Ollie winter home - solar batter charge.

[BackofBeyond]

Just thought I'd post a pic of Ollie in its current home. I've still to run the electric and water to the building, thus the solar, and the solar works fine at keeping the charge up.  The solar is a 45 watt cheap panel off the "site" mounted on a "hillbilly" portable stand, with a very versatile (cheap) battery tender controller managing everything.  I use the same  set-up to keep tractors and mowers charged during the down times.  So far, after a few months, the batteries have remained fully charged. 

[John E Davies]

That is a nice setup. The only negative I can see is you can’t open up your awning to dry it out. I have the same issue in my RV bay - not enough side clearance.... I can only extend about 6 feet.

Is that your Amish built building? How has that worked out so far?

How much land do you have? 

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited December 5, 2019 by John E Davies

[BackofBeyond]

Thanks JD.

No,  it's not Amish built, its Russell built. It was my late summer/fall project. I had a crew pour/finish the concrete, I did the rest, much to the protest of most of my body parts. There are two interior spaces, one with a floor drain, set up as a work room, the other is a bathroom - shower, toilet, etc. I have not finished out the interior - may not - but it is plumbed for the future. There are two rv dump locations- south and east ends. So far the building is working out fine - considering it started out as just a covered "shed".  I need to run the elec and h2o -  I'm just waiting for the motivation......

It sets on a little over 18 acres, backs up to a lake.  The place is our launching spot for adventures, and in a few years, will be a part time domicile. TN is very reasonable as a home base - taxes, cost of living, regulatory climate, etc. are hard to beat. Weather ain't bad either...

RB

[ShallowGal]

On 12/5/2019 at 1:00 PM, BackofBeyond said:

Just thought I'd post a pic of Ollie in its current home. I've still to run the electric and water to the building, thus the solar, and the solar works fine at keeping the charge up.  The solar is a 45 watt cheap panel off the "site" mounted on a "hillbilly" portable stand, with a very versatile (cheap) battery tender controller managing everything.  I use the same  set-up to keep tractors and mowers charged during the down times.  So far, after a few months, the batteries have remained fully charged. 

 

On 12/5/2019 at 1:00 PM, BackofBeyond said:

Just thought I'd post a pic of Ollie in its current home. I've still to run the electric and water to the building, thus the solar, and the solar works fine at keeping the charge up.  The solar is a 45 watt cheap panel off the "site" mounted on a "hillbilly" portable stand, with a very versatile (cheap) battery tender controller managing everything.  I use the same  set-up to keep tractors and mowers charged during the down times.  So far, after a few months, the batteries have remained fully charged. 

After seeing your setup and reading your post, I just purchased from Amazon an inexpensive 50 watt solar panel, controller with cables.  I plan to build a stand like you build with hopes of it keeping our AGM batteries fully charged as our storage site has no powerl  Thanks for sharring, like your shed1  Duke and Chris

[JPatrickJ]

BackofBeyond,

It looks like you have a very nice setup!  One question...how do you maneuver your rig into the shed with the tongue backwards?

PS...nevermind, I see now that this is a pull through.  Excellent!

Patrick  

Edited December 16, 2019 by JPatrickJ
Additional Comment

[BackofBeyond]

4 hours ago, JPatrickJ said:

BackofBeyond,

It looks like you have a very nice setup!  One question...how do you maneuver your rig into the shed with the tongue backwards?

PS...nevermind, I see now that this is a pull through.  Excellent!

Patrick  

I  use a  tiny Truck... ..the pull through works fine, never thought about it being "backwards"  although  I do use my 4wd tractor to move the Ollie around - washing, maintenance, etc. The GMC handles the open road duties.  The solar keeps the batteries in the 12.7- 12.9 range, nothing is running - static demand.