Cant design need help

[crazydeep74]

Okay, Im planning to build a super offroad teardrop. I know the basics of electricity and can wire up most everything. The delema im in is I dont have any means of designing a schematic. I also need to know if this is good:
1) 4-6 deap cycle 72 amp hour 12v batterys
2) 15-45 watt solar panel
3) small battery maintainer *solar*
4) 750 watt and 500 watt inverters
5) 2 110v outlets in cabin, 1 in kitchen, 2 outside
6) 2 12v cabin lights, 4 12v exterior lights, 1 12v kitchen light
7) 2 12v lighter plugs in cabin, 2 outside 2 in kitchen
2 water pumps
9) Better heater
10) room heater
11) homebuilt AC
12) cabin fan
13) water heater (for sink and shower)

Thats all I can think of now, I want it so I can run the alternating current stuff while im unplugged, I also plan a charger for when im plugged in, also a cable to charge from the tow vehicle alternator. I came up with the idea to hook a 100amp alternator to the rear axle for extra charging. Tell me what you think and what I should add.
*edit* Clearified it abit

[mikeschn]

Hi Crazydeep...

Welcome to the forum.

Wiring eh... keep it simple.

And don't overload your poor battery. You won't be able to run your air conditioner on battery, it'll suck your battery dry almost instantly! (Well, certainly in less than an hour). The problem is that 5 amps at 110 volts is 45 amps at 12 volts. And with a 87 amp battery, you've sucked it down halfway in less than an hour.

As for a schematic or wiring diagram, we've got some good examples in this thread.

http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=1941

Mike...

[Michael W]

That is an impressive list of equipment, but at first glance, it seems a bit overkill for a teardrop. First off, having four to six 12V deep cycle batteries will be very heavy, not to mention where are you going to put them. Unless you are going to be doing some serious, long term dispersed camping, you may be overdesigning.

[crazydeep74]

Well I plan to take the trailer all over this country, canada and south america. Im not planning to stay in camp grounds so thats where the batteries come into play. Sorry if I meant confussion about the ac. Its not really ac more of a air cooler. Ill describe it more later but its a dc "air cooler" I havent tested how many amps it uses but I doubt it hits 5 amps (3 80mm pc fans, small 12v dc water pump). Im working on a design of the camper, I have the perfect spot in front of the camper accessiable from the outside a small cabinet that will hold the inverters, chargers, batterys. My teardrop will be a tad longer then normal tear drops.

[Chip]

Crazy, this is not to poo poo on your plans so dont take it as anything personal or arrogant,, what you are planning electrically I am sure is possible, however feasible is a complete different story,, Let me elaborate just a bit

1. them batteries got to weigh in at close to 300 lbs or more,, and thats conservitive,, drop it back to one good battery,,
2. you are wanting two water pumps and hot water for shower and sink,, ya might want to think more on the lines of a zodiac shower hot water heater,, its propane fired,, so no electricity,,
3. 2 cold weather heaters,, insulate well and make some provisionfor a small electric unit
4. a/c,, that one you are not sure of electrical demands but it will be there no matter what,,I have a 120V a/c, but on grid power
5 . 2 power invertors,, why not one good size one if ya eliminate some of the electrical demands,,,
6. BUY an adequate sized generator to power the remaining electrical items , this way you got a remote power source thats portable, and multifunction, charge battery, power to convertor, lights, heater or a/c, and if you camp at a grid ya can leave it home and plug in at the campground,,in a couple words,, simplify ya life, simplify ya teardrop, cut ya weight and expense, enjoy ya camping days and nights,,
I keep visualizing a short in the bundle of wires and spending all day in the heat or cold tracing wires to find the problem, only to find ya got to tear out the ceiling to get to the problem,, this would tend to mess up a good weekend,,
instead of a list of things to add,, how bout a list of stuff to get rid of,,

just a few thoughts thar crazy,,,, ohhh and a hearty welcome to the board,, we loves us some pictures so take a bunch, and if you want all that stuff by all means build it,, I will be interested in seeing ya progress,,

chipper

[crazydeep74]

I would camp at a camp ground with power, but dont like that. I like the freedom to camp in the middle of no where. One heater is just one of thos ebed warmers under the sheets. I can remove that though. After reading your replay I came up with the idea to put a solar heater on the roof of the tear and a storage tank to hold the warm water. Battery weight isnt a real problem but I guess the less the better. One water pump will have todo. I planned to bring along a small gas generator anyway.

[crazydeep74]

I modified joanne diagram since im hopeless at making my own.
http://www.ny-cp.net/images/camper/power.bmp
*edit* Changed link

[toypusher]

I modified joanne diagram since im hopeless at making my own.

Crazy,

You will have to convert your images to jpg's verses bmp's to have them show up using the "Img" tags on this board. (At least I am pretty sure that is the case)

Kerry

[mikeschn]

That is correct Kerry... bmp's are too large, and would chew up too much space on the server.

Crazy, you can open the picture in Paint, and do a file->save as to a .jpg

Try not to go any larger than 640x480 or you'll have people complaining that it runs off their screens...

Mike...

[agpage]

I came up with the idea to hook a 100amp alternator to the rear axle for extra charging.

Unfortunately there is no free lunch in physics. The alternator will add drag to the axle rotation and cause the car burn more gas. The alternator in your car will probably be more efficient if large enough.

Hybrid cars hook up an alternator during breaking when the extra drag is helpful. The college teams who race solar racers have good information on the technique. But as I recall their systems are fairly expensive.

[mikeschn]

Good observation agpage,

welcome to the forum btw...

Got any more good tidbits for us?

Mike...

[crazydeep74]

I put two DC fuse panels in. I also am running my ice box off the cold water from my air cooler. Killing two birds with one stone. Can I just hook the solar panel into the air cooler circuit? Do I need a special device, do I need a seperate circuit?

[Ron Dickey]

That is an impressive list of equipment, but at first glance, it seems a bit overkill for a teardrop. First off, having four to six 12V deep cycle batteries will be very heavy, not to mention where are you going to put them. Unless you are going to be doing some serious, long term dispersed camping, you may be overdesigning.

http://www.jdperk.com/SolarTrailer/Imag ... _small.JPG

you might want to think about a double axel or put the batteries in the pull vehical. In fact what are you pulling this with??

[Guy]

Dear Crazy,

Here are two sites you should become very familiar with. Bart's is the bible of rv eletrical and rv solar eletric has some wonderful diagrams and advice, like a solar electric place telling you to NOT put solar heating in but rather use a propane catalytic heater.

http://www.rvsolarelectric.com/
http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12voltA.htm

If Bart's not up then go to Phred's poop sheets http://www.phrannie.org/phredex.html




Also if you put all that weight in your tongue box then you will have a difficult time towing. Tongue weight should be no more than approximately 12% of the total weight.

[crazydeep74]

I plan to buy a jeep, or a chevy 1500 Z71, worse case it'll be a oldsmobile bravada. Ill have access to a GMC yukon some of the time. A double axil would be a great idea, where do they sell them?