HALP! adding power to a small used tent trailer (overthinking?? )

[RecklessCreation]

okay I finally made the horrible choice of joining the masses that own a piece of towed camping equipment.

a Used 1993 jayco eagle 8. a little bitty low optioned (and really light) tent trailer, the options it does have of note that I was 'looking' for ... the mounts on the outside for the table, and the stove (with the hook up), and an awning (the awning having the mesh wall enclosure kit buried in a storage space inside was a nice bonus). It's just me, wife and kiddo, and we intend to spend most of the time outside, so only wanted just enough space inside to sleep, and eat/prep/cook if the weather was totally crap and we had too.

The only stock onboard powered things are a 12v light in the roof, and a 12v light outside by the door, which from what I believe are ment to be powered by the tow vehicle. Theres no spot or hookup for a house battery. There are 110v outlets inside but they are only supplied by an outside source (ie a camp site shore power plug in) and basically is a basic fuse box to 3 outlets ... 2 inside, one outside where the table and stove are ment to mount.

now the point... I want to add power to this little guy, but I really think I'm overthinking what we'll actually want/need. for the next foreseeable future at most we'll only be spending 2 nights at a camp site (ie friday night, saturday, sat night, then the eventual dreaded pack and leave sunday)

at the moment I have spare normal car battery (larger pickup battery 80ah .. ish...), I'm waiting for a 100W solar panel, controller/charger, and a 2000W inverter. I'll be wiring up a 12v charge signal from the tow vehicle for the drive out (and just in case at camp site) isolated (or just plain disconnected while parked so no chance of loosing start battery) , etc .

so far the only reason I have for the inverter is we found a cool/corny reproduction 3-n-1 coffee maker, griddle, toaster oven like from the 70's kitchen convenience era. it's rated at 300W. an A/c unit is a possibility but not very likely anytime soon. maybe a little electric space heater (or electric blankets?) I'd much rather have more Wattage available from inverter then I honestly need. everything else will be 12v for LED lighting, and charging of flashlights/lantern(s) and fans, the odd entertainment device here or there. I'd like to get my hands on a 12v fridge at some point, but honestly 2 nights we'll be fine with a cooler.

I've been looking at getting my hands on a pair of mid sized 'solar generator' power packs for a combination of around 100-120 ah (I want to combine/rig 2 of them simply because I want to keep one in my tow vehicle on a regular basis

but... am I overthinking my probable power needs? .. or am I underestimating what I'll actually need?

 

[M Rose]

First, according to the 1993 Jayco Eagle Owner’s Manual all pop-up trailers came equips with the optional battery wires pre-installed (pg 42).
Now to address your other questions. I highly recommend watching “DIY Solar Power with Will”. The kid talks pretty plainly to understand all the components, and his videos he has a link to the parts he talks about. I found him while researching my own power needs for my Coms Go Box.

 

[phxdsrtrat]

I've done a lot of research on this so let me see if I can give you some good information.

You will definitely want a deep cycle battery and not a automotive starter battery. You will end up damaging a standard automotive battery pretty quickly using an inverter. To power a 2000 watt inverter to its full capacity it will draw 157 amps from the battery. In addition, a standard lead acid battery can not be drained below 50% without permanently damaging it. So, an 80AH battery is really only good for 40AH. As you can see, the numbers just don't work.

I looked at those little 3 in 1 breakfast stations as I thought it would be perfect for my trailer. The ones I saw had ratings per station. Coffee maker was usually around 500 watts, toaster 650 watts which also doubled as the griddle. So, running both simultaneously was about 1150 watts. I did find one that was 800 watts combined but that was the lowest one I found. I'd double check that 300 watt number as it just doesn't sound correct. I have a little wall heater and it draws 350 watts and doesn't get nearly warm enough to make coffee or cook something.

I gave up on finding a 3 in 1 breakfast station or anything that was more than 500 watts for my tiny trailer. I have friends with large travel trailers with deep cycle battery banks that run 2000-3000 watt inverters, but even they are limited with 4 batteries. One of my friends did upgrade his 4 deep cycle batteries to LiFePO4 100AH Battleborn batteries. Those batteries can be discharged down to 20% and his setup is the only >= 2000 watt setup that actually seems like a replacement for a generator.

So, for a small trailer this is what I would recommend. It's not cheap, but will probably outlast the trailer (LiFePO4 batteries, if treated correctly have a 10+ year lifespan)
Renogy RNG-DCC1212-20 DC to DC charger - charging battery from tow vehicle
Renogy RNG-CTRL-RVR20 MPPT Solar charger - charging from 100 - 200 watt solar panel
Renogy RBM500-G1 SOC Battery Monitor - LiFePO4 battery state of charge is difficult to determine based on a standard voltage battery monitor
Expertpower 12100 LiFePO4 battery - 100AH LiFePO4 battery with built in BMS
1000 Watt inverter
100 -200 watt solar panel

I run something very similar in my small trailer. The setup allows me to run a small heater with a thermostat overnight, charge my devices and run 12 volt lights/fan/fridge. It also cost me about $2000. I also have an 120 VAC charger for the battery in my setup.

If I did it over again, I would still go with LiFePO4 for the trailer and the associated chargers. However, it would be a much smaller (and cheaper) LiFePO4 battery, maybe 20-50AH to only run 12 volt stuff and a 2000 watt solar generator to power 120 VAC on the trailer. The cost isn't much cheaper but it is far more flexible.

-Curtiss

 

[RecklessCreation]

Thanks guys!

You know I went through that exact instruction manual document, and saw the things about the wiring, but never saw the sentence that said there should atleast be wiring for the battery stock. All the wiring on the hitch has been messed with previous to me, so I'll be going through it all anyways.

I've been watching Will's videos for the past couple weeks ish ... but mainly on the building LifePo4 battery packs, really good/easy watching if anyones interested :D

The car battery is just a freebie stand in, it won't be a permanent thing (nor did I expect it to be) by any means.

and Yeah you were exactly right (I kinda suspected it) 300Watts not even close, 1500watts rated at full song. It's too bad, but can also get the coleman addons for the camp stove, griddle top and coffeemaker instead, and reduce the power needs to minimal AC 110v at all. Which the original plan of a pair of 50ah-ish 300watt solar generators, and 100w (working towards 200w) solar panel(s) should work fine.

so my power needs at that point are pretty much just 12v lighting, the odd electronics charging for sure. maaayyybbeee a fridge/powered cooler, and a couple elec blankets

the premade solar generators aren't entirely ideal... but they are the easiest starting option, and I had planned to have atleast 1 in the rig (and probably modify them) . I just really want to get it out a few times before this season ends, and make sure the wifey and kiddo like it, and we can all coexist in the tiny box for a few days at a time haha :D

 

[Boppa's Travels]

1 mistake (well not really a mistake) but instead of mounting a solar panel on my roof, I thought a portable one so I could park in the shade. Well if you plan on running a dual zone 12v refrigerator plan on have enough solar in the sunlight because I was running 2 110 AH wet cells and cheap 300 watt portable solar (Dokio) which worked for a day but then the whole next day I had to sit in camp charging my batteries. I little back story my plan was running my 12v refrigerator out of my jeep with a 500x goal zero but it quit working the second day I had it.

 

[RecklessCreation]

yeah I won't be hard mounting the solar panel(s) .. I'll be putting them on a 'quick' mount rack, basically just enough wind won't toss it, and it will live with the jeep. so atleast I will be able to move it(them) around to suit parking.

quite a few of the things I'm building/modding will live mainly in the jeep.

The jeep will be the crappy weather (ie winter), tow, and a service call vehicle for work. it'll live most of it's time at work, so the chuck box (camp kitchen), initial solar, atleast 1 solar gen, tools, etc will all live in the jeep normally. working rig/weekendlander.

If the family is happy with the camping arrangements and experience. Then the trailer itself will be getting a very extreme makeover to a lightweight, offroadable, hybrid popup style (fiberglass version of a conquerer UEV 490 .. love the layout, don't need it to withstand a bomb haha) ... or may even purchase another trailer to strip down and build, then sell this one once it's ready :D

This little pop up now with all of the relatively small repairs and mods I'm doing should be a relatively easy sell if I have too. like making 1 of the slideouts actually fit 6ft people, a bit of a lift and real size wheels/tires (the wheelbarrow size wheels on this thing make me twitch). spot for a 'bathroom', updating the 12v access, making some more storage, and some of it easier to access.

 

[Boppa's Travels]

I have a cargo trailer builder near me (little over a hour drive). I had a longer tongue and triple beams with a walk-on roof I think I overbuild mine they told me when I picked it up that the weight was 1700 but after doing 15 to 20 mph going up Bobcat Pass in NM (9500 ft) it got to be heavier than that. Been busy since I got home but will be taking to a scale soon.

 

[RecklessCreation]

my hope is to be under 1000lbs unloaded on the custom build, at the most like 1200lbs, so my challenger can yank it if needed, loaded and ready to go for a possible week it'll be over 2000lb range pretty easy

I believe my current little pop up is around 1300lbs unloaded, 1700-1800 rated loaded.

My original plan on getting/starting with a little pop up, was the cut down the bunk slider at the dinette and use it as placeable storage/window location, and use the dinette as the sleeping spot for me and wifey. but because I got the baby 8ft pop up the dinette isn't nearly big enough. I would have had to gotten a 10ft version, and even then modified it to the kitchen size/layout of the 8ft ..etc etc etc .

so I'll be making an extension over the dinette area for sleepy time and we'll have to convert back and forth from dinette to platform as needed. Ideally the plan is to have very little use of the inside, only using it for sleeping and if the weather is unfortunately bad enough to retreat from the screen enclosed awning room.

Also just poking around to see all options I can find that run on propane instead of elec. I'm not really hot on the idea of a perm fridge, just more maintenance. at this point we don't even need a fridge .. for a weekend we'll be perfectly fine with a standard cooler, could even make a strategically packed powered cooler work if worried about keeping things cold (checking out some mods and hacks for them)

 

[Boppa's Travels]

my hope is to be under 1000lbs unloaded on the custom build, at the most like 1200lbs, so my challenger can yank it if needed, loaded and ready to go for a possible week it'll be over 2000lb range pretty easy

I believe my current little pop up is around 1300lbs unloaded, 1700-1800 rated loaded.

My original plan on getting/starting with a little pop up, was the cut down the bunk slider at the dinette and use it as placeable storage/window location, and use the dinette as the sleeping spot for me and wifey. but because I got the baby 8ft pop up the dinette isn't nearly big enough. I would have had to gotten a 10ft version, and even then modified it to the kitchen size/layout of the 8ft ..etc etc etc .

so I'll be making an extension over the dinette area for sleepy time and we'll have to convert back and forth from dinette to platform as needed. Ideally the plan is to have very little use of the inside, only using it for sleeping and if the weather is unfortunately bad enough to retreat from the screen enclosed awning room.

Also just poking around to see all options I can find that run on propane instead of elec. I'm not really hot on the idea of a perm fridge, just more maintenance. at this point we don't even need a fridge .. for a weekend we'll be perfectly fine with a standard cooler, could even make a strategically packed powered cooler work if worried about keeping things cold (checking out some mods and hacks for them)

Sounds like a good plan. a 1000lbs is what I was shooting for ended a little to heavy trying to overthink. I happy with mine except in the mountains so I have plans to use it on flatish (not sure that a word) try something about of mountain trips.