CALIcamperdad
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2014
- Messages
- 237
I just ordered some gear to build what apparently is called a solar generator.
This gives you a general idea
In our case we have our super super basic tent on a trailer that lacks any sort of power options while set up. Our recent trip and arrival in the dark exposed some basic needs for a simple power system. As it turns out a 50 caliber ammo box will fit perfectly on the front plate of my trailer next to the tongue box. So my project to provide basic power and lighting options starts.
The Ammo box will be mounted in a manner that it says on the trailer full time. I'm using a 18ah 12volt SLA glass mat battery. I have a 10watt higher end solid panel solar panel which will be used to keep the battery topped up. Our power needs are very small couple of LED lights and essentially a charging base for things like camera batteries, GPS, Phone's etc.
The only fancy part will be to solve my backing up in the dark lack of light issue. I bought a key fob LED controller which I will wire to a small ATV LED flood light fixture mounted to the bottom rear rail on the trailer. The idea being that I can turn on the light via the key fob when I need to back up in the dark and need the light. The secondary use will be the late night potty run the light could be triggered to light the ground area under the trailer tailgate which acts as the exit/entry step to the tent.
Anyway we shall see how this goes. If it works I may get funding approval to add a simple LED light strip and inline simple switch in the tent its self for tent lighting.
This gives you a general idea
In our case we have our super super basic tent on a trailer that lacks any sort of power options while set up. Our recent trip and arrival in the dark exposed some basic needs for a simple power system. As it turns out a 50 caliber ammo box will fit perfectly on the front plate of my trailer next to the tongue box. So my project to provide basic power and lighting options starts.
The Ammo box will be mounted in a manner that it says on the trailer full time. I'm using a 18ah 12volt SLA glass mat battery. I have a 10watt higher end solid panel solar panel which will be used to keep the battery topped up. Our power needs are very small couple of LED lights and essentially a charging base for things like camera batteries, GPS, Phone's etc.
The only fancy part will be to solve my backing up in the dark lack of light issue. I bought a key fob LED controller which I will wire to a small ATV LED flood light fixture mounted to the bottom rear rail on the trailer. The idea being that I can turn on the light via the key fob when I need to back up in the dark and need the light. The secondary use will be the late night potty run the light could be triggered to light the ground area under the trailer tailgate which acts as the exit/entry step to the tent.
Anyway we shall see how this goes. If it works I may get funding approval to add a simple LED light strip and inline simple switch in the tent its self for tent lighting.
