Please help me power my 2001 Eagle FWC! Renogy Flexible Panel? Jackery? Starlink Mini?

[arieocean]

Looking for some help. I just bought a 2001 Eagle FWC. It came with a Battleborn Lithium 100 AH. 1000 watt inverter. And 200 watt rigid portable solar panels that pull 8-11amps in direct sun. The panels weigh 15lbs each and it doesn't make sense to mount them on the top (I really don't want more weight up there... I want it to be as easy as possible to pop up). I'm looking into getting one Renogy 200 watt flexible panel to leave up there. Thoughts on this?

All I will need to run is the Iceco 45L chest fridge, the lights, and fan (these barely draw any power).
I will most likely only be doing 2-3 hours of work a few days a week. I'm thinking I'll most likely be working once the sun has gone down. I'm looking into a starlink mini (which requires 20-40 watts). I have a Macbook air with a USBC charging cord.

Will the flexible 200w Renogy panel be alright? And will it be able to charge the battery while I'm driving so I can work at night?

Also, I would like to have a back up plan in case the weather isn't ideal. Thoughts on a Jackery or similar power station? I could charge it from my cig lighter or in the wall at a coffee shop. I know this isn't the most efficient and I'm hoping I wouldn't have to use it often, just incase I'm in a bind with my solar.

On another note, I have a charger for my lithium battery that I can plug into power. I've looked into maybe getting a small generator, but would rather not have to carry one around. I'm thinking a Jackery would be ok since it would be rare that I'd have to use it. I'm new to all of this though, so I would love any and all thoughts/ suggestions/ advice. Thank you in advance!

 

[Vic Harder]

Sounds like your Eagle was already pretty well setup. That 100AH BB battery will keep you working for a few days without solar. The Macbook Air uses 30W at 12V = approx 3A of draw. The Iceco at 55W @ 12V = 4.5A of draw. Your lights and such are 1A-2A. If you are driving during the day and working at night for 6 hours then your total usage is approx 3+4.5+2 = 9.5A. Call it 10A. Every hour of use is 10AH. So, your BB will run everything for 6 hours without any issues.

If you regularly drive during the day vs parking in sunshiny parking lots, then DCDC charging makes way more sense than solar panels. Assuming you want to fully recharge daily, figure out how many hours of driving you do and scale the DCDC from there. So, 3 hours a day of driving? You will need 60AH/3= 20A. The Victron line of DCDC converters will work fine for you.

I would get a State of Charge (SOC) battery monitor first before you do anything else though. Otherwise you are kinda just guessing. Victron Smart Shunt is a good one.

 

[pvstoy]

Most likely your 2001 Eagle does not have roof helper struts. When adding weight on the roof like solar panels, these will assist and help you make the raising easier.

roof lifting helper shocks thingys

I find it amazing the amount of vacuum that is created when lifting the top. Door latched open no problem. If the door is in the opening even the slightest, wow is it hard to lift the top. I spaced out one time and was trying to open the camper in the rain. Door was just crack and the top...

www.wanderthewest.com

The post has 22 pages. the link starts you at a FWC video on installing them.

 

[DesertDog]

Suggest you consider two 100W panels wired in parallel instead of a single 200W unit. If one fails, then you still have power versus no power.

 

[arieocean]

Sounds like your Eagle was already pretty well setup. That 100AH BB battery will keep you working for a few days without solar. The Macbook Air uses 30W at 12V = approx 3A of draw. The Iceco at 55W @ 12V = 4.5A of draw. Your lights and such are 1A-2A. If you are driving during the day and working at night for 6 hours then your total usage is approx 3+4.5+2 = 9.5A. Call it 10A. Every hour of use is 10AH. So, your BB will run everything for 6 hours without any issues.

If you regularly drive during the day vs parking in sunshiny parking lots, then DCDC charging makes way more sense than solar panels. Assuming you want to fully recharge daily, figure out how many hours of driving you do and scale the DCDC from there. So, 3 hours a day of driving? You will need 60AH/3= 20A. The Victron line of DCDC converters will work fine for you.

I would get a State of Charge (SOC) battery monitor first before you do anything else though. Otherwise you are kinda just guessing. Victron Smart Shunt is a good one.

Looking into battery monitors now. I think the DCDC set up is my goal, but I'm just trying to make use of what I have for starting out. Thoughts on mounting the rigid panels in a way that is detachable? I would love to store them on top, but be able to take them off and angle them.

 

[arieocean]

Most likely your 2001 Eagle does not have roof helper struts. When adding weight on the roof like solar panels, these will assist and help you make the raising easier.

roof lifting helper shocks thingys

I find it amazing the amount of vacuum that is created when lifting the top. Door latched open no problem. If the door is in the opening even the slightest, wow is it hard to lift the top. I spaced out one time and was trying to open the camper in the rain. Door was just crack and the top...

www.wanderthewest.com

The post has 22 pages. the link starts you at a FWC video on installing them.

Thanks for sharing! Do you have any thoughts on mounting the rigid panels in a way that is detachable? I would love to store them on top, but be able to take them off and angle them.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

An easy way to angle roof mount solar panels is to point the nose of the truck into the sun, then have just the back of the camper raised.

I suspect you can buy the gear to raise and angle the panels, but getting up there to release and raise them seems like a lot of work for something that may not be done often.

 

[CPT Davenport]

I have a Renogy 175W flexible panel and love how light it is. I have never marked it at a full175w but that is not uncommon for most panels. My biggest issue has been shading of the panel. If just a small portion of the panel is shaded, the watts coming in drop to 0. The new 200watt boasts that Renogy has overcome this issue, yet the customer reviews state that the shading problem still exists.

As Vic mentioned a DC/DC charger will offset this and keep you topped off. That said, I do not have a DC/DC charger and have never run out of juice in my 206ah SOC storage cell. If I'm worried about it I also plug a 130w folding panel in the rear port and drag it out to the sun.

Please post results and findings if you get the 200w.

 

[Vic Harder]

I can imagine rigging up a system with pins/clips that hold a panel up on the roof for easy removal. Honestly, given your usage pattern, I wonder if you need to change anything. Get the SOC monitor first.

 

[kmacafee]

I have a Truck Camper (not a 4 Wheel) with a Bundutec popup. My roof has solar panels and does have electric lifts. I have been running my Starlink on a Jackery power station for awhile which works great. I have just installed an external port that allows me to access Camper batteries for Starlink, but on shady days, I'll still use the Jackery. I charge the Jackery while driving with the Bluetti 1 DC to DC charger that draws from the truck battery. It's important to have redundancy, IMHO