From the factory, this 5th wheel had a preinstalled basic solar system comprising of two 190W solar panels, a 30A PWM solar charge controller, and a 2,000W inverter that only powered a few select circuits when switched on. The owner came to us to upgrade to lithium batteries, double the solar array size, rewire the inverter to power the entire trailer, and add system monitoring.

We added two 200W solar panels on the roof and replaced the PWM solar charge controller with a lithium-compatible MPPT controller. A touchscreen system monitor was installed on the wall in place of the old solar charge controller. We swapped out the two 6V lead acid batteries with two 12V 300Ah lithium iron phosphate batteries supplied by the customer. While upgrading the batteries, we also added a battery monitor shunt to track the battery state-of-charge and the power going in and out. The inverter output and trailer AC wiring were reconfigured with an automatic transfer switch, allowing the inverter to power the entire trailer when not connected to generator or shore power.

This 5th wheel is now better equipped for frequent camping trips, without having to rely nearly as much on a generator or a campground!