Alternative simple electrical system

[friz]

I didn’t want to lose any space in my galley to electrical so I chose to mount my battery under and use “pods” under the shelf and in the galley for power and switches.

 

[ecossett82]

What power managment/usb system is that?

[friz]

I found the pod with the voltmeter, usb and 12v outlet on ebay. I added a momentary switch for the voltmeter so it would not be on all the time. I also added a PWM controller for dimming my led lights.

[apkley]

Friz,

I like the placement of your battery, but how do you keep it out of the elements?  I don’t know how any electrical parts could be exposed to water.  We drove through a massive storm this past weekend – I assume your wiring connects directly to the leads we see in the picture.  Is that a sealed battery box, or is that the actual battery itself?

BTW, what type of brackets are those?  I’ve been browsing and haven’t seen anything like them.  Are they an auto store or home improvement item?

[friz]

The battery is a sealed agm unit. I am not too concerned about having my electrical out of the elements. None of the cars or airplanes I have worked on had electrical out of the elements.

[friz]

BTW. the brackets are made from “drop off” I removed from the trailer side rails.

[faithie999]

can you give a reference (model no. etc) for the sealed AGM battery you chose?

thanks

ken

[friz]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NPP-12V-100Ah-Rechargeable-AGM-Deep-Cycle-SLA-Solar-Battery-Replace-UPG-UB121000-/252699243973?hash=item3ad60c75c5

[faithie999]

thanks.  100 amp hours should last the night!

I really like your idea of mounting it underneath the camper.

I can use the space in the galley module designated for the battery for the battery charger instead.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by faithie999.

[restonthewind]

You shouldn’t discharge a deep cycle, lead-acid battery completely. Routinely discharging it more than 50-60% before recharging it decreases its lifespan very substantially, so if you really need 100 amp-hours at 12V (roughly a kilowatt-hour) from the battery each day, you need two of these batteries. If you need 200 amp-hours (to run a small AC all night), you need four of them, which puts the weight over 250 lbs.

Lithium batteries are a lot more expensive up front, but they last a lot longer, even if you routinely discharge them a lot more, and weigh a lot less, so the price is competitive in the long run. That’s what the people selling lithium batteries say, anyway. You could run a small AC at night with two lithium batteries weighing only 60 lbs., and the batteries would last many years longer than AGM batteries.

If I only wanted to power small electronics (phone, small laptop) occasionally, I’d use an AGM battery, but to power a small fridge and multiple laptops that I need for my work all day, a lithium battery seems worth the extra expense.

[Author]

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