Recommended Inverter Charger for a 1967 Ideal Camper Trailer

Updated 08/10/2023 | Published 08/05/2023

Question:

My head might explode. I have been researching retrofitting my 1967 IDEAL camp trailer with solar power to operate a 4.5 cu ft 110v refrigerator. After researching Ive concluded I can easily run the entire 17 trailer on a small set up. I do not have the confidence to put the components together so I need some expert shopping advice, please. ELEC NEEDS SPECS: Refrigerator- 1.4 amp 110W Lights - led bulbs 8W ea. 60W if all are on at once. TV - 59W Laptop - 65W AC - only to run on shore power PREFERRED: Power Storage - LifePo4 Lithium 2 100ah in parallel? Charging- 3 ways - 1 Solar 2 Vehicle 3 Shore power. Need Battery power to be usable while charging Switch Type of Power Usage- Manual or Automatic Need the ability to switch from battery power to shore power Solar Panel - charging one battery in 7 hrs or less. Panel will be mounted to Camp trailer roof. 17 camper with limited space The DuraCube looks like a decent option if it could be hardwired in. Adding a mountable solar panel. Fortunately I have space available for batteries where the shore power comes in and it is right below the refrigerator. The remodel has left things open so its time to install the solar power components so I can put things back together. Any advice on the DuraCube idea or what components I need to purchase would be appreciated. Thank you,

asked by: Brenda C

Expert Reply:

Normally you'd would want to use a power distribution panel/converter to take the shore power and convert to DC to power 12V loads and charge batteries.

Then solar would be hooked directly to the batteries and an inverter would hook up to the batteries to power AC loads when not using shore power from the distribution panel.

I recommend using the Go Power Industrial Pure Sine Wave Inverter Charger # 34280055. This is an all in one power center, charger (AC to DC), inverter (DC to AC), transfer switch, and is compatible with Solar. This is going to give you plenty of power for everything you need and it makes it pretty simple.

Now for solar, to figure out what panels you need for your application you are going to need to figure out what your appliance wattage is, usage time, etc. To make this simple we have a solar calculator that I've attached to this page for you to use. Just plug your stuff in and it'll spit out a recommended kit that'll get the job done.

expert reply by: Bryce D