solar panels

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   Thanks all! Our pod has a single 12v battery configuration and 30 lb propane tank. I took it to a refill station and they confirmed it was nearly full. We will be in Texas so frigid weather should not be too extreme. We will prepare for it just in case. My main question is if I can use the power station and battery tender to recharge the battery (rather than solar panels and charge controller). I realize a trickle charger is really for maintaining a charge, but our Electric use will mainly be lights, charging phone, gps, etc, maybe some tv (kids) which seems like a pretty light use. I've used battery tenders for motorbikes and cars to maintain a charge and I have had success in bringing a slighty depleted battery up to full My battery tender has an inline fuse (simlar to the unit in Colt's post) and I'm thinking it should not damage the battery.  

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texastreehugger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09 Oct 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 17	Post Options Post Reply Quote texastreehugger Report Post Quote Reply Topic: solar panels Posted: 28 Oct 2021 at 9:21pm
	Thanks all! Our pod has a single 12v battery configuration and 30 lb propane tank. I took it to a refill station and they confirmed it was nearly full. We will be in Texas so frigid weather should not be too extreme. We will prepare for it just in case. My main question is if I can use the power station and battery tender to recharge the battery (rather than solar panels and charge controller). I realize a trickle charger is really for maintaining a charge, but our Electric use will mainly be lights, charging phone, gps, etc, maybe some tv (kids) which seems like a pretty light use. I've used battery tenders for motorbikes and cars to maintain a charge and I have had success in bringing a slighty depleted battery up to full My battery tender has an inline fuse (simlar to the unit in Colt's post) and I'm thinking it should not damage the battery.
	2016 Rpod 182g 2022 Chevrolet Colorado 4x4

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Post Options Post Reply Quote offgrid Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 28 Oct 2021 at 10:40pm
	What you want to do will work but not well. You will as you point out be limited by the trickle charger output which won't be enough to run much. Also, there is going to be a lot of wasted energy by going from DC current from the Jakery solar modules though the Javkery charge controller, batteries, and it's internal DC to AC inverter, only to get converted back again to DC by the truck charger Instead, why not run the Javkery solar modules trough a charge controller directly to your trailer battery? should be much more efficient and not limited by the trickle charger. I checrd the Solarsaga 100 module specs and they should work just fine that way. You will need to buy a new charge controller but get a simple PWM type, they're not expensive.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold

texastreehugger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09 Oct 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 17	Post Options Post Reply Quote texastreehugger Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 30 Oct 2021 at 8:56am
	Thanks, I will look into charge controllers. The losses going through multiple systems makes sense, I just didn't have a feel for how much loss.
	2016 Rpod 182g 2022 Chevrolet Colorado 4x4

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Post Options Post Reply Quote offgrid Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 30 Oct 2021 at 10:48am
	Roughly speaking batteries have a round trip efficiency of about 80%, 12v inverters and AC to DC chargers around 85% percent each, and solar charge controllers around 90-95%. So taking your solar output through the Jackery to the trailer battery is going to have an overall efficiency of around 0.95 * 0.80 * 0.85 * 0.85 = about 55% vs. around 95% if you take the solar output directly to the trailer battery through a charge controller. So it's a pretty big loss.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold