want to hook the battery wires up first because many charge controllers sense the battery voltage then automatically select the 12 volt or 24 volt options from their programming.  It you hook the panels to the controller first it can get "confused" about whether your system's battery bank is 12 volt or 24 volt.  The input voltage from our solar panels is about 35 volts.  The charge controller reduces that down to around 13.5 volts (depending what charge "mode" the controller is using at the moment) to keep from overcharging the batteries.  A charge controller's only reason for existing is to properly charge and protect your batteries from over charging or being discharged too deeply (although other systems bear more responsibility for that).

Three batteries should be adequate for our needs. They are hooked together in a parallel circuit.

You can see the charge controller installed to the inside wall near the opposite side in this photo.  You need to leave plenty of clearance for air circulation around it.

You can see the back of the inverter on the left side.  The large black "box" is our inverter which changes the 12 volt DC current to 120 volt AC current.  This one is rated at 1,750 watts.

31 January, 2018 Desert Wanderings

So, what do you do when you're enjoying sunshiny days while you're stuck out in the southern Nevada desert in January and most of your friends and family are in the grip of cloudy, cold, and snowy winter days way up in northern Montana?

You have campfires and toast marshmallows in the evenings.

You explore desert washes on sunny afternoons.

This one and the photo above are on the "road" going to Fire Cove at Lake Mead.  The road in this instance is a wash going down to the cove.  A lot of the back country roads are like this because they do no harm to the desert surface because the next time it rains the tracks are filled in with sand and rocks.  Of course you have to keep an eye on the weather.  A heavy rain miles upstream can send a rushing torrent of water down these things.  Getting caught in a flash flood is not a recommended experience.

At the end of the road we took a burro trail around to the next wash over.  I saw this little group of barrel cactus growing on the hillside.  I've never seen them in a group like this before.

Fire Cove.  The lake (Lake Mead) used to come up this high but it has a serious water shortage at this time.

We visited a friend whose little dog "Gibby" is one of Scott's favorite playmates.

Scott found one of the old video game controls at the thrift store.  The games it has programmed in were some of the originals us "old" people played when a big hard drive on a computer was 80 MB.

Scott and his winter tree at the library.  Some of the kids who live here have never actually touched snow.  Scott, of course, was eager to tell them all about what real snow was like.

Scott, in his never ending quest for independence, insisted on pumping up his own tires. 

Susan is drying some spinach leaves over the fire grate sitting on the dash of our motor home.

This is on a trail just west of our motor home.  Scott walked a couple of miles before he asked to ride on Papa's shoulders.

We graveled our parking spot by transferring gravel from the edge of the road to the front of our motor home where we park the car.  The soil has a lot of sand and clay in it and turns to a sticky muck when it rains.  This way we can get in and out of the car without wading through the mud.

Scott came up topside with me to help seal some roof leaks.  The solar panels are 135 watts each which gives us plenty of power to run the refrigerator and the lights along with enough for a nightly movie on the television (Blue Ray player) and to keep all of the electronics charged up.  The wind generator provides up to four hundred watts of power on windy days or nights.  As I type this the wind is howling outside so power is not problem tonight (and probably for the next three days).

This is in a little wash about a quarter-mile from our camper.  Scott likes jumping off the edge into the wash below.  This was about his twentieth jump.

This is another wash we hiked up that is outside of town (Overton) a few miles.  This photo was taken from the far end which dead-ended against some cliffs.

Scott doing what he likes doing best ... climbing on rocks.

Scott in one of his favorite shirts (he calls it the "bone guy shirt") along with his favorite bone guy bike helmet.

We set up our 25 power binoculars to see what we could see.  The tripod is a necessity.  Otherwise there's so much "shake" you can't focus on anything.  It's a lot of fun at night for star gazing too.

Scott and I both like shooting our bows.

Susan took this looking through the binoculars with her camera (on her phone).  The arrow points to a wild burro (in the circle) that's on the other side of the lake about three miles away. You can see it a lot better with your eye instead of the camera.

We took another little walk through the desert going southwest from our camper.  Our motor home is the little white dot to the left of center in the photo.

Scott was doing his best to fill in the wash in front of him with rocks.  I was looking for coyotes through the binoculars.  These are only ten power.  I didn't see any coyotes but I did spot a couple of rabbits about a half-mile away.

Susan in her "office."  We're both early risers so we do our writing between 6:00 until Scott gets up around 8:00 or later.  That's my breakfast cooking on top of the wood stove I made out of a 30 lb. propane cylinder.  I already made sausage.

We were on one of our hikes when Scott told Susan he was cold.  She gave him her sweatshirt/jacket.  He used it about 10 minutes then decided he didn't need it anymore and gave it back. 

This was taken in the canyon outside of Overton.  The opening is hand dug and goes back in about 20 feet.  I don't have a clue why it was excavated.  I thought the "rock" formation was cool the way it had been kind of rolled over at some point in the past.

Susan and Scott climbing up the rocks to a series of small pools at the base of the cliffs.

More rock "squiggles."  

This is the old access road to Stewarts Point at Lake Mead.  It was closed and made into a walking trail.  If you follow it down to the lake you'll end up in front of our motor home.

We rode bicycles down it instead of walking.

Scott helping grandma fix supper.

Barbecued chicken breast with sweet potatoes inside the foil.

The cell service is marginal at best inside the motor home or at ground level so Susan took this call (and the folding chair) on the roof of the motor home.

While we were messing around with the high powered binoculars I spotted this eagle on it's perch.  I quickly put my camera on the tripod and took it's picture.  This is on 200 power telephoto.