My plan for a basic battery/electrical setup - good or bad?

[landermint]

I recently purchased a barebones little trailer and I've been looking into a super simple setup that won't require me to learn all the aches and pains of custom wiring, as I am totally new to electrical. Initially I was considering a Jackery battery or power station of that sort, but I thought I could pretty easily make something more powerful for less money. (note that these prices are in Canadian dollars, a Jackery 1000 is $1,300 CAD for reference)

Since the battery I'm looking to buy has a USB port on the side, I was thinking I could just get some USB lights and a USB vent fan, hook them up to a USB splitter and plug it directly into the battery in place of custom DC wiring. Everything else I need I would plug into the inverter. For the inverter I would probably replace the alligator clips with ring terminals a build a case for the whole setup to get everything securely mounted

Down the road I would also like to get a solar panel/charger, and perhaps hook up a DC to DC charger to my car's battery to charge while driving, but I'm fine to start with a simple plug-in setup like this.

Can someone let me know if this will work? Are there any glaring issues when it comes to maintaining battery life or efficiency? Should I just shell out the money for a power station?

Here's what I got:

For the battery itself:


Inverter:


Wall Charger:

[GTS225]

The first question(s) that need to be asked are;
What, exactly, do you plan on running on the 12vdc circuit(s)?
What, exactly, do you plan on running for 120vac loads?

That inveter will only give you about 7.5 amps total, so if you're thinking coffee pot, not going to happen.

Watts equals volts times current, so watts divided by volts tells you how much current is available from the source, or being demanded by the load.

Roger

[tony.latham]

You don't need a 50 amp battery charger. This will do you fine:

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GENIUS10-Fully-Automatic-Temperature-Compensation/dp/B07W3QT226/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=176CEVW6DPV3G&keywords=noco+charger+12v&qid=1675987032&sprefix=noco+charger%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMzFWOUlQUTBNWDU4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDI5OTE3MlIwR04xVUpROU9HWiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTg4NDE5MkpIQzRLSEk4SFRBVCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

I doubt the one USB port will support your needs. It's certainly not intended to do anything more than charge a phone.

There is no reason not to run 12-volt circuits. It's simple. Just run 12 AWG wire to a fusebox such as this:

https://www.amazon.com/AMRB-5025-Blue-Sea-Blade-Negative/dp/B07BRBK19G/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3T19OO1TAXPME&keywords=blue+seas+fuse+box&qid=1675987956&sprefix=blue+seas+fuse+box%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-5

And then run two-wire cable out to the appliances. I like this stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074S253XY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Crimp the connectors on the wire with a $20 crimper, and you're good to go. Here's one of many videos on the subject:



And what do you want to run that needs 120 volts? We have an inverter in our tongue box and can't recall the last time we used it. For us, 12-volt circuits are plenty for camp.



Easy-peasy.

Tony

[troubleScottie]

As stated before, you need to address what are your needs.

Fortunately there are LED light which produce good (bright) light with little power draw.

Just to list a few items that you might power:

lights (interior, exterior)
fan
usb ports
refrigerator/freezer (12VDC, dual power frigs- 120VAC/12VDC)
monitors (CO2, CO, smoke, fire)
computers -- laptops, tablets, DVD players
routers & signal boosters
heater ( propane/natural gas/diesel heater with ignition system and fan)
water pump
radio - AM/FM, satellite, ham, weather
TV

There are other things like

CPAP machine
heater -- 120VAC
microwaves
blenders
coffee machines/grinders
electric blankets

Granted I am getting pretty over the top with possible usages.


The general idea is you need to compute your Amp-hours. Generally speaking a lead acid battery, one can use half of its listed capacity. Lithium you can use 80% or so.

You than need to compute how many Amp-hours you will be needing per day.

For each 12V appliance, you can multiple their draw in Amp by the number of hour per day you use it. LED lights can have very low draws -- 0.2 to 0.6 amps per hour. So run for 2 hours is 0.4 - 1.2 Ah. From above list, one of the bigger draws is a ceiling fan or refrigerator. Bigger fans like MaxxAir or Fantastic Fan have relatively large draws and are often run for long periods. The big MaxxAir 7000 is rated at 5 Amp. So it can only run 16 hour on high and your battery is dead.

Inverters can be computed the similar way but you have to multiply by 10 in the USA eg 120V @ 1 Amp = 12 V @ 10 Amps. Of course that requires 100% conversion. Most invertors have lower efficiencies. So you are consuming even more amps. That is why you want to use direct connections for phones or computers, to eliminate the conversion to 120VAC then back to 12VDC and the loses that has. Most computers do have connectors that plug directly into a 12VDC socket though it is an extra accessory. There are DC TV.

All of this means you need to plan what you want to do. If all it is a single LED light run for a couple hours, you are great. If you have all of these, you need to find a way to recharge while you are traveling/camping be it solar, shore power, generator or from the towing vehicle or some combination.

[iristhomas1299]

There are steps to install a 50A RV plug. Step 1 - Turn off the main switch. Step 2 - Make sure you have an available location on your circuit breaker panel. Step 3: Find a place to install an outdoor power outlet. Step 4 - Install the junction box.Step 5 - Pull the wire through the conduit. Step 6: Plug in the outlet. Step 7: Set the switch. Step 8: Turn on the circuit breaker and test it. https://www.rvhometown.com/install-a-50-amp-rv-plug/

[bdosborn]

There are steps to install a 50A RV plug. Step 1 - Turn off the main switch. Step 2 - Make sure you have an available location on your circuit breaker panel. Step 3: Find a place to install an outdoor power outlet. Step 4 - Install the junction box.Step 5 - Pull the wire through the conduit. Step 6: Plug in the outlet. Step 7: Set the switch. Step 8: Turn on the circuit breaker and test it. https://www.rvhometown.com/install-a-50-amp-rv-plug/

That charger is 50A @ 12V. A 50A shore power plug for a teardrop is pretty big, you'd probably only need it if you had a deep fat dryer in your trailer.


Watch out with that inverter, the cheap ones have a modified sine wave output that is a problem for electronics and motors. I'd look for a pure sine wave inverter.

https://www.altestore.com/blog/2015/10/pure-sine-wave-vs-modified-sine-wave-whats-the-difference/

Bruce

[bdosborn]

The general idea is you need to compute your Amp-hours. Generally speaking a lead acid battery, one can use half of its listed capacity. Lithium you can use 80% or so.

You than need to compute how many Amp-hours you will be needing per day.

Far Out Ride has a great electrical calculator that makes figuring out an RV system size eazy peazy.

https://faroutride.com/van-electrical-calculator/

Bruce