In part 2 I talked about my basic 12V setup and how I was top-balancing my new battery cells. I didn’t get into why to top-balance, but there’s an excellent explanation in the DIY Solar Forum – basically each cell is independent and we’re trying to equalize them and maximize…
In my earlier post, I talked about what LiFePO4 batteries were and why I went with them. In this article I’ll cover how I built mine, which should allow most savvy DIYers to more or less repeat the process, building on what I learned. Most of what I learned about…
Our camper (travel trailer) has a typical 12V lead acid battery to run most of the devices. Solar does a decent job of keeping the battery topped up, but sometimes we end up in a campsite with a lot of shade and have been finding it increasingly hard to keep…
This is one of my favorite modifications I’ve made to our new trailer so far. To be fair, I got the idea off the Lance Owners of America forum. While my work is specific to our 2015 Lance 2185 trailer, I suspect the mod would be similar in other models…
One of the best upgrades I did to our last camper was to install 200 watts of solar power in 2016. That upgrade let us camp for weeks off-the-grid out west, where dispersed camping and most of the campgrounds don’t have electricity. So when we bought a newer trailer this…
This spring we decided to sell our 2005 Forest River Surveyor 235RS camper and upgrade to a 2015 Lance 2185. The Surveyor served us well since purchasing it in 2012, but the boys are growing up and sharing a bed had meant more and more scuffling over space, blankets, and…