We are currently designing an AUX battery (AKA “house” battery) set up for our ‘08 F250 6.4L Diesel. We are trying to power a 12V cooler, charge our USB devices, run a small fan inside our roof top tent and run our LED lights. Our F250 is a daily driver and used for our roof top tent adventures.
What battery/solar set ups are you running on your vehicles?
This is what I ended up purchasing (paid links):
DCC50S On Board battery charger with MTTP: $399.99 All-in-1. Smart isolator to isolate my start batteries from my aux/house battery. Battery charger that will charge my sealed lead acid deep cycle battery in stages, but can also charge gel, AGM, flooded, or lithium ion batteries. Solar Controller that will use solar power to charge my AUX battery, and once it is full, it will trickle charge my start batteries with solar power. Battery monitor, with the BT-2 module, I can view the entire status of the solar/charging system with the DC home app .
BT-2 Module: $39.99 Allows me to use an app to monitor my battery charging, solar inputs, load power consumption.
Waterproof 70 amp circuit breaker: $24.99. Safety measure between the start battery and the Renogy DCC50S controller. Don’t want to accidentally fry my battery charger. I choose circuit breakers over inline fuses, so I wouldn’t need to replace fuses while camping. It saves on money and allows me to quickly reset the breaker while on the road.
Waterproof 60 amp circuit breaker: $26.99. Safety measure between the Renogy DCC50S controller and the AUX battery.
Ampper Battery Master Disconnect Switch: $17.97 allows me to disconnect my start battery from the Renogy DCC50S controller or disconnect the AUX battery from the controller
6 way fuse block: $17.98, to connect my loads to the battery.
4 Gauge AWG, clear black, ground wire, 25 ft: $15.63 f or the ground wiring
4 gauge AWG, clear red, 25 feet: $17.71 for wiring up my system
4 gauge copper terminals with heat shrink (10 pack): $11.95. for connecting my cables to battery/controller
625 piece, Heat Shrink Tubing Kit: $9.89 extra heat shrink for connecting my battery terminals to the cable
Already owned:
Sealed Lead Acid Deep Cycle 114 amp hour battery
How we will wire it up this weekend:
Hey there! We are solar ambassadors for Renogy and spend a good portion of our year doing lifestyle seminars and open houses of our rig, which includes solar education. We’ve lived and traveled full-time in our vintage rig for nearly 8 years, and we’ve had solar from day 1. We’ve learned a ton about how to maximize our system, which is quite small. Here’s our current set-up and we love it! http://www.freedominacan.com/solar-powered-by-renogy.html. Two major bits of advice. Skip lead acid and go straight to Lithium Iron Phosphate for your battery. The difference is phenomenal. Big upfront investment that will pay dividends over its 10 year lifetime. Also, get a portable panel so your rig can be in the shade and panel in the sun. Soooo much more efficient overall. You’ll probably need about 100-200W and one 100ah battery depending on where and when you typically travel. Here’s a video we produced that will provide more detail on each component. https://youtu.be/nPDJ_rfCPkA Finally, contact us directly for more specific assistance, and we can get you a discount if you chose Renogy. freedominacan1957@gmail.com
Thanks for the reply. We did end up getting the Renogy DCC50S. I’ll look into a LiPo once my lead acid dies (no need to waste a perfectly good battery since I already owned it).
1100ah battery seems like a lot. Did you mean 110ah?
We are thinking 200w panels mounted on our truck cab with a rotating mount.
Good! Yes, 100ah. Guess I wrote that too early. Ha! With your 12v cooler, you’ll need more than our 50ah. Good thinking on keeping the lead acid until it dies. We did the same but now that we have lithium, we’ll never go back to lead acid. It charges in a heartbeat, lasts longer, is lighter weight, etc etc.
Hey solar warriors! Renogy is having an incredible CyberWeek sale THIS WEEK (11-9 to 11-16). It’s a rare 15% off sale that has no exclusions, so if you’ve had your eye on some of their fabulous products (maybe those Lithium batteries and a DC to DC Charger?), please use our affiliate link and discount code “CYBERWEEK” to score on some great deals.
And, as always, hit us up with your solar related questions. If we don’t have the answer, we have a direct line to the Renogy engineers that will! Or, check out their blog for a ton of content that will help you make some smart solar decisions.
Happy Camping!
To offer another option/perspective…
If everything is working for you great, but I read the reviews for the BT module and they’re pretty terrible. This seems to be a place where Renogy falls flat.
To be fair, I think Renogy makes pretty good products, but they seem to struggle with the software side of things. The DC-DC charger with MPPT input is a really nice combo package for RVers though.
For my small solar setup at home have a Victron MPPT solar charge controller w/ built in BT (no external module). The software for iOS works fantastic.
They also make DC-DC chargers but not an all-in-one like Renogy.
Thanks,
Richard
I use ECO-WORTHY battery charger to keep my battery full. It is made from durable and long-lasting polycarbonate, making it weatherproof