Possible to Upgrade to 110v outlets being hot all the time

[Rod]

I have a Jayco PUP. I built a solar generator and it is stored in my front compartment. I can plug my shore power in and have power throughout my camper. I realize this is an inefficient way to charge my primary battery on the tongue, but it's nice to have shore power in the camper off the grid. what can be done to make the 110v system always hot? If that can be done, I run my solar gen back to the primary battery in parallel and expand my amp hours. thanks!

[bankr63]

If your solar generator has 110V outputs (something like the Yeti?), just plug shore power into the generator. But watch your consumption/load as they have limited capacity (good for charging phones, running laptops etc.). While plugged in this way, the converter in the pup will charge the battery as well from the SG.

Other option would be to charge the battery with the SG and then add an inverter to produce 110VAC from 12VDC. But again, very limited capacity/load.

What is the rating of the solar panels attached to the SG?

[Mustang65]

The best method for switching between shore power and your inverter is to purchase an AUTOMATIC TRANSFER SWITCH. You wire the incoming SHORE POWER into it, the INVERTER AC output into it, and the PUP 12Volt control center. If the PUP has a battery charger, you will need to wire its 120VAC source to a switch, so you can disconnect it when running off the inverter. You will also need to make sure the AC (if you have one) can not be accidently activated while on INVERTER Power.

What is the AH of the SOLAR gen system?

What size SOLAR panel are you using?

What is the distance between your SOLAR gen and your batteries?

Can you post some pictures of your SOLAR gen.

If you are interested, we have a SOLAR social group (below link). There is a lot of SOLAR/BATTERY/Installation information available.

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[bankr63]

Thought of the transfer switch too, but didn't go that route since it is only a pup. KISS principle always did me well in my pup days.

[Rod]

I found a good solution. I do plug the PUP into the solar gen. It's 480mins at 24amps and expandable. I have a 100w panel that I unfold and wire in. Removing the fuse at the battery turns off the converter and the main draw. Permanent solution would be a disconnect switch. The other benefit is that removing the converter from the equation gives me all the watts to use on my 1000w inverter. Running some tests now for time PUP can run on reserve without appliance usage

[RoyBraddy]

Yes it can be done but you need to upgrade your battery setup to run it...

I have a always ON 120VAC 600WATT AIMS PURE SINE WAVE setup on my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer. This runs off my 255AHs 12VDC BATTERY BANK. This will draw around 50AMPS DC Current from my battery bank if fully loaded down. MY high drain is usually between 4PM and 11PM each evening and usually only 1-2AMPS DC drin during the other time periods. The most I see on my Battery Monitor system is around 22-24AMPS DC current between the evening hours running all the things we want to run off our batteries..

I have two multi-tap 120VAC OUTLET drop cords plugged into it with one going to the Home Entertainment items and the second ne going back to a cabinet table top to run my USB chargers, Computer chargers, and a couple of other emergency type items I always want to be powered up...

My floor plan looks something like this...


Google Image

I currently have three each 85AH 12V Interstate Batteries in my battery bank giving me my 255AHs of capacity. This has all failed last season after being install in early 2009. I am currently in the process of install a new Battery Bank for two groups of two GC2 6VDC batteries in series which will give me a 440AH battery bank capacity.


Roy's Image

This is probably alot bigger than you want to do but having a always ON 120VAC and 12VDC circuits fits my needs just great...

When camping off-grid I have everything planned out to run all the things we want to run in a one/night run off the batteries and then use my 2KW Honda Generator each morning starting at 8AM to re-charge my battery bank back up to its 90% charge state state which takes around three hours of generator run time. Then I am good to do this all over again for the next day/night run off my batteries...

Been doing this working routine since early 2009...

Roy Ken

[Rod]

thanks for the info, I do appreciate it! so, how do you end up averaging 600w an hour? most of my use is iphone recharge, tablet recharge, and then quick usage of coffee maker/toaster/micro for meals. I am planning to bring bring my generator on my hunting trip for backup of course.