Hello!
Im obviously new to the forum and have recently started my project so I have been just kind of searching the net for information. Seems like I might of hit the jackpot here. Lots of ideas, pics, and info for sure.
I recenly purchases an enclosed Pace 17 ft. trailer and would like to set it up to do some camping as well. My family and I dry camp quite a bit and almost always camp in very primitive areas.
I am trying to upgrade the trailer with some minor additions and changes to make it a little more suiting to us. We wont necessarily camp within the trailer, but I would like that as an option as well when the Mrs. and I head out without the kiddos.
My main questions at this time are in regards to the battery and solar system I would like to put in. Im pretty new to this type of system and setup, so I might have some questions that are pretty basic. So apologies to the technical gurus in advance.
The trailer already has a setup for a battery and a few lights inside. I replaced all of the bulbs with LED's already since they have regular bulbs in place. I also recently picked up a few Optima Blue Top batteries. The models is the D34M. I got them for a pretty good price, so I kind of felt I couldnt pass up on it at the time. After doing a little more research, I see the batteries are only rated at 55ah. Compared to many other batteries I was actually disappointed to see that. I was basing my assumptions that they would be in the higher range due to the reputation of the company. Is there something I am missing here? Or are they actually on the pretty low end in this catergory?
I would like to run 3-4 of these batteries in the trailer and I would prefer to use a solar setup to charge them. I have an inverter and plan to incorporate it within the system as well. We actually dont really consume much power, but it would be nice to have it if we need it.
This is the solar setup that I have been looking at. It seems to have a ton of good reviews and it looks like it has just about everything that I would probably need minus some extra cable and the wiring.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DCEKKQ0/ref ... SF8S00L4IY
Any thoughts on this system? Good, bad, or ugly? I would prefer to keep the solar costs to under $200 if possible and still get some halfway decent gear. I also am thinking that I might need to build this in a way that makes it portable. I was originally planning on mounting it to the roof of the trailer, but when I think about it, we really dont ever park it in the sun when we camp. I usually look for the shade of a tree. So I probably need to be able to remove it easily and then place it on a stand of some type in the direct sun.
Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions would be indeed extremely helpful. No matter how small or big.
Thanks in advance and I look forward to learning so much more here.