2011 Camp-Inn Trailer
One of our recent customers brought us a Camp-Inn teardrop trailer with an energy challenge. The trailer comes from the factory with a Nova Kool 12V refrigerator and a Group 24 12V battery. With the added need for running a CPAP machine during the night, it quickly drains the house battery. During the warm months, the refrigerator runs fairly continuously limiting the energy available to less than 24 hours. He added a 100W solar panel at one point in the past and while it helped delay a full discharge of their house battery, it was inevitable that after 2-3 days of use their one house battery would be completely dead.
Our solution - we installed 2x RELiON RB75 12v 75ah lithium iron phosphate batteries (which can be drained to 20% capacity as opposed to 50% with the factory wet cell) which required replacing the existing OE house battery and modifying the under-sink storage area to support the additional RB75. We installed a Victron Blue Smart IP65 (lithium compatible) 12V/15A 120V battery charger to replace the factory shore power charger. We installed a Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor (w/ battery temp sense) and Victron Smart BlueSolar 30A charge controller w/ 2x exterior wall-mounted Zamp power ports for connecting two portable solar panels. With the existing Zamp 120W portable panel the customer already had and with us adding a Zamp 230W portable panel to their fleet, along with a 150ah lithium iron phosphate battery bank, they will be self-sufficient going forward based on their current energy usage. We installed two fused double USB power ports (galley and cabin) to support the various electronic equipment they use and we replaced the factory battery isolator with a Victron Cyrix-Li-Ct 230A combiner/separator for more efficient vehicle charging. We cleaned up the factory wiring in the OE battery box and covered exposed wiring with split loom tubing.
If you have a similar issue with your recreational vehicle and need help, reach out to us today for a free consultation.
