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Post by banddaddave on Sept 5, 2018 19:36:09 GMT
I'm a band-dad and part of a group of band booster dads looking to upgrade our marching band's equipment trailer so that we can run interior and exterior LED lighting when it's not connected to a towing vehicle. This is a 24' enclosed utility trailer that sits in a parking lot at least 6 days a week, basking in the sun, disconnected from it's towing vehicle. However, we use it on Friday nights at home football games for staging of equipment and booster supplies, band snacks, etc. We could really use the interior lighting when it gets dark, but currently have no way to do that as there is no battery power. We'd also like to put a few exterior LED floods on the outside of it in order to light the area where the equipment and cases and such sit during the majority of the game.
So we're looking at purchasing a whole deep-cycle battery system to run those lights, but also a small solar system to keep the battery charged for the 1 night a week when we use it during the football season at home games - which is usually about 5 nights from August - October. The nights when we're on the road at away games, we have power from the towing vehicle. So the battery has plenty of time to recharge during the week for those Friday nights when it would be used for no more than maybe 3-4 hours.
So we were looking at a 50w Renogy solar kit on Amazon but wondered if anyone could offer any suggestions or advice for our setup? We're certainly open to options!
The solor panel can easily be mounted to the roof of the trailer and the wires into a battery box inside the trailer. But we want to make sure it will survive the trips up there too.
The battery we are looking at is an Interstate Group 27 marine battery from Costco. Although it doesn't say so on the product itself, research suggests this is a 95aH battery.
Currently inside the trailer, there are 4 overhead dome lights that have SMD LED panels installed in them that draw 0.36A each @ 12v.
We haven't bought the LED floods for the outside yet and are open to suggestions (and limitations) on those.
Any assistance/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your time!
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Post by tattoo on Sept 5, 2018 19:46:53 GMT
Just a 50w solar system would be a waste of money if your wanting to run floods off of it..... You will kill the battery in no time.... Even in 3 to 4 hours......
What you need to do is figure out how many amps your going to be using, double it, and then pick out your system... Your system needs to be twice as big as your draw to keep from killing your batteries right off....
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Post by banddaddave on Sept 5, 2018 19:56:13 GMT
Just a 50w solar system would be a waste of money if your wanting to run floods off of it..... You will kill the battery in no time.... Even in 3 to 4 hours...... What you need to do is figure out how many amps your going to be using, double it, and then pick out your system... Your system needs to be twice as big as your draw to keep from killing your batteries right off.... Even with LED floods? Again - we've not purchased any yet. But I'm comparing to my portable rechargeable 30w LED flood that we currently use on a stand that produces plenty of light for our needs. And chances are, we'd only probably run 2 of those for an hour total on any given night. It's the interiors we'd use constantly over 3-4 hours. The floods would be on separate switches so they all didn't have to stay on. Thanks for the feedback! |
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Post by tattoo on Sept 5, 2018 20:40:00 GMT
Even with LED floods? Again - we've not purchased any yet. But I'm comparing to my portable rechargeable 30w LED flood that we currently use on a stand that produces plenty of light for our needs. And chances are, we'd only probably run 2 of those for an hour total on any given night. It's the interiors we'd use constantly over 3-4 hours. The floods would be on separate switches so they all didn't have to stay on. Thanks for the feedback! What you really need to do is Buy a kill-a-watt meter.... Check to see what kind of watts they pull... I'm sure Renogy has a link that will tell you what uses what?
I think they posted it a few days ago in another thread...
But I guess I should ask are you talking 12v or 120v? |
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Post by bupkis on Sept 5, 2018 20:43:22 GMT
the math ain't too hard. you'd start with usage. a 30w/12v LED is ~ 2.5A, let's call it 3A and you get 2 so 6A/hr. Now add your .36a LEDs x 4 = ~1.5A, call it 2A. So 8A at a time for 5 hrs is 40 ah, so do that once you need a 80+ ah battery and a G27 fits that (generally rule of thumb is not to discharge more than 50% and to recharge FULLY sooner than later for long battery life. So how much does it take to get the battery recharged, 120% or 60ah. or 720 watt hr. a 50w panel should deliver 150-250 watt hr/day depending on time of year blah blah. Ya might want to check solar irradiation info about you local, winter angles up north limits winter solar. Doable. I'd prefer a larger panel, 5% charger would be 5% of 95 or ~5A or 100w panel. Battery in a box on the trailer tongue makes sense but is subject to theft/tampering. What about using portable rechargeable LEDs lights that can be charged by vehicle/120v? A hand full of these? or similar |
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Post by tattoo on Sept 5, 2018 20:50:53 GMT
What about using portable rechargeable LEDs lights that can be charged by vehicle/120v? Now that's a great idea and a whole lot cheaper.....
Or you could just attach an inverter to the vehicle and run the lights off of it... Like ^^^ said 120v... And your batteries can charge on the way home...
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Post by jsb2000 on Sept 5, 2018 21:15:59 GMT
The battery we are looking at is an Interstate Group 27 marine battery from Costco. Although it doesn't say so on the product itself, research suggests this is a 95aH battery. Personally, I'd keep looking. As I've mentioned elsewhere on this forum, those "Marine/RV" batteries are not true deep cycle batteries. A true deep cycle battery will NOT have a CCA rating. If it does, then it's designed with the thinner plates necessary to deliver high current for short periods of time...which is directly opposite of what you want (low current for longer periods of time). Yes, you can pick one of those Costco specials up for 60-80 bucks. Yes, it will work for a while. But you'll also be replacing that battery far sooner than you would if you bought a true deep cycle battery. |
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Post by Admin on Sept 5, 2018 21:45:23 GMT
I'm a band-dad and part of a group of band booster dads looking to upgrade our marching band's equipment trailer so that we can run interior and exterior LED lighting when it's not connected to a towing vehicle. This is a 24' enclosed utility trailer that sits in a parking lot at least 6 days a week, basking in the sun, disconnected from it's towing vehicle. However, we use it on Friday nights at home football games for staging of equipment and booster supplies, band snacks, etc. We could really use the interior lighting when it gets dark, but currently have no way to do that as there is no battery power. We'd also like to put a few exterior LED floods on the outside of it in order to light the area where the equipment and cases and such sit during the majority of the game. So we're looking at purchasing a whole deep-cycle battery system to run those lights, but also a small solar system to keep the battery charged for the 1 night a week when we use it during the football season at home games - which is usually about 5 nights from August - October. The nights when we're on the road at away games, we have power from the towing vehicle. So the battery has plenty of time to recharge during the week for those Friday nights when it would be used for no more than maybe 3-4 hours. So we were looking at a 50w Renogy solar kit on Amazon but wondered if anyone could offer any suggestions or advice for our setup? We're certainly open to options! The solor panel can easily be mounted to the roof of the trailer and the wires into a battery box inside the trailer. But we want to make sure it will survive the trips up there too. The battery we are looking at is an Interstate Group 27 marine battery from Costco. Although it doesn't say so on the product itself, research suggests this is a 95aH battery. Currently inside the trailer, there are 4 overhead dome lights that have SMD LED panels installed in them that draw 0.36A each @ 12v. We haven't bought the LED floods for the outside yet and are open to suggestions (and limitations) on those. Any assistance/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your time! The suggestions on this thread are all valid. We also have a system sizer: www.renogy.com/smart-system-sizer/ to give you more of a visual. 1. Invest in a deep cycle battery bank as opposed to the battery banks that have a CCA rating which are more starter batteries. 2. Assuming DC system with a 30W floodlight and the 4 Overhead LEDs running for 4 hours each as well as a location that gets at least 4-5 peak sun hours, a 100W system seems to be suitable for your application. You would need a deep cycle battery of at least 70Ah -Renogy Team |
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