Prepping for the ultimate dry camping set up.

[Slingshot27]

Hey y’all.
min new to the whole heartland product. The misses and I bought a 2015 heartland sundance 3600qb.

My last rig was a much smaller much more conservative fifth wheel. I love my dry camping and not having to worry about charging or running my god forsaken generator.

with what I’ve learned I can do with a single solar good batteries and a small inverter I’ve taken this and applied it to my heartland. I have a 1700w inverter with 15a auto transfer switch which I’m teeing into my gfi plug sockets. My solar I currently have 2 200w panels on the roof with only a 30a pwm controller.

I hear all this talk about using and or upgrading the chargers and or converters on the rigs. Being that I more often than not rely on solar and my pickup for the too and from journey to charge the unit is this a concern.

furthermore what are some man I should have done this long ago upgrades for dry camping y’all have done. I know led interior is the best but it seems these units robbed me of this already.

I currently have 5 group 27 that I’m gonna wait till they die to upgrade to 4 golf cart 6v batteries.

weve also have a battery monitor to verify charge and tell me how the whole unit is doing.

anything I am missing accept more solar and a mppt charger?

thanks y’all. I can read this kind of forums for days.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Slingshot27,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

We have quite a few people who have installed custom solar systems. I'm sure you'll get some feedback shortly.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

Feels like you have the basic understanding, but you never called out the biggest variable....how much do you want to spend in order to really boondock (dry camp)?

I'm approaching ~$12k in hardware alone, but we've stayed for 21 days, without anything but the solar systems (roof and portable) charging our system. We have 6 Lithium batteries for our setup, that can really provide the power we need, and recharge ~4x faster than AGM/Flooded batteries.

Here is our setup. Happy to answer any questions.

 

[Slingshot27]

Feels like you have the basic understanding, but you never called out the biggest variable....how much do you want to spend in order to really boondock (dry camp)?

I'm approaching ~$12k in hardware alone, but we've stayed for 21 days, without anything but the solar systems (roof and portable) charging our system. We have 6 Lithium batteries for our setup, that can really provide the power we need, and recharge ~4x faster than AGM/Flooded batteries.

Here is our setup. Happy to answer any questions.


View attachment 63586

small fortune isn’t what my goal is. Hence why lithium is not in my spectrum. What’s your thoughts on stock converters in these units? Or should I not worry. I truly do hate taking my generator and or using it. All my upgrades are slow and years of planning. Im waiting for warmer weather to get all of these built. I will be making my map just not as pretty as yours 😂😂

 

[CDN]

small fortune isn’t what my goal is. Hence why lithium is not in my spectrum. What’s your thoughts on stock converters in these units? Or should I not worry. I truly do hate taking my generator and or using it. All my upgrades are slow and years of planning. Im waiting for warmer weather to get all of these built. I will be making my map just not as pretty as yours 😂😂

Hello,I added a MPPT controller and two panels for my storage location. Two 6 Volt Trojan Batteries. I use the stock convertor which is higher quality unit in my landmark that regular units. I have had no issues with this charging on shore power. The 6 volt batteries will go a lot longer than Group 27. Running residential fridge I can get 4 times the run capacity our of two 6 volt vs 2 12 volt batteries.

Brian

 

[Slingshot27]

Hello,I added a MPPT controller and two panels for my storage location. Two 6 Volt Trojan Batteries. I use the stock convertor which is higher quality unit in my landmark that regular units. I have had no issues with this charging on shore power. The 6 volt batteries will go a lot longer than Group 27. Running residential fridge I can get 4 times the run capacity our of two 6 volt vs 2 12 volt batteries.

Brian

I fully agree with the golf cart batteries any day of the week. The only reason I keep my current bank of 5 is because I came upon them cheap and they are putting out 95-110% raiting at the moment. When they dwindle they’ll be gonzo.

- - - Updated - - -

Feels like you have the basic understanding, but you never called out the biggest variable....how much do you want to spend in order to really boondock (dry camp)?

I'm approaching ~$12k in hardware alone, but we've stayed for 21 days, without anything but the solar systems (roof and portable) charging our system. We have 6 Lithium batteries for our setup, that can really provide the power we need, and recharge ~4x faster than AGM/Flooded batteries.

Here is our setup. Happy to answer any questions.


View attachment 63586

hwres a solar question. Parallel or series. And why. Be honest I’m open to opinions. Bonus. Do I have to have a mppt for series. Forgivith me I’m still learning the ins and outs here