Other interesting products

I saw some of these products in the store and have purchased some of them to try out in the trailer. I will let you know how they work out as I try them some more.

Sony Blue Ray DVD player with google internet.

I like this microwave as it only used 600 watts,

which would require a smaller inverter.

Another item for Apple fans.

Trailer products from Walmart part 2

          I noticed some of these products at Walmart and noticed the price was much , much lower then the local camping stores. Some times the prices were 3-4 times more at the camping stores or trailer outlets.

Trailer products from Walmart part 1

I noticed some of these products at Walmart and noticed the price was much , much lower then the local camping stores. Some times the prices were 3-4 times more at the camping stores or trailer outlets.

Trailer wheel bearings

Small water pumps

Small water pumps

Typical solar readings on the Flexmax 80

        I have noticed the hotter the weather gets the more power is used. On a cold day under 70 deg F - I could get by with 500 watts or 1/2 of a KW per day. When its hotter 90+ F deg then you could figure about 1000+ watts, most of this is used by the refrigerator and the fans to keep the trailer cool. The problem is when the solar panels get supper hot - they produce 20-30% less power, so keep that in mind when you are sizing your system.

Another problem that I have noticed is that the solar panels really need to be washed every few week to a month at the most, for some reason they get very dirty.

Solar performance update

         Finally we are getting to the end stretch of the project. I am planning to get finished with "OverTheTop" this month and go on a little "test" road trip with an old friend around the first of July to maybe the 10th of July. I will be trying to put on most of the major finishing touches in the next few weeks. So far I am really surprised at how little power all my appliances are using. At the most it looks like I will be using about 100 amp hours per day. I am slowly switching the system from AC over to the DC. Most of the usage I assume we'll be the little mini ARB 63Q fridge that you see in the top picture.  That amount of power  that it uses depends greatly on the exterior daytime temperature. The factory test setting has it set at about 45 degrees F and they tell you that it uses .7 to 2.3 amp hours. I have my unit set much colder down to 23 - 25° F, therefore it also uses more power I would guess at around 3.5 AH. That setting seams to keep the inside just below 30 deg, it allows my frozen stuff to stay frozen & the other stuff to stay cold. That setting is the sweet spot for me, it works both as a freezer and as a refrigerator.

This ARB cooler runs supper quiet & efficient, however at a premium price $950
I have this unit running now for 12 months  non stop 24/7.
Actually during the day when its the hottest - it gets the power directly from
the Outback Flex 80 charge controller 

Here you can see my daily usage, since the TV only uses 30 watts & 
my LED lights only use 10-15 watts, I will be using less then 100 AH daily,
my solar panels can put out 300+ AH on a sunny day
on cloudy days they still produce about 50-100 AH